Almost ashamed of myself.

[rdnelson99]

Ok, I am a bit ashamed to admit all this but here goes. Several years ago I installed a small in-ground pond for my wife on Mother's day. Just a pump with a little water fall feature. Over the years it has grown into a couple hundred gallon pond and has 8 Koi. I have never put any type of filtration on it. The Koi and water hyacinth do fantastic but I have a terrible algae problem.

Since I am now in the process of building a 45 gal reef aquarium (big bucks) for my wife's birthday, I can't commit a ton of money to it. Any ideas on what I should do would be appreciated.

The pond is about 5' in diameter and about 3.5' deep at the deepest point. It gets a ton of sun light durring daylight hours and I have a couple of underwater lights that run from dusk to midnight.

The pictures were just after cleaning it this spring and before this years water hyacinth had a chance to take over. Now, it pretty much covers the pond but we thin it out on a regular basis.

 

[alLexX]

a filter would help...

 

[rdnelson99]

a filter would help...

LOL Why do you think I am almost ashamed of myself. Have the spark of an idea for a DIY one. If you are interested go to DIY forums and look for "A Novice with an Idea."

 

[tarpon]

I'm no koi expert but that pond looks a little crowded

 

[rdnelson99]

It is bigger than the picture makes it look. I definitely wouldn't add anymore. The two white and black koe started out at about an 1" long. Now they are at least 12".

 

[tarpon]

Woaaahhh how long did that take?

 

[rdnelson99]

About 4 years I think. We have lived in the house for 5 and it was at least a year before I build the cascading waterfall which is where they started out.

 

[Johnstamos003]

Seems over stocked for koi. Recently spent several weekends reclaiming an already finished pond from murky water and 150+ tadpoles. Only set up was a pump in a bucket to protect it. Bought a new bucket ($5 planter from home depot) and several different types of filter media. Filter floss (in pad form), foam filter blocks, and a carbon filter pad. Drilled (cheap bucket pretty much made for a controlled crack) stapled over holes (2-4 inches from bottom of bucket 1/2" between hole edges) with Filter floss pad. Stuck a small $.89 landscaping brick for ballast and level surface for pump. Wrapped a square of carbon pad in filter floss and set on landscaping brick. Gently packed foam filter bricks (2 - each in a semi-circle to encircle filter) around the pump. Submerge and turn on pump.

 

[rdnelson99]

If I did anything to the frogs or tadpoles my wife will kill me. They are as important to her as the koi. I may have answered my own question. Found a great DIY filter set up on line. Here is the link if anyone is interested....

Homemade DIY fish pond biofilter eliminate green water how to build construction

 

[Johnstamos003]

So would my wife - I had to transport them and the frogs to the creek - LOL

 

[rdnelson99]

So would my wife - I had to transport them and the frogs to the creek - LOL

Not an option for me. She wants them in the pond and even has several named that she is sure come back every year. How long do frogs live anyway. LOL

 

[Johnstamos003]

I am also unable to remove the remaining frog - no idea on age - but as far a size this guy is easily 10-12" in length so far (legs to legs)

 

[rdnelson99]

LOL. We have one about that size. Matter of fact, we have several species all of which have different voices. When they are “tuned” up after dark and start signing the harmony is almost like listening to the Beach Boys. LOL

 

[GuppyLover]

That is WAY overstoacked, Koi need large ponds.A koi pond should be larger because koi get quite large despite the size of the pond, it is recommended that a koi pond be no less than 1000 gallons in volume, the bigger the better. It also needs to have an area of the pond at least 4 feet 5 may be better. I can't believe those fish aren't stunted and dead from not having any filtration.

 

[chagoi]

They are stunted. It's hard to part with them but a few should go.

 

[Johnstamos003]

If I did anything to the frogs or tadpoles my wife will kill me. They are as important to her as the koi. I may have answered my own question. Found a great DIY filter set up on line. Here is the link if anyone is interested....

Homemade DIY fish pond biofilter eliminate green water how to build construction

Wow - my pond is definitely to small for that kind of monster set up. Thanks for the link though!

 

[glassbird]

Interesting link...it's basically an attractive Skippy filter. The first two versions of a DIY filter that I had on my 2 ponds were very similar, but used lava rocks instead of scrub pads, and were built into a half whiskey barrel for looks. You might consider building a shower filter instead. Depending on how well you build it, and how much water you can put through it, a shower filter can handle a large bio load, which you need with koi. (And yes, you are probably tired of hearing it, but that is a lot of koi for a pond that size...)

This year I upgraded to a DIY shower filter, and am completely pleased with it. Last year I had a terrible time with green water...my fish had gotten bigger over time, and they simply overwhelmed the "skippy type" system. Too many nutrients in the water plus a little sunlight equals algea! I knew that but had no idea it would get so bad so quickly.

So I spent a lot of time over the winter designing a shower filter from research on the internet. Basically, the pump lives in the lower of my two connected ponds, and pushes water up to the top of a 40 gallon barrel. The water discharges from a DIY spraybar of 1 inch PVC in the shape of a letter "H" so it is distributed widely into the barrel. First the water hits a layer of mechanical media (mostly "Nu-Foam", which is a type of pillow stuffing) which is supported by a grate of egg crate. The water drops a few inches into about 15 inches of nylon scrubbies, again held up by another layer of egg crate. Then it falls another few inches into a bed of lava rock. The layer of lava rock is about 6 inches deep, and covers an X shaped drain assembly that collects the water and lets it fall back into the pond. All this falling motion puts lots of oxygen into the water, and all the bio-media removes ammonia at a pretty impressive rate. Next year I will dump the lava rock and go with a bottom bed of nylon scrubbies...much more surface area according to various sources on the internet.

For the sake of appearances, the 40 gallon (bright blue) plastic barrel is hidden inside a whole whiskey barrel, which was cut in half so I can pull off the top and get to the innards for cleaning. Once a month, I pull out the mechanical media and hose it clean. (I do NOT hose out the scrubbies or lava rock. That is left completely untouched while the ponds are running for the summer.) I know that process probably knocks back the beneficial bacteria in the mechanical media, but I figure there is so much more BB in the nylon scrubbies and lava rock that it probably does not matter much.

Anyway, bottom line is that my water is crystal clear this year, right from the start. I did make a point of getting a few plants (mostly hyacinths) in sooner this year than last, but I believe the shower filter still had the most effect. I have also noticed that the water is a few degrees cooler than it was at this time last year.

 

[rdnelson99]

Saturday, I built a nice pre-filter set up with by-pass and back flush. That afternoon I got it up and running temporarily with a spare pump and it already is starting to clear things up a bit. On Sunday, I started building the modified Skippy that was detailed in the link I posted earlier.

 

[Bige]

If water is dirty from fish poo and food, then a filter will help. If its algae, then it is from light, water depth, and nutrients. You can buy pond tint. This changes the color spectrum of the water so algae has trouble growing. You could also use a uv filter. You could also do a water change and siphon out the dirty stuff. Just dont take too much water because the new water will likely kill the fish.

 

[rdnelson99]

If water is dirty from fish poo and food, then a filter will help. If its algae, then it is from light, water depth, and nutrients. You can buy pond tint. This changes the color spectrum of the water so algae has trouble growing. You could also use a uv filter. You could also do a water change and siphon out the dirty stuff. Just dont take too much water because the new water will likely kill the fish.

The pre-filter I built has done a great job of getting rid of the bulk of the particulates and now I have the modified "Skippy" that I built in an overgrown flower part tied in as well. We are looking for a good home for some of them as well.