Garden Ponds

[NickK]

If you want some decent food for good price check out queni koi on eBay. Currently using the 44% protein food and my fish love it

Next year I'll probably look at a higher protein level food. I see some of the forum posts say blending high protein with veggie food to give a balance.

 

[NickK]

Hehe.. went to the centre today.. just as a get out of the house.. ended up buying an upgrade..

Bioforce 2500 pump + 4500 canister + 15w UVC ----> Bioforce 6000 + 9000 canister (with waste gate, 24W UVC).

It's been annoying me for the last 2 years. I've made patch solutions, Sandrine has heard me moaning about the filter and having to clean it when it blocks every other day..

Photos incoming...

 

[NickK]

Bioforce 2500... and 6000.

The 6000 pump you can either add a skimmer (additional point where it sucks) or use the blanking plate and you can even set the rate using the valve (acts like a mixer when using two inputs).

Feeding.. a slightly larger canister!!! (from 4500 size to 9000 size) that has a switchable waste gate & agitator and larger UVC built in.

Added the old media at the bottom as it has bacteria

The filter material is based on cubes rather than the circular flat filter pads. I've added some pond bacteria balls to help establish the filter.

Agitator arms resisting arms to churn the media and the UV bulb tube 24W to cope with the throughput:

Installed in position - I removed the recent 15W UVC and the electro gadget.. this thing takes the entire space!

Flow rate? Well have a look:

I think about 2x or even 3x previous rate.


The pond is ~4m x 2m x 1m (avg depth). It has koi (ghost and a couple of normal) hence you need twice the rate and poop extraction because they literally poop.. and poop.. that's 8000 litres.

The pump is 6000 l/h max, 3.5m head max.. so way way more oomph. The canister is sized for 9000l with a full stock of fish (i.e. koi), or 18000l with few/non-koi.... So the pump is sized about right for koi, and the filter is now actually slightly over sized for koi which is a good position to be in.

 

[NickK]

Hmm.. so the water level has dropped a cm or so.. so the veggie filter is demonstrating the same problem before where it has a leak when filled high enough (the additional water pressure increases the veggie filter water level until the water can exit over the water fall.

So a temporary solution was needed this morning .. output pipe to the top of the water fall so it flows over directly with a little splash back into the veggie filter.

Flow rate has remained high which is good.

 

[NickK]

So the veggie filter definitely has a problem.. so this weekend will be sorting that part out. I think I will replacing the liner and sorting out where there could be a leak. The veggie filter seems to be leaking when the water level raises above the old pump level - it did this when the veggie filter became clogged and when the new pump increased the height of the water (i.e. the amount coming in has gone up and manages to maintain a higher level with the current waterfall width out).

The flow rate out of the outlet pipe caused quite a bit of sediment to be stirred up, that's now cleared.. I want some to help bugs etc but not a massive amount at the bottom (decomposition removes oxygen).

It will take a couple of months before the filter has got itself established hence doing it now rather than wait until winter.

 

[NickK]

So.. the veggie filter..

The original builder decided rather than get a proper sized piece of material.. they'd cut a corner and patch it..

So I have new liner and will replace the entire thing.. including resolve their very bad brick work..

 

[NickK]

Removed underlay, dug twice depth, put in new underlay, added liner and just bonded the old water fall in.

Once bonding is cured I'll check the edges for underlay (stops rubbing on the corner of the brick) and then trim down whilst securing.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Pond I built a two months ago:-

Spoiler

Solids capable pump
Pressure filter
6mX4m pond liner
Matting that goes under the liner

Spoiler

+

How it looks now with plants + fish:-

4 goldfish, 4 shubs, 1 comet (plus a couple of frogs somewhere).

Still working on the plant layout - need to repot the lilies this week.

 

[NickK]

Well the new liner has solved the level issue - it's now zero loss over the last 1/2 week.

I've been letting it bed in without securing the liner in the final position, on sat/sun I'll finish it off.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Well the new liner has solved the level issue - it's now zero loss over the last 1/2 week.

I've been letting it bed in without securing the liner in the final position, on sat/sun I'll finish it off.

I think i have to replace the liner in mine not going to be an easy job... Damnit!

 

[NickK]

I think i have to replace the liner in mine not going to be an easy job... Damnit!

Depends.. what's the size?

If you do it - get a load of under lay too. If there's a hole it's likely to have caused it to get roots through it etc..

 

[NickK]

Started blending in the wheatgerm food and move off the high protein as the temps drop.

The EA Freshwater Shrimp is like crack cocaine (44% protein) and the silkworm pupae at ~50% are not too far behind!

I'm expecting them to slow down a little, interestingly I read that small koi can use the high protein 30%+ foods whereas the older ones it's in the 20-30% max as the rest just passes through.

Ours simply drop to the bottom and don't really feed over winter. So I'm getting them stocked up on the fat levels now..

 

[NickK]

Just did the first filter clean on the new canister.

Steps with the old 4500 (every other day peak pooping season):
1. switch off & split canister
3. clean filter material with garden hose until clean of fish poop - it's difficult to get out and requires manual intervention...
4. refit canister & switch on

Now the steps are (once every couple of weeks in peak pooping season):
1. switch off & rotate filter handle to agitate the muck inside (this is because otherwise the pump will pump even more pond water)
2. switch outlet valve (the waste pipe is plumbed in permanently)
3. switch of pump and watch crap disappear through pipe, turn handle until goes clear..
4. switch outlet valve back to pond return
5. fill up pond with garden hose + dechloro stuff

No wet fingers, no fish poop splatter from garden hosing plus the pond gets a partial water change.

 

[NickK]

Pond I built a two months ago:-

This is the middle...
http://www.lilieswatergardens.co.uk/nymphaea-*********-exclusive-barerooted-p-3785.html

Kerpow!

 

[NoobCannon]

appears to be some free range dinner on the right hand side of that picture there

 

[NickK]

Well the Hoselock air pump was on it's last legs so this time I bought an Oase that does .20 at 2m depth as the previous one did .15 at 1.2m which is just on the limit for the pond. It's far stronger at the bottom of the pond as a single outlet which is fine.

This should help give the pond some oxygen, the flow rate through the filter has dropped a little, even with some rotating. May be worth giving the filter a degunking or add some pond start balls into it. Gut feeling is that there has been a power cut that has killed off or reduced the filter.. or the fish have been producing sooo much poop that it's unreal

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Whats the best pond food for goldfish and shubunkin?

Anything on Amazon that will be good?

Using Tetra pond sticks at the moment but nearly ran out of that.

 

[Kaka]

I feed my goldfish and shubunkins a mixture of protein based pellets from an ebay seller, NT Labs Medikoi wheatgerm and de-shelled peas.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

I feed my goldfish and shubunkins a mixture of protein based pellets from an ebay seller, NT Labs Medikoi wheatgerm and de-shelled peas.

What's the sellers name?

 

[Kaka]

Merseyside Aquatics.