***The Pond Discussion Thread****

Ammonia - use an chlorine/ammonia binder pronto.. then change water.

After that don’t feed for a week. It seems your filter may not be working or needs a load of pond filter start added (wait a few days after the water change with the binder). Then dose the filters (switch off initially for 30 mins or so to allow the bacteria to stick before starting flow again).
 
Started the retiling.. yes it has to be top down hence a real PITA. Adhesive is great so far. The small pieces on the right are not stuck but used as spacers. The clamps to keep the thing level.

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And the parts arrived for the UVC :D :D :D However I can't fit it until I have an opportunity to drain down the filters to drill a big hole and bond another connection to the front of the drum filter which is likely to be Sunday.

In the mean time I think it's time for more tiling..


Also an update on food (whilst I'm editing)..

Usually my base food is NTLabs Heath blended with NTLabs Wheatgerm (depending on temps and time of year) - usually a 5kg and a 3kg keeps the fish good for the majority of the season.

As I'd run out of Health, I've bought some Hakari Gold and mixed that in with the remainder of the other food. OMG it's like crack cocaine for the smaller fish.. and the colours are really really vivid.

So going forward I may still go with the NTLabs Heath, the Wheatgerm but also blend in some Hakari Gold.

NTLabs Health = 50.99 / 5Kg (37% protein fishmeal)
NTLabs Wheatgerm = 50.25 / 5Kg (but usually only need 3Kg at 29.71 / 3Kg) (21% protein)
Hakari Gold = 68.29 / 5Kg (35% protein fishmeal) (checking the packet this states 38% on a stuck on sticker, and it states colour and growth)
Hikari Staple = 56.89 / 5Kg (34% protein fishmeal)
Hikari Hi Growth = 32 / 2Kg (40% protein fishmeal)
NTLabs Probiotic = 60.32 / 5Kg (49% protein fishmeal)

Compare to the 'top' food at the moment:
Saki-Hikari Balance = 97.99 / 5Kg (40% protein fishmeal)
Saki-Hikari Colour = 110.29 / 5Kg (40% protein fishmeal)
Saki-Hikari Growth = 112.29 / 5Kg (40% protein fishmeal)

I'm conscious that koi can't really process more than about 40% and over 45% becomes a problem for their insides (same with less than 30% for prolonged periods)

What I may do is blend depending on temperature:
* Wheatgerm - keep for winter and blend in spring and autumn for energy.
* A balance - keep for spring, summer and autumn
* A high protein - keep for spring/summer
* A colour enhancer - keep for spring/summer/autumn

I'm leaning to the following at the moment for next year:
* NTLabs Wheatgerm - keeps them ticking over in cold water.
* NTLabs Health + Hikari Gold - this provides a basic good food (37%) and provides a boost with colour enhancer and growth (38%)
* Hikari Hi-Growth - a 2Kg bag can be added in spring/summer (40%)

Also given I now have 7 fish, 5 of them youngsters that are ripping through the food... I will need more food in terms of kg for the season.
 
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So, today was one of those "nasty days" where you just have to pull your socks up and get on with it.

The original gate valve on the bottom drain line was belting water out of it like nobodys business, the seal has obviously gone and leaving it in situ just pushes the problem down the line, but given the filter bay is currently empty, it is the most ideal time for a chop n drop.

Fortunately last night I had poured the new floor leveling compound, and it was set so had access both sides.

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The old pipework: 4 inch bottom drain, 1.5 inch skimmer line into pump and out, and 3 return lines (one hidden).


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The fish were not impressed when I emptied out 2/3rds of the water to start work. The green-ness is some acriflavine used to trace which return pipe was which.


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With the pond now dropped:

- Replaced 4 inch gate valve with ball valve
- Removed bodged in skimmer pump to relocate inside the filter shed
- Cut off old cracked pipe no longer in use
- Re-plumbed near side return
- Added ball valve on far side return to remove additional return line from this area
- Gave skimmer ball valve a service and re-fitted
- Filled pond up and added tap safe


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Everything is now sealed for the night and while no leaks are current apparent, by tomorrow will know for sure.

Fortunately when building the pond it was built with a failsafe so even if the lowest return line or the bottom drain line has a failure, there will still be ~18 inches of water in the bottom, sure the fish wont be happy about it but at least they get something to swim around in until I wake up and can sort it in the morning.
 
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just found 2 baby toads on the back door step of my house. I often see adult ones about also.

my pond is about 30ft away at the bottom of my garden so i took them there.

im not sure of their habits but i would have thought they would stay close to the pond area if they planned on living to old age.

any other pond owners find toads randomly around their property. i guess it is a sign of a healthy pond i hope.
 
dave28 said:
just found 2 baby toads on the back door step of my house. I often see adult ones about also.

my pond is about 30ft away at the bottom of my garden so i took them there.

im not sure of their habits but i would have thought they would stay close to the pond area if they planned on living to old age.

any other pond owners find toads randomly around their property. i guess it is a sign of a healthy pond i hope.
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Pretty normal to not be right by the pond for a toad, they spend most of their time out of the pond other than breeding season. Would love to have a toad in the garden. Lots of frogs though.



Will hopefully get some spawn in the spring.

The water lettuce has only been in the pond for a month and it’s growing well. Lots of my other plants doing well too.
 
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Busy day today.. first drain down the filters and remove them.. the pipe I want is to solvent weld onto the pipe between the blue and two grey..

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Also put a hole in my drum filter for pulling the water off for the UVC.. just waiting for lunch to go down and then we're onto mounting the UVC on the wall.

I made a small boo-boo in that I thought my pipes were 63mm not 2".. so I had to make some adaptive gluing..
 
I was so tired yesterday I forgot to post a photie of the device.

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It's only been going less than 24 hours and I can already see a difference in the pond.

I have leak on the new hole in the drum, I thought it would solvent weld but alas no. So I have a part arriving tomorrow I hope that will resolve the leak.. In the second photo the water is due to me venting the air out of it.
 
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Whilst I couldn’t find any pond snails to buy in local stores last month, I’ve spotted loads in the pond today. Can only imagine they hitchhiked on the pond plants that I bought :)
 
NickK said:
It's only been going less than 24 hours and I can already see a difference in the pond.
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Looks like a tidy job you did there, good job.

Pretty sure the material they use on draco drums isnt solvent-weldable.

Today got my 4 inch pipework all sorted for the inlets and purge line.

That was the biggest job, hopefully as long as ive got the parts the remainder should fly together and get it up and filtering in a day or 2.

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Just feeding them this morning - the pond is still clearing. The tancho looks for centre mass of the food and launches itself with abandonment (fish out of water) to grab as much as possible in its gob. It's kept its spot on its head and white body so far. I also got to see the Hi Utsuri - that is deep red and deep black. They're both growing nicely.

I did see one of the smaller ones yesterday right up against the glass. This is one of the 4" tosai I got that went into the back chamber originally. Not the prettiest at the moment but it seems smart :D

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It *is* clearing.. I remember just looking at the water in the tops of the ball valves in the picture above at the time and thinking the level of algae was horrific. So given a few more days (even with the full sun we've had) it will clear nicely.

In other news - I'm ripping through the Hakari Gold. I think (a) going for the larger pellet next and (b) blending will be the way to go.
 
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Food this morning - seems to be clearing nicely. Maybe next week it will have cleared fully. If you look at the lilies you'll see a moving deep red fish .. :D but then the camera decided to refocus on my finger :/

This has more of the big boys.
 
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NickK said:
What do you feed your fish!! Lol.
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That just the accumulated crud and algae growth since taking the drum out, they havent been fed at all while ive been swapping.

Fortunately water quality is doing well due to the media being floated in the pond. Anyway now its recirculating 10000 litres per hour, taking the crud out then sterilizing (proper sterilization that kills everything) the water through the bio uv 30, which is capable of doing a pond 4x my size and flowing 3x the water, before dumping it through a clarity 10 protein skimmer.
 
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