filter mistake

[addy1]

lol I am lazier! net the bottom a few times a season o/w clean the leaf baskets/skimmer every now and then, when I see the water fall flow slow down. Maybe every other week or so if even that.

 

[koiguy1969]

addy...well i dont have a skimmer so taking 30 seconds to hand skim is no biggie. i dont clean my bottom til fall or sometimes spring as i drain the pond when doing water and fish transfers...my bottom remains pretty clean all summer. i'm out there with my morning coffee anyways! my maintainence is more standing there for a few minutes while watching water flow out of the filter and drum....

 

[addy1]

Neat koiguy, takes me longer than 30 seconds to hand skim mine.

I keep the skimmer running, full blast, when stuff is flying around. Half blast when not, it also helps in the water circulation of my pond the way I have it set up. And I never drain that sucker, so my my net comes in handy.

 

[koiguy1969]

your pond is like 10 of mine...youve got what..14,000 gals?. ive got 1,200 gals.12 x 15 egg shaped oval and my yard is fenced in, your on open land. i coulnt keep a pond without the fence. i'd go crazy dealing with all those leaves from my neighbors trees. i've got pine trees here, needles dont travel like leaves...lol

 

[addy1]

Laughing koyguy

When we get the strong winds that go from west to east, my back field collects everybody's loose junk including leaves.

We have two large apple trees to the west of the pond, one large maple to the south. For some reason, I think an air flow pattern, the majority of the leaves miss the pond. We do get leaves in it, but no where as many as you would think. Those large hand size leaves come from somewhere (300 feet plus) from house to the west. For some reason they seem to end up in the pond.

The apple flowers and those darn helicopters do end up in the pond, but they suck up into the skimmer pretty well. I put the skimmer downwind, i.e. on the east end of the pond.

Next year I am thinking of putting up a piece of chicken wire across the west end of the pond, on land, see if it stops some of those large leaves. Leave it there for the winter.

 

[mofal]

Thanks guys
Your posts were really helpful

i checked the ammonia level today, it came out 0,25 ngm/ml which is good depending on the chart i have..
i expect it to become even better when the benificial bacteria get well established..

 

[Shdwdrgn]

So your fish have been in there almost a week now... Considering the time of year and the size of your fish, that number seems really good. Just keep checking it, as you may see the ammonia jump up until the pond really gets established. You can also get additives that contain concentrated doses of beneficial bacteria which will really help speed up the process. If you have a choice, use the one that contains the most types of bacteria (most only have one type, the kind I use contains three).