New in Denver

[fishin4cars]

Welcome aboard, Here is a link from Koiphen forum. http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?129717-Zakki-Products&highlight=zakki Look up Zac Penn and check out his sieves and pre-filters. you can read and make your own discussion but I can tell you, not many that use his products have many complaints, pretty much all I hear is praise on how well his products work, and most are designed for specific ponds so many are custom made to fit customer applications. I don't think for your application a true prefilter will help make things easier to maintain, with a sieve design it will as it removes the waste out of the system completely before going to the easy pod so it would also help in making the Easy Pod work more efficiently. A vortex separator would work if you want to do a DYI project that cost less, but IMO not going to work as well and will still need some regular maintance, but not as bad as what you dealing with now. For green water algae a UV light works great, for string algae a Ion Gen works pretty good, but neither does much good helping the other type. Ion Gen does not clear green water well and UV lights don't do much for killing string algae.

 

[mroons]

Thanks for the replys! Larkin, I did have a UV, so green water was not the problem, only string, all summer! I have seen ads for the Ion Gen, do you or any one out there actually use one, and how has it worked? I have seen alot of different reviews on its effectiveness. I am looking at possibly putting in a vortex before the filter to help relieve the Eazy Pod. Just not sure if you can gravity flow to a vortex and then the Eazy Pod before my pump. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Mike

 

[addy1]

Build a bog, I never have any algae or green water. But a lot of people say it is not the best to have as your only filter. I love mine!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Algae can be common in winter months, as it is one of the very few things that grow during winter. If you have well established pond sedges and other large pond plants, they will starve off the algae during the summer months, but in the winter months the pond plants go dormant and are not growing, so the algae can suddenly appear. I do get string algae only during winter but this is good, as it will continue to feed the fish a natural diet and the algae will clean the water while the other plants are dormant. If you find you have "excess" string algae, it should net up easy with the net during winter months.

As for the leaves, lots can be prevented from falling into pond with a large net that can be placed over the whole pond during the fall.

BIG Welcome MIKE, from Canada!

 

[sissy]

I think plants in your filters help also as this is the first year I put lots of plants in mine and my pond water has been the best ever and guessing a bog is 100% better if you have room .The grasses colleen talks about really help also .

 

[addy1]

Colleen, I don't even get string algae in the winter.

I float a piece of liner for the fish to hide under, it keeps the water right below warm enough that some of the floating plants keep growing in the winter (unless we get a real real cold winter) the fish nibble on them. They also nibble on the plants that are in the pots in the pond.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Addy I bet all your plant's don't die back completely either. I only seem to get some in the dead of winter and early spring, then as the plant's begin to regrow the algae dies off. I am curious, when does the sun set and how many hours of sunshine do you get this time of the year. Tomorrow the sun rises at 7:35am and sets at 4:39 pm, so we get 9hours and 3 minutes. I think you get about 40 extra minutes a day of sunshine too, that helps the plants stay alive longer into the season too. Here everything dies off completely, except the algae.

 

[fishin4cars]

Thanks for the replys! Larkin, I did have a UV, so green water was not the problem, only string, all summer! I have seen ads for the Ion Gen, do you or any one out there actually use one, and how has it worked? I have seen alot of different reviews on its effectiveness. I am looking at possibly putting in a vortex before the filter to help relieve the Eazy Pod. Just not sure if you can gravity flow to a vortex and then the Eazy Pod before my pump. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Mike

Mike, I've never seen a easy pod in actual use, Some of the folks on Koiphen forum have and do use them and would probably be a better place to get answers than here. Simply because more Koi keepers use them and less water gardeners. As your seeing from suggestions above. I have a bog in one system and so far thrilled with it. But at the same point I'm working toward a more true Koi only system with Bottom drains, cetus sieves and a Tower filter. On the Ion gen, I have one and really, It's a waste of money unless the only algae your fighting is string algae. Green water doesn't seem to be effected much. I'm keeping my alkalinity around 140 ppm to help the Ion gen work most effectively. My copper level stays between .10 and .25 ppm reading which is where it is recommended to be for best clarity by company recommendations, Phosphates 1-2 ppm, nitrates, less than 10 ppm nitrites read 0 ammonia reads 0 PH 7.8 GH 120 and KH is 140. From all my readings my water is great, but my clarity is about 5". I know part of my problem is no fine filter, right now I'm running 9000gph through a Atlantic PS 4800 skimmer with two prefilter matala pads, then 8000 gph to a 9800 series Atlantic filter fall unit with 22 Cubic feet of bioballs, three layers of Matala pads and then running through a fine filter pad similar to Batting material but not quite that fine. The other 1000 gph is diverted to the Ion gen and returned mid water return. My BD is not running on the second circuit yet. Hopefully the BD going to two cetus sieves and a Zakki Shower system will be the other key needed. If not next step would be filter through a Sand Gravel filter for me. ( I think)
Oh and If you want to try a Ion Gen don't go buy a new one, I would sell mine for less than new. I have used iit for less than two months. Works great as far as what it needs to do, just no help with green water. All the string algae was gone in less than three weeks.

 

[CountryEscape]

My main filtration system in the new goldfish pond, which is only 2700 gallons or so, is the bog. I have a small skimmer, which has only one filter pad that the water runs through before the pump, which pushes the water to the top of the stream. My water is so crystal clear! The koi pond has a much smaller pea gravel bog, but it is pretty much the same, crystal clear, see to the bottom. However, I had problems with clarity in the beginning of the year, only lasted less than a month, I think it was cycling again. This year was my second year, so wasn't ready for the murky brown water. Had terrible string algae in March, when it got really warm really early, but got rid of that with peroxide ... which may have caused the brown murky water after that! Anyhow, same with koi pond, same small skimmer that runs to the bog, and the mail pump simply pumps water up to the waterfall. Don't have the fountain hooked back up yet ... but need to get that done in the spring.

 

[addy1]

Addy I bet all your plant's don't die back completely either. I only seem to get some in the dead of winter and early spring, then as the plant's begin to regrow the algae dies off. I am curious, when does the sun set and how many hours of sunshine do you get this time of the year. Tomorrow the sun rises at 7:35am and sets at 4:39 pm, so we get 9hours and 3 minutes. I think you get about 40 extra minutes a day of sunshine too, that helps the plants stay alive longer into the season too. Here everything dies off completely, except the algae.

rises at 6:54 sets at 4:54 Yep more light. and still "warm" I was out in a t shirt today.

 

[sissy]

gosh starting to think about spring and days getting longer instead of shorter ,oh well I can dream of it . :razz: The sun was warm today but the wind was chilly here ,but then it is always windy here .