Pond newby as of last year, who needs lots of imput

[oneofakindcritter]

Hi, We just put in a 2,000 gal. Hopefully KOI , pond last year with a rubber liner , water fall bio filter and skimmer, It was doing great until the later part of the year, when it suddenly turned into pea soupy cloudy water, I had five koi which all ended up dieing by the end of fall...I would like to get aoff on the right foot conqoring the problems this year.. We just put in a laguna pond aeration kit with 2 stones, did come with 3rd but, only installed 2.. I have 2 water lilys in bottom so far & have purchased a few new koi, who all seem to be very healthy and happy. Now to just keep them that way.. We are having a warm streak this week and I have noticed it is still somewhat cloudy I did add Natural Defence pond balancer...I read online somewhere about others with aprox same setup as my pond and it seemed same issues.. Someone suggested the use of charcoal in the bio filter..

They did not go into how to add it , I bought a 4quart dry.. bag as I thought what they had to say made sence.. Any suggestions on how or where to add it in.. Do I mix in with lava rock or put in a seperate bag at bottom of filter or just add on top...Thanks for any help in advance Lord know I need it..

 

[sissy]

I use quilt batting soaked in peroxide and water it is time consuming but worth it
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[HTH]

To a point koi love green water. Thus I have doubts about what killed them.

To provide any real help we need pictures of the pond and the equipment. The more the better.

 

[sissy]

I use dollar store laundry bags to add charcoal and crushed oyster shells
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[sissy]

Do you have a pond water test kit you will need that to check your water .I use API .tHAT WILL HELP AND CHEMICALS WILL SOMETIMES HARM FISH can you tell I hate chemicals :cheerful:
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[oneofakindcritter]

I do have a test kit...& will see if I can get picts to post.

 

[sissy]

that will help koi like a ph of 8 or 9 but do not like big swings in ph thats why i use crushed oyster shells to buffer the water and stabilize ph .My koi are 9 years old and over 2 feet long

 

[oneofakindcritter]

I am still working on trying to get the photos to upload, is there a secret to doing so on here..?

But, in the mean time , Sissy you say ,you use oyster shells and bating but where do you exactly put them once they are in the laundry bags..?

 

[addy1]

I put a 100 lbs of crushed oyster shells in my bog every year. They just need to be where the water flows over them. It keeps the hardness of the water up and helps stabilize the ph. Our well water is acidic and very soft.

did you read this?

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/forum-2/announcement-2-how-to-upload-images-plus-other-how-tos/

I either use photobucket or full editor and add them

 

[oneofakindcritter]

I did see it and fallowed what it had to say, or at least think I fallowed it..maybe I did somthing wrong.. couldn't get them there I'll try going thru photo bucket next ...Thanks

 

[oneofakindcritter]

also in reply to Sisy I see your setup now with the bags . We don't have anything like that maybe it's something We'll have to build next as I stated we just have the waterfall with bio filter insdie and skimmer w white pad filter set up...

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forums! :wave:

 

[sissy]

I hang a bag of activated charcoal and a bag of crushed oyster shells in each of my filters and also keep a bag in the new water fall area now .I love the dollar store bags they are cheap and easy to find and when I find the boxes with 4 bags instead of 3 bags it is even better .I also buy the reusable furnace filters from lowes and I use the dreaded lava rock in my filters
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[oneofakindcritter]

http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/kel krause/library/pond%20pict/pond%20pict work this time...So this pond as I said is new last year so the landscaping isn't all done yet, and I am waiting for any local places to get plants in... and suggestions feel free...

 

[oneofakindcritter]

Guess that didn't work either