I had inherited a pond of roughly (by my estimate) 5-7000 gallons, with 7 koi, 36 large goldfish, and a problem population of feeder fish the previous owner had introduced years ago that can breed faster than they can be eated/caught. I live in the northeast, and replaced about half of the pond water this spring, mainly to drain the 4ft deep pond enough that I could scrub off the 1-2" thick accumulation of string algea that had grown on every rock since very late in the fall. I re-filled the water slowly over a two week period, while adding water de-chlorinator and checking the nitrates (low, but not zero) and Ph level (around 7-8). The water temperature is in the 50's and I am slowly re-introducing food to the fish. It's a different brand from what I used last year, if that means anything. The only thing I have added to the water is a bacteria promoter gel to the filter to help kick-start the good bacteria, and some barley straw extract. The pond has two "bio-filters". One is a filter that is at the very top waterfall that is supposed to be a breeding ground for good bacteria (which I have been told should be zero maintainance), and the other is a long slender path along the side of pond which is shallow and filled with plants, and a second smaller pump drives water through the root systems to be filtered by the plants. The fish seem to be acting normal, nothing strange I can think of. I have some cattails in the smaller pond that have started growing, and water lettuce along the stream. I have lots of lillies, but none of them have grown yet enough to get to the surface.
Last summer and fall, I would need to clean my 12"x12" filter for my 5500gpm pump roughly every 7-10 days. Since I have turned the pump back on in in the spring, it only takes about 8 HOURS for the filter to get clogged with a thick dark green slime. I had an algea bloom after I changed the water, which lasted a couple weeks - I assumed that was why the filter was clogging so fast - but it has cleared up to CRYSTAL clear about a week ago, and still I am changing the filter every 8-10 hours.
Any ideas for why the pump filter has gone from 7-10 days to 8-10 hours between cleaning between now and last fall? The filter is a new filter I put in in the spring, but it's been going for over a month now, and still doesn't seem to change anything. Another strange thing, is that my smaller pump only pumps maybe 1/4 to 1/10th of what the larger one pumps, but that filter has not needed cleaning ONCE in the more than a month that the pumps have been back on.
The pic below is what the pond looked like last September. I would be open to any ideas - Thanks!
Last summer and fall, I would need to clean my 12"x12" filter for my 5500gpm pump roughly every 7-10 days. Since I have turned the pump back on in in the spring, it only takes about 8 HOURS for the filter to get clogged with a thick dark green slime. I had an algea bloom after I changed the water, which lasted a couple weeks - I assumed that was why the filter was clogging so fast - but it has cleared up to CRYSTAL clear about a week ago, and still I am changing the filter every 8-10 hours.
Any ideas for why the pump filter has gone from 7-10 days to 8-10 hours between cleaning between now and last fall? The filter is a new filter I put in in the spring, but it's been going for over a month now, and still doesn't seem to change anything. Another strange thing, is that my smaller pump only pumps maybe 1/4 to 1/10th of what the larger one pumps, but that filter has not needed cleaning ONCE in the more than a month that the pumps have been back on.
The pic below is what the pond looked like last September. I would be open to any ideas - Thanks!
