Kenny the Koi said:
I am not sure how many of us are really qualified to break down the science of microbes here.
I thought that this would be more of a question just based on experinece. Surely some koi ponds are on a timer womewher out there - be them in restaurants, or other places that don't have 24-7 admireres.
I have a simple sytem wher my pump takes the water in, and then I split the flow between one feed underwater, and my waterfall (otherwise the water flow was overwhelming out of the water fall).
I was just thinnkningabout saving 10-20% of the energy I use every month with a simple timer.
Oh you want experiences instead of speculation, LOL. My pond has been on a timer from the start. I have goldies, not koi, but everybody here is talking about bacteria. I never actually made a decision to put the pond on a timer. When we moved here there was a small water garden, and the pump was on a timer since no one watched the waterfall at night. When I built a new pond and put in some goldfish, keeping the pump running all the time never crossed my mind. For the first 9 months, I had a little filter box in the water. When I finally built my flowerpot filter, I was concerned about the media drying out overnight. I break the siphon with a T with the top open where the water goes down to the swirler, and I checked to make sure the filter wasn't leaking. It held water, so I have continued running on the timer 12 hours on, 12 off.
My pond is only 100 gallons and is badly overstocked since my 8 goldfish are now averaging about five inches instead of the < 1 inch of last spring. (I'm building the new pond, but it is slow work.) I don't change water as much as I should, vacuum only when I can't stand the sight of the crud, and overfeed, but every water test comes out the same: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, and pH 7.4-7.6. Some microorganisms must be doing their job.
