waiting for spring.................from a fishes point of view

[CountryEscape]

I agree with you, Addy. I think I had about 10 goldfish, and now there are about 19. I counted 30 fish yesterday, and 11 of them are Koi. Still loving the tiny baby goldie. Tri colored, not sure if short or long finned, but always swimming and searching for food.

 

[addy1]

Lol country we had 4 at the beginning of the summer. They love to procreate.

 

[kougs]

I would love to have what you've got but my water is so murky. Wouldn't be able to see the fish unless they swam right by the camera. I'm jealous and sad. Awesome setup.

 

[addy1]

It took some time, when I first put in the higher flow pump, instead of our trickle pump (we had a very low flow pump running while I worked on the pond and bog the first summer) The fine dirt from the pea gravel washed out into the pond. I set up a fines filter (sort of like fishin's filter build), I put quilt batting, ac filter pads, door screening, ran that for 3 days with a low flow pump. That cleared the water right up. Have that barrel filter just sitting in my parts department if ever needed again, lol.
It has not been murky since, my bog/up flow gravel filter/ plant filter whatever you want to call it does a great job with keeping the water clear and the water tests perfect.

It is getting a little fine floaters now, seen at night when the lights are on, but I have not been running a filter for over a month. During the day the water still looks crystal clear. The water tests are still perfect.
When it rains it tends to stir the pond up a little then it takes a few days to settle back out again, without the filter running.

 

[CountryEscape]

Addy, you never added any fish besides the 4 that were in your pond this spring? WOW! Then those little buggers were really busy. LOL
I'm thrilled that my pond has remained crystal clear still. I am leaving mine up and running until another weekend, then will look at the weather and make the decision of shut it down for winter, or leave it going. Even though the fish are toward the bottom for the most part, I can see each and every one of them.
I still have those two small koi that lost their red coloration this summer, about a month or so after I got them, and still never colored back up. I got 7 koi from the same breeder, and the others have not lost any of their color. Some thought maybe the hot weather caused it, but I know it could have been lots of things. It's pretty much white now, and used to be tri-colored, and that was why I chose it. Oh well, you never know about color, if it will stay or not, so we shall see what happens come spring and warmer temps. Maybe it will return to it's full color pattern then.

 

[addy1]

lol country, did add some fish from wallie world, about 1.5 inch in size, that was mid summer, not sure if they bred or not. They were changing out their tanks, got the fish for around 20 cents a piece. Then added the rescue fish towards the end of the year, the egg bound ones died.

The big white one is the primary mama, she got chased a lot.

This is how the water looked when I first fired it up in the spring after the summer build the year before. Then I built and used one of fishin's barrel filters with a lot of filtering stuff to get rid of fine junk



The water after the fines filtering, that far wall is round 15 - 20 feet away.

 

[sissy]

I'm thinking winter is going to be spring so what is spring going to be .I use the quilt batting only thing I found that gets rid of all the fine gunk and can be washed several times and then I leave it dry rip it up and birds take some and deer take the rest .I find soaking it in peroxide really helps kill the algae off ,every time i clean it I pour water in a barrel with peroxide soak it and then rinse it off and put it back in the filter .

 

[kougs]

Addy, I looked a fishin's filter build and is very similar to my setup. Only thing that I don't have is the quilt batting. That may be the missing Ingredient to capture that fine stuff that is clouding my water.

I love this forum. I think I've said that before. lots and lots of kewl and useful information.

Peace out!!

kougs

 

[addy1]

I used it just for the 3 days, it did the work of clearing up that fine pea gravel dust. Have not used it since. The quilt batting will clog up, so have it where you can get it out easily. Also I made a window screen pocket to put it in so I could just rinse it easily, or get a zipper mesh bag, laundry bag, old bulb bag. ow that stuff goes everywhere.

 

[sissy]

quilt batting I get at walmart and is around 8 dollars for king size ,I cut it up and fold it nice and neat in the filter so it is easy to remove and put in the barrel with some pond water and peroxide to clean it and then put it back in the filter.Nice fine stuff to pick up all the little nasty in the summer i rinse it every 2 days .I put 2 large bags of oyster shells in each filter .The bags are the fine green ones from the dollar store ,3 for a dollar .

 

[sissy]

I have never had my quilt batting break apart and float around but I just lay it on top of my filter and lay the hose from the filter on top of it .It does clog up fast at first but after a month of using it the fine stuff is mostly gone .I use mine all the time .The screen bag is a good idea though .

 

[addy1]

When I was using it under the bog water fall in the laundry basket, I did have some float away. So started putting it into netting. The birds do love it for making nests.
In the barrel filter, it prob would have been fine to leave it as it was, but I just stuck it into the netting to contain it.

 

[sissy]

Ok I guess with the force of the water it would break up faster .My dear use it when they have there babes .I put bales of straw in the woods for them for winter and spring but i guess they like soft .

 

[CountryEscape]

Sissy, you are providing bedding for the deer? How nice of you. I think you should make them up a nice quilt for their babies, too. I've never been so nice to leave bales of straw for the wildlife critters. Bet you get lots of them in your area, providing that kind of niceness for them. How great is that?! Just ask your deer.
I suspect the bits of the batting that broke off might have been helped along by birds trying to break off pieces for their nests. I have the quilt batting in my basement pool filter box on top (where the water kind of goes through it before flowing over the edge) and also in the laundry basket to filter the water before it is returned into the pool. Crystal clear water so far. I've not cleaned or rinsed it out yet, but glad to hear that the peroxide helps kill the algae. I mostly have dirt so far, with no direct sunlight maybe won't have to worry about algae. How much peroxide do you use to rinse it with, Sissy? And, I assume you buy it in bulk if you rinse it that often? Dollar store a good place to buy it in larger quantities (peroxide I'm referring to here)?

 

[addy1]

I buy it at costco, one liter around a dollar something.