Water changes in winter!

[CliffandJoann]

Hi Koikeeper, Ok, I'll explain it in more detail.
Firstly, let me address what the doc said, about dense water on the bottom with
solids that build up. We do not get any solids that build up on the bottom of our pond because of the bottom drain....
Our entire bottom is slightly tilted towards the bottom drain. The waste/solids naturally get sucked
through the bottom drain.

We lay the hose on the bottom of the pond and turn it on full force. This also helps push any solids
that are there through the bottom drain. He also moves the hose around a bit,
allowing the water to whip around.(the hose actually whips
around like a snake) :fish2: The fish absolutely love it.

Before I go any furthur, we do not vacuum our main pond
ever...(we have a dog leg section that we vacuum only once in early spring) We also never empty
the water out of our pond, as some do every spring.

As far as the water changes are concerned...I asked Cliff this morning
how much water he changes in a week, and he said it depends in the season.
In the summer when it's hot he changes more. He also said that this past season, he
cut the water changes to about 4 times a week, unless the weather was hot, then
he did it more frequently.

When he lays the hose in the bottom, and runs the water in full force, the water
on top of the pond spills over into the ground in several areas around the pond where it is low.
Thus, if he's adding in 100 gallons of water 100 is spilling out. As I said previously, our pond bottom is always clean,
so it is not necessary for us to
remove the water from the bottom by vacuuming the water out,
or siphoning it out with a hose.

This is what the bottom of the pond looks like.

There are many ways to achieve a healthy and clean pond, this is just our way.
I realize ponds that don't have bottom drains, the cleaning and water changes
are approached differently.
There are other things that we do differently than other pond/koi keepers.
I'll save any furthur discussion on how we do our
pond maintenance for another time, if you're interested..

Joann

 

[DrDave]

The overflow explains how an exchange is performed, thanks for sharing.

 

[CliffandJoann]

This was the photo I wqs looking for and just found.
This is the deep section of the pond 3 1/2 feet deep.

The koi dug all the pepples and rocks out from the lily pots.
Cliff put a milk crate over the bottom drain with a pot on top
to help keep the rocks from clogging up the drain, until he
could go in and shovel out the rocks. :fish2:

We have since
come up with a solution to them digging in the pots.

This is the 2 1/2 foot section

 

[CliffandJoann]

Thank you Doc Dave.

 

[koikeepr]

nice pond and nice fish.

I concur with Dr. Dave. That is true water change for sure. If water is fully exiting the pond, then that's a water change. I sometimes do the same thing by sheer accident a couple of times per year--I throw the hose in and inevitable forget about it and the water just runs down my slope. Poof! I've got a water change.

 

[DrDave]

I just used my TDS EZ Meter for the first time, readings are in PPM, I did 5 tests including home drinking and tap water:
Tap = 419
Filtered = 390
Bottled = 45
Tank = 405
Pond = 547

Dodad;
If you are watching, please give your analysis, the pond appears to need several water exchanges to get it at least closer to the tap water readings.
There should be almost no salt influencing the pond since I only salted it once 2 years ago.













;

 

[koikeepr]

I find it interesting how different the tap and bottled are!

 

[DrDave]

I wonder if the bottled is filtered through RO?

 

[koikeepr]

I'm sure DoDad could tell us. Where the heck is DoDad?? Must be hibernating before he gets ready to fill his belly with turkey!

 

[pebcpa]

Nice pond and fish CliffandJoann!

 

[CliffandJoann]

Thank you Koikeeper and pebcpa.