Topic: Help-Filter advice

[Ishard]

Why do you have to work out your flow rate before you do any water changes?

The motor actually gives out as its always stressed with all the airlines in. I 'allow' 2 of mine to just pump out air with no tubes on, and it hisses a bit but works fine :)

No, no, no, the reason you take out the air lines in winter is because cold water holds more dissolved oxygen (O2) than warm water, not because we don't want to disturb the bottom of the pond.

Water Temperature (F/C) Saturation (mg/l) Koi Safe dissolved oxygen Levels
0/32--  14.6---10.9
5/41--  12.8-- 9.5
10/50 --11.3-- 8.5
12/53-- 10.7-- 8.0
15/59-- 10.1--- 7.6
18/64 ---9.4--- 7.0
20/68--- 9.1--- 6.8
23/73 ---8.6--- 6.5
25/77--- 8.3--- 6.2
28/82--- 7.8--- 5.9
30/86--- 7.6 ---5.7
32/89--- 7.3--- 5.5


The air that you would be adding is colder than the water and we don't want to cool the water anymore than it is already is as koi are polykathermic.

Take out the airlines and try to return water UNDER the surface of the water (add extra length of pipe) so that the air temp doesn't super cool the water.

In fact if the water flow doesn't disturb the bottom of the pond we get pathogens, and that isn't good for the fish when they have a low immune system.

Hope this helps

Jackie

[Andy H]

Jackie, I have gone all confused again!!!

The flow rate was for the hose so that I knew what time to turn the hose off after it had put in 200 gals so I could add correct amount of dechlor.

The colder air pumped into pond makes sense so at what temp/time of year do I turn the air pump off?

Take out the airlines and try to return water UNDER the surface of the water (add extra length of pipe) so that the air temp doesn't super cool the water.
We dont get really cold temps but I was guessing that the flowing water stopped the surface freezing?

The saturation bit has confused me though(can you add too much air)?

Would a 1 foot fall of water add that much cold? compared to say a 4ft venturi?

A venturi is still adding cold air(I would guess probably more than I 1ft water drop)

assuming a big deep venturi would work due to lack of gravity fed pressure?

I don`t think I could even start to guess at saturation levels as I haven`t the faintest idea on how to start looking at it and my brain holds no space for the computations!

Andy

[Ishard]

Morning Andy

Duh me! I make my dechlor from crystals, 1 teaspoon per 4 pint milk carton and never measure the amount of dilution I put in the pond cos you cant overdose it so I forgot that most people measure it, Sorry.  :-[

Yes to a certain amount the flowing water would indeed prevent the ice crystals packing together on the surface of the pond, however, just imagine that the pond surface freezes over when you are asleep one night and the pump is still taking water from under the ice and returning it on top of the ice on the surface?
The koi will soon have no water.
I have known that to happen to some people but generally they have smaller ponds.

I don't return the water to my pond below the surface for that reason as I know my pond and it wont freeze generally in our winters. I do it cos I want the water to have less exposure to the air temp as I can.

I have never used a ventura but anything that adds cold air to the water is bad news for cooling. I have in the past bypassed any waterfalls with long pipes and several elbow joints.
Because of the design of your pond you can also cover most of it to keep it that bit warmer and if it's black material you cover it with you then grab as much warmth as you can.
Koi don't need the light as they do in the summer as they are in torpor.  The colours on the koi, especially the red (hi), will fade a little but will come back in the summer and the light.

Turn the O2 pump off when you stop feeding.

Most ponds and the depth we have don't cause a problem with O2 saturation so no in your pond its fine. Unless you take the pond water from a well more than 10m deep.  ;)

 I only put that table there so you could see that there are formulae for working out the optimum O2 levels and temps.

Remember I said only take the information that is relevant to you and ignore the rest.  ;) ;D

Hope this helps

Jackie

[wetandcold]

Wow! And there's me getting stressed because I couldn't spot any baby newts yesterday!

Does the relaxation / enjoyment provided by the keeping of Koi outweigh the apparent stress and complexities of keeping them?  :)

[Ishard]

Oh most certainly it does  ;D

The water jewels that are koi are so wonderful to see.  ;D

Andy only needs to get this right the first season then everything is done automatically and isnt stressfull at all.

Then because his koi will live longer he can be more picky as to which koi he keeps.
 Some people just have traditional red and white coloured koi but there is a whole world of colour to choose from.  ;)

Besides if you dont learn you die.  :D

[wetandcold]

Sounds good but I think I'll just stick to my pond-skaters and diving beetles! :)

[Andy H]

I was thinking dechlor was pretty strong stuff at 10ml per 100 gallons so I worked out 2mins 45 secs is 5 gallons, took out 200 from chamber one(5 mins)!!!

I dont think we get cold enough to freeze, it did once and the ice sheet covered most of the pond but not where the water went in. I didnt think running water froze unless stupidly cold? Have seen frozen water falls on glaciers in canada and Alaska.

Not a problem though cos the settlement tank level drops and the pump cuts off when the pond drops a foot.

Some people feed all year as we did once but now we stop when water drops below 10c. Is there any benefit of feeding wheatgerm in winter?

Haven`t really noticed the red fade in winter. That is the first colour you lose whn scuba diving till I turn my torch on of course!

And before someone asks... No I have never got kitted up and jumped in with the Koi although I thought about it to check state of pond and fish ;D
At that depth I could probably sit on the bottom for about 6 hrs taking pics and feeding them!  I took a can of sweetcorn diving this year to feed the fish on a wreck and when I got down about 100ft the can had crushed under the pressure! :o

Are there any normal household foods veggies etc that are dangerous to Koi or the other fish?

They love an orange now and then...

[Andy H]

Also, duckweed grows and there is now some in settlement chamber...

Can it end up in the filters and pond or will it stay where it is?

I don`t mind it in there but don`t really want a whole layer on the pond surface.

[Ishard]

Hi Andy  :)

Koi are polykathermic which means their body temp is that of the surrounding water and as the water gets colder so the koi system starts to slow down and they cant then digest food so it just sits in the intestines and rots so causing gasses which expand and eventually burst the intestines and kills the koi.
 Koi don't have stomachs they have small intestine tubes only so there isn't the expansion room for the gasses.

So the short answer is, no, don't feed your koi anything in the winter.  :D

I use wheatgerm food all year round as there is enough protein in it to keep the koi growing slowly but it doesn't spike your water perams too much if you over feed.
I do use high protein food when the koi are sick in the quarantine tank or they are babies, but neither of these are in the main pond.

The red (hi) on koi fade if the pond is covered fully in winter, it will soon return as you unwrap the pond and allow daylight at it. The koi are in torpor so don't need the light.

Lucky you being able to scuba I would love to but I'm just too scared. And I would get in with my koi  ;)

The only food I know that is actually dangerous for koi is white bread as the flour to get it white contains bleaching agents, but that doesn't mean there aren't any foods that are dangerous just that I don't know of any.
I wouldn't feed greasy stuff or pastry or fresh fish cos of passing on diseases etc.

Please see the list of things I know koi eat on a previous post, page 2.

Carp in Malaysia are kept in pits under houses and the food scraps are dropped into the pits to feed them, then when big enough the carp in their turn are eaten by the family.

http://www.carp.net/recipe.htm    ;)

That stupid duckweed will eventually get through to your pond, it always does, so scoop it out now if you can.  ;D

Hope this helps

Jackie
 

[Andy H]

Thanks for all your help on this subject. Sorted it all out today I hope.


This was how it was and added advice from links to koi site and did this.

So far so good and I hope it works....


://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/beckyandy/filter003.jpg[/IMG]
and in the 2nd chamber I did this





fingers crossed that the toxin levels stay low and the water clear!!!

[Andy H]

pictures didn`t post in order...

[Andy H]

Oh well, chamber 1 works great as static K1 but chamber 2 was not moving around enough, altered the air by adding tubes with holes in and bubbles great.

blocked the weir from chamber 2 to 3 and put holes in, filled chamber 2 with K1 and started pump. Alas it blocked up and over flowed!!! New modification today should solve it.



K1 held down by perspex removed and replaced with something similar to this across the weir but it blocked up.

[Andy H]

So I changes it all today and it seems to work! few lessons learnt and drilled a hole in thumb in the process and got stern looks from wife for spending too much time on pond rather than allotment!!!

[Andy H]

Thanks Ishard for your help and pointing me to koi quest for further assistance.

What name do you use on that site?