New pond/koi owner questions

I was so happy to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.


Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!

"chereena" wrote in message
ups.com...
I was so happy to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.
Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!
======================================
Maybe clean them more often, before they get so bad they gross you out. The
last people may not have cleaned them for ages knowing they were moving.
You also have to option of switching to a different type of filter.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Reel McKoi wrote:

"chereena" wrote in message
ups.com...
I was so happy to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.
Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!
======================================
Maybe clean them more often, before they get so bad they gross you out.
The last people may not have cleaned them for ages knowing they were
moving. You also have to option of switching to a different type of filter.

Whatsamatter Carol, nobody talking to you on RPM?

Thank you. Any suggestions on type of filter? It's actually not the
grossness that's the problem. It's the fact that I could barely lift
them and had a back ache for days.


On Apr 12, 6:14 pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:


ups.com...I was so happy to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.
Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!

======================================
Maybe clean them more often, before they get so bad they gross you out. The
last people may not have cleaned them for ages knowing they were moving.
You also have to option of switching to a different type of filter.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

"chereena" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you. Any suggestions on type of filter? It's actually not the
grossness that's the problem. It's the fact that I could barely lift
them and had a back ache for days.
=================================
You would probably have to look at the type that's backflushed. I can't
suggest any as I'm still using my old Tetra Filters. I pull out the filter
pads and hose them off. The blocks (from under the filter pads) stay in the
filters and I hose them down. A tube is put over the outflow and directed
to the lawn where the crud goes. You need to ask this on
rec.ponds.moderated as there are many people there much more knowledgable
about pond filters than I am.

All of our other filters are home made and only the filter pads are hosed
off. The filters themselves are cleaned out once a year - in the fall
before they're put up for the winter.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
ISP: Hughes.net
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

I think Hozelock Cyprio products are distributed in the USA - in which
case you might check out their new Saturn Booster pre-filter which is
claimed to reduce filter cleaning dramatically and also increases fish
stocking levels:

http://www.bradshawsdirect.co.uk/Bra...t/HZSATURN.htm

Stan

In article .com,
chereena wrote:

Thank you. Any suggestions on type of filter? It's actually not the
grossness that's the problem. It's the fact that I could barely lift
them and had a back ache for days.


On Apr 12, 6:14 pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:


ups.com...I was so happy
to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.
Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!

======================================
Maybe clean them more often, before they get so bad they gross you out. The
last people may not have cleaned them for ages knowing they were moving.
You also have to option of switching to a different type of filter.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Yep, they can be contacted at:

Hozelock Cyprio LLC
961 Bethel Avenue
Pennsauken, NJ



1-800-678-8844 (IIRC this is correct toll free)

www.hozelock.com



I hjad heard and read about the Saturn, but have no experieince with
it. I have thought about getting ahold of one to try, but none of the
pond supply dealers have had iot in stock or coud they then at that
time shed any more info on it, and it sort of got pushed on the back
burner, since I do not really have filter clogging problems as
such......but its of interest just the same to me.......


On Sun, 06 May 2007 17:32:23 +0000, Stan The Man
wrote:

I think Hozelock Cyprio products are distributed in the USA - in which
case you might check out their new Saturn Booster pre-filter which is
claimed to reduce filter cleaning dramatically and also increases fish
stocking levels:

http://www.bradshawsdirect.co.uk/Bra...t/HZSATURN.htm

Stan

In article .com,
chereena wrote:

Thank you. Any suggestions on type of filter? It's actually not the
grossness that's the problem. It's the fact that I could barely lift
them and had a back ache for days.


On Apr 12, 6:14 pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:


ups.com...I was so happy
to find this group and read some of your past posts.
Thanks for being here!

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.
Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!

======================================
Maybe clean them more often, before they get so bad they gross you out. The
last people may not have cleaned them for ages knowing they were moving.
You also have to option of switching to a different type of filter.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

please sign up for rec.ponds.moderated or go here to get to it
http://www.greatnowhere.com/ there are people there in Seattle can help you.

algae should not be scraped off a pond. dont use algae chemicals.
how big is your pond? any idea how many gallons?

rather than filters I use a veggie filter with plants. I only clean the filter once
a year in fall with a shop vac.

describe your filters.

is the water green? how much are the koi fed per day? describe the pond, are there
rocks on the bottom? is this a concrete or liner type pond?

Ingrid

"chereena" wrote:
I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.


Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!



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Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

My bottom pond is 2000 gallons and the top pond is a few hundred. The
water goes through both, but the pumps and two filters are in the
bottom one. The big barrel with the filters is outside. I bought
algae-eating snails to help with the algae. The filters are some kind
of poly fiber that looks like a loofa sponge and they weigh a ton when
they are full of water.

The water is clear and I am feeding the fish in the morning, just a
spring food that is very light.

It's a liner pond with a rubber liner.

Don't you have to clean all the water out to shop vac?




On Apr 14, 6:46 am, wrote:
please sign up for rec.ponds.moderated or go here to get to ithttp://www.greatnowhere.com/ there are people there in Seattle can help you.

algae should not be scraped off a pond. dont use algae chemicals.
how big is your pond? any idea how many gallons?

rather than filters I use a veggie filter with plants. I only clean the filter once
a year in fall with a shop vac.

describe your filters.

is the water green? how much are the koi fed per day? describe the pond, are there
rocks on the bottom? is this a concrete or liner type pond?

Ingrid

I bought a house with a koi pond in Seattle and the owner left me two
adult fish
and some very rudimentary instructions. Today I put some algae
chemicals in the pond and attempted to clean the giant filters in the
barrel. Wondering .....

Is there any less disgusting way to clean out the filters? I had
pond scum all over me by the time I was finished. He put the barrel
in a place that I have to drag or carry the filters quite a ways and
when they are full of scum they are very heavy.

Any suggestions or help offered is greatly appreciated!

Your top pond sounds as though it could serve as a veggie filter.
Does it have 10% the surface of the lower pond? That is the
recommended minimum for a veggie filter.

If you have good root systems up there, moderate depth and a modest
flow through, you will collect muck up there and could shop vac it
out.

Jim