a winter filter

my koi pond is without a good filter for a good 6 months out of the year.
I take my veggie filter out and dont put it back in until April or so
because it is too cold for plants. I let the pea soup algae soak up the
nutrients until my veggie filter is back up and running. I heat my pond
and it stays above 50oF for most of the winter. I feed my koi very little
and no more than once every 3 days or so as long as they are up and
begging. I did get some of that freeze dried krill etc to feed them so
there will be close to zero wastes. BTW, as a side issue, anyone know
where to get those multi test strips the cheapest online?

anyway. so all I got is 1. moss and 2. algae that laugh at winter. but
how can I harness them to clean my water? I think all of us have noticed
that our clear hoses collect algae inside, so I am thinking how about if I
get 100 feet of clear vinyl fish safe hose, like 3/4 inch, and run water
thru it pretty slowly so the algae eats up the wastes? can anybody figure
out how much surface area 5/8 inside diameter x 100 feet would have?

so what I think I can do is either hang it up in big loops on the fence
where it will get sun,
http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/winters/winter.htm
OR, I could lay it on the gravel (now that the snow has melted) where it
would definitely get warmed up.

Next year I can configure some way of looping it over the walkway by
putting up something more likely to hold it, put black ply under it to heat
it up nice, and have it at perfect angle for the sun to hit maximum.

I am thinking about putting a little stepped thing on the back wall of the
pond and seeding it with that nice moss and letting the water trickle down
the back onto the moss. the backing is cedar and non-toxic. the algae
already grows on there lower down.

anyway... any comments? why it wont work, will work. etc?

Ingrid



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