New pond/koi owner questions

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

What the hell are you doing in this group Jim, Ron the ****ing head
man in rpm says this group is dead and needs to be abandoned...Get
the **** back in your group and stay there asshole. You control
freaks are never satisfied are you....bunch of assholes that you all
are.........hipocritesto boot!




On 15 Apr 2007 13:14:20 -0700, "Phyllis and Jim"
wrote:

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




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

This sounds like a very apt description of what is going on because
the water is not as clear as the lower pond. I bought some new koi
last week and that's where I released them because I was afraid they
would get eaten by the others. I need more plant life in the bottom
pond for them to hide in and that's on order too.

Thank you.

On Apr 15, 1:14 pm, "Phyllis and Jim"
wrote:
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

you got the dreaded lava rocks in your filter. dont put in snails. the algae on the
sides of the pond are the best filters in the world. snails are disease
carriers/hosts for fish. not good.

as mentioned, sounds like your upper filter is a veggie filter. put plants in it
bare root and they will clean the water, the roots will make the mulm settle down in
that filter. once a year you turn off the pumps, take a shop vac and simply suck the
mulm out of the upper filter, put the plants back in, top up with treated water and
you are good for another year. you probably wont need the "other" filters as long as
you are in a climate where the plants grow all year.

start removing the lava little by little. bag with shopping backs and put in the
garbage. there is no other use for them. you COULD replace the lava rocks with
bunched up bird netting (unfolded). Ingrid

"chereena" wrote:
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?


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I do not have lava rocks in the pond. There is a rubber liner and 3
plant pots - one I am trying to get out because there's no plant in
it, but it's too heavy.

On Apr 16, 6:04 am, wrote:
you got the dreaded lava rocks in your filter. dont put in snails. the algae on the
sides of the pond are the best filters in the world. snails are disease
carriers/hosts for fish. not good.

as mentioned, sounds like your upper filter is a veggie filter. put plants in it
bare root and they will clean the water, the roots will make the mulm settle down in
that filter. once a year you turn off the pumps, take a shop vac and simply suck the
mulm out of the upper filter, put the plants back in, top up with treated water and
you are good for another year. you probably wont need the "other" filters as long as
you are in a climate where the plants grow all year.

start removing the lava little by little. bag with shopping backs and put in the
garbage. there is no other use for them. you COULD replace the lava rocks with
bunched up bird netting (unfolded). Ingrid

"chereena" wrote:
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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List athttp://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up:http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...w.drsolo.c om
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

"chereena" wrote in message
ups.com...
I do not have lava rocks in the pond. There is a rubber liner and 3
plant pots - one I am trying to get out because there's no plant in
it, but it's too heavy.
=================
The plant may still be dormant. Don't toss it until you're sure the plant is
dead.
--

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

Chereena,

Ingrid is right about lava rocks (lots of surface to start with, soon
clogged). It is good that they are not in your pond. Keep us posted
as to how your veggie filter does once the plants take off. I will be
interested to see if mulm collects in your veggie filter as it does in
ours. You will know by the bottom!

I understand your big pot dilema. We have a lily in a river rock
filled laundry basket that we have debated repotting for a couple of
years. So much work to pull the rocks in the basket. We will
probably pull the lilies and olant irises in the rock. They look
great in our berm barrels and would thrive in the pond as well.

Carol has a point, be sure the pot is empty rather than dormant.

Enjoy! Isn't it nice that ponds can be played with without the world
coming to an end!

Jim