Edward
New User
May 31, 2001, 11:15 AM
Post #6 of 19
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I'm also very new to koi pond. You may want to consider what I've gone through with my new pond.
I've a little pond measuring 9'x 5' which holds about 18" of water. Attached to the pond I've built a small chamber measuring 1'x 3.5' which hold about 2' of water. This chamber was built for the purpose of a vegetable filter. Water is pumped from the pond into the chamber which will overflow as a waterfall back to the pond. When I was building the pond (totally DIY except the digging), I've no idea what type of fish I will be keeping so I don't have any other filter system being built into the pond. My pond is exposed to sunlight all day long.
There is also another small waterfall near the vege filter. I've also a small fountain at the center of the pond. I believe this will provide adequate aeration. To ensure there will be good circulation, the pumps are placed at the opposite end of the vege filter. And, I also have 2 pots of lotus in the pond.
I first tested the pond with 5 local Japanese carps with an average size of 10 cm. When I found them to be OK after 24 hours. I put in 5 koi of an average size of 20 cm.
This is where the fun started. When I woke up the next mroning. My whole pond has turned whitish. I realized the fish must have messed up with the clay/mud of my 2 pots of lotus. I immediately raised the lotus to almost the surface of the water. As I don't have any filtration system, I built a sand filter within the same day to "clean" the water. It was a very simple sand filter. I used a 10 gallon trash bin and 1/2 filled it with some sand, charcoal and filter mats.
The water started to claer up after about 24 hours, and became even clearer the next day. BUT NOW THE WATER STARTED TO TURN GREEN.
I surfed the net to try to find some solutions. After having visited numerous sites, the conclusion is that I have no choice but to live with the green water for a while until my new pond is matured and balance. BTW my pond is less than 2 months old.
After having lived with the green water for a few days, I found that I could not bear with it any longer and decided that I would do it my way.
I now used a 20 gallon cylindrical drum to built a sand filter, and changed the water completely. Guess what the water is still crystal clear even after one week. I believe it is the sand filter that is doing the tricks and I believe it will stay that way.
The lesson I learnt from the above is that, you may not need a complex filter system to ensure water clarity. A sand filter is equally effective. It is inexpensive, easy to build, results are immediate, and so versatile that you can put it any where you like. My sand filter is built with subsequent maintenance in mind.
I hope my long winded message will give you some thought in deciding for a filtration system.
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how many pump do I need? Do I need one to drain the water from the pond and into the filter, then another to get the water from the filter to the pond?