31
Koi Lover
Sep 21, 2005, 10:58 AM
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Hi everyone. just afew questions. Had old pond with liner for about ten years,decided to redo to correct problems,was ok but not best with some koi. Anyhow, new pond hard plastic 4x8x2 500 gallons,Aqua 25 watt light, Aqua 2000 bio filter with Sequence 2.8 amp pump, all 1 1/2 fittings. Ran for 3 weeks with 5 3-4 inch koi and waterlilly from old pond. Moss grew right away fish seem fine. Question, should I backwash filter or not right away. Got anxious and bought 12" koi. Seemed fine for first 24 hours today lots of bubbles and smells a little fishy. So I drained some water and replaced. I know you folks like to test water but was advised I didnt need to , person seemed to think not to accurate with test kits. Kois seem a litt sluggish today. What do you think? Thanks in advance. 31
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Re: [31] new pond
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. Not testing your water (very often anyway) is fine for a well established pond, but new ones have to be watched like a hawk until they are in top condition. At 500 gallons your pond has a carrying capacity of 50" of fish AFTER the biofilter is working at 100% efficiency. You now have nearly that much and your filter media has just barely had enough time to get off to a slow start
. The fishy smell is likely the result of ammonia buildup and the bubbles indicate ammonia and protein scum. Backflush your filter (with pond water) as it is likely plugged with detrius, do another 20% water change, add some barley balls to help reduce ammonia buildup in the short term, and buy a better test kit than the one your friend doesn't trust
. Also, reduce feeding to small portions once per day as it will reduce fish waste. A trickling overflow water exchange would probably be a good idea (very slow surface mist) to help flush protein scum off the top and dilute contaminates in the water for a few weeks. 