Advice for small pond owners
Before I build up a head of steam here let me preface this article by saying that I have the utmost respect for talented pond builders. Like anything involving craftsmanship, this work is a true art form and many happy pond owners can attest to this fact. So thank you to the pond builders, designers, and landscapers who bring more beauty into our world!
OK, with that lovey-dovey stuff out of the way, let’s get into the nitty gritty of all this.
Last Saturday we experienced some of the hottest weather I’ve seen in a good while. The thermometer read a toasty 104 degrees around noon time while we checked out the local farmers market. Needless to say the crowd wasn’t quite as big as usual.
For just about everyone out there that day it was brutal stuff. And this got me thinking about fish.
You and I can pretty much get out of this weather when necessary, but fish are kind of stuck to deal with it. And while heat won’t necessarily hurt them low oxygen certainly will. Once things heat up, and they stay warm for a few days it’s not at all uncommon to find pond water temps well over 80 degrees and it’s right around that point that the capacity of the water to hold dissovled oxygen will drop dramatically.
In a small pond, you may see your fish hanging tight around any waterfall area. You may see them gasping at the surface while they try to pick up any amount of DO that they can in a last ditch effort to survive. They may get lethargic, much like you and I would if we are oxygen deprived. And in a worst case scenario, you may find them dying or dead.
There’s no question that the Pond Fresh Dechlorinating filter is a handy tool to have around when you’re topping off your pond or filling it up at the start of the season. If you use a municipal water supply, it’s virtually certain that you’ll find some concentration of chlorine or chloramines in the water, and … Read more
On the one hand, it’s great to have happy and healthy fish. This is as it should be if you’re doing a good job at managing your Koi pond. On the other hand, happy and healthy fish are usually really good at making more fish. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
Anyway, this can often pose a bit of a problem for the pond owner.
We know that too many fish in a small pond will cause issues that are very common. Algae, in any form, and this means green water, string algae, hair algae, you name it, will likely appear because of high nutrient loading in the water from the fish waste. If these same nutrients end up getting so high that the natural cleaning and balancing mechanisms in the pond can’t keep up, you could end up seeing an ammonia spike, and this can be deadly for the fish. Neither of these issues are something you really want to deal with.
As many of you know, green water is a common issue in tons of small fish ponds. And one of the best ways I have always suggested to deal with it is with a combination of beneficial pond bacteria and desirable plants. But there’s a problem with this advice, at least where a Koi pond is concerned.
It’s fairly well known and confirmed by many pond owners that Koi fish love to eat almost anything. This includes some of the more desirable pond plants that you’ll find in most water gardens. Lilies, hyacinth, grasses and so on, are often preferred forage material for the usually ravenous Koi. It’s so common an occurrence that many pond owners just assume the you can’t have Koi and plants in the same pond.
But such is not the case…fortunately.
In fact, while most Koi have an insatiable appetite, not all of them will end up eating plants to any great degree. In some cases it may be because they’re more accustomed, happy, and well nourished by traditional fish food. Or perhaps they just haven’t developed a particular taste for the type of plants found in pond. For whatever the reason, it’s simply not a given that Koi will eat your pond plants into oblivion.
But they can…unfortunately.
By the looks of things, there’s a lot of do-it-yourselfers in the world.
A quick look at the stats of my Youtube video on the Skippy DIY pond filter design indicates around 220,000 views since it’s been up and running and it’s popularity is certainly indicative that people want to try some things on their own. I think this is terrific.
The Skippy homemade pond filter is probably the most popular of the lot when it comes to designs you’ll find on the internet. And so that’s where my focus for this article will be, but by and large, what I’m going to discuss will apply to any biofilter in general.
There are some important updates and for no better word, clarifications, that I want to make regarding biofilters and how you can get the best results with them, year after year.
The Simple Design Of A Biofilter
When you look closely at any biofilter they’ll all have a few things in common. And that’s saying a lot when you consider how many of them are found in the pond equipment market these days. In essence though, they work by providing a place good bacteria can set up shop, and also trap or capture various things that you don’t want in your pond. This can range from organic and inorganic material, to unseen fish waste and other elements.