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| In the spirit of continued newbie mistakes, I've found out that I chose an undersized filter.
I have a 1067 gallon pond (did the calculations last night) with 3 koi and 2 shubunkins. I thought that the filter I bought could handle up to 1200 gallons. On reading the fine print, I had an oh sh*t moment and realized it is 1200 gallons for a water garden and ONLY 500 gallons for a koi pond. I do have 3 waterfall boxes....one has a 950 gph pump attached to it and the other 2 share a 2400 gph pump. The 950 gph box has some bio balls and a coarse black filter pad in it. The other two waterfall boxes have some bio balls in them. What can I do to enhance the filtration in the waterfall boxes so that my pond has adequate filtration for it's fish load? Okay...and just to see if I'm getting the filtration stuff down let me say this...I think that I will have adequate biological filtration but the mechanical filtration is most likely insufficient. Please correct me if this statement is wrong...I'm still learning!! :-) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jennyb5149 (My Page) on Wed, May 26, 10 at 11:36
| one other note. I bought some heavy duty black grate that I will cut to fit into the top of the waterfall boxes. I bought a bunch of impatiens to set into the grate. I know this will help with biological filtration but what about mechanical??? |
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- Posted by chrisbuck1 Arlington, VA (My Page) on Wed, May 26, 10 at 13:45
| Hi Jenny... I'm not an expert. Actually new to the pond/waterfall since March, when I "rescued" 4 Koi and built a pond and waterfall in my backyard. I assume you are going to add more fish. It seems like a very big pond for only 5 fish. My pond has 8 Koi and 2 goldfish and it is 250-300 gallons. I have 3 filters going but I'm going to take one small one out now that I've added a larger one at the top of my waterfall. I don't have a waterfall box/filter system but I have a "Tetra PF - 1 Biofilter (for Ponds Up to 1200gal) " and I have 1/2 of my water fall supply going thru that and then feeding a rock bed where I have planted an elephant ear plant and then the water continues to the water fall. My nitrigen/ammonia levels are always at the lowest measurement. Get a test kit to measure the levels. Since I got some of the filter/pump equipment along with the fish, it isn't exactly what I would go out and buy but it works. |
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| In my waterfall box, I have the filter itself in the botttom and 2 large mesh media bags. In one bag, I have a LOT of body scrubbies that I removed the little rope from and opened them up and stuffed them in along with about 30 bioballs, the other one is full of pots and pan scrubbers. So far, it has worked great and I use it as my biofilter. Everytime I go to the store, I buy a few more, rinse off and stuff them the bags too. The skimmer on the opposite end of the pond, which has a removable basket and filter is used as my mechanical filter. |
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| Chris, you are away over stocked with that fish load in a pond with 250/300 gallons of water. I hate to say it but you are not doing those fish a favour by having them all crammed together in such a small pond. They will never reach their potential size. Take a look at the information link below about fish stocking rates. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Fish stocking rates
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- Posted by chrisbuck1 (My Page) on Thu, May 27, 10 at 19:24
| So I haven't done the calc in size it is roughly 6x9 and 2-3 feet deep with a 20 foot waterfall/stream I was going to stop at 6 koi but coworker who has had fish for years told me I was good adding more. I'm learning here also I test amonia and nitrate level about every other day they r always 0 or undetectable in color chart. I will continue to monitor thx |
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| Thanks for the link, Horton. I'd been wondering how I was doing as far as fish. Now I know and I feel better. |
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