Water chemistry questions

[Matt24]

... Have any good methods for netting them? They can move pretty good. Was going to try a seine net to try and confine to one side.

I find it easiest to net koi at night. I use a head-lamp and a net (preferably with a black frame) with a long pole. Advantages are that the koi can't see the net coming, and you don't have any glare from the sun or bright sky. Now the koi can still feel the net moving in the water. So moving the net slowly can help.

[aquaholic]

What pH do you run this pond at,if you would consider using Oyster shells, if the edges were not sharp?

I've been spoilt with cheap - sometimes free - coral bones and coral rubble/chunks but I have used oyster shell before which is mostly calcium carbonate as well. For oyster shell, I place into nylon mesh bags but it erodes much faster and into slivers which get carried off - possibly jamming water pumps or injuring inquisitive fish. Chicken grit would work too but seems messy.

I keep an eye on how much coral gets eroded and replenish accordingly. My pH isn't monitored religiously, anything in blue (over 7 pH) is fine. I don't bother trying to determine exact value.

Even with coral or oyster shell, biofilm reduces the efficiency so don't get too complacent.

[coolwon]

I've been spoilt with cheap - sometimes free - coral bones and coral rubble/chunks but I have used oyster shell before which is mostly calcium carbonate as well. For oyster shell, I place into nylon mesh bags but it erodes much faster and into slivers which get carried off - possibly jamming water pumps or injuring inquisitive fish. Chicken grit would work too but seems messy.

I keep an eye on how much coral gets eroded and replenish accordingly. My pH isn't monitored religiously, anything in blue (over 7 pH) is fine. I don't bother trying to determine exact value.

Even with coral or oyster shell, biofilm reduces the efficiency so don't get too complacent.

I take it your pH is around 7 pH, and you don't supplement with bicarb, to buffer the water pH to raise the possibility of a pH crash?

[aquaholic]

I have several digital pH meters and multiple API pH test kits.
I only calibrate my digital meters annually but generally my pH is around 7.8 pH.

I hate playing with water chemistry artificially but when I do need to add Sodium Bicarbonate, I add the same amount of gypsum at the same time to prevent pH dropping back after the initial rise. Both bought as powder and dissolved before spread slowly and evenly.

The main objective is to ensure my bio filtration is keeping up with my high stocking rate and heavy feeding regime.

[fbm482]

HI Folks,
Thanks for all the help with the issues I was having and educating me on proper water conditons.

Thought would give an update since I added baking soda a few weeks ago.

PH fluctuates between 7.8 - 8.2 depending on time of day.
Ammonia 0-.25
Nitrite - 0
Phosphate - went from 1/2 to 0
KH - 7/8
GH - 3
Nitrates -0

I still have to unload some fish,

I have two one plastic formed pond where water feeds into that drops into a larger one and that waterfalls into a the 15'x8" pond.

The middle pond is where the string algae forms and there is this light weight like dust that accumulates. I've drained it down and sucked all of it out but it comes back
.
I'm assuming this is the Koi waste that makes it way through the filter as there is no media capable of catching it? (Alpha 1 system with bio media)
I don't recall ever having this issue with algae until the number of fish increased.

I've been trying to think of a good way to catch the fish ahead of time and put in another container or small pond for a night , but would probably need some type of filtration. Maybe I'll drop into middle pond after I clean it out again.

-Frank

[kdh]

[fly4koi]

Your biomechanical would get rid of the large debris to a certain degree, ideally you want bottom drain with a sieve before the pump, otherwise the pump is just gonna pulverize the poo but they still get processed and debris will clump up and get filtered out eventually. Some people use a pool sand filter with glass beads to polish the water, I haven't gotten to replace mine so I can't report back on the effect, but supposedly that's what zoos use for mechanical filtering. I'd re-test the nitrate, there's a very specific procedure to get correct measurement, I never trust results with 0.

[fbm482]

I've tested a few times and the color is yellow but wil test agaiinn. (I've been testing on a reg basis and recording the values)

The API test case I'm using has you add drops from bottle one, then you shake bottle 2 for 30 seconds, add to test tube, can and shake for 60 seconds to see value)

[fly4koi]

It should be shake bottle 1, add to tube, shake tube, shake bottle 2, add to tube, shake tube, wait for color to develop.

[fbm482]

[fly4koi]

what's step 3?

[fbm482]

I completely agree!

[fly4koi]

Let us know if that make any difference, do you have a lot of plant to consume the nitrogen?

[fbm482]

tested again today same result.....is zero nitrate level a bad thing?

There's a bunch of algae that I had been trying to keep up with...it grows pretty fast.
about a month or so ago I had drained this pond and sucked up all the muck and algae.

This is a picture of the middle pond that feeds into the larger pond...there are no fish in it.

.

[fly4koi]

0 nitrate is great, I would just rake out the algae floating at the top of the pond, that's a great way to remove nitrogen out of the water system, and if you have string algae in the bottom probably find a rake to twist them like spaghetti and remove them to manage.

[fbm482]

Thanks, have learned a lot from you and others who have taken the time to offer help.
I can see the cycle here, bacteria converts ammonia to nitritel, another type of bacteria converts the nitrite into nitrate.

I've read as per your post that algae and other plants wil consume nitrate, which appears to be what's happening here.
I wish I had tested years ago just to see what was going on.
I've always had water hyacinth in the pond to the point where it really took off...it would fill that middle pond and you could see that it was filtering the dirt and debris in its roots. Which Koi like to eat btw.

But based on all that's been happening this summer its clear that I need to offload a bunch of fish and get it back down to a small subset as soon it will be tiime to shut down the filter and drain the two ponds down which will probably result in excess ammonia. Although they typically slow down and stop eating for the winter.
I'd feel better about their well being if there were less in there, easier to manage and safer for them.

[fly4koi]

Technically the plants prefer ammonia over nitrate but that's another long conversation, anyhow, having them consuming the nitrogen and removing the plant material out of the water periodically is a good way to keep up the water quality.