The Answer Prevents Solid waste Matter Building Up In Your Koi Pond

Organic wastes in the biofilter allow heterotrophic bacteria which feed off these wastes to compete with nitrifying bacteria for oxygen and living space. Heterotrophic bacteria grow a lot faster and can present a danger in that they might significantly deprive the nitrifying bacteria of enough oxygen in order to break down dangerous ammonia via the nitrogen cycle, the cycle of aquatic life. The heterotrophic bacteria in turn produce ammonia as a result of their using the organic wastes as an energy source.

Other nasty by products can be formed. This can get seriously complicated. In essence, what happens is that as the heterotrophs break down the organics, the process actually takes place in several steps. At each stage, some of these organics and their by products are dissolved in the pond water. This increases the DOC (dissolved organic content). This leads to more heterotrophs, of which some such as aeromonas and pseudomonas which are pathogens - not something we want at all.

Then we get secondary infestation of ecto parasites which feed off these bacteria. Add some stress to your Koi, and bang! you have an infection/infestation that wipes out half your Koi in zero time. It happens more often that you care to think. A diseased Koi is a sign of a serious problem in your pond, often directly as a result of poor filtration (in itself often a result of bad information/poor understanding of the causes).

A high DOC in itself is not dangerous. The consequences of having a high DOC are.

But it is under anaerobic conditions that organic solids can become really dangerous. Anerobic conditions are a haven for pathogens and are suitable for conditions under which proteins are broken down into toxic substances that can quickly build up to lethal levels. I've said it before and I'll say it again: bad smells have no place in a Koi pond. If you are smelling something disgusting when you are cleaning whatever mechanical filter you are using, you have or shortly will have a big problem. Clean it more regularly!

It should be clear that if the organic solids are removed from a Koi pond, most of the problems associated with them will be removed as well. I started part one of this article by commenting on how much work this is. I see Koi keepers with their arms up to their shoulder digging into their sand filter sand swirling it around to try and dislodge the gunk that attaches itself to the sand - this after a backwash of 15 minutes! Ugh. Sand filters! Not worth the effort, completely aside from the expense of runinng them (electricity guzzling devices - just ask your pump) and the bio hazard they present to your Koi. Yes, you read correctly - bio hazard!

Vortexes are better, but they have to be well designed and meticulously specified to be reasonably effective. They are no where nearly as effective as sand filters in extracting solids however, not that this is a justification to use a sand filter let me hasten to add! Also, the solid material remains to a large extent in intimate contact with the pond water. If left alone for a few days this can represent a significant contribution to the DOC and the consequential pathogen loading in the Koi pond. But vortexes are easier to clean and can be done so relatively quickly.

The Answer solves all solid waste problems. It has been designed to do one thing and one thing only - remove solids from intimate contact with Koi pond water. It does this most effectively when fitted to a Nexus where solids are effectively isolated from the Koi pond water and can rot, dissolve and sludge awsy with far less effect on the pond that with any other system. Not that you'd want to do this, but your pond will be far better off with a Nexus/Answer combination than with any other system on the market. Period.

The way it works is to act as a drain that is lined with a very fine stainless steel mesh. It's self cleaning so as the mesh clogs up with organic solid debris, it gets washed off via a small backwash pump. The solids that are washed off in this way slowly work themselves down the mesh until they end up in dead space - non moving water - in which their only option is to slowly settle out. It doesn't matter how long it takes them to settle out - because there is no where else for them to go. And then it's a simple purge to drain these solids and any heterotrophic/anaerobic/pathogenic bacteria and/or parasites from the Koi pond system completely. Makes for great fertiliser I might add.

The impace of the Answer on Koi keeping is significant. It removes all solid organic material of a significant size and in turn lowers the DOC to levels that are within manageability even within your biofilter stage. This lowers pathogen counts, it lowers ecto parasite counts as a result and it significantly improves the quality of the water feed to the bio filters where the nitrifying bacteria don't have to worry about competing with an overload of heterotrophic bacteria keen to start feeding on the organic solids that end up neatly trapped in the bio filter stage.

Does it make sense? You bet it does! That's why it's called the Answer. Of some interest is that it cost just over a million pounds to develop and put into production. That's a lot of faith in any business.

Did I also mention that the maintenance on it is just about zero? OK, let me retract that: a purge once a day of a few seconds is required but when it comes to the alternative of mucking out sand filters and such like once a day (preferable) or once a week (more likely!), then this opening of a valve for a few seconds amounts to just about zero as far as I am concerned! Call me lazy but I like that. Even if you miss a day, it's really not going to be a disaster (think about when you go away and you need someone to look after your Koi - can you imagine anyone you know mucking out your filter for you??). Enough said!

Also nice to know is that Auto Purge valves are in the pipeline - imagine the maintenance levels when these start to ship? Finally. A self sustaining self cleaning self maintaining STABLE Koi pond. The less human intervention Mother Nature receives, the better she seems to handle things on her own.

Next time: my soapbox on the evils of sand filters. Not to be missed! William

Testing Water in Koi ponds .

Testing koi pond water quality is a scientific procedure and should be approached as such. You have to take it seriously if you want serious and meaningful results. This means starting off with a good quality test kit that can accurately measure what it is you are testing for under the conditions that you have present at the time.

Background conditions are vital to successful testing. For instance a simple ammonia test. Let us start with the test itself. Since we are interested in ammonia levels in parts per million (ppm) or milligrams/liter, it does not make much sense to buy and use a test kit that measures ammonia in parts per thousand. At best you results might be a factor of a thousand out, and that would certainly prove pretty fatal to any fish, let alone Koi.

Then it also makes sense to ensure that the test kit can be used at the pH likely to be found in your Koi pond. If the test kit is only rated effective at extreme pH values, there is little point in using in a Koi pond. The point should be obvious - you should buy the right test kit to measure what you expect to find in your pond!

Fortunately most test kits are pretty good in this regard and can be quite easily found in most stores. They cover just about any water quality parameter Koi keepers are interested in and it's always better to go for a good quality test kit than a cheap and horrible more or less accurate kit.

Once you have the kit sorted out, you need to establish a base line and most importantly of all, a log file of all your results. Regular testing is essential to tell you when you have a significant deviation from an established normal baseline in your pond that indicates you are either developing or have developed a serious problem. Testing under pressure situations when things have already gone wrong and fish are dying like flies is not all that useful. It may tell you what killed your Koi, but that's not much consolation is it?

When establishing a base line its vital to ensure that all the background parameters are the same at the time of taking the test. It is impossible to control all of these so try and aim for as consistent a testing background as possible. By background I mean things like time of day, temperature of water, pH levels, time after fish feeding, dissolved oxygen levels etc etc.

Fortunately, most of these can all be covered by consistently doing your tests at the same time each day you test. If you test once a week in the mornings and once a week in the afternoons, make sure that you plot two different baselines for these different times as we know that pond conditions can alter quite significantly during the day.

Ensure that the time after feeding is accurate as well. For instance, if you decide that you will test your Koi pond in the evenings at 6pm, make sure that the Koi are fed consistently a set number of hours before you do the test. And yes, you MUST measure the quantity and type of food you feed them on the day of the test as well! A test is an opportunity to gather as much information about your own unique pond as possible, and the more background information you have to the test the better informed you will be about what the results of your tests are telling you!

Now what started out as a simple ammonia test has become a small log book in terms of background information that is logged even before the test is taken! It should look something like this:

• Date (important)

• Ambient air temperature ... Ambient water temperature (be consistent and how and where you take this - be sensible, take it 30 cm below the surface at the same place in the pond)

• Ambient pH in pond at time of test

• Time in hours after Koi were last fed

• Quantity of food

• Brand of food and description

• Number of Koi in pond

• Estimated mass of Koi in pond

• Filtration system description - any changes or modifications?

• When last was the filter system cleaned - write down the date and what you did!

• Any other changes? Think carefully! The smaller they are, the more often they can be overlooked and a mistake can happen.

• Did you add a new Koi? A new plant?

Etc. You will no doubt think of a few more parameters that will be pertinent to your pond. All of this information is vital - don't skimp on it.

Then we get to the test. Ensure that your test kit equipment is clean! A simple rinse does not do the job. The sample tube should be completely clean and rinsed with pond water at least 4 times. Yes, 4 times! It has been proven over and over again in laboratories that a contaminant can have a significant concentration and hence a significant test influence at even extremely low concentrations - remember we're dealing with parts per million here! Do not rinse the tube in the Koi pond, was it out 4 times over a drain.

Take an accurate level sample to the line on the sample tube. Be consistent about this. If you read the bottom of the curve of water on the line (the correct way) stick to this. If you read the line in the middle of the curve, then stick to this.

It is vital that your test kit reagents are fresh and working properly. If the kit is old, check its expiry date - most of the good ones will tell you when it is past its useful working life. If it has expired, CHUCK IT OUT! It is not worth a bad reading. It should be clear that you should use the same type (brand) of test kit all the time. Differing test kits have differing ways of displaying results and you might get some variance in these.

Read the results consistently. Often an optical comparison chart is supplied, make sure you use the same clean white background with the same clean white light to read the results. Do not rely on the sun unless you consistently take your test at midday in full sunlight.

Testing is about consistency and about establishing a trend for your pond.

Article by William Kelly Happy Koi