Outdoor Koi Pond

[A320]

Got a outdoor pond at the moment with only a uv steriliser and a sand filter. Algae seems to have a field day in it......sheesh!!

Does anyone know how to deal with this problem permanently?(besides covering the pond with dirt and calling it a day) Will adding a biological filter solve my problem? If so, hmmm......, can anyone help on how to add one?

Thanks a bunch!!!

[flubberina13]

Sorry...commercial interest...

How strong is your UV?

I have a new 36W Atman one rated for up to 35000 litres of water for sale at $180...

Anyway, apologies if you are offended by the thread trepassing...

Just wanna get rid of a white elephant...

[A320]

hmmm.....i think UV light ok leh. Think thats not the problem. Thanks for the offer anyway.

Any other ideas? Anyone?

[harmony]

How about putting some floating plants.... floating plants can help absorb excess nutrient from the water hence depriving the algea their food...and their chance to grow...

[moron_clown]

add rowaphos!

[Blenny]

look for dried barley straws, put them in a bag and soak it in your pond

[nim75sg]

Care to show some pics before commenting regarding your "Algae" is having a field day in your outdoor pond?

Reason being I have a 15'x4'x5' deep outdoor Koi pond with a UV sterilizer as well as a filtration system and the water is crystal clear!

[A320]

been using the UV sterliser for a while and was working well till recently. Will post a foto when i get a chance. Just thought sombody's got a full-proof way of maintaining clear pond water.

Rowaphos? Don't mind using it if its sure to work. Just started using it for about 3 weeks on my marine tank and seems to do very little in controlling the algae on the glass. however not using a fluidised reactor and haven't measured athe phosphate level yet as no tester. Oopps!!!

[sps_dude]

using rowaphos... might work..... but u need loads of it...... how about shading the pond from direct sunlight...... or if u dont want it to be shaded.......... u can do the following

add fast growing plants such as

underwater plants

1)nymphea lotus(water lily)

2)cambomba aquatica(green cabomba)

floating plants

1)pistia stratiotes(water lettuce)

2)eichhornia crassipes(water hyacinth)

terrarium/marsh plants

1)dieffenbachia seguine(common dumbcane)

2)dracenae deremensis (those plants that used by buddhist for praying)

terrarium plants can help by trailing the roots in water and it will abosrb the nutrients........ my suggestion is mainly biological..... regular waterchange also helps.... good luck.....

[nim75sg]

Forget about using Rowaphos, floating plants, etc. and you're welcome to visit my place to see how my outdoor koi pond is able to have crystal clear water.

PM me to arrange for a convenient time.

[rockfish]

sorry bro.. u mean the water is not clear or the walls is full of alge..

last time i used to have this problem when i keep koi.

i used filter mat and coral chips.. increase the filter volume to at least 1/4 of the main pond.. and add benificial bateria until filter mature.

and ur UV could be the problem .. it kills the bateria that cleans ur water ..

if u are refering to the pond wall, i think that is okay. just stop feeding ur koi, and they will eat the alge from the wall ..

[patrick123]

A320,

This is a common problem for a new pond. Everyone goes through it. I was pulling my hair out when my 10 ton pond was cover with dark green water. It is just a stage that you have to go through. No choice. I will tell you what works and what not:

1. Using rowaphos is a waste of money for koi pond. You need tons of them and will be cheaper to change out 100% of the water. But even if you do that, the green water will come back in 1 week's time.

2. Using plant is a long term solution. But koi and plant don't mix. They will rack havoc on the plant and end up all your plant goes into your filter and get choke.

3. The three elements that make green water are: Sunlight, nitrate and phosphate. With rowaphos, even if you can remove the phosphate, but with sunlight and nitrate, the green water will still be there.

4. You can try shading the pond, but that is an expensive solution. To build a pergola will cost a few K. But it is good for your koi color.

5. Use green away medicine. This is just temporary as the medicine wear out, the green will come back.

So far for all the things that don't work. Now this is what will work:

1. Get the biggest kick ###### UV you can find. My personal experience is you can stingy on everything but not on UV. For my 10 ton pond, I started with a 9w, and then a 18w and then a 9w+18w+9w, finally decided to give up and went for a 75w UV. In less than 2 weeks, the water was crystal clear. It has been like that since then and no green water for the last 9 months.

So my recommendation is go for the UV light. Save you all the trouble of biohome, the answer, K1, vege filter and all the chemical which will do more harm than good for your koi.

That's just my 2 cents.

Best Regards,

Patrick

[Hondace]

patrick123 is right. go for UV, sure to work. but i disagree slightly on the vegie stuff. Yes, the koi will eat up the water lilies or floating weeds. But u can overcome it by putting the water lilies or any floating water plants in the filter compartments. The koi will not be able to eat them & u have some sort of nutrient exports to reduce changing of water frequently. Just me 2cents......

fyi : i got those floating plants from FarmMart.

[ah^siao]

dunwan use water lilly also can.. use pandan leaves.. they brings a nice pandan smell also

[A320]

Wow...thanks guys. I just had a look again at the pond. Seems that the problem was the sleeve the UV light was in. It was clogged up with debris so the UV wasn't working at usual. Seems to be ok now. However it seems like the pond wall still has Algae. Is that common?? How do i get rid of those? Will the koi's make a meal of those algae?

Cheers

[FuEl]

Cut the phosphates and nitrates and the algae will go away. Try to avoid overstocking and overfeeding. Choose feeds that have low phosphate content. You can consider setting aside a small corner (maybe fence off an area of your pond to keep fast growing plants and provide reverse photoperiod for that section..if it is applicable to marine why not FW?). Plants will keep your phosphate and nitrates level in check and outcompete the algae as they can photosynthesize both in the day and at night. It will help to increase dissolved oxygen levels at night too. U.V does help..but it does not address the root of the problem. The turnover rate of your filtration also plays a part.