Tag Archives: fish

Bottom Drains Keep Your Pond Looking Clean

 

Does your pond look dirty and is the water too murky to see plants or fish?  This is a common problem in outdoor ponds where the owner has not bothered to install a bottom drain.  A bottom drain helps keep your pond looking clean all year long because it is a great water clarifier.

 

It is generally accepted that bottom drains are a must and should be fitted to all ponds under construction but if you made your own pond with a plastic liner or basin you may have skipped this step.  The good news is that it is never too late to install a simple one.

 

A bottom drain can also greatly improve the efficiency of any mechanical filter and especially a gravity filter. This can save you a lot of time when it comes to skimming or vacuuming your pond and the filters will just work better.  The better the filters work the more oxygen there will be for any fish in the ponds.

 

If the main drain is above the height of the pond then it is possible to have a discharge chamber, and then you can pump the pond water to the drain, using a pump with a fitted float level.   The float levels can tell you a lot about the health of the pond and whether it is time to give it a cleaning.

 

In general, bottom drains have a deep large sump usually 10 to 12 inches diameter and about 6 inches deep. These usually have a 4-inch socket to take pressure pipe and this is then taken directly to the drain box where a 4-inch standpipe with `O’ ring is fitted. It is also possible to purchase bottom drains made of fiberglass.

 

Most pond drains have what is called a mushroom cover. It’s called this because it makes the drain look like a large black or steel mushroom.  The more bottom drains you have, the less maintenance your pond will require from you.

Usually, the number of bottom drains required will depend on the size and shape of the pond.  A rectangular pond that is between 12ft x 10ft would probably require two bottom drains if you want the water to be as oxygenated and as clean as possible.

 

Each drain should have its own straight pipe that connects directly to the mechanical filter to keep your pond from looking as muck free as possible. This can save you from doing a lot raking of debris all year round.

Keeping Koi Ponds Healthy With Chemical Filters

Sometimes your biological or mechanical filter does not effectively clean wastes from your pond. This is when you have to resort to using what are called chemical filters. These are also sometimes called biological converters.  These are solutions or powders that are added to your pond to correct common problems such as an excess of nitrates, an excess of ammonia,

Every koi pond owner should invest in a ten dollar nitrate test.  This test should be done at least once a month but ideally once a week. A simple test at the right time may prevent a small problem from becoming a catastrophe.

 

You can buy all kinds of tests to monitor the water quality in your pond including:

 

  • PH balance
  • Ammonia
  • Nitrate
  • Alkalinity
  • Salinity
  • Chlorine

 

 

Do not confuse the terms water quality and water clarity. Crystal clear water can contain compounds that are deadly to your fish. Green water, caused by excessive phyto plankton growth can actually be beneficial to the fish although not very beneficial to the pond keeper who can’t see them. Water clarity can give some indications as to mechanical filtration effectiveness but it does not necessarily tell you what is happening with the chemical make up of the water.

 

A pond with a biologic converter and filled with Koi is a rather complex, and delicate eco-system. Each component of this system requires the other components to perform its job. Fish waste and bacteria and fungi to ammonia compounds convert other organic waste. These compounds can be toxic to the fish, which then can die a very visible, hard-to-watch death.

 

However, if your koi pond has a healthy biologic converter it should be populated with mitrosomonas bacteria. This is the type of bacteria that greedily consumes ammonia and converts them to nitrites. Unfortunately, the nitrates are just as toxic to the fish as the ammonia. Again, the biologic converter comes into play with a population of mitrobacter bacteria that convert the nitrites to nitrates. The nitrates are basically inert to the fish but usable by plants and algae within the pond. As the plants and algae grow and the Koi eat them, the cycle of self-cleaning starts all over again.

 

Nitrosomonas and nitrobacter bacteria are aerobic bacteria that require oxygen to convert their “food” to energy just like the fish. This is why an ammonia or nitrite filled pond can smother both and leave you with a lifeless swamp.