Last call for filter cleaning before winter sets in.

It is now Saturday September 28^th and it’s time for my yearly filter cleaning and water change in both pond and Anoxic filter. All small goldfish that live in the Anoxic filter will be placed in a five gallon bucket and culled before placing them back into their nice clean home for the cold winter months ahead. The Koi in the main pond will not be remove but will be given a water change, too.

This year like all other years no sick fish or did any of them die. Sometimes in the past I would have a Koi jump out and be found dead on the lawn, but not this year. I have lost more Koi to jumping out of the pond in the past 25-years than even old age. Sick fish are a thing of the past unless I introduce a Typhoid Mary to the pond. I think in the past 25-years I’ve lost about two Koi due to long very cold winters that just would not leave us alone here in Chicago land. 

Okay, the top two photos are of my Anoxic filter before its cleaning. As you can see not much in plant life is there! For those that think the Anoxic filter is nothing more than a veggie filter…well does this look like a thriving Veggie filter to you? With no direct sunlight the plants will never flower or get as big and full as they are suppose to. With two big overhanging Crabapple trees covering the pond and filtering out the available light; sunlight is now a rare commodity. The upside is I don’t have a Herein problems because they can’t see the pond from above. I must admit I do miss the good old days when the Anoxic filter was full of beautiful flowers galore from the water lilies.

 The next two top photos show the plants all cut down and an empty Anoxic filter. It really wasn’t that dirty at all even though I did not clean it this spring because of my goldfish spawning. So much for all toughs that think the Anoxic filter is nothing more than a big dirty cesspool of detritus and dead plants…it isn’t! In less than two hours all plants were cut down and the filter was cleaned and being refilled again with fresh water. Easy as pie as we say here in the States!

The last photo shows where I placed the sump-pump to empty the filter out. The filter has a low spot where the pump goes so all water drains to that low end for easy cleaning. I also just wanted to add that the Biocenosis baskets do not have to be removed from the filter during cleaning. They stay right were they are unless you need to transplant one of the aquatic plants. If you did what Brian woodcock has done and placed small PVC pipes underneath the baskets then cleaning is that much easier.

Brian Woodcock’s Anoxic Filter build from the UK Part-8.

 In the low spot where the sump-pump goes, that’s not dirt, that’s cat litter that has migrated out of the baskets or has been washed out of the baskets from cleaning. I just use a fishnet to scoop it out and discard it. Cleaning an Anoxic filter is not rocket science, just empty, cut down plants, hose down and pump out or drain old dirty water and fill back up, that’s all!  You don’t even have to get real fanatical about making everything spotless either; this filter has some very powerful Voodoo and is very forgiving.

Old Chinese proverb: One picture, worth a thousand words!