Hi Dr. Kevin,
Latest update.... day 31
Last week I decided to change my DIY Blue barrel filters
because I cannot put the Biocenosis baskets into a 150-cm high barrel (about
55- US gallons), it just will not work because it is too troublesome to put
then in and take them out again or do maintenance. So I started searching for some
replacement containers and found some 150-liter plastic box containers that are
a perfect fit for 3 X 2 BB in one row. Plus the BB’s can be stacked for future expansion
of the Anoxic filter if needed and still keeping maintenance easy.
I had planned to do the switchover today and get the
150-liter containers in place but alas Murphy’s Law set in [Ed: Murphy's Law is an adage or epigram that is
typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong"]...
last night something bad happened. All my Koi are now at the surface looking
for oxygen under the fountain/waterfall. I quickly went into action and started
doing a large water change in hopes that the Koi will survive through another
night.
I believe this is
due to:
1) A bad mechanical filter (Using Bio-balls in the first
barrel; bad decision... detritus trapped in Bio-balls which then overtime kept
building up to unacceptable levels and probably adding more Ammonia to the
system and on top of all that, cannot readily
backwash the Bio-balls using pressurized water so it never really got cleaned
like it should.)
2) Using only 8 small BB for 13 Koi was really stretching
it. (I wanted to add more BB but it was not feasible using the Blue barrels.) This
was the only Biofilter I had because Bio-balls were washed every day.
3) The last 2 days I change my Koi food to Hi growth
food, which I normally use a balance diet food but was out of stock when I tried
to buy more and overfeeding the Koi. With
the food change and also the overfeeding, suddenly an algae bloom was the
outcome. [Ed: Algae blooms are a sign that Ammonia/ammonium is now in abundance
because algae like higher order of plants use ammonia/ammonium as a foodsource.
Cyanobacteria are a nitrogen loving bacteria and are not to be confused with
plants or algae and can make their own foodsource at their base or take
Nitrogen from the air. ]
Anyway, this morning after the water change all of my Koi
are fine now so I quickly took them out of the pond and put them in holding
tanks and proceeded to wash and clean the pond to get rid of the algae (100%
water change). Then I proceeded to install my new DIY Anoxic filter from the containers
I bought and put in 19 BBs (8 old and 11 new, want to do 24 BB but ran out of
JBL). In the meantime I’m using a canister filter with sponge for my prefilter,
but in the near future I’m planning to add a DIY sieve, and will add some more
BB a.s.a.p. that will then add up to 24-BB in all.
Ardy
No comments:
Post a Comment