Email from the UK in 2011 …Old but still very effective information.

Email from the UK in 2011 …Old but still very effective information.

 

 

Hi Dr., 

I have just come across a site which gives a good coverage of your filter system. I am about to embark on building a new pond 3 to 3.5 thousand gallons, I hope.

I have two questions, one is: What form or design of pre-filter would you recommend?

There were a few references to the winter conditions, the one we have just had here in England has been wicked by our standards, and so

will the filter still perform in freezing weather?

 There was mention of shutting the filter down; can you explain that in more detail?

I take it that the pages I found on the site are the contents of your CD book, if it is it makes fascinating reading and could just have saved me a small fortune.

Best Wishes ... Jim.

 

 

 

 

Hello Jim,

 

  Winter…winter…you want to talk about winter! Here in Chicago this year, it is now the coldest winter on record. [Ed: I think this year beats the 2011 high water mark for coldest and snowiest winter yet with over 32 days of snow now.] One snow fall alone was 24″ and Chicago shut down for a day.  Your winters are mere child’s play compared to -20°F to -30°F (-29°C / -34°C) below zero. The UK is a tropical paradise compared to us.

 

Today’s a balmy one; it’s only -5°F (-20°C) below zero. So you want to talk about the Anoxic Filter in the winter, no problem! Do you have to shut the filter down in the winter…well no; that’s if you can keep it from freezing.

 

A prefilter can be anything from what is currently being used in the pond hobby today. Some hobbyist will use skimmers, bead filter, sand filters and homemade prefilters like I use for my small pond. It’s only limited by your imagination and budget.  I’ve seen hobbyist use two skimmers at each end of their large pond (10,000 US gal ponds or more) feeding into the Anoxic Filter at both ends of the filter and then spilling out from the center of the filter back into their ponds.

 

These larger Anoxic Filter are longer and can take very high volumes of water passing through them. Though the water inside the Anoxic Filter looks like it’s not moving (plants love this environment) because of the diffusers inside the filter, the waterfall tells a complete different story to onlookers. The best waterfall(s) I have seen are from Anoxic Filter(s) because of the high water output volume that other filter are governed by.  The upside is that every smidgeon of water is being filtered first before returning to the pond and no bypasses because of limitations set by manufactures specifications.

 

  Remember, this is not your ordinary filtration system you buy out of a box for big bucks and cold is not a limiting factor for the bacteria in its makeup or success.  You will be relying on different kinds of bacteria to do your work for you and that is a plus in any morphological sense. When other filters nitrobacteria dye from the winters cold, the Anoxic Filter keeps going and protects your fish from all those nastiest that would other whys kill or sicken your pets over winter. Just because Koi are not eating doesn’t mean other pollution processes have stopped, they haven’t! Even if you shut the Anoxic Filter down for the winter it will recover in spring like magic.

 

   The only thing I’ve notice is that if you keep it running all winter it will get hair algae (cyanobacteria) in the filter in early spring. Then in late spring it will eventually disappear as the filter kicks into high gear as the warmer weather arrives and warms up the ponds water once again.

 

Hope this helps.