Brian Woodcock’s Anoxic Filter cleaning for
spring of 2014.
Well, it’s that time of year again when filter
cleaning and bringing everything back online for us in North America and the
UK: ‘Cold weather hobbyist.’ In Chicago the weather is still not cooperating
yet as good as it should be like in previous years and the snow in some spots
is still over 2' deep (60.96 cm) in my yard.
Before the first day of spring all pond and
filter maintenance would have been done by now and a nice big water change
would accelerate the Koi’s appetite within 72 hours. As long as the temperature
is stable at 50°F (10°C) then with an AFS it is safe to feed once a day every
other day with processed Koi foods along with worms and other natural foods
supplements that they would find in the wild. When temps reach 55°F (12.78°C)
and above, once a day will facilitate their requirements. This early feeding of
your animals will go a long way in building up their immune systems and
strength.
However, those that are using conventional
filter must wait still for bacteria colonization once again of their filters
unless their ponds were heated over winter. Without the adding of a lab
bacteria culture it may take as long as 30 days or more to reestablish enough
bacteria colonies in your filter to avoid ammonia (NH3) and Nitrites spikes.
Let’s not forget the amount of ammonia that will be produced by the bacteria in
the intestines if fed too early- because of the lethargic activity of the Koi-
by proteins being broken down; if it’s not expelled then it will go into their
blood stream. My Koi are very active now (They come to the top looking for food
when I approach the pond.) even with the water not being stable enough for
feeding. With such active Koi they are now eating Algae and other plant life or
whatever is available to them at this stage.
It doesn’t matter if the AFS was shut down
completely or left running like mine was; it still has enough activated
chemoautotrophic and facultative heterotrophic bacteria to take care of your
needs until warmer weather prevails. What you may notice is that the AF will be
full of cyanobacteria and yet your pond will not. But this is not an indication
that your pond or filter is not running properly or you have bad water quality.
This is a very common problem until the good bacteria starts making antibodies
to kill off the unwanted blue-green algae as it’s called but in reality it is another
bacterium trying to take hold, please remember that!
Please read my post on Cyanobacteria for a
better understanding of these nuisance bacteria that looks like string algae
exactly. http://anoxicfiltrationsystem.blogspot.com/2013/10/every-year-our-pond-gets-plagued-with.html
This unwanted cyanobacteria will persists and
become a good spawning media in early spring for your fancy goldfish that are
in the filter. As time goes on and weather prevails it will subside as though
it never happen by magic.
However, I have seen ponds plagued with this
bacterium using conventional filters all to often too, so it is just not
isolated to an AFS problem. The difference is that only an AFS get plagued with
this bacteria problem inside the filter and not in the main pond, it is just
the reverse for those that use a conventional filter. Their filters may remain
clean of the bacteria but then the pond gets full of cyanobacteria all year
long. If you read the forums they are full of hobbyist complaining about string
algae constantly. One of the problems is that conventional filter sometimes
don’t logistically produce antibodies to eradicate this bacteria and therefore
it plagues their pond all year long if evasive action isn’t taken with salt,
hydrogen peroxide directly or indirectly in the form of Barley Straw or other
chemicals, not so with an AFS.
Though, it will once again come back at the end
of the year when pond temps again begin to fall back into the low 50°F (10°C)
and foodstuff become limited for higher bacteria forms. Also remember this
string alga or blue-green algae AKA: Cyanobacteria will and can make its own
foodstuff, so it doesn’t need to take any nutrients from solution and is
endosymbiont and can live in a host.
Some hobbyists are concerned about the newly
supplemented fresh water that’s added into the AF directly and will all that
available oxygen now in the AFS impair the bacteria bugs inside the filters
BCB’s themselves? The quick answer is; not in the least, so don’t worry about
it. The trillions of cell that are inside the BCB far outnumbering a
conventional filter bugs and high oxygen penetration deep inside the BCB is not
president even if the main water is at saturation point surrounding the BCB.
The BCB is a very controlled and residual environment that favors the cells
like that of a natural system does.
Brian’s pond parameters are:
Main municipal water from tap of NO3@
25-ppm
Main pond water NO3@
35-ppm after Anoxic Filter installation.
Before the AFS 80+ ppm of NO3,
that’s a 45-ppm NO3 drop in Nitrates in about 6
months. He still has online his Bead filter.
Hi, Ok here goes, this is six months since the
last clean.....started by removing all the plants. [Ed: If I'm not mistaken it was Brian's wife that did most of the work because he was on crutches.]
and this is the filter before the drain down, you
can see some blanket weed but i must state i have none in my main pond.
Connected the layflat and started to drain.
This is the baskets after the drain down, you can
see the blanketweed but not a lot
I decided to remove the baskets to see what was
under them. there was some mulm which didn't smell eggy at all.......so well
happy
After the clean down by pressure wash. [Ed: This is really
Everything replaced.
Started the refill.
And job done
To add the anoxic was the best addition I have
done, not saying it works for everyone but for me!! It has, my nitrates has
dropped from 80+ to around 35ppm and considering my source water is around 25
ppm and I trickle in 6-700 gall a week its pretty good and yes I got a little
BW but I still have a bead producing nitrates.
As for growth of fish........these were added 2
years ago and the majority were 20cm some smaller 3 are now 70cm+
Enjoy.........Brian
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