UPDATE
6-9-14
Hi…Dr.
Novak,
I
hope all is going well for you? As you know a few months ago I installed a Bakki
Shower and as you have mentioned in your blog cyanobacteria started to grow
back once again after its installation, especially on the top shelf/pier.
Probably the Bakki Shower shown on your blog has cyanobacteria all over it
because maintenance was neglected, so it did not get rid of it.
Well,
here is my update and I just wanted to share my experience after I cleaned the
top shelf of the BS filter. Right after I cleaned the Japmats and the Bakki
Shower from the clogging cyanobacteria, I turned the pump back on and not long
afterwards my pond went cloudy, something I have not experienced now in a long
time since using the AFS. Horrible flashback memories of times when I was still
using Japmats in my filter chamber(s), this would happen every time I cleaned
one of the chambers out, and the cloudiness would clear up once again in a day
or so.
I used to hate having to clean my
chambers during weekends because besides it being tiring, I would lose an
entire weekend of enjoying the pond due to cloudy water. Since I’ve switched my
filter chambers to AFS with Biocenosis Clarification Baskets, I have never
experienced cloudy waters after backwashing the chambers again. As a matter of
fact, I’ve forgotten all about how cloudy the water uses to get. So I was a bit
stunned at first when it occurred once again after cleaning the Bakki Shower,
fortunately memory served me well as I quickly realized what was happening with
the dying off of needed bacteria. This is something I completely had forgotten
about, that cleaning of a filter like a Bakki Shower means killing off the good
bacteria along with cleaning the dirt as well. Now the Bakki Shower had to reestablish its bacterial
colonies again after malignance. So I took the situation as an opportunity to
oxidize any growth stopping pheromone accumulation using PP (potassium
permanganate) and also to stabilize the pond once more.
Well I guess I’ll just have to put up
with cloudy pond water and bacterial die-off whenever I have to clean a shelf
in the Bakki Shower (I plan never to clean more than one shelf at once.)
because I need the Bakki shower cooling capabilities and also optimizing DO
levels to saturation point.
Oh
yes, I recently had to apply Masoten (1) in my pond, no problems to the AFS and the
Facultative bacteria it harbors. The situation in my pond has change
drastically to one that now shows a visible shortage of the troublesome
cyanobacteria now. The piping in the pond that is white, which I hoped would be
camouflaged by the short cyanobacteria growth on it is now starting to show
through again; where there are several spots on the PVC that no longer have
cyanobacteria on it.
I’m
pounding the pond now with high-protein Koi foods once again and so far no
problems with parameters even though I am slowly increasing the amounts being
feed. My fish go crazy every time I feed them; so much so that sometimes I
worry one of them will get hurt in the feeding frenzy process. So now every
time I feed them I have to make sure I spread it out on top of the ponds
surface wide enough so that each fish can get its share easily without climbing
on top of one another.
Well, I guess that is all I can update
for you at the moment. If there is anything you like to know on the progress of
AFS in my pond please do not hesitate to ask.
Best
regards,
Yogas
1:[Ed: Masoten Powder: Is for parasites and should be
administered at one gram to 220 gallons (USG) of pond water.]
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This
photo was taken from the Internet site Fish
Lady (click link below to view and get more details.) to give an example
of what a bacteria bloom looks like up close. This same thing can and will
happen in a ponds when bacteria dies off from a good filter cleaning or when
the filter is starved of available oxygen far too long. But this phenomenon will not
transpire in a well establish AFS even if completely emptied and cleaned. As
long as the BCB’s remains intact, there is nothing then to degrade turbidly of
the water.
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