Here is a photo of Bob Mucerino’s new larger pond of 10,000 USG.

Here is a photo of Bob Mucerino’s new larger pond of 10,000 USG. Making several improvements on his third try that was overlooked in his first and seconded pond builds. A 4" bottom drain was added that will aid with aerating the pond too, alone with two skimmers instead of the one they originally had with the adding of a Clarity protein skimmer, the 800-gal AFS is still in place in the background.

The AFS he has would have handled everything without the added equipment, but Bob felt the need for more and part of the fun of being in this hobby is to customize your pond if wherewithal’s exist. Unlike Brian in the UK that got rid of some of his equipment, Bob on the other hand felt he needed more. Let’s hope it is money well-spent and not just “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and he will be satisfied that it is money well spent.

Maybe I should clarify my last statement that I made above. Sometimes hobbyists think that by adding more equipment that water parameters will become better without thinking that each new filtration technique that’s added may or may not necessarily be a good thing. What is the byproduct of that new filtering device you just added? Will it also take out needed chemical compounds like trace elements, buffers or add more Nitrates to the system or even worse have a reduction of Nitrates into ammonia? Even the very microfauna of our ponds can become unnaturally lessen by some equipment with negative outcomes.

Making a completely sterile environment like a swimming pool for our Koi’s is not necessarily a good thing because fish, like humans, need to build up a resistant to such insults to keep them healthy in the event something unforeseen happens. Everything in our ponds must reach an equilibrium state with bacteria, fauna, and algae and so on. Other whys: Why not keep your fish in distilled water and leave it at that? If redox is high and TDS is low then why spend money unnecessarily?
 I also notice the main pond is void of all plants, unlike last year’s pond that incorporated some for cosmetic reasons. To read more about Bob’s pond in my blog click on the link below.

http://anoxicfiltrationsystem.blogspot.com/2013/07/thinking-ahead-will-save-mucerinos.html