And now without further ado, a word from pond owner Shelly that uses the AFS in Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley with photos.

Modifications or additional filtration to your pond: Will it become redundant? In most cases the simple answer is; yes! Adding more of what you already have is redundancy squared. As hobbyist realize they need more filtration to an already existing filtration system or rebuilding their ponds and making them larger always presents the same problems of making the same mistakes but with additional cost.

I’ll give you and example of what I mean. Lets say you have this wonderful Nexus, Bead filter or Sand filter and you’re happy with what you have but now you need more because your Koi and/or needs have changed. In most cases you will not buy another Nexus because of the expense of $3000-5000.oo more for a filtration system is a little too much. Therefore, you will try to build a supplement filter or be convinced in someway that filter X is a better choice for your needs and will cost you a fraction of what a Nexus does. Lets remember I’m not picking on Nexus filters just using them as an example only.

In this scenario, which plays itself out all the time with pond owners, the options are either more techno equipment; cost being still high, or a build it yourself filtration system. The high tech equipment will give you some advantage over the homemade filter but then again cost will influence that to a greater existent, too. So the homemade filter is the lesser of two evils and better WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) because cost will be lessen. You will also have the enjoyment of saying; “I built it myself!”

Now here’s the problem; have you really gained anything other than more of what you already have? The high tech equipment may or may not give you cleaner water with higher ORP and Lower TDS but that home made filter will not. Some will try and make Bogs or Veggie filters but if not done just right you will not gain what you think you should. Using filter mats for colonization of more bacteria will only cause more work in the long run because of clogging. Adding rocks and stone to your pond is going backwards in time to days of yore in ponding and you what to progress not regress with technology.

Anoxic Filters today are the most progressive filtration system out there. With plants they can eradicate germs that cause illnesses to our Koi, clean water, help prevent cyanobacteria that plague so many ponds, raise ORP, lower TDS, and stay open to biological and chemical mediators that other system can’t do because they don’t clog up those valuable pathways in the filters substrate.  They are easy to build that a child can do it and though not an easy system to understand its science, will not let your valuable Koi down in colder geographical location by bacteria loss in the winter months.

Understanding its science is why so many hobbyists think the AFS will not work or is really just another Bog or Veggie filter, however, it is not! It is a well thought out filtration system used for decades to purify water cheaply and efficiently enough to keep aquatic life alive for many years to come. It does not take a very highly skill level person to make up the Biocenosis Clarification Baskets. Don’t let this name intimidate you, it just a scientific way of saying how the baskets work.

As I have said before not every filtration system is perfect for everyone but I have seen even the most expensive filters money could buy, not do the job they were intended to.

QUOTE from Vince from a Koi forum post # 465 dated September 4^th, 2014:

“My anoxic filter is 4-foot deep and the (BCB’s) baskets stacked up on the inside using 40-mm pipe work to give a gap for water to flow under each one. And no plants at all, Yes, it did take longer to get going but it is working fine now and I’m very happy with my readings that have come down from Nitrates over 180-ppm to just 20-ppm now. As for as the other readings go there still fine also but it was only to get the Nitrates down I fitted the Anoxic filter anyway.”

[ED: That’s a whopping 160-ppm lower now using an AFS over a conventional system.]

*****************************************************

And now without further ado, a word from pond owner Shelly that uses the AFS in Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley with photos.

Shelly's pond in panoramic view.

QUOTE:

“I just had to chime in on your 8/27 "No Chemicals" post from Brian Woodcock. 

As you know, Dr. Novak, I am a very new and inexperienced pond owner. We built our own 4' deep, 3800-gallon pond, and filled it just 10 months ago. 

I USE ANOXIC FILTRATION. 

I HAVE NEVER NEEDED OR USED ANY CHEMICALS.

Our Anoxic Filtration chamber is modeled after Brian Woodcock's -- except ours is hidden under our deck next to the pond. It is gravity fed from an aerated bottom drain. We made our own pre-filter between the bottom drain and the AF chamber. The AF chamber contains 18 unplanted 11" Biocenosis Baskets, and there are 6 more planted Biocenosis Baskets in a small 14" deep 'bog' (see photo) that adjoins the pond. 

NO MAGIC: In addition to the circulation created by the aeration and 2 TPR’s, we keep a steady flow of water through the bog. Our pond also has a Skimmer and an Emperor HO ( High Output) UV. My weekly maintenance consists of netting and/or trimming any dead leaves off my aquatic plants, changing my filter media (round, commercial floor-buffer pads). I recently purchased a Pond-Vac as well, knowing LOTS of leaves are about to fall. That's it! No magic.

MY POND WATER IS SO CLEAR that, sometimes when the light is just right, my Water Hyacinth and Cabbage seem to be floating in the air. It is difficult to get a picture of the bottom because my camera wants to focus on the reflection instead, but I have managed to capture a couple. I'll let these photos speak for themselves. SEE THE BOTTOM??

I should also add that I allowed my granddaughter to select 3 small butterfly Koi from the pet store, and release them with our 14 gold fish. I have never had Koi, but their GROWTH RATE IS ALMOST SCARY! I only feed them all in the morning.

Again, thank you for making it possible for us to have such a nice, AFFORDABLE pond. I expect many others to eventually join our ranks!

Shelly

In Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley

[ED: Once again I can’t thank those enough that let me know how they are doing and letting those on my blog know too.]

Isn’t science wonderful?

Here is a bit of interesting news that I thought would interest everyone. A lot of hobbyist/s believe that the AFS is not a filtration system meant for Koi ponds and is not sophisticated enough for raising them using such a simple system. They would like others to believe that it is only a water garden filtration system and that if you really wish to raise quality Koi then you have to use a very expensive filtration system to achieve such.

The statement above is from those that have no working knowledge of the AFS and how it really works in cleaning water and making it acceptable for our Koi. The photos are from the pages of the MPKS newsletter and show some of the winners of the 22^nd annual Koi show and competition.  Zack Velev and Bob & Rhonda Mucerino’s are members of the MPKS and use the AFS. I have written about them in my blog before and Zack’s pond is on the cover of my iBook too.

Zack Velev won 6 of the Koi awards at the show and the Mucerino’s won 3 of the awards given. Now both of these koi members use the AFS for raising show quality Koi in their backyards. So I guess those that think the AFS is only meant for water gardeners just doesn’t hold water any longer does it!

It just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to keep show quality Koi any longer. The days of only the most techno hobbyist keeping show quality Koi are gone and with science everyone now can do the same not just a few.  As one door closes another one opens and the AFS is that door that gives hobbyist a choice in Koi keeping that 30-years ago did not exist.

You don’t have to be terrified that because you're not using a 30,000.oo USD filtration system that you can’t keep very high quality or expensive Koi any longer. The AFS gives everyone the opportunity to play with the big guys without the cost. Isn’t science wonderful?

No chemicals added. L

No chemicals added.

Here is a little write-up from Brian Woodcock in the UK. 

Last years AFS when new.

The page photo shows the number of views his Anoxic Filter Build has taken in on a UK Koi forum (user name: brian1962), in just over a year of posting; a whopping 32,889 views.

  It is a shame so many here in the good old US of A are so dissident about anything they don’t understand or refuse to understand. I know that the AFS is not for everyone and it may not be the filtration system that does everything for everybody, but then again what filter does. Let face facts, if there were a perfect filter out there then everyone would be using it without question, but there isn’t!

The menagerie of filtration systems is a plethora of confusion to the novice pond owner that it’s laterally mind-boggling when you think about it.  Each one has their crosshair on you to get their product into your hands. Beautiful color ads and hobbyist barkers that already use their goods selling you the idea of everlasting nirvana. However, in the long run the money never stops and the problems never really guest go away for very long, do they? Then the next volley of goods to be sold to you is thrown at you, like baseballs in a batting cage.

In fact, this year I saw this happen to hobbyists that where convinced that they would be better off with an expensive bead filter that they had to house it in a new shed, with a UV filter that looked like it was on steroids, like something from the movie Forbidden Planet.  Yet their pond was still green and Koi were still small and sparingly feed in fear of making their pond even greener. The guy that sold them all the equipment could care less if they succeeded or not, because he’s made his money.

 Then they were told that the pump they had was no good and they would have to buy a better one, by some other hobbyist visiting.  But the one thing I notice was that they were actually proud of all the equipment they had now and were more than happy to show it off.

Yes, that exactly what I want in my backyard is a shed full pond filters and equipment and still have a turbid pond.

 Now a word from Brian:

As for water quality ...Ammonia has been zero all year, had a little stubborn nitrite (0.20) for a few weeks, which annoyed me, and I never found the cause probably over feeding. Nitrate has been 30-ppm as I’m trickling 6-700 gallon of 20-ppm source water a week and still have my bead filter, which will be producing nitrates.

As for feeding, my fish get 400g over 6 feeding apart for some low nitrites early on in the year. Nothing seems to have phased my AFS filter, (31 fish some to 75 cm = 29" US) all in all a good year with good growth this year as with last year my fish have been parasite and problem free so no chemicals added.

Thanks for looking Brian

 

This is August last year

And this is today!

The Anoxic Filtration Story As told by: Manky Sanke in the UK.

The Anoxic Filtration Story

As told by: Manky Sanke

NOTE:

 This is a reprint from a UK Koi forum, from a member called Manky.

Kevin Novak, a limnologist (a researcher in freshwater science), designed and developed the idea amidst a lot of ill informed criticism over about twenty years (1). The criticism that it was nothing but a bog filter came from those who, when asked a direct question, admitted they had never read Kevin's CD book and therefore didn't understand how it worked but were opposed to it anyway.

In 2009 Koi magazine asked me to write an article on nitrate reduction. I was aware of anoxic filtration but hadn't read much about how it worked so I contacted Kevin and asked if I could buy a copy of his CD. At that time Kevin was posting copies FOC (free of charge) to anyone anywhere in the world so he refused my offer of payment and sent me a copy FOC. He wouldn't even accept reimbursement of the Trans-Atlantic postage

I spent a few weeks reading and understanding all about the dimorphic metabolism of facultative anaerobic chemo-litho-autotrophic bacteria (love that expression) and was able to include, in my article, the first brief description of the system (that I'm aware of) in a UK magazine. It's now on my website here:

Reducing Nitrate

In appreciation of how Kevin had helped and because I was impressed by the beautiful simplicity of the idea (even if the science is mind numbing) I offered to put Kevin's book on my website. That allowed him to just email a link to my site rather than having to pay for the CDs, copy the book onto them and then posts them to anywhere. My site gets a lot of visitors and so Kevin's idea came too much wider attention.

Then the Editor at Koi Carp saw the book and the article and she asked me to write a comprehensive two-part article, specifically on anoxic filtration. I used that platform to write the simplest description possible about how it worked while challenging the mistaken criticism that it was a nasty anaerobic bog filter.

Anoxic Filtration Part 1

Anoxic Filtration Part 2

That then attracted a lot of interest and questions to me, nearly all of which I could answer because my career had made it possible for me understand the science behind the system. In the early days I had to forward a few questions to Kevin but he copied me in to the replies which filled in any holes in my understanding. I also followed everything that he put into forums. I soon took on, on his behalf, answering forum posts that my original magazine articles had provoked plus the growing interest in the system. Since then more hobbyists are trying it and consequently there's a lot of chatter about it on forum threads such as this one.

That brings the story up to date (nearly).

Since being asked to become an instructor for Koi Organization International, they also asked me to write a short eBook about anoxic filtration for them. As soon as that's finished, it will be on their website and I'll also put it on mine. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I keep promising that it'll be finished soon but I'm very busy with a sudden influx of new students who must take priority over finishing the book but I promise, it's nearly complete). When it is complete, it'll go on my site here.

Anoxic Filtration.

PS. I've just re-read this and, in case it comes across that I think I've single handedly provoked all the interest in Kevin's system, I don't want to claim all the credit.

I was the first person in the UK to write magazine articles about and I certainly was the first person to put Kevin's CD on a website. I also spent a lot of time in those days answering questions about it on forums but Kevin and a few others in the US have been promoting it and it became quite popular in Australia. Kevin has put a massive amount on the Internet and now on his blog. He also has a free download of his CD on iTunes.

I'm probably guilty of starting the ball rolling in the UK and putting the book on my website helped raise the anoxic profile and get it onto Google but, since then, posts appear about it on a great many forums and there have been more and more hobbyists who have tried it and added their experiences onto forums threads such as this.

__________________

Manky

Click me

[Ed: (1) The Anoxic Filtration System was introduced to the public the same time as the Nexus filter was introduced to the U.S.A. hobbyists in about 1989. I wouldn’t say a filter that has been used by the public far 25–years now would be classified as in its infancy stage any longer as some would like others to believe.]

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

Update from UK’s Brian Woodcock about his AFS and his thoughts about how it’s doing.

Hi guys...bit of an update regarding how my Anoxic is doing. Well as you can see its doing fine my water quality has been fantastic since I installed it and it seems to be going from strength to strength and my fish are happy and healthy with no parasites for over 2 years now.

Growth has been remarkable feeding 400g a day over 6 feeds so much so I will have to move some fish on I think.

 Cheers,

Brian

Some others from the UK add their two cents worth:

VINCE: thank you for the update. I so love that filter look. I am still very happy with mine and it’s doing a find job for me even unplanted. But I am going to change things around so I can plant it now I seen how nice yours has come out.

Darren’s Koi: Brian filter looks great and plants are thriving I have just planted a Lilly in mine as well and it's remarkably how quickly it's taking and new leaves are growing my reeds are about 4 ft tall in mine will be happy if my Lilly gets any growers this yr

Shelly’s update on her pond from Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley....

Hello Dr Novak,

Having my first pond (3500-gallons) has led to meeting other local pond owners, and the topic of filtration always comes up. It should be no surprise that I am an advocate of AFS. Three couples have come to see my pond, finding it difficult to believe that a 'newbie' pond owner with only AFS, a UV light, and a skimmer can have such remarkably clear water. Seeing is believing, however!

Two couples I have met continue to struggle with 'pea soup' algae. One couple just ignores it (poor fish), the other couple dumps large amount$ of algae-control chemical$ into theirs. This couple (7500 gallon pond) made 18 BCB’s after seeing mine, but state that the algae persists (of course). So they are going to have their UV checked.

QUESTION: Before I respond to them, advising more BCB’s and more patience thru the cycling stage, I would like to know if there is a guideline as to the minimum number of BCB’s as it relates to pond size. More specifically: how many Biocenosis Baskets would their 7500-gallon pond require, as a minimum and/or a 12,000-gallon pond, etc?

This information will be very helpful for my other 'pea-soup' neighbor. I hope to get them started with AFS, too, and demonstrate the usefulness of having a standard water test kit, etc.

My own pond -- now 9 months old -- is flourishing and maturing. When the warm weather finally arrived, I experienced my string-algae! I re-read your blog, and learned I need to do partial water changes occasionally (yes, I am a NEWBIE). Then, learning from another poster on your blog, I resisted panic and just waited: it soon turned brown and disintegrated! My pond remains 100% chemical-free, is clear as a bell, and provides hours of enjoyment! I have been working on the landscaping since you last saw my brand new pond in October, wanting to eventually hide the driveway. I am attaching two photo ‘updates’ Photo#1) is in early morning, with the waterfall and aeration turned off for a moment while the goldfish wait for their breakfast, and Photo#2) is in the afternoon, showing the 4' deep aeration bottom drain. 

 

Photo # 1

Photo #2

I hope all is well with you, Dr Novak. Thanks again for all you've done and for all you do!

Best regards from Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley....

Shelly

Q & A time:

I would like to know if there is a guideline as to the minimum number of BCB’s as it relates to pond size. The BCB’s really do their best in an AFS and not just placed in a pond willy-nilly because your whole pond then can become the filter and you don’t want that. Like Brian Woodcock’s AFS has 35 BCB’s in it and his pond looks great like yours does.

Your friends with the 7500-gal pond need to let Mother Nature take her time, but then again you don’t know what really is happening with their pond and did they do everything right?

As the years go by I have fond-out that Husbandry, feeding regime, number of animals to water mass, and how big the Koi are will really dictate on how many BCB’s one should have. The best way to go about it is two BCB’s per Koi. Example: If you have ten Koi then twenty BCB’s should do the trick. It does not matter how big the Koi are at the time they are introduced to the ponds mass because you are compensating for future growth and food consumption. However, this is not written in stone because pond volume may supersede the number of animals living in the pond or vice versa. Geographic location of the pond and how much sun does it get in a day. Then more BCB’s will be needed because of over stocking the pond beyond reasonable limits. This always happens when using an AFS because hobbyists see how great it works and then buy more Koi.

Cheers,

Kevin