Use UV Sterilizers For Clean Garden Ponds

How Can I prevent My Pond Water Turning Green?

If you own a garden pond then I am willing to bet that you have struggled with green pond algae from time to time! Suspended pond algae is the scourge of water gardeners, world wide. Pond algae can be green algae, red algae, brown algae, string algae. This article is concerned with suspended algae and its effective of pond water.

What Is An Algae Bloom?

An algae bloom is caused by the rapid reproduction of plank tonic algae when there is a lot of sunshine and nutrients in the pond water. The disadvantage of an algae bloom are as follows:

• As the algae die off, they start to rot on the pond floor, giving off ammonia. This places a higher load on your pond filter.
• Carbon dioxide is also released. As carbon dioxide is released back into the pond it starts the cycle all over again. Algae are microscopic plant life that like their larger cousins use up carbon dioxide in a process known as photosynthesis.
• Oxygen is used up as part of the rotting process. Oxygen is critical to nitrifying bacteria and aquatic pond life.

How Does A UV Sterilizer Prevent Pea Algae Blooms?

The effectiveness of a UV sterilizer is affected by temperature to a large extent. At 40 C (104 F) it works at maximum efficiency. A drop in temperature to 20 C (68 F) results in a drop in efficiency to only 50%. Manufacturers of UV sterilizers get around this rapid drop in efficiency by insulating the UV lamp with a quartz sleeve. UV light transmits through the quartz, so the maximum efficiency is maintained.

How Does A Pond UV Work In A Fish Pond?

As pond water containing the floating algae passes through the quartz tube it is bombarded with ultra violet rays, either directly or via highly reflective metal surfaces. The UV rays destroy the cell walls of the algae, causing what is known as flocculation to occur (the dead algae clump together forming a much large mass). This makes removal by a pond filter or pond skimmer possible. Prior to clumping a single suspended algae cell measures about 4 microns across (4 millionths of a meter).

What Is The Best Method To Control Pea Soup Algae?

The only guaranteed way of controlling green pond algae is to use a UV sterilizer or UV clarifier. UV models are available as stand alone models or incorporated into a UV pond filter ... see below for available methods.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-uvarticle.htm where you will find money saving advice and information to help you choose the right pond keeping equipment.

Why not take advantage of my pond calculators to help you convert between metric and imperial measurements quickly and accurately.

How Do I Create A Perfect Pond Environment?

A garden pond high in ammonia, nitrites and pathogenic bacteria is what you don't want! The secret to ensuring that this doesn't happen is to ensure that ammonia and nitrite in your pond is kept under control.

The secret to controlling toxic ammonia and nitrite is to use a biofilter. The way a pond looks can be deceiving and does not necessarily mean that all is well below the surface. Your pond may have crystal clear water and be free from algae blooms but that doesn't always mean it is a healthy environment for your fish to live in. On the other hand a fish pond with small algae blooms might look dirty but because ammonia and nitrite levels are under control, it is in fact as near to a perfect environment as possible.

Steps To Achieving Healthy Pond Water

• Ensure that you use a bio filter that is suitable for the size of your pond. For small to medium sized ponds the traditional gravity discharge filter and pressurized pond filter models are your best bet. Larger Koi ponds need a bead filter or vortex filter.
• Reduce the opportunity for ammonia to develop by removing uneaten food after a few minutes, before it has chance to sink to the pond floor and decay. Use a pond vacuum to remove sludge and debris from the pond floor, from time to time. Prune back trees and bushes near to the pond so that leaves don't fall in to the pond.
• Always make sure that you provide a constant supply of oxygen to the pond filter media, as they will die without it, within 5 to 6 hours.
• Installing a pond surface skimmer is an excellent way to rid your pond of unwanted leaves, twigs, pollen and other floating surface debris. This reduces the load on your pond filter in converting ammonia.
• Use an ultraviolet sterilizer to prevent algae blooms from taking over your pond. A small amount of algae is beneficial to Koi and goldfish ponds, as it is a food source, sun shade and hiding place from herons and other predatory birds. On the downside however, algae starves the pond of oxygen. Ths is detrimental to the ammonia oxidizing abilities of the nitrifying bacteria living on your pond filter media.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-cleanpond.htm where you will find money saving advice and information to help you choose the right pond keeping equipment the first time around.

Why not take advantage of my pond calculators to help you convert between metric and imperial measurements quickly and accurately.

Pond Pressure Filters Are The Pond Keepers Favorite

Pressurized pond filters, over the last 10 years or so have become the small to medium sized pond keepers favorite. This is mainly due to the low cost, reliability, ease of maintenance and compact size.

Before I explain why pressurized pond filters are such a popular choice for pond keepers with small to medium sized ponds I would like to outline the most popular types of pond filter.

Gravity Discharge Filter

This is also known as a gravity return filter. This filter type uses a submersible pond pump to power water to the inlet of the filter. The water flows through the filter and is returned back to the pond under the influence of gravity. This type of filter needs to be positioned at the highest point of the pond.

Pressurized Pond Filter

This is also a pump fed pond filter. The major difference however is that the pond water leaving the filter is still under pressure. This allows you to locate the filter away from the pond edge.

Fluidized Bed Filter

This filtration system is more commonly known as a bead filter, and is extremely popular with USA Koi keepers. The biological chamber is full of suspended bead filter media, up to 600,000 in some models. The violent thrashing together of fresh water, oxygen, beads and ammonia (NH3) ensures that ammonia and nitrite is quickly and efficiently converted to nitrate.

Gravity Fed Pond Filters
Gravity fed pond filters are situated adjacent to the pond, and at the same level. They are fed by a bottom drain and usually have multiple chambers. The final chamber is host to a pump that forces water back into the pond under pressure, often via a venturi. As a result the pond surface will always be slightly higher than that in the filter, causing water to pass through to the filter via the bottom drain under gravity.

Why Is A Pressurized Pond Filter So Popular?

• It is much more compact than gravity return box type filters and are ideal for situations where space is tight.
• The pressurized operation allows expelled water, which is still under pressure to feed a waterfall or water feature.
• It can be located away from the pond edge. In fact it can be buried underground, up to the lid at a distance from the pond.
• Many models incorporate a back flush system which expels waste matter, under pressure, simply by turning a valve. This makes routine cleaning easier.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-pressurebiofilter.html where you will find money saving advice and information to help you choose the right pond keeping equipment the first time around.

Why not take advantage of my pond calculators to help you convert between metric and imperial measurements quickly and accurately.

Pond Filter Shape & Size Isn't The Deciding Factor

The bio filter shape and size isn't a determining factor upon how good the pond filter is at removing ammonia from pond water! The deciding factor in any fish pond is the choice of pond filter media used, along with the amount of oxygen available. Really good pond filter designs allow large quantities of oxygen to mix with nitrifying bacteria, water and ammonia in turbulent conditions.

A biological pond filter is a convenient place where oxygenated water, ammonia and nitrification bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) meet and allow the Nitrogen Cycle to take place.

Good Pond Bio Filter Design Principles

• There must be a way to allow large colonies of bacteria to colonize. The choice of bio media is important. Use a bio media with a large SSA (specific surface area) as this increases the biomass (size of bacteria colony).
• If you currently use plastic bio media as the home for colonies of nitrifying bacteria to live on then I would advise you to replace it with Supra pond filter media, probably the best low cost biomedia available for use in small to medium sized fish ponds. The higher the surface area the greater the amount of ammonia that can be broken down in one go, providing of course that there is an adequate supply of oxygen which is essential for the nitrogen cycle to take place.
• Ideally a system that allows organic waste to be removed before it has a chance to enter the biological chamber is ideal. One such system is a vortex koi filter which is the professional Koi keepers favourite in the UK. In the USA the Koi keeping community tends to lean towards bead filter systems. If you only have a small to medium sized pond then a box type filter or pressurized pond biofilter are great alternatives.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-filter-shape.htm where you will find useful water gardening articles and useful pond keeping resources.

Nitrifying Bacteria And Oxygen In Pond Filters

The average fish pond has far too many inhabitants than it should have. This encourages a build up of ammonia concentrations within the pond water. This is a bad state of affairs and must be controlled quickly.

The only way of preventing ammonia build up is to remove it as soon as pond fish excrete ammonia into the pond. A pond filter is by far the best method to do this. Within a pond filter nitrifying bacteria, oxygen and ammonia need to be in constant contact in order for ammonia to broken down.

Factors Affecting Ammonia Levels In garden Ponds

• A koi on average will eat 3 times as much as an equivalent sized goldfish and produces a lot more bodily waste.
• The quality of fish food or Koi food fed will have severe implications upon the levels of ammonia produced. Fish food containing high levels of ash will result in poorer water quality because the Koi or goldfish is unable to use and store much of the content.
• Pond sludge build up at the bottom of the pond from leaves, grass and uneaten fish food falling to the pond floor starts to rot giving off ammonia.
• Oxygen levels have a major impact upon the level of ammonia that can be converted, as the nitrogen cycle requires plenty of oxygen. Make sure your fish pond has as much oxygen as you can possible get into it. Waterfalls and fountains are a great way to add beauty and functionality.

How Can I Improve My Garden Pond Filter Performance?

• Use a biomedia with a high surface area and replace the plastic coils in your pond filter with this biomedia. Supra in the USA or Alfagrog in the UK is an excellent product and is cheap.
• Ensure that there is as much oxygen dissolved in the water as possible.
• Remove the load on your pond filter by installing a surface skimmer or by using a floating surface skimmer to remove excess leaves, grass and other organic debris. Decaying vegetation produces even more ammonia.

The full article can be read at www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-bacteria-oxygen.html, where you will find many water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

Vortex Pond Filters & Japanese Matting Really Works

The reason for the success is due to the large volumes of oxygen pumped into the vortex chamber. This creates a lot of turbulence. The conversion of ammonia in a biofilter needs plenty of oxygen, biomedia with a high surface area and turbulent water. Turbulence allows for excellent mass transfer by maximizing the concentration differences, thereby allowing ammonia to be converted into nitrite and nitrate at an optimum rate.

Japanese matting allows for an extremely large surface area on which beneficial Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacteria can colonize. These nitrifying bacteria are responsible for converting ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate in your fish pond.

Vortex filters and Japanese matting work so well together because the Japanese matting isn't situated in the primary vortex chamber so there is no way for organic pollutants (fish faeces, leaves etc) to contaminate the Japanese matting or block the openings. Japanese matting which is flat and rigid can be easily cut into smaller pieces that are easily slotted into place inside the vortex filter.

How Does A Vortex Koi Pond Filter Work?

Pond water containing ammonia and other particulate matter is pumped into the primary vortex chamber where the swirling action of the water (vortex) causes the solids to settle at the bottom of the vortex chamber, where it can be easily flushed away by simply opening a purge valve.

Vortex Koi pond filters are an extremely effective biological and mechanical pond filter combination that are capable of removing up to 80% of the particulate matter that passes through it.

For many pond keepers a vortex style pond filter with Japanese matting pond filter media is over kill, expensive and can be difficult to install properly. If you have a small to medium sized garden pond then a viable option for you would be pressurized pond filter from the likes of Fishmate, Oase or Hozelock Cyprio. These pond filters are compact, relatively cheap and reliable and can be located away from the pond.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-japanesematting.html, where you will find this and other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

Mechanical Sand Filters Are Bad For Garden Ponds

Using a mechanical sand filter in a fish pond is a very bad idea! Mechanical sand filters are used extensively in fish hatcheries, sewage treatment applications and in swimming pools.

The major purpose of a biological pond filter in any garden pond is to remove toxic ammonia, which has a detrimental effect upon the pond water quality and pond inhabitants. The biological process responsible for removing ammonia is known as the Nitrogen Cycle and is vital to any biological pond. The secondary function of a pond filter is to remove organic solids such as leaves and uneaten fish food etc.

Why Are Sand Filters Bad For Fish Ponds?

The reasoning behind using a pond filter in the first place is to remove ammonia from your garden pond before it creates a toxic environment that is unsuitable for aquatic life. Mechanical sand filters encourage the growth of heterotrophic bacteria, which paradoxically produce ammonia as part of their metabolism. Heterotrophic bacteria pollute your pond water and will eventually destroy your Koi and goldfish population.

• Sand filters require frequent backwashes; about 6 a day for about 5 minutes each time. This consumes a lot of water. Expensive if you are on a meter.
• A sand filter has a low surface area on which nitrifying bacteria can colonize.
• A sand filter is only capable of trapping solids in water that measure at least 10 microns in diameter or more; algae cells can be as little as 4 microns, meaning that they would simply pass through the sand without being trapped.
• As water flows through the sand channelling starts to occur. This means that holes appear in the sand and water simply flows through, without being filtered.

As far as I am concerned the only viable solution for effective biological pond filtration in a garden pond containing fish is to use a biological pond filter or a veggie filter.

What Type Of Biological Pond Filter Should I Use?

If you have a small to medium sized garden pond then the best choice would be a pressurized pond biofilter such as the Hozelock Bioforce, Fishmate Powerclenz or the Oase Filtoclear. They are reliable, energy efficient and come with good warranties.

For large Koi ponds the best form of biological pond filter is a bead filter (fluidized bed filter). Bead filters as the name suggests use tiny little beads suspended in water as the filter media. In certain models there can be as many as 600,000 beads per cubic foot. The turbulent oxygen rich water, ammonia and large surface area provided by the beads ensure that ammonia is quickly converted into nitrate.

My advice to you would be to avoid installing a sand filter in your garden pond at all costs; partly due to running cost implications but mainly because of the unhealthy environment it will create.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-sandfilters.htm, where you will find other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

How Does A Fish Pond Filter Work?

The biofilter chamber is home to beneficial bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrates using a process known as the nitrification process. Without the nitrogen cycle taking place it would not be possible to keep healthy fish in your garden pond.

The rate at which ammonia is converted is dependant upon several factors including the choice of pond filter media used, the level of oxygen and level of ammonia that needs to be converted.

Mass Transfer Processes are defined as: “At the interface between two components transfer between the two is limited by the concentration difference. The larger the concentration difference the faster the transfer will take place.”

In pond keeping terms it means that the higher the surface area of your biomedia the more bacteria there will be and the quicker ammonia will be converted.

In the Koi keeping industry, particularly in the USA, bead filters are used extensively as the biofiltration method in large Koi ponds. Bead filters are often fitted with air blowers or bead agitators that vigorously shake and stir the biological bead media, so as the encourage faster mass transfer rates.

Please be aware that the one piece of pond keeping equipment that you don’t want to cut back and save money on is a biological pond filter. If you have a fish pond then you MUST HAVE A POND FILTER.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-howbiofilterswork.html, where you will find other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

DIY Pond Filters Save Money

A biofilter, unlike a mechanical filter such as a pond skimmer doesn’t only remove pond debris such as grass, leaves and other organic matter. A biofilter removes ammonia from fish ponds.

In order for the nitrogen cycle to take place in your biofilter there will have to be oxygen rich pond water, pond biomedia and a readily available supply of ammonia.

Ammonia is nearly always present in garden ponds as it is released into the pond water by aquatic life as part of their metabolism. It is also present to a lesser degree from decomposition of leaves and other debris on the pond floor.

What Components Do I Need For My DIY Pond Filter?

Before you start your project take a look inside a commercially sold box type pond filter to get some ideas. Homemade pond filters are easy to make and will save you money. You will need the following pieces of equipment:

• Flat open cell foam or stiff bristle brushes or both.
• Inlet pipe, outlet pipe and overflow pipes back into your garden pond.
• You will need biofilter media of some description for the beneficial bacteria colonies to live on. You will often see the following filter media in commercially sold filter boxes: plastic coils, plastic tubes and plastic balls.
• A suitable filter box to store the components in. There are different sized black boxes to use as the container for your diy pond filter. Please be aware that it is not the size of the filter box that determines the volume of pond water the pond filter can effectively filter; it is the choice of biological pond filter media used.
  
  How Do I Make A Home Made Pond Filter?
  
  
• Stage 1 involves trapping leaves and other organic matter from entering into the biological filter chamber by using flat open cell foam or stiff bristle brushes or both.
• Stage 2 involves ensuring that pond water flows or pours over the pond filter media (up or down the biofilter media). This pond filter media must be kept wet and oxygenated at all times by recirculated pond water.
• The box type pond filter operates under gravity conditions and generally is placed at the highest point in the pond system. Box type filters are sometimes referred to as gravity fed pond filters or gravity discharge pond filters.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-homemadefilter.html where you will find other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

Pond Skimmers Make Life Easier For Biofilters

Ammonia is present in pond environments due to several factors:

• Ammonia is present in faeces and urine excreted into the pond by fish.
• Uneaten fish food that decays on the pond bottom.
• Decaying plant life and vegetation that falls to the pond bottom and decays.

Ammonia is removed by the beneficial Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria colonies that live on the pond filter in your biological pond filter chamber. As the concentrations of ammonia increase the level of ammonia breakdown required significantly increases, putting a strain on the pond filter used.

A pond skimmer, sometimes referred to as a pond surface skimmer or pond skimmer filter, skims the surface of your pond, removing floating surface debris such as leaves, grass and twigs etc before id decays and gives off ammonia. As the debris is sucked into the pond skimmer it is trapped in a skimmer basket where it can be removed at a later stage.

Floating pond skimmers are the best choice for small garden ponds, as they are the cheapest and easiest option to install; simply connect a length of pond tubing to the suction of the pond pump. They are not affected by the depth of your garden pond. If you have a deep pond then simply connect a longer piece of pond tubing between the pond pump and skimmer unit, using as fat a piece of pipe tubing that your pump and skimmer will accommodate, so as to maximise pond pump flow. Unlike many fixed skimmer filters a floating pond skimmer can be easily added to an existing garden pond. The majority of fixed pond skimmers are incorporated into the design of the pond when it is being built.

A Fixed Pond Skimmer is very similar in appearance and works in much the same way as the skimmer used in a swimming pool. Pond water containing pond debris is sucked from the pond surface by a pipe that is connected from the unit to a pond pump which is located in a chamber designed to operate at the same level as the pond. The pump then forces the water, less pond debris to your biological pond filter, where it is purified. I would advise you to use a filter pump, also known as a solids handling pump as this type of pump has a much stronger impeller and has been designed to allow larger pond debris such as twigs to pass through it without damage occurring.

If you intend to design a large Koi pond then I would advise you to install a fixed pond skimmer so as to make your garden pond a healthy environment, free from excess leaves and other vegetation that will eventually pollute the pond when they start to decay.

If you are looking for pond keeping resources or would like to read the full article then please visit http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-surface-skimmer.htm ...

Is A Pond Filter Seeder A Good Investment?

What Is A Pond Filter Seeder?

Pond filter seeders or pond filter bacteria starters supposedly contain a living freeze dried version of nitrifying bacteria, which are found naturally in nature. They are advertised as benefiting new pond filter set ups by quickly building up colonies of beneficial bacteria, needed to break down toxic ammonia, found in backyard ponds containing pond fish.

Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas bacteria according to the manufacturers claims are freeze dried and will readily help to seed your pond filter media. Pond Filter seeder is usually available as a powder or in liquid form.

If I were you I would keep my money and refrain from buying any such product as the product is probably worthless. Let me explain why ...

In a backyard pond where the beneficial bacteria colonize the pond filter media naturally over a period of time, oxygen is critically important to their survival. If starved of oxygen overnight the colonies would be destroyed. A pond pump needs to supply oxygen to these beneficial bacteria 24/7.

With this fact in mind I find it difficult to believe that a pond filter seeder product that has been freeze dried and then stored for weeks, perhaps even longer, without a constant supply of oxygen will still be viable.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-bacteriastarter.html, where you will find other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.

Why Is Oxygen Critical To Pond Filter Performance

Why Does My Biofilter Need So Much Oxygen?

Oxygen is a life force in any backyard pond system. It is needed by aquatic pond life, pond plants and by nitrifying bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria, responsible for converting ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates perform a major function in garden ponds. Without the biological processes they perform in breaking down ammonia you simply would not be able to keep fish and other aquatic life such as frogs, toads etc in your pond. The reason for this is because ammonia is an extremely dangerous chemical in high concentrations. If you allow ammonia levels in your pond to rise to high you will suffer from sick fish that will eventually die. They have in effect been poisoned.

Atmospheric air is approximately 21% oxygen. This oxygen is absorbed into your pond water where it is rapidly used up by pond fish, pond plants and by the beneficial nitrifying bacteria.

The amount of oxygen in your pond water fluctuates according to pond water temperature. During hot spells it becomes increasingly more difficult for your pond to absorb oxygen from the atmosphere. You have probably noticed pond fish gasping at the surface for oxygen when the weather is hot. This is the reason why.

During winter when the pond water temperature is much lower, oxygen is much more easily absorbed by your pond, particularly if it is windy and there is much more surface movement.

Oxygen Is Critical To Biofilter Performance

Strictly speaking it isn't the pond filter that needs oxygen in large quantities it is the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter beneficial bacteria that are responsible for breaking down ammonia into nitrates. The chemical processes involved in converting ammonia, firstly into nitrites and then into nitrates requires an enormous amount of oxygen.

Ammonia will be ever present in any garden pond that contains pond fish and aquatic plants, apart from late fall and winter when there is very little biological activity. The ammonia is excreted into the pond by Koi, goldfish etc as they eat and by decaying organic matter, such as uneaten fish food and rotting plant life on the pond floor.

The oxygen is contained in the water being pumped through the pond filter by your pond pump. If the beneficial bacteria are starved of oxygen for more than 5 hours they will die. Don't switch off your pond pump overnight, as by then it will be too late. Biological pond filters need a constant supply of oxygenated pond water 24 hours a day.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-oxygen.htm, where you will find other interesting articles and product resources.

What Is A Veggie Filter

What is a Bog Filter or Veggie Filter?
A veggie filter is a plant filter that provides a natural eco system for your goldfish, koi and other fish to live in. It is home to lots of aquatic pond plants that are deliberately starved of nutrients. In order to survive they absorb the nutrients directly from the pond water.

Once the dirty pond water has passed from your garden pond into the veggie filter and then back into the pond it has been purified. Veggie filters are however much more difficult to maintain than a fish pond with a biological pond filter.

What Size veggie Filter Do I Need?

1. Calculate Pond Volume ... Length x Width x Depth e.g. 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft = 1000 cu ft.
2. Convert to gallons by multiplying by 7.48 - 1000 cu ft x 7.48 = 7480 gallon.
3. As a general rule of thumb the volume of your veggie filter must be at least 10% of the volume of your garden pond. If your pond is 1000 gallon then you need a plant filter that is 100 gallon; a veggie filter that is 150% is better if you have a high fish stocking density.

What Are The Best Pond Plants To Use?
Some pond plants are more suitable than others, depending on factors such as climate, hours of sunshine, growth pattern and where the veggie filter is located. Leafy plants that grow quickly are good veggie filter plants ...

• Azolla, also known as Fairy Moss grows extremely quickly and is capable of removing large amounts of nitrogen and carbon through photosynthesis.
• Duckweed, classified as a floating pond plant is commonly used and also acts as an occasional food and dietary supplement item for your goldfish and koi.
• Water cress is well known for being a plant that consumes high levels of nitrate and would therefore be an excellent choice for your bog filter.
• Soft rush / Pickerel rush / True bulrush or Flowering rush grow quickly for maximum biomass and are excellent for use in most bog filter applications.
• Arrowheads are yet another species of aquatic pond plant that are ideal for your veggie filter.
• The Norfolk reed, classified as an oxygenator not only removes pollutants but because it's leaves are submerged below water allows oxygen to dissolve into the pond water and not into the atmosphere.
• Pennywort, Water Hyacinths, Sweet Galingale and Water lettuce are popular choices too.

Veggie Filter v Pond Filter Advantages

• A plant filter is both cheaper to purchase and to run than a pond filter.
• It provides a natural eco system for your goldfish, koi and other fish to live in.
• A plant filter provides algae and blanketweed control. The veggie filter plants compete directly with the green water and blanket weed for nitrates in the water.

Veggie Filter v Pond Filter Disadvantages

• Blocked pump impellors due to stray roots and foliage.
• A messy pond environment due to fish eating and damaging the plants.
• Bacteria and parasites live on plants and by introducing these into the pond you are in effect introducing potential problems.
• There is also the annual hassle of cleaning and maintenance.

Veggie Filter Maintenance
Your bog filter needs to be thoroughly cleaned at least once a year. This is usually carried out in the fall (September in the Northern Hemisphere). You need to remove all aquatic plants and clean them. They also need to be trimmed, tied back and divided before being placed back in the veggie filter. If you live in a cold climate you may want to store the plants over the winter months. Every good veggie filter should contain a bottom drain for clearing the waste and this should be opened every two to three weeks.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/veggiebio.htm, where you will find other interesting articles and product resources.

The Purpose Of Pond Filter Media

Why Is SSA So Talked About?
A biofilter is only as good as the biomedia used. Many models of biofilter can be made to perform better by replacing the cheap filter media, usually plastic coils with a superior pond filter media with a higher SSA (specific surface area). Pond filter media selection is critical to pond keeping success but is sadly over looked or not known about. This article is an attempt at trying to convince the uninitiated ....

A biofilter converts ammonia in fish ponds into nitrates which are much less harmful than toxic ammonia. The process is known as the nitrogen cycle and is the sole purpose of pond filter media. In pond keeping terms and more specifically in pond filter media terms "bigger is not always better". I will explain ...

When choosing a garden pond filter look at the pond filter media included and choose a pond filter model with as high a SSA as possible. A smaller filter model with a superior pond filter media will perform as well as a large filter model using an inferior filter media, such as thin plastic coils.

Example:

You have decided to use a thin plastic coil that measure 2in high x 1in diameter.

Formula: 2 x pi x plastic coil diameter x plastic coil height.

Area for bacteria to colonize = 2 x 22/7 x 1/12 x 2/12 = 0.1 square feet.

So for arguments sake we shall assume that your pond needs 1000 million bacteria and 0.1 sq feet can provide space for 1 million bacteria. Also for effective filtration we shall assume that your pond filter requires 1000 plastic coils inside it.

The volume of 1 plastic coil is approx 0.0012 cubic feet. This means that your pond filter would need a total volume of 1.2 cubic feet to house 1000 plastic coils.

If you decided to double the weight of fish in your garden pond then you would need 2000 plastic coils. This would mean that you need a filter box with a volume of 5 cubic feet.

The key is to find a pond filter media with a higher SSA than platic coils. If you were to use a filter media that is the same size but has 40 times the SSA then the filter box can be 40 times smaller and you will only need 1/40th the number of plastic coils to house the 1000 million beneficial bacteria.

What is the Best Filter Media?
Any biological pond filter media that is capable of removing solids effectively and of housing large colonies of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria will be a good choice. The larger the SSA (specific surface area) of the biofilter media, the better, as it will significantly improve pond filter performance and remove ammonia from your garden pond at a quicker rate.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-biomedia-article.html, where you will find other interesting articles and product resources.

Ammonia In Garden Ponds Is Bad For Fish

What is ammonia?
Ammonia is a toxic compound that is extremely lethal to pond fish, particularly in high concentrations. This short article will hopefully give you an insight into how ammonia appears in your garden pond and how fluctuations in pond water temperature and algae levels influence the concentrations.

How Does Ammonia Get Into Garden Ponds?
Ammonia can appear in your pond from a variety of sources, including rotting organic matter on the pond floor, dead and decaying aquatic life and uneaten fish food. However the vast majority of ammonia found in a pond environment is the direct result of pond fish feeding! Koi, goldfish and other pond fish need to eat to grow. As they eat they produce bodily waste, which contains high levels of ammonia.

How Is Ammonia Produced?
Ammonia is produced from the proteins that pond fish eat. Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids, which contain the chemical element Nitrogen. Unlike natural lakes and ponds which contain large volumes of water a garden pond, even a large Koi pond is small in comparison. In terms of water volume and fish stocking levels, garden ponds are far more crowded. In nature, ammonia levels hardly ever reach toxic levels because as a percentage of the water volume it is insignificant.

How Does Ammonia Present Itself In Garden Ponds?
Over feeding of pond fish and inadequate biological filtration is a sure sign that your pond will suffer from higher than needed ammonia levels. Ammonia is present in garden ponds as ammonia (lethal) or ammonium (less toxic). Ammonium constantly converts itself into ammonia and hydrogen ions and vice versa. A balanced equilibrium is found. However a change in pond water pH or pond water temperature affects this delicate equilibrium. At a pH of 7 there is only ammonium present. Compare this with a pH of 9 where there is 50% ammonia and 50% ammonium. The alarm bells should start to ring. At a pH of 11 there is only ammonia present. At this late stage all your pond fish will have been poisoned and will have died.

How Do I Control Ammonia Levels in My Garden Pond?
The best solution for controlling ammonia levels in garden ponds is to use a correctly specified biological pond filter, also known as a pond filter or biofilter. A correctly specified bio filtration system will safely control the build up of ammonia. Always choose a pond filter that is bigger than you need as this will allow for increases in the number of fish you keep, along with an increase in fish size; bigger fish eat more and produce more waste, resulting in more ammonia.

What Is The Nitrogen Cycle?
The process of converting ammonia compounds into nitrates is carried out by Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter beneficial bacteria in a chemical process known as the Nitrogen Cycle or Nitrification process. In a garden pond these beneficial bacteria colonize the pond filter media housed in your pond filter. The chemical process of actively converting ammonia into nitrates in the nitrogen cycle requires vast quantities of oxygen. That is why it is advisable to maximize pond oxygen levels by incorporating a cascading waterfall or pond air pump into your system.
Take a look at the equations below which shows just how much oxygen is required.

By Nitrosomonas:
55NH4+ + 76O2 + 109HCO3- --> C5H7O2N + 54NO2- + 57H2O + 104H2CO3

By Nitrobacter:
400NO2- + NH4+ + 4H2CO3 + HCO3- + 195O2 --> C5H7O2N + 3H2O + 400NO3-

As you can see oxygen (O2) is needed extensively for these processes to take place. As pond water temperatures rise in summer it becomes increasingly more difficult for oxygen to dissolve into water, further increasing the opportunity for ammonia levels to increase. 4.3 mg of oxygen is required by Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter beneficial bacteria when converting 1 mg of ammonia into nitrates.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/garden-pond-ammonia-article.html, where you will find other interesting articles and pond keeping resources.

Preparing Your Garden Pond For Winter

As the warm summer weather comes to an end and the activity in your garden pond is slowing down it is time to prepare your garden pond for the cold weather ahead. The fall is the time of year that all successful pond keepers need to carry out maintenance and preparation work before the freezing spell kicks in. This article is aimed at the those water gardeners who live in the colder Northern USA states, Canada and Northern Europe where winter temperatures often reach 0 C and below.

1. Preparing Your Submergible Pump … Lift your pump out of the pond and clean thoroughly before replacing it back into the pond at the marginal shelf level; about 1ft below the surface. This will ensure you only circulate the top layer of pond water.
   Continue to run the pump over the next couple of months before the freeze sets in. At this stage remove the pump and store in a safe place until spring, when the biological activity in your pond comes alive once again.
2. Preparing Your Pond Filter … When the pond temperature drops to 10 C (50F) remove the filter from the pond and give it a thorough clean. Perform a back wash if your filter has the facility or remove the filter media and rinse with pond water or rain if you have a box type filter. Place the biofilter back into the pond, where it can still be used as a mechanical filter to remove leaves and other debris that may fall into the pond. As the winter freeze starts to set in remove it once again, drain and store away until spring. The levels of ammonia in cold water are relatively low removing the necessity for the filter to be running during late fall and winter.
3. Preparing your UV sterilizer (UV clarifier) … The levels of pond algae will be very low during late fall and winter which makes it perfectly safe to remove the UV and store it over the winter months … Prior to placing it back in the pond in spring it is advisable to replace the UV lamp.
4. Protecting Your pond Fish … It is a good idea to remove any fancy forms of pond fish such as fantails and bubble eyes and keep them indoors in a tank until spring, as they will struggle to compete with more robust pond fish varieties such as Koi and large goldfish for any available food. When the water temperature reaches 10 C (50 F) you must ensure that you significantly reduce the amount of fish food fed. Only feed small quantities of low protein content winter fish food with added minerals and vitamins.
5. Preparing Your Pond Plants … Cut back any marginal plants to the crown. Remove Canna lily varieties and store them in a frost proof greenhouse in compost until spring. Other lily species such as Arum Lilies can be lowered to the bottom of the pond where the warmer temperatures are much more suitable or they can be wintered in a greenhouse. Remove the heads off any marsh reeds before they shed their seeds into your pond. When floating aquatic plants are no longer visible at the pond surface then remove them from your pond and store them in a green house. Remove any diseased or mottled leaves from your water lilies to prevent the decaying leaves from polluting the pond.
6. Preparing Your Pond for Falling Leaves … Cover your garden pond with a protective mesh netting as this will prevent falling leaves entering into the pond, sinking to the pond bottom and decaying. It will also help to protect your pond fish from predatory herons and other predatory creatures.
7. Prevent Your Pond from Freezing Over ... The fish in your pond require oxygen which they absorb through their gills from the oxygen contained in pond water (H2O). However when your garden pond freezes over completely there is a limited supply of oxygen and there is no way for gases, released from decaying vegetation on the pond floor to escape. Ensure that there is always an air hole to allow gaseous exchange. Using a pond heater or pond de-icer are good ways to prevent your pond from totally icing over.
8. Always ensure that you keep your garden pond topped up, particularly in areas where there is a high water table. Ensure that you add a chlorine and chloramine reducing pond water additive after topping up. Municipal water contains chlorine and other harmful chemicals.
   
   The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/winter-maintenance.html, where you will find other interesting articles and pond keeping resources.

Preparing Your Garden Pond For Spring?

Spring Time Pond Maintenance Tips

The rising pond temperature and increased fish activity is a sure sign that spring has arrived in your garden pond. Spring is a time of significant change within any pond eco system. It is time to carry out some routine maintenance to ensure you are prepared for the activities and changes happening within your pond.

Here are some useful spring time maintenance tips to get you moving along the right path ...

1. Remove any excess muck and sludge from the pond bottom using a pond vacuum cleaner ... decaying vegetation and uneaten food will if left increase the opportunity for ammonia concentrations to rise, causing more work for your pond filter.
2. Add pond salt to your garden pond as this will help to kill of many of the parasites and bacteria that affect pond fish at this time of year ... Apply a dosage of 3 lbs per 100 gallons of pond water.
3. Check your UV lamp which will probably need replacing if you want to maintain crystal clear pond water. Green pond water, caused by microscopic algae will start to flourish as the levels of nitrates in the pond increase, due to increased fish feeding activity and longer sunny days.
4. Ammonia levels will be higher as there is an increased amount of fish metabolic waste within your pond water. The levels will settle down once the beneficial bacteria colonies on your pond biomedia build up and your pond filter becomes more effective at converting ammonia into nitrates. Monitor the ammonia levels to ensure that they don't spiral out of control. Ensure that your pond is well aerated as oxygen is required in large quantities by the beneficial bacteria as part of the ammonia conversion process (nitrogen cycle). Feeding a smaller amount of fish food will also help to give your biofilter a chance to catch up.
5. If you have a large Koi pond and use a specialized bead filter then open up the filter and break up the biological beads that have clumped together. This will not only make the filter more effective but will also prevent bad bacteria from populating the beads. Once you have done this perform a backwash prior to running water back into your garden pond.
6. Prepare your pond plants for the forthcoming season and remove any plants that have died or failed to sprout. If you lowered your pond plants to the pond floor during the fall, in preparation for the colder winter pond temperatures then now is the time to raise them up. Fertilize each marginal plant species with 1 plant grow fertilizer tablet. For hardy water lilies use 2 fertilizer tablets. For Lotus you may need up to 5 fertilizer tablets.

The full article can be read at http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/spring-maintenance.html, where you will find other water gardening articles and pond keeping resources.