1. Quarantining
2. Water Testing
3. Selecting the Proper Pump
4. Filtration
5. UV Sterilizer also know as Ultra Violet Clarifier

Quarantining

Quarantining is required as a reception center for newly acquired or ailing koi.

Ideally, a quarantine tank should be running with a couple of koi or gold fish continuously.  If this is not possible, the quarantine tank should be half filled with your pond’s water and half filled with de-chlorinated water and running for a few weeks prior to the arrival of your new acquisition. The media in the filter needs to be matured (seeded). Be sure there is heavy aeration. It is best not to quarantine a single fish. Add one of your existing koi (preferably not one of your favorites) from your pond. Koi are happiest with company and it will also help for behavioral comparison. Water temperature should be kept in the low 70’s. Don’t subject your koi to fluctuating temperatures. When you bring your new koi home, it will be stressed and introducing it to a radically different environment adds to the stress. When you get stressed, you can go for a run, a massage, meditate, down a few beers or even eat some chocolate whatever works for you to relieve your stress. But quite certainly that’s not going to work for your koi. So it is all up to you to get your koi comfortable in its new environment as quickly as possible. Float the bag in your quarantine tank for as long as it takes for the water in the bag to reach the same temperature (usually about 15 to 20 minutes). Check your koi to make sure it is doing okay. If the fish is in extreme distress, however, don’t worry about floating it, it’s better to just release it. Don’t add any of your pond water to the bag. This will cause the ammonia that has built up in the bag to burn the gills of the koi. When you are ready to release your koi, remove the koi from the bag. DO NOT add the water from the bag to the quarantine tank as it’s filled with harmful ammonia. Add Pond Salt (3 lbs. per 100 gallons) to help reduce the load on the koi’s osmo regulatory system. We would suggest that you add AmQuel into the water to bind up the ammonia and condition the water. It is a good idea to add Terra Pond into the water. This will make the water somewhat cloudy for the first few days but will help calm your new koi and make it easier for it to adjust to its new environment. Keep the tank covered with netting as new arrivals tend to jump. During the time that the koi is in quarantine, watch it very carefully for about a month to see how it’s doing and ensuring that it’s not carrying any parasites, fungus or harmful bacteria that you may have to treat before moving the koi to your pond. Observe the koi’s behavior to see how it eats, acts and swims. Test the water regularly.

Now you’re ready to carefully net your healthy, beautiful new koi, slide it into a bag with water from your quarantine tank and float it in your pond for 15 to 20 minutes. Release it into your pond and now enjoy your new “living jewel”.

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Water Testing

If you are serious about keeping koi, you must be water keepers first and koi keepers second.

Water…it usually is supplied to you by your municipality. Arguably, municipal water is not all that great for humans, but without being filtered it definitely is NOT suitable for koi. Even well water may become contaminated at times with properties that are lethal to koi. It is of paramount importance to incorporate a professional water purifier with active carbon technology like a Hose-Filter to treat any water entering your pond for pond filling, water changes as well as water makeup or treat all added water with an instant water detoxifier such as AmQuel +.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of good water quality. With that being said, it is equally impossible to make an assessment of water quality by simply looking at the water in your pond. Clear water is not an indication of good water quality. Chlorine is clear but your koi will definitely not last very long swimming in it. Your unaided senses cannot determine water quality…it must be tested. Poor quality water causes 80% or more of the problems encountered with keeping koi.

Water chemistry needs to be stable with no rapid changes. The best method is to track the test results over a period of several testings to see the direction the pond’s water is taking so corrective measures can be taken before a problem gets out of control. An established normally healthy pond need only be checked on a monthly basis for ammonia, nitrite, and pH. Nitrates, salinity and hardness can be checked less frequently. You should test daily following new filter installation, changes in temperature, major work done on your pond, if the pond has been medicated and during quarantine. It may be necessary to do daily testing for ammonia, nitrites and pH if it is a new pond or filter then reduced to weekly until it is stabilized. The time of day is important due to photosynthesis. Always test your pond at the same time preferably in the morning.

A water change of between 5% and 10% should be a part of your regular routine maintenance. Never become complacent about checking your pond’s water regularly. A simple test may prevent a small problem from turning into a catastrophe and you will find that prevention is much easier than a cure.

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Selecting the Proper Pump

The pump is the heart of your pond. It circulates the life blood of the pond which is the water.

In order for the pump to do its job properly, it needs to be sized correctly. Your pump should be able to circulate the entire gallons of your pond every two hours. You must first determine the amount of gallons in your pond. You can achieve this by measuring the length then multiplying it by the width, then multiplying it by the depth and finally multiplying the total cubic feet by 7.5 gallons per cubic feet. Example: (A 10 ft. square pond) multiply 10 ft. long x 10 ft. wide x 5 ft. deep = 500 cubic feet. Then multiply 500 cubic feet by 7.5 = approximately 3750 gallons. Round down slightly because your pond is not filled to the top. We recognize that most ponds are not square or rectangular. If you furnish us with the shape of your pond and its depth, we will assist you in determining the number of gallons in your pond.

The next step is to determine what the total dynamic head pressure is. The total dynamic head pressure encompasses the vertical height the pump must overcome “A” which includes your waterfall. This is determined by measuring from the top of the water (not from the bottom of your pond) to the top of the falls. Figure “B” the distance of the piping in feet that the pump is pushing the water through. You will need to physically measure this length. Next, count “C” all the fittings (such as the number of elbows and reducers). Finally, “D”, count the number of miscellaneous items such as ball valves and bulkhead fittings. Now, use the following formula: A + (B / 10) + (C / 2) + (D / 4) = Approximate Head Pressure.

With the formula above, you can determine the approximate head pressure. Additional factors will be the width of the sheet of water you wish to have for your waterfall. It is a good rule of thumb to use 125 gpm for every inch of the width of the water sheet. Example: (Spillway is 15” wide) multiply 125 x 15 = 1875 gph. The formula for the sheeting of the water and the pump flow rate per hour does not always match. The examples we have shown indicates that the circulation requirements (3750 gallons divided by 2 = 1875) and the sheeting gallons (125 x 15” = 1875) are the same. If more sheeting is desired, you need to determine your pumping gallons per hour for the waterfall not the pond water circulation. For example, if you want 24” of sheeting, multiply 125 x 24” = 3000 gph. This means you will have to get a pump that gives you 3000 gph instead of 1875 gph. This also allows you to have more circulation of the entire pond.

These formulas are the most user friendly that we have found to act as a guideline to help you estimate the pump head you will require. You should always select the pump for the maximum outflow you expect. The flow can always be reduced by adjusting the discharge valve. We strongly suggest that you have us review your estimate and confirm or adjust your findings or just give us the information on your pond and let us come up with the proper pump requirement. It is always recommended to have a spare pump on hand to hook up immediately should the one that is operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week go down.

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Filtration

The only way to have an Amazing Pond is filtration, filtration, filtration.

Just as humans need “fresh” air to live and breathe; koi need “fresh” water…they live in it and breathe in it. A good filtration system is essential to provide the water quality needed for healthy koi and it is the most important component of your pond. Koi are heavy polluters. Every time a koi doubles in length, the amount of bio mass it excretes increases eight times. Continuous low levels of toxic wastes in the water may not kill the fish but result in stress. Stress lowers their resistance to disease and infection. It is important to remove nitrogenous wastes, solids and dissolved organic carbons, and process the ammonia all of which pollute the pond.

A filter is the means by which your koi are kept alive. A filter is a self-contained ecological system. There are two types of filtration, mechanical filtration and biological filtration. Both are needed. Mechanical filtration removes fish waste and other organic material before the pond water reaches the more sensitive biological filter. A filter provides a home for beneficial bacteria to colonize. The filter needs to be operating continuously as a lengthy interruption will not supply the oxygen necessary for the beneficial nitrifying bacteria to survive. There are hundreds of different types of bacteria working within the filter. The biological filter with its nitrifying bacteria is the heart of the nitrogen cycle. This is where the ammonia breaks down into nitrites and the nitrobacter bacteria converts the nitrites into much less harmful nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are dangerously toxic to koi and will weaken and eventually kill them. It is vital that the bio filter be able to remove all the ammonia produced not allowing anything but good quality water back to the pond. In essence, mechanical filtration gets rid of the stuff you can see and the biological filtration gets rid of the stuff you can’t see.

A filtration system is bought based on the size of your pond. To specify the proper filter, you must first know your pond’s volume. There are 7.5 gallons in a cubic foot. Multiply pond length by width and by depth to get cubic feet and then multiply the total cubic feet by 7.5 to get gallons. For instance if you have a pond that is 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep – (20 x 10 x 5 = 1000 x 7.5 = 7,500 gallons). Round down slightly to account for the fact that the pond should slope on the sides towards the bottom drain(s) and isn’t filled to the brim. After the volume is determined, you must figure stock density of the pond taking into account the growth rate of your koi over the years. Generally the more fish you have, as mentioned above, the greater the level of pollutants, the larger the filter. If you can afford it, always go bigger for better performance as your filter can’t be too big, only too small. An excellent filtration system will lead to the highest quality water, minimal maintenance and healthy koi to get pleasure from for years to come.

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UV Sterilizer also know as Ultra Violet Clarifier

Have you seen your fish lately?

In order to see more than just the top half of your fish only while they are feeding requires a high intensity ultra violet sterilizer along with proper filtration. In the warm sunny spring and summer weather it is certain that algae will form in your pond. You will need to install an ultra violet light system that will make sure that suspended algae, which causes “green water” or a murky brown water, are killed faster than they can form. Algae are tiny plants and they thrive on high nutrient levels, sunlight and warm weather. Algae float to the pond surface during the day to catch as much sunlight as possible. A small amount of algae is perfectly fine to have growing on the sides and bottom of your pond and is actually good for koi. Filamentous algae or string algae is a more insidious form of algae. This form of algae will need to be treated with chemicals. If the algae gets out of control it can remove the oxygen from the pond causing the fish to suffocate.

UV clarifiers have a germicidal UV lamp in a housing allowing water to pass in front of it. If properly sized to the pond, it will reduce the algae by 97%. The UV clarifier kills the algae and it is then further broken down by the biological filter. The greater the wattage, the greater the amount of algae can be treated. However, if you have a larger volume of fish and/or you live in a warmer climate with higher water temperatures, you will need to go bigger for maximum control. An ultra violet sterilizer can easily be plumbed into the circulation system of your filter.

Please note that the UV radiation power for the light source gets depleted, therefore, the UV quartz tube will need to be replaced every year.

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