|
Koi Pond Filtration maintains water quality. The overwhelming cause for most health problems in ponds is poor water quality.
Water is a universal solvent, nearly everything, whether it be animal, vegetable or mineral, has some reaction with water- for better or worse! The largest pollutant in most ponds actually comes from the food we feed our koi and the resulting discharge of nitrogenous waste which is broken down to form ammonia. The most deadly of pond solutes.
A good system will perform two primary functions, removal of particulate and waste debris and then fish toxic water pollutants removal. Removal of particulates, mechanical filtration, reduces the loading factor on the ponds system. If left to decompose, further pollutants would be produced and oxygen levels would decline. So removal is critical in maintaining a safe and sound ecosystem. There is a great deal of equipment available today to facilitate mechanical filtration or pre-filtration including skimmers, sieves,turbo vortexes and filters themselves that perform both mechanical and biological functions.
The biological function of the system is to remove toxic chemical pollutants that are in solution. Nature has provided the necessary tools to accomplish toxin removal, beneficial bacteria. Ammonia is the first and most deadly toxin produced in the pond. Nitrosomonas bacteria convert ammonia to different chemical called nitrite which is also a deadly toxin for fish. Nitrobacter bacteria then convert nitrite to nitrate which is relatively harmless.This is the Nitrogen cycle and the beneficial bacteria utilized are often grouped and referred to as nitrifying bacteria. Like any other living creature certain criteria are needed to sustain their existence. They include oxygen, nutrients ( ammonia and nitrites) carbon and phosphate which are drawn directly from the pond water, proper temperature and an inorganic surface to colonize.
Bio-mass is the general term used to describe the size of the colony that the nitrifting bacteria have colonized . How many cubic feet or square inches, or whatever, are available in the filter for colonization? The more the better! The size of the bio mass has to be appropriate for the size of the pond and the stocking level. And then the flow rates have to controlled to optimize the performance of the bio mass. There are many things that can adversely affect the performance of the bio mass, PH, alkalinity, temperature, flow rates or exposure time, dissolved oxygen, organic load, available nutrients and the amount of media surface available for the bacteria to colonize.
Filtration is the key to successful Koi ponding. To little will likely result in catastrophic loses, huge disappointment and a lot of wasted money. To much? Not possible-you cannot over filter your pond.
|
