Hi mate don’t worry if your fish are fine don’t go chasing numbers it will drive you mad I have kept tropical fish for 35 years and never lost a fish only of old age and I never chased numbers I have got koi now only had for a year I don’t chase numbers and my fish are great
Hey man keep your chin up and get well soon. As the pond is still fairly new it just takes time, the first part of the nitrogen cycle is fairly rapid to kick in on a new system but the second part takes a lot longer and as you have been informed by others, its a collection of the low temperature due to time of year and the cycle getting started so stick with it. It's not uncommon for it to take 12 months or more for your ponds ecosystem to fully mature. Having a constant trickle of water in/out 24/7 will keep everything stable and is much better than doing it when you either remember or there's a issue. I rarely do "full" pond tests unless i think something is up or just out of curiosity, the only test I'm interested in is ph and kh as they are the big ones, imo. It's said that plastic bio media (k1,Japanese matting & helx-13 ect) use up more of your kh than a ceramic media (BHM, siporax or many others). Something for you to look into in the future maybe. Ceramic media in a shower and plastic in an aerated container is the usual. Take care dude, happy new year 🎉
thanks, i think I'm on the mend slowly. i think part of the issue is that my first pond was done in the spring time so it started to mature really quickly as temps was much better to begin with. come spring i'll be setting up my shower that will have BHM/similar in it so that will be a good help, especially for Nitrates. All the best for the coming year.
Greetings buddy, get well soon🤞👍😊. First 6 months of water tests saw my readings change constantly while the nitrogen cycle got going and until the pond reached its equilibrium. Readings now are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.25, PH 8.0, KH 7 and GH 15 (we have vet hard water in Telford)👍😊. I believe KH of 5 to 8 is more than acceptable for koi but that does depend on the other readings as well. If your KH is in that range I would definitely not worry about trying to raise it. You need to be careful if you are doing big water changes as that can sometimes change parameters more than you would expect☹️. My pond is 2500 gallons and I run a constant trickle in/trickle out at 150ml per minute which equates to 216 litres per day so 1,512 litres/ 333 gallons per week which is 13.3%. In summer I turn it up very slightly to 200 ml per minute which works out to 17.7% per week..👍😊. Bottom line is that every pond is different so do what you think is best for you👍😊. You won’t really get the nitrogen cycle running smoothly until you get more fish in the pond as probably not enough waste being generated??? Enjoy the rest of your festive break👍🈲🐟😊
Thank you very much Phil🙌 I'm sure once the weather starts to warm up again and the fish are being fed I will see exactly where the pond is at. I have 100 litres of K1 in the moving bed and the shower will be going up in the spring, so I'm sure once these have matured fully the pond will come alive and the fish will thrive. Also the main aim of this water change was to just reduce the Nitrite due to the bacteria not being able to do it as effective at the moment, so I felt 15% was a reasonable amount to reduce it, which it does seem to have done. Once spring comes, and I can get a permanent drain in place for waste water, I will probably run a trickle out. Have a great new year👍
According to a book I read on waste water nitrification the optimal ph range for nitrification is 7.2 to 8. I believe a KH of 4 and above should keep the ph at that range no problem. KH and ph tests are very easy and very quick to do so I would do it weekly.
@@Tom_Prendiville the water in my area is really soft the ph out the tap is 7.5 so I use kh up and gh up with a bit of oyster shell and it's all fine and dandy 👌
I run a kh of 2. Kh is used by the filters so in the winter if your unheated the filters wont use much kh at all. So essentially the trickle in is replenishing the kh making the kh higher. With my kh i have to dose 10grams of bi carb a day via a dosing pump. You do not need to alter you kh 6 is more than enough. I like to stable mine at 2. A kh of 2 is safe but a kh of 5 is rock solid and would take alot to crash. Secondly koi do better in soft water. In japan the water ph is 7 with a low kh of 1-2. Only thing hardness is good for is colour like sumi. Check out rasta koi on youtube mate.
thanks for the info, the trouble is there's so much conflicting info or opinions out there that sometimes it can be hard to lean one way or another. Also with this new pond, I'm diving a bit deeper into the science of things(rightly or wrongly) as my old pond I just let it do its own thing and never really did much to it apart from clean the filter. Never really did much water testing on it neither.
@@UpNorthKoiPond major problem in the koi world is conflicting opinion. Im lucky to know some well respected people within the koi world in 1 way facebook groups such as... a passion for koi. and another. chatter koi. are very helpful. I try to mimic my water to what the japanese fish houses read. The dropper test kits are in no way 100% accurate. For accuracy you would need something like an exact idip photometer. Or a palintest photometer. Non of which are cheap. The dropper tests are more of a guide. Knowledge comes with time and overcoming hurdles. Most water problems can be easily sorted by upping your trickle in. But your trickling in 2 lpm which i would say is to high. You want to aim for 10-15% a week unless your feeding heavy and have water problems then i would suggest 30% a week. Although im not sure what gallons or litres your pond is judging by the size in your video i would say at 2 lpm your probably changing 100% each week. My pond at home is 2500 gallons. I change 0.35 lpm thats measured by a vyair digital flow meter.
@@deano6187 yeah I mean this initial water change was done more to decrease the nitrite in the water, and isn't actually constantly trickling out and in. the tank is there just to keep it topped up as the drum goes through its cleaning process. working it out if I was to leave it trickling out at that rate it would work out at roughly 54% per week, which I agree is a lot. The issue I have ATM is that I am yet to get a permanent drain in place for waste water to disperse so I am slightly reluctant to leave it on a constant trickle so as to not create a horrible boggy area up the garden. Another plan in the books for the spring
A high KH is better than a low KH but a stable KH is better than a fluctuating KH so keep it stable and it will be great mine has been 3KH for 7 years and had no problems 👍
Kh is fine at 4 that's highest we can get the more fish you have to more kh your filter uses with your nitrite you could add salt to the pond to stop brown blood disease from high nitrite
That's fair enough, I've done a bit more research into it and it's put me at ease. The nitrite seems to have remedied for the time being with the water changes. I'll just keep a close eye on it👍
Hi mate don’t worry if your fish are fine don’t go chasing numbers it will drive you mad I have kept tropical fish for 35 years and never lost a fish only of old age and I never chased numbers I have got koi now only had for a year I don’t chase numbers and my fish are great
Hey man keep your chin up and get well soon.
As the pond is still fairly new it just takes time, the first part of the nitrogen cycle is fairly rapid to kick in on a new system but the second part takes a lot longer and as you have been informed by others, its a collection of the low temperature due to time of year and the cycle getting started so stick with it.
It's not uncommon for it to take 12 months or more for your ponds ecosystem to fully mature.
Having a constant trickle of water in/out 24/7 will keep everything stable and is much better than doing it when you either remember or there's a issue.
I rarely do "full" pond tests unless i think something is up or just out of curiosity, the only test I'm interested in is ph and kh as they are the big ones, imo.
It's said that plastic bio media (k1,Japanese matting & helx-13 ect) use up more of your kh than a ceramic media (BHM, siporax or many others).
Something for you to look into in the future maybe.
Ceramic media in a shower and plastic in an aerated container is the usual.
Take care dude, happy new year 🎉
thanks, i think I'm on the mend slowly. i think part of the issue is that my first pond was done in the spring time so it started to mature really quickly as temps was much better to begin with. come spring i'll be setting up my shower that will have BHM/similar in it so that will be a good help, especially for Nitrates. All the best for the coming year.
@@UpNorthKoiPond awesome, I think you will see a noticeable difference in your koi and water quality when the shower kicks in
Greetings buddy, get well soon🤞👍😊. First 6 months of water tests saw my readings change constantly while the nitrogen cycle got going and until the pond reached its equilibrium. Readings now are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.25, PH 8.0, KH 7 and GH 15 (we have vet hard water in Telford)👍😊. I believe KH of 5 to 8 is more than acceptable for koi but that does depend on the other readings as well. If your KH is in that range I would definitely not worry about trying to raise it. You need to be careful if you are doing big water changes as that can sometimes change parameters more than you would expect☹️. My pond is 2500 gallons and I run a constant trickle in/trickle out at 150ml per minute which equates to 216 litres per day so 1,512 litres/ 333 gallons per week which is 13.3%. In summer I turn it up very slightly to 200 ml per minute which works out to 17.7% per week..👍😊. Bottom line is that every pond is different so do what you think is best for you👍😊. You won’t really get the nitrogen cycle running smoothly until you get more fish in the pond as probably not enough waste being generated??? Enjoy the rest of your festive break👍🈲🐟😊
Thank you very much Phil🙌 I'm sure once the weather starts to warm up again and the fish are being fed I will see exactly where the pond is at. I have 100 litres of K1 in the moving bed and the shower will be going up in the spring, so I'm sure once these have matured fully the pond will come alive and the fish will thrive.
Also the main aim of this water change was to just reduce the Nitrite due to the bacteria not being able to do it as effective at the moment, so I felt 15% was a reasonable amount to reduce it, which it does seem to have done. Once spring comes, and I can get a permanent drain in place for waste water, I will probably run a trickle out. Have a great new year👍
Get well soon buddy 👍👍👍
thanks, I'm on the right path I think😊
According to a book I read on waste water nitrification the optimal ph range for nitrification is 7.2 to 8. I believe a KH of 4 and above should keep the ph at that range no problem. KH and ph tests are very easy and very quick to do so I would do it weekly.
Chin old boy! You will get over it soon enough. Give yourself a PPDip 😂😂😂oh and a hot toddy mate 🙏👍💪
My kh and gh are 0 in my tap I add buffer but I keep them at 5 and my fry are doing wicked 👌hope you had a good Xmas and have a happy new year mate 😉👍
Thank you buddy, you too👍 wow, 0 is pretty much pure water, are you supplied from a spring or something 🤷♂️😳
@@UpNorthKoiPond I live on a mountain and the reservoir is less than a mile so probably down to that god knows 🤷♂️
@@Jiggskoi here in the northeast we are blessed with similar water to you, its RO water out the tap (aside from the dreaded chlorine).
@@Tom_Prendiville the water in my area is really soft the ph out the tap is 7.5 so I use kh up and gh up with a bit of oyster shell and it's all fine and dandy 👌
I run a kh of 2. Kh is used by the filters so in the winter if your unheated the filters wont use much kh at all. So essentially the trickle in is replenishing the kh making the kh higher. With my kh i have to dose 10grams of bi carb a day via a dosing pump. You do not need to alter you kh 6 is more than enough. I like to stable mine at 2. A kh of 2 is safe but a kh of 5 is rock solid and would take alot to crash.
Secondly koi do better in soft water. In japan the water ph is 7 with a low kh of 1-2. Only thing hardness is good for is colour like sumi. Check out rasta koi on youtube mate.
thanks for the info, the trouble is there's so much conflicting info or opinions out there that sometimes it can be hard to lean one way or another. Also with this new pond, I'm diving a bit deeper into the science of things(rightly or wrongly) as my old pond I just let it do its own thing and never really did much to it apart from clean the filter. Never really did much water testing on it neither.
@@UpNorthKoiPond major problem in the koi world is conflicting opinion. Im lucky to know some well respected people within the koi world in 1 way facebook groups such as... a passion for koi. and another. chatter koi. are very helpful. I try to mimic my water to what the japanese fish houses read. The dropper test kits are in no way 100% accurate. For accuracy you would need something like an exact idip photometer. Or a palintest photometer. Non of which are cheap. The dropper tests are more of a guide. Knowledge comes with time and overcoming hurdles. Most water problems can be easily sorted by upping your trickle in. But your trickling in 2 lpm which i would say is to high. You want to aim for 10-15% a week unless your feeding heavy and have water problems then i would suggest 30% a week. Although im not sure what gallons or litres your pond is judging by the size in your video i would say at 2 lpm your probably changing 100% each week.
My pond at home is 2500 gallons. I change 0.35 lpm thats measured by a vyair digital flow meter.
@@deano6187 yeah I mean this initial water change was done more to decrease the nitrite in the water, and isn't actually constantly trickling out and in. the tank is there just to keep it topped up as the drum goes through its cleaning process.
working it out if I was to leave it trickling out at that rate it would work out at roughly 54% per week, which I agree is a lot. The issue I have ATM is that I am yet to get a permanent drain in place for waste water to disperse so I am slightly reluctant to leave it on a constant trickle so as to not create a horrible boggy area up the garden. Another plan in the books for the spring
A high KH is better than a low KH but a stable KH is better than a fluctuating KH so keep it stable and it will be great mine has been 3KH for 7 years and had no problems 👍
Kh is fine at 4 that's highest we can get the more fish you have to more kh your filter uses with your nitrite you could add salt to the pond to stop brown blood disease from high nitrite
That's fair enough, I've done a bit more research into it and it's put me at ease. The nitrite seems to have remedied for the time being with the water changes. I'll just keep a close eye on it👍