Clear And Healthy Pond Water For Fish And Water Gardens

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Dale Price had no illusions that a 60,000 gallon pond would operate crystal clear with the natural biological filters proposed by local pond builders in the mid 1990s. His first attempts were unsuccessful as the pH of the pond water wanted to be 8.5.

Price knew that as the KOI fish grew he would be violating every pound per gallon rule in the KOI books. With his wife, a veterinarian, he embarked on a one year build and water treatment effort to have one of the most valuable KOI collections in the U.S. displayed in crystal clear water with unique flora on the bottom.

The pond is twelve feet deep, oval in shape with a complete water garden bottom. A small peninsula protrudes so he can ring his liberty bell to summon fish for feeding, often from the hand.

Price first began with a 30 GPM well water turbo system from ECOsmarte to treat his home, irrigation and auto fill needs for the pond. The natural oxygen and ionization chambers for the home resulted in .10 to .15 ppm residual copper going into both his
residence and the pond on the replenishment water.

The residual was never measured however in the main pond, probably due to the 2 900lb bubble bead biological filters. Upon ECOsmartes recommendation Price installed 2 Zeolite filters with an ECOsmarte KOI oxygen system to prevent ammonia buildup from the large KOI, harmful both to the KOI and their water garden plants. The CO2 ph injection system from ECOsmarte was also required to keep the pond from reaching the 8.0ph that existed in Prices well, particularly after the daily KOI feeding. Ph was ultimately maintained in a 7.2 to 7.6 range with carbon dioxide injected 24/7 and even backed up by a sulphuric acid injector that kicked on by sensor when ph levels hit 7.5.

The pond hit 80-90% clarity on a daily basis, still not acceptable for Price and the pond also developed periodic string algae. With his wifes, the veterinarian, help Price decided to introduce copper to the pond to get rid of the string algae and strive for 95-100% daily clarity in the 12 foot deep pond. Veterinarians and fish stores had used low level packaged copper but always indicated to consumers that copper was toxic to KOI.

With daily monitoring of the copper levels, .10, .15, .20 and finally .25ppm copper was introduced with the KOI fish monitored. Price reported at .25ppm his fish were not happy and levels were scaled back to .15ppm - - enough to eliminate string algae and get clarity to almost mirror quality.

About the Author:
Jeffrey Shannon


ECOsmarte is the World leader in Chemical-Free Water Technology since 1994.



Glass Pack takes 100% post-consumer waste glass, machines and sterilizes it into a revolutionary water filtration media.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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