Clearing
Up Green Water (Page 2 of 2)
by Elmer Epistola
Posted: September 3, 2004
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The
first step in eliminating excess nutrients in the pond is to
eliminate all possible external sources of decaying organic matter
in the pond. This includes transferring trees and plants that
shed a lot of leaves into the pond, preventing grass and plant
trimmings or cuttings from being blown by wind into the pond, and
even fencing the pond to prevent small animals from falling into the
water. Fallen leaves and uneaten koi food are the primary
offenders under this category, so all leaves and leftover koi food
at the pond bottom and water surface must be promptly netted out of
the water.
Once the external sources of
organic matter have been removed, all that the pond owner has to
worry about are the wastes generated within the pond, primarily
those excreted by the koi themselves. As mentioned earlier,
the nitrates in the pond are just byproducts of the ammonia produced
by the koi, which are first transformed by certain bacteria into
nitrites before another set of bacteria transform the nitrites into
nitrates. Fortunately, certain
bacteria also consume nitrates from the water.
The key to
removing
all these harmful compounds from the pond water is proper water
filtration. Filtration accomplishes two major things: 1)
it physically removes most of the decaying organic matter in the
pond and 2) it triggers the ammonia-to-nitrite-to-nitrate cycle by
providing home to the bacteria that perform the various tricks
behind it.
Your
filter must have a water capacity of no less than 10% of your pond
volume and your filter pump must be capable of turning over the
entire volume of your pond in one hour. Aside from this, the
filter media must be properly chosen to accomplish the mechanical
and biological filtration effectively. For more information
about proper filtration, please see the article,
"The Basics of Koi
Pond Filtration."
Another
way to limit algae's access to nutrients, although it should only be
considered as a complement and not as an alternative to filtration, is to put other plants in
the pond. Many plants have voracious appetites for pond water
nutrients, so having them in the pond will deprive the algae of
nutrients. One problem with this is that plants don't thrive
too well in ponds with koi, since the latter loves chewing on
them. There are ways, nonetheless, to enjoy both of them in
the same pond. See the article
'Protecting
Plants from Koi.'
Partial shading, good water
filtration, and complementary plants in the pond should be enough to
give you crystal-clear water. If not, then you may need the
help of ultraviolet lamp systems designed to kill algae and make
them clump together. You can put the uv lamp assembly before
your main filter, so that the dead algae will not be returned to the
pond. Many koi enthusiasts consider the uv lamp system as a
'must-have' in order to get crystal-clear water, but I am not one of
them. I think that a properly-sized and well-designed pond
filtration system should be enough. Lastly, it would be
worthwhile to shell out a few more bucks to get a surface skimmer
for removing dissolved wastes from the water, especially if you live
in a country with a hot climate.
If you are one of the many koi
hobbyists who are still struggling to get rid of algae in their
ponds, don't lose hope. Unlike turning water into wine,
turning green water into a crystal-clear one needs no miracle.
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