[Worldwide Koi Club] Koi not eating and hiding
Brenda, Does your soil have a lot of clay in it? I find that having a pond in a soil type that doesn’t drain well is one of the prime reasons pond liners will bubble up like you said yours did. It’s best not to have rocks in a koi pond, but if it’s necessary to have them so your liner stays in place, there’s not much you can do about it. If rocks are absolutely needed, try to get away using as few rocks as you can. With rocks in the pond, it’s absolutely imperative that you’re able to do a thorough cleaning of any mulm buildup that occurs around and under the rocks. It sounds like you’ve been doing a pretty good job of cleaning as much mulm as possible.
If you have rocks in your pond, one way of releasing the mulm from around and under the rocks is to use a gentle flow of water to flush the mulm from under the rocks. Your water might dirty up a bit, but if done correctly, should clear up in short order. You can make an 8-10 ft flushing wand out of 1/2″ to 1″ diameter pvc that can be used to flush the mulm, while someone else uses your pondvac to catch most of the dislodged mulm.
To make a flushing wand you’ll need to be able to attach a hose shutoff valve to one end of it so it can be attached to a garden hose. Instead of using your fresh water, you can modify your filter plumbing by installing a “T” in it on the pump outlet side. Attach a faucet or valve to the “T” that you can hook a garden hose to. Now just attach a garden hose to the “T” valve and to the flushing wand, and you’ll be able to use the ponds own water to do the flushing. Having the “T” valve in the plumbing also allows you to distribute water removed from the pond during water changes onto the lawn or into the garden/landscape where it will do a lot of good and not be wasted. I’ve had my plumbing set up that way for several years, and it’s worked just great for my pond.
If your soil is a clay type that doesn’t drain water off very well, you might find out whether it’s feasible to put in some kind of drain field around the pond to drain off the water that would normally buildup under the pond liner. If the water under the pond liner has someplace it can be drained to, the liner should stay in place. Not knowing what type of soil you have, or the layout of your property makes it pretty hard to suggest solutions.
Don ikeepkoi
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Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
