[Worldwide Koi Club] New Filter
Dennis, Useing the very fine polyester Quilting batting can be very useful for filtering out large amounts of suspended algae particulates, and is a very good idea when you want to clean the water quickly, … but you should only leave it in the filter for a few hours at a time, and NEVER, ever leave it in overnight IF your algae problem is very bad (unless you have an overflow bypass plumbed into the filter you place the batting into). IF the batting you installed would have plugged up with algea earlier during the night, you may have woke up to find an empty pond and some dead fish.
Even with the very fine batting being very efficient at ridding the pond of suspended algea, it still does no good at preventing the cause of the algea growth. That can only be accomplished by increasing the amount of bio-filtration you have in your filter system, … decreasing the amount of sunlight the pond is exposed to during the day (adding floating plants or other sources of shade), … and decreasing the food source the algea rely on. If you have enough bio-filtration, … controlling the other two factors becomes less critical. The biofilter will take care of the food source, and without an adaquate food source, the algea can’t grow.
The PolyFlo material I have used in my filters for years is also great for doing the same as the quilt batting you used. In addition to the 2″ coarse PolyFlo I usually write about, they also have a finer mesh 1.5″ and very fine mesh 1″ or 1/2″ material you can use for fine mechanical filtration. The finer PolyFlo holds up to being flushed (cleaned after becoming clogged) better than the quilt batting, but I think the Quilt batting may be cheaper to buy, and can be found more readily.
It’s normal for the fish in a pond to become very skitterish with clear water, if they’ve been living in off colored water for any length of time. Your fish will become used to the clear water over a short time. They’ll soon realize that most of the times you show up at the pond, there’s going to be a snack for them, and will come over to you before long. You should be able to get them to eat out of your hand before long.
Don ikeepkoi
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
