Welcome to Koi Forum. Is this your first visit? Register
Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1

    How frequently should your pond cycle

    My pond is very small compared to most on here so small in fact I'm talking 1,500 litres.
    I will go bigger at some point but just haven't got the space at the moment.
    I think I've got it set up pretty well for what it is and on a very small budget tbh.
    It's vastly over filtered which is bound to be the reason it copes with too many fish for its size and still allows them to grow when looking at the size of the pond you would think they wouldn't.

    I've read a lot about ideals for keeping koi like one foot of fish for 1000 litres of water and one cubic foot of medium for every 1000 litres of water etc but can't seem to find any info on water cycling.

    Lets say i purchased a filter and it recommends or states its rated for 5000 litres per hour.
    Or say your uv is rated for so many litres or gallons and it might suggest a max flow rate of 10,000 litres an hour or less.

    Is there any general rule of thumb for how frequently your total volume of water should complete a full filter cycle or how many full cycles should be achieved in an hour or a day?


    Last edited by Solvent Cement; 19-09-2019 at 06:39 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Durham
    Posts
    11,197
    Thanks / Likes
    21092
    Every one is different some aim for whole pond once a hour some do whole pond every 2 hours . With a smaller pond I would opt for once a hour as you need that fish waste out asap where on a larger pond it's more diluted if that makes sense. Imo

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

  3. Thanks Solvent Cement, freddyboy, RS2OOO, CobraKoi Thanked / Liked this Post
  4. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    11,123
    Thanks / Likes
    17023
    Quote Originally Posted by Ajm View Post
    Every one is different some aim for whole pond once a hour some do whole pond every 2 hours . With a smaller pond I would opt for once a hour as you need that fish waste out asap where on a larger pond it's more diluted if that makes sense. Imo

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    The rule of thumb is turnover of water one to 2 hours. Who s rule of thumb. I ain't got a clue.Mine 5000gal is one and a half hours. As AJ says different ponds and systems. What ever works I suppose.


    Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

  5. Thanks Ajm, anne, Solvent Cement Thanked / Liked this Post
  6. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai MikeMack's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Liverpool
    Posts
    159
    Thanks / Likes
    178
    In my opinion it’s down to the filter and nothing else, your filter should always be able to cope with a flow that’s at least your ponds volume every hour.

    if your pond is 5000 litres and your filter can cope with 10000lph then turn it over at that, turning you pond over twice an hour.

    My pond is 17000L, I pull 40000lph through my filters, turning it over 2.3 times an hour, I’m tempted to change my shower pump and pull more through, if the shower can cope with the flow that is.

  7. Thanks Solvent Cement, freddyboy Thanked / Liked this Post
  8. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeMack View Post
    In my opinion it’s down to the filter and nothing else, your filter should always be able to cope with a flow that’s at least your ponds volume every hour.

    if your pond is 5000 litres and your filter can cope with 10000lph then turn it over at that, turning you pond over twice an hour.

    My pond is 17000L, I pull 40000lph through my filters, turning it over 2.3 times an hour, I’m tempted to change my shower pump and pull more through, if the shower can cope with the flow that is.
    40,000 litres per hour is some serious water flow.

  9. Thanks freddyboy Thanked / Liked this Post
  10. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    Berkshire
    Posts
    912
    Thanks / Likes
    1437
    I think what the others have said is a good bench but also you need a reasonable contact time with the media otherwise its point less.
    I think it should be at least 5mins off hand, so running high turn over is ok if the filter allows it.

  11. Thanks Solvent Cement, freddyboy Thanked / Liked this Post
  12. #7
    I know this is an old thread, so hoping I can get some advice.
    I have a big pond. Maybe 400,000 litres. Has a bunch of koi and a few goldfish and rudd of various sizes. Maybe 20 big ones though, so not a big stock for it's size.
    I just had it relined last year and the pond man suggested that due to the size of it and an eye on budget, a gravel bed could be the best solution. I've added some planting, but they're still establishing.
    We've got land-drain pipe on the bed of the pond with 10 pumps pulling water from the pipes and pumping it into the pond. I think they're 16K litres/hr each. I added a 50K spin clean pressure filter to it with another 15k/hr pump).
    It's gone really murky these last few months (with a bit of sunshine) and reading above, were not far of of a cycle every 2 hours. If I put a couple more filters 'mid-pond' like the spin-clean, do you think it'll make a big difference and give me that crystal clarity that I want? Is that that the gravel bed filters aren't great, or need another season to get the bacteria well colonised?
    It's maybe 4-5 feet deep, can anyone suggest some good plants that will do well at that depth that I can plant in the gravel bed?

    Sorry, lot's a questions but I'm not very experienced (inherited what was a very neglected pond when we bough the house)

  13. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    South East
    Posts
    5,924
    Thanks / Likes
    13124
    Quote Originally Posted by mann_ben View Post
    I know this is an old thread, so hoping I can get some advice.
    I have a big pond. Maybe 400,000 litres. Has a bunch of koi and a few goldfish and rudd of various sizes. Maybe 20 big ones though, so not a big stock for it's size.
    I just had it relined last year and the pond man suggested that due to the size of it and an eye on budget, a gravel bed could be the best solution. I've added some planting, but they're still establishing.
    We've got land-drain pipe on the bed of the pond with 10 pumps pulling water from the pipes and pumping it into the pond. I think they're 16K litres/hr each. I added a 50K spin clean pressure filter to it with another 15k/hr pump).
    It's gone really murky these last few months (with a bit of sunshine) and reading above, were not far of of a cycle every 2 hours. If I put a couple more filters 'mid-pond' like the spin-clean, do you think it'll make a big difference and give me that crystal clarity that I want? Is that that the gravel bed filters aren't great, or need another season to get the bacteria well colonised?
    It's maybe 4-5 feet deep, can anyone suggest some good plants that will do well at that depth that I can plant in the gravel bed?

    Sorry, lot's a questions but I'm not very experienced (inherited what was a very neglected pond when we bough the house)
    Just answering so your post doesn't get left completely unanswered.

    This is a really difficult question because very few people on here have hands on experience of filtering a 400k litre pond.

    My personal thoughts are that the spin clean is doing nothing whatsoever in the big picture. Put it this way, if it was April 1st people would think you were joking about running any kind of pressure filter on that size pond. My pressure filter suitable for up to 15,000 litre ponds failed to keep my 400 litre fry tank clean.

    There's probably 2 main options -

    1) Run the pond with lots of plants to try and replicate the bio diversity and natural self cleaning properties of a lake.
    2) Install 3 or 4 large drum filters, each capable of coping with 50k lph flow through. (expensive).

    I would suggest possibly speaking with Koi and Water Gardens for advice as they have experience with buildiing and filtering very large ponds.
    Last edited by RS2OOO; 01-09-2023 at 10:12 AM.

  14. Thanks Maddog1 Thanked / Liked this Post
  15. #9
    Thanks for that reply. Really useful to hear your experience with pressure filter. I was considering adding more filters one at a time hoping that the max I'd need would be maybe 2 more 75k pressure filters like the AllPondSolutions Auto Cleaning Koi Pressurised Pond Filter AUTO-PFC-75000.

    Ie. Pressure filters allegedly suitable for 200k of pond plus the 10 pumps on the gravel bed.

    Maybe I'm optimistic. I'll let it clarify now that we're going into Autumn and plant the hell out of it in Spring.

    Just wish I could come up with some plants that will cope with living in the gravel at 5-6 feet deep

  16. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Naoki Atsumi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Tokyo Japan
    Posts
    515
    Thanks / Likes
    340
    Quote Originally Posted by Solvent Cement View Post
    My pond is very small compared to most on here so small in fact I'm talking 1,500 litres.
    I will go bigger at some point but just haven't got the space at the moment.
    I think I've got it set up pretty well for what it is and on a very small budget tbh.
    It's vastly over filtered which is bound to be the reason it copes with too many fish for its size and still allows them to grow when looking at the size of the pond you would think they wouldn't.

    I've read a lot about ideals for keeping koi like one foot of fish for 1000 litres of water and one cubic foot of medium for every 1000 litres of water etc but can't seem to find any info on water cycling.

    Lets say i purchased a filter and it recommends or states its rated for 5000 litres per hour.
    Or say your uv is rated for so many litres or gallons and it might suggest a max flow rate of 10,000 litres an hour or less.

    Is there any general rule of thumb for how frequently your total volume of water should complete a full filter cycle or how many full cycles should be achieved in an hour or a day?
    Let me give you the same answer on behalf of all Japanese hobbyists.
    Quantity of food. The optimal solution is always along with the density of the released.

    Flow rates are most typical.
    Decide by looking at the KOI and the water.
    It is best to.





    Always look at the KOI.
    And water conditions.

    Translate the auto-generated subtitles into your own language.
    Often the results are quite disappointing (not because of the translation, but because the listening is wrong in the first place), but you can still usually read 60-70% of it from the atmosphere.

    He did not mention flow rates, but overall the principle is the same.

    He looked at his KOIs for a long time (swimming and how they looked).
    And also looking at the water.
    Here he seems to be saying that how the bubbles on the water disappear is the process leading to the ideal mature water.

    In other words, the same applies to flow rates.
    Always look at the KOI and watch the water.
    The best solution is to make a decision from there.
    You can't rely on data from elsewhere that comes before that.


    Each one of us will find the optimum solution.
    That has been the style of Japanese hobbyists from the very beginning.
    Last edited by Naoki Atsumi; 02-09-2023 at 10:19 AM.

 

 

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:30 PM. Online Koi Mag Forum
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3
Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

vBulletin Improved By vBFoster® (Lite Version), © UltimateScheme, Ltd.