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Thread: Shower Source?

  1. #1

    Shower Source?

    So I'm having constant nitrite issues for a couple of months now and even though I have constant trickle in/out and 150ltrs of K1 turning the 12k pond over approx once per hour, it's not lowering from 0.25.

    So I'm thinking of adding a bakki shower in the mix to see if that can help.

    On connection, should the shower come from the drum output or direct from the skimmer?

    Thanks.

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  3. #2
    These are my fish. I wouldn't consider it overstocked for the 150ltrs of k1, would you?

    Currently I'm feeding like 3g of food a day and they are starving!

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  4. #3
    Hi mate i took mine from the drum

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  6. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Twhitenosugar's Avatar
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    How old is the pond Cavester?

    If it's 2 years or under, it sounds like the high nitrite could simply be new pond syndrome, rather than it being underfiltered.

    If it is nps, it might be the case that you just need more time for your existing bio filter to fully mature, rather than it being the case that you don't have enough bio filtration (although of course, it never hurts to have more).



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  8. #5
    I commissioned in December 2020 and have already gone through the motions to the point that parameters were fine. I then had for some reason a massive spike in amonia and nitrite a couple of months back and since then the amonia is now back to zero but nitrite I can't get below 0.25.

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  9. #6
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    Better straight from the drum mate ,I presume the skimmer goes to the drum at the moment
    John

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  11. #7
    You've got plenty of bio going on there for the pond size/amount of fish, have you tested the parameters of your tap water? You sure levels haven't gone up? I know a few people who have had issues with nitrite, turns out their tap water has turned to shite.
    So glad I'm on a bore hole with constant parameters and don't have to deal with this bollocks.
    34,000L, 2xSpindrifters, Aqua Sieve2, Nexus300, 24in K1/bead, Momotaro Bakki, 17kwThermotec Inverter

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  13. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cavester View Post
    So I'm having constant nitrite issues for a couple of months now and even though I have constant trickle in/out and 150ltrs of K1 turning the 12k pond over approx once per hour, it's not lowering from 0.25.

    So I'm thinking of adding a bakki shower in the mix to see if that can help.

    On connection, should the shower come from the drum output or direct from the skimmer?

    Thanks.

    Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

    not enough bio, and not enough contact time imo.

    you need enough media for the filter size so water coming in has enough actual contact with the bio film on the media,
    not just water retention time.

    once per hour for most properly sized K1 chambers is too fast, not enough contact with the media and film...
    or you tend to get incomplete nitrification.

    ammonia to nitrite,
    nitrite to n...and its back in the pond we go...

    my 11,500 litres has 100 litres K1 at 5,000 lph
    and 11 boxes (275 litres) of CSM in a maxi shower at 20,000 lph.
    and i'd feed it from the drum if you have the capacity


  14. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by john1 View Post
    Better straight from the drum mate ,I presume the skimmer goes to the drum at the moment
    Yes it's currently going through the drum.

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  15. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by MalNorwich View Post
    You've got plenty of bio going on there for the pond size/amount of fish, have you tested the parameters of your tap water? You sure levels haven't gone up? I know a few people who have had issues with nitrite, turns out their tap water has turned to shite.
    So glad I'm on a bore hole with constant parameters and don't have to deal with this bollocks.
    I haven't considered that, will do that now and check. Cheers.

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  16. #11
    The benefits of a shower are excellent gas exchange and oxygenation of the water; there will be some be some aerobic bacteria activity on the surface of the media but there should also be anaerobic bacteria activity within the media that will reduce nitrate levels. It would give some reduction in nitrite but I would not expect it to make a big difference.
    Also if the nitrite bacteria are not active in the boi chamber why should they be active in the shower?
    The key is to get the nitrifying bacteria in the bio filter working - what are oxygen levels like in the filter? and what about your KH level? These are both important for a healthy filter.
    It would be helpful if you could post all your latest water parameters.

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  18. #12
    Tested the tap water and not that. I've turned my pump down to 40% (20k varipump) to try and give more time in the biochamber.

    I think I'll seek to get a shower too.

    Want to get more fish and up the feed but need to get this under control first. Frustrating!

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  19. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by deejaysmi View Post
    The benefits of a shower are excellent gas exchange and oxygenation of the water; there will be some be some aerobic bacteria activity on the surface of the media but there should also be anaerobic bacteria activity within the media that will reduce nitrate levels. It would give some reduction in nitrite but I would not expect it to make a big difference.
    Also if the nitrite bacteria are not active in the boi chamber why should they be active in the shower?
    The key is to get the nitrifying bacteria in the bio filter working - what are oxygen levels like in the filter? and what about your KH level? These are both important for a healthy filter.
    It would be helpful if you could post all your latest water parameters.
    Thanks. Just done water check and...

    PH 8
    KH 6
    Ammonia 0
    Nitrite 0.25

    There is loads of air in the bio and media rolling away nicely.

    Wonder if I should add some bio balls stuff to the chamber?

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  20. #14
    Anyone tried this... https://amzn.eu/d/gnL6zlr

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  21. #15
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Gosai Andymadd's Avatar
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    Nitrite can be hard to shift as it is a slower process than Ammonia to Nitrite. For my money can you add some sort of veggie filter? just any old tank and fill it with watercress and any other weed you can get hold of and run some water in and out.

    The plants will hoover up the Ammonia before your filter has to do any work turning it into Nitrite.

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  23. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    I would disagree with Dave on there not being enough bio but the other factors he mentioned could well be valid.

    I'm feeding 16 koi 200+ grams a day on a 4 month old pond (used mature media from last pond) and my 100 litres of K1 has been coping great, although I did actually get a 0.2 nitrite reading a couple of days ago. Flow is 12k lph on a 15k pond.

    My old pond took 2 years for nitrite to properly settle down.

    Flow rates, contact time, pond maturity, feeding schedules and volumes, media chamber size, media chamber inlet/outlet positions etc etc etc are probably all factors, but from what I've read on here over the years it seems true that different things work for different ponds.

    You could just try getting on with it and waiting to see if it resolves itself after a while, which it probably will. A stable 0.25 reading for a couple of months probably won't lead to disaster and you'll likely wake up one morning and suddenly get a zero reading. Just make sure plenty of oxygen and keep an eye on the fish behaviour, add a little salt to 0.1% if needed to combat the effects. Probably not the best advice to publicly give but truth be told I had 9 months of nitrite readings up to 2mg/l and the fish coped ok (0.1% salt), then one December morning it was zero and didn't come back.




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  25. #17
    Brill thanks. I think your right, I'm just going to need to soldier on and be patient. I'll add some pure+ to aid anyway, maybe a waste of £20 but hey ho! Cheaper than the £63 a month water bill!

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  26. #18
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cavester View Post
    Brill thanks. I think your right, I'm just going to need to soldier on and be patient. I'll add some pure+ to aid anyway, maybe a waste of £20 but hey ho! Cheaper than the £63 a month water bill!

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    Or, another consideration could be these products:

    https://aquadistri.com/bactoplus/

    A few people at a Koi show rated these products very highly and I recalled seeing a video on Koi TV YT channel where he put them on test and claimed the results were amazing. So I poured a bottle into my filters when starting the new pond (using mature media) as I did have an Ammonia reading, which was still there the next day, but within 3 days of adding the readings for Ammonia and Nitrite were gone, and stayed gone with continual zero readings from then on.

    Was it the bactoplus or not? I don't know for sure but can say I've used the various EA products in the past and have no doubt they did nothing, whereas this product I feel may well have done something, and I shall buy it again if needed.


    EDIT:
    Just googled the bactoplus as I was interested to know the difference between the filter start and the PSB.

    I'm not sure if the PSB is the right product for reducing nitrites, what I read seemed to point more towards the filter start, nonetheless found a review on the PSB from Ricky at Koi Wholesale who was singing its praises:

    https://koi-wholesale.co.uk/blog/pos...plus-fresh-psb
    Last edited by RS2OOO; 04-07-2022 at 01:11 PM.

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