Pond Log April 2011

Above photo taken with my Driod 2 cellphone.

Koi Pond Log for March 2011

 
April 3, 2011 - Cleaned off the skimmer filter media.  Starting to get really gunked up again, I believe it is due to the higher temperatures.  Water still has a green tint, and is loaded with string algae.  The water temperature is now 54º, and the cover is still on the pond as seen in the image above with the Leopard Frog that I found a few weeks ago that was in my skimmer basket.  I took him out of the basket, and placed it on the cover of the pond in the northwest corner.  I hope it makes it!!  Added 16oz of Microbe Lift PL, 60ml of KoiZyme, and 8oz of Liquid Barley with Peat into the water fall stream.  I have also noticed that the falls are starting to get covered with a green slime.  This stuff is EVERYWHERE!

April 4, 2011 - Again, cleaned off the skimmer filter media, for it was really starting to choke off the water from getting to the pump.  It is amazing that in just 24 hours, the green gunk is clogging my skimmer filter.

April 6, 2011 - Time again to clean out the skimmer filter media, which of course I should mention is a coarse white 2" material.  It seems to do well to catch most all of the green GUNK.  Also, I have noticed that my falls are starting to green-up and it looks as though my water falls are spilling string algae instead of water.  I need to get the cover off the pond and scrub the water fall rocks.  Added my second dose of KoiZyme today.  Took the cover off the pond today, and was very surprised to see how clear the water was.  I added 3oz of blue pond tint.  Cleaned up all the leaves and debris from around the pond.  Placed out the heron decoys and other such ornamental items.  Also pulled up all the plants from the bottom of the pond and placed them on their respective shelves.  Some of the lilies have already started growing, along with the cat-tail reeds.  Gave the fish a small handful of Cold Weather Food, and they really enjoyed their first feast of the season.  I will keep the feeding to a minimum to help keep the algae problem at bay. 

April 7, 2011 - The photo below was taken today during my lunch time.  You can see the names of all the Koi I have, along with Opey a Red-Capped Oranda.  Today I cleaned off the skimmer filter media pad, and added 1oz of OneFix.  I also installed the big air diffuser along with the big air pump under the bridge today.

April 8, 2011 - Cleaned off the 2" skimmer filter media today.  Seems to go about 24 hours before I need to rinse off all the GREEN GUNK!  The water is crystal clear.

April 9, 2011 - Added 8oz of Microbe Lift PL, 60ml of KoiZyme #3, 2oz of Liquid Barley plus Peat to the pond this morning.  Also added a barley bale after I put it into an old media bag.  Also added about 20lbs of salt by diffusion to the pond.  Tested the salt level and it was 1.3%.  I will do a water change in the middle of next week to bring that level down to around 1%.  Last year's bale broke apart and I had barley bits all over the bottom of my pond.  Added some more blue dye to the pond, to help with the algae growing. Cleaned off the skimmer media again, around 7:00 pm.

April 10, 2011 - Spent most of the day preventing HUGE leaves from going into the pond due to the windy conditions.  Cleaned off the skimmer filter media around 5:00.  We had about ¼" of rain in about 15 minutes tonight.

April 11, 2011 - Drained about an inch of water out of the pond this AM from the #1 filter drain.

April 12-15, 2011 - Cleaned the 2" skimmer filter media every-other day.  Seems to not be getting clogged so often as of late.  We shall see!!!  Finished staining the deck, took almost 4 gallons.

April 16, 2011 - Did a 10 - 20% water change today.  Water temperature is 54º.  Added 120ml of KoiZyme, 12oz of Microbe Lift PL, and 2oz of Liquid Barley + Peat.  Checked the salt level after the water change, and it is right at 1.2%.

April 18, 2011 - Rinsed off the skimmer filter media.

April 19, 2011 - Drained about 3" of water from the pond due to all the rain we had during the night. 

April 22, 2011 - Rinsed off the skimmer filter media.  Clohe, the new YELLOW Koi arrived today, and she was introduced to the Koi Klub.  She did really well adapting to her bigger brothers ans sisters?!

April 23, 2011 - Added my weekly dose of 20ml of KoiZyme, 8oz of Microbe Lift PL, and 2oz of Barley extract + Peat.

April 24, 2011 - Rinsed off the skimmer filter media.  Still notice a lot of string algae.  Happy Easter!

April 25 - April 30 - Rinsed off the skimmer filter media once a day.  The GREEN GUNK is think and it starts to restrict flow in about 24 hours.  I wish I could figure out a way to not be tied to the pond.  It seems that I have to be there at least once a day to do something or other.  On April 30th I added three Muck Defense Tabs, 8oz of Microbe Lift PL, 2 oz of Barely + Peat, and 50ml of KoiZyme.  I have also added some water to top off the pond from any evaporation that has taken place.  Added 1oz of OneFix during this time.