Recently moved to Texas and new to koi owning HELP - GREEN WATER!

[vinchinzo]

Hello all, I recently moved to Houston (2 months now) and moved into a house with a 500+/- gallon above ground koi pond. I read up on some DIY bio filter and built a 35 gallon gravity fed one for the pond and started to run the pump through it. I added some city water and waited 3 weeks for the chemicals to naturally leave the water and added some test gold fishes from Petco. Then my father-in-law buys some more gold fish and koi (30 or so) for my kids... I think this is too many but would that cause the water to turn green faster as well as deprive oxygen from the fish at night (algae?) The water is slowly turning green and is now really green (pea soup) It looks like there is a lot of sludge/debris on the bottom but not sure if I should use a shop vac and vacuum it out or not. Let me know what I can do or check to make the water clearer or better for the fish.

Thanks for any help.

[KhmerStyle]

You can get a uv sterilizer

[KhmerStyle]

Also throw a couple plecos in there my uncle has some in his pond

[crazy42bmx]

An option is to buy u a good pond filter with a built in UV light. They are said to really help with green water on ponds. I run one on my 100 gallon and seems to cut back a lot of the regular algae growth. Dont knoe all that much about ponds but it sounds like you need a bit more filtration.

[vinchinzo]

I am thinking about picking a 700gph pump uv combo and use that as my main pump and have my old one as a backup and hope the UV will make the green water go away.

[troy tucker]

The UV will clear up the water a lot. But on 500+g is 700gph enough? I would go bigger. plecos will help keep the algea off the walls and bottom.

[rama]

The UV light will clear up the green water, but you may also need to upgrade your filter. And it sounds like there are too many fish in the pond, but that is just my opinion.
By the way, I have recently upgraded my pond filter and UV light. If you are interested in a used pump or Tetra UV light, let me know.

[vinchinzo]

thanks rama for the info. I was thinking that with a 700gph pump/uv combo it's circulating the water more than once per hour and would be enough. Also wouldn't a higher flow rate not allow the water to stay in the bio filtering as long as a 500gph pump? just curious if going bigger with the pump is better. also, about the filter, would adding more media into the filter allow for more surface area for beneficial bacteria to group or would i need to go back to the original blue drum size filter? (not wanting to do that) whats the size of your used pump and uv light and how much are you looking to sell it for?

[rama]

Yes you're right about your turn over rate, and you are also right about the flow rate through the filter. But you also have 30+ gold fish in a 50gallon pond, so you will need to increase your flow and your biological filter. Adding more media to your filter will help, but its better to either add a second filter or get a bigger filter. My used pump is 3200gph but it may be too big for your pond, and my Tetra UV 5Watt light; good for ponds up to 660gallons.

[mistahoo]

Re: Recently moved to Texas and new to koi owning HELP - GREEN WATER!

It's a 500+/- pond not a 50 if I'm reading the OP correctly. That pump and uv would be perfect for the OP.

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[justdoit]

Welcome to Houston.
The 500g pond you have w/ the number of fish is going to be a huge bio load / They are poop machines !!You need the turnover for that reason & aeration especially during the hot weather as oxygen levels drop.
The uv is just about a must to maintain clarity if there is not a shade (which is needed )to keep from having fish soup.
Personally not a fan of Plecos as they compete for food & in the process the other fish can get jabbed. Koi will eat the algae, goldfish the mosquito larvae, good flow / turnover remove the funk. It will reach a point that depending on the ratio of koi in that 30 you were gifted that as the koi grow it will be very important to stay on top of filter maintenance
Of course this is just another opinion so you can sort what works best for your situation.

[KhmerStyle]

+1 on shade if possible put some type of plant of your liking to create shade. It will also help with algae problem and "fish soup"

[mistahoo]

Welcome to Houston.
The 500g pond you have w/ the number of fish is going to be a huge bio load / They are poop machines !!You need the turnover for that reason & aeration especially during the hot weather as oxygen levels drop.
The uv is just about a must to maintain clarity if there is not a shade (which is needed )to keep from having fish soup.
Personally not a fan of Plecos as they compete for food & in the process the other fish can get jabbed. Koi will eat the algae, goldfish the mosquito larvae, good flow / turnover remove the funk. It will reach a point that depending on the ratio of koi in that 30 you were gifted that as the koi grow it will be very important to stay on top of filter maintenance
Of course this is just another opinion so you can sort what works best for your situation.

+1 Plecos might stab and will compete for food. Not only that, I find them to be counterproductive as they eat the algae but create tons of waste. Stick to the goldfish and koi and just add the UV sterilizer and a bigger pump.