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Do you have a question about ponding, planting, fish, filtration? Send us an e-mail. We will do our very best to answer it.

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  1. what is a good rock to utilize inside and outside the pond (oval in shape - boulder type I prefer)?
    Also will a UV sterilizer kill beneficial bacteria? (Added 4-11-09) —See reply.
  2. Since I'm only 2 years in to this hobby and this will be the last pond I make, I wanted to make sure everything is more than adequate for handling this pond... (Added 4-11-09) —See reply.
  3. ...lots of frogs are in my pond and they are hatching lots of babies! Is this safe for my KOI fishes? (Added 4-11-09) —See reply.
  4. We've been looking around for a new solution for our waterfall pre-filter. It seems to get clogged very easily and the waterfall slows down or stops every few days...On a side note, I've read the armored catfish are helpful with the algae. (Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  5. Now, however, you may recall our pond was never shut down by previous owners before we moved in January. I looked at a relatively clear pond for the first time yesterday but after the massive rain, today i notice 2 things...(Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  6. I installed a pond in 2003 and have seven good size KOI in my pond. I am moving from southern Lake County IL to Aiken SC and would like to know you view on relocating the KOI. I plan on having a KOI pond and would like to have "the boys" with me. I am concerned about both the trip to SC and the change from well to city water. How would you treat the fish for such a move and what concern about the water. (Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  7. If this was your pond, what pump would you recommend with a Biofalls- size pump and biofalls? My main concern is my daily energy draw...(Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  8. This winter has been very cruel to our pond. I have lost all my Koi fish that we have had for nine years...I want to learn what I must do in the future to make my pond safe again. (Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  9. I am converting a irregular 22 X 40 foot gunite pool to a pond. I will be filling it to approx. 3' throughout which comes to about 17500 gal.? I will have two bottom drains with 4" piping and two Savio skimmers with pumps and filters. I still do not know what size primary filter to use, I have been looking at the Nexus 300 with gravity feed, what do you recommend?(Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  10. This winter year I am having a problem with too much water evaporation in my pond...(Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  11. I live in Australia and I breed koi as a hobby. Can you please tell me how can I improve the red in kohaku? (Added 3-17-09) —See reply.
  12. ...you described how to build an economical or CHEAP up-flow Bio-Filter. I'm not "cheap" by nature, but now I'm planning Phase 2, which will include the Stream and Waterfalls (as well as the Bio-Filter). Just FYI, the pond is just slightly over 3 feet deep and I only have 5 small fish in it (2 Comets, 2 Shubunkins, and 1 Butterfly Koi), all right around the 5 to 7 inch mark. I don't plan on adding any other fish since my pond is so small. Anyway, all your directions on how to make this Bio-Filter make perfect sense, but I'm confused on exactly how this "L" shaped pipe works on the top or highest bulkhead??? (Added 1-1-09) —See reply.
  13. Where in Florida do Koi live in the wild? (Added12-28-08) —See reply.


  14. We have a waterfall in our Koi pond and wonder if it would be safe to turn it off during the winter. (Added 12-28-08) —See reply.

  15. As the ice is thawing today there are a number (7 so far) of dead koi...
    The three most common causes of winter-kill are thermal shock, icing over and hydrogen sulfide (Added 12-28-08) —See reply.

  16. Hi, Do I need to obtain a building permit to install a pond in my back yard? It would be done with a rubber liner.
    (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.

  17. We recently bought a small pond (100 gals) and put 2 small fantail koi and 4 goldfish in it. The black goldfish have lost their color and are fading to gold, what is happening and is there something we should be doing for them. We have never had a pond or fish before so any winter tips you can send would be nice. We live in NW TN and the winters are moderate here. (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.

  18. Where do I begin? I think it all started when I unintentionally killed all the good bacteria in my bio filter by cleaning it out with my outside hose. This is where the nightmare begins. Then I noticed the ulcer on one fish who then started to have that kinked back... (Added 11-09-08)—See reply.

  19. This is my first year with a pond and thus my first winter. Needless to say I'm a bit concerned with getting through the winter months. I live in the Columbus, Ohio area and I have a 4000 gallon lined pond and originally started out with eight koi that were 3-5 inches long in the spring. Today a couple of my koi are much larger but to my surprise just this week I noticed that we have BABIES! One is orange and black but the other TEN! Are all black. I'm not even sure these black ones are koi… (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.

  20. Warning! Danger danger Will Robinson!
    The water temperature is already about 44 degrees. We purchased three koi from this company in Utah and she is shipping them tomorrow... (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.

  21. I just got thru reading your very interesting article on pond pH. I have a 2,000 gal pond with koi & red eared slider turtles and am having a constant problem with the pH. I don't overfeed, and change the water & add dechlor when doing so. My pH today is at 8.0. I've lost a number of koi before I changed 80% of the pond water. Besides store available pH down like Pond Care & Jungle Laboratories which tend to be very pricey, is there anything else I can add to the water to stabilize it closer to 7.0 ?? I clean the series of 6 filter pads in the bottom filter at least once a week or more if needed. There are two more bio filters in the top filter box where the water pours out into the stream. I also have two air pumps constantly putting bubbles into the pond as well. Thanks for any info you can provide.
    (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.


  22. I am hoping you can lead me in the right direction here. My pond is 10' x 12' the shallow end is roughly 1' to 1 1/2' and slopes to the deeper end at roughly 2' to 3' at the most. My first question is do i need to keep the pump going all winter? Should i be looking into buying a heater? I live in the greater kansas city area so at this point there is no telling how our winter will turn out , but i would hate to lose my fish! I currently have 4 med/small koi and 6 small goldfish in the pond , do you think the deep end is going to be enough for these little guys to make it this winter? (Added 11-09-08) —See reply.

  23. We are building our new house & we were wondering if we can have an indoors Koi pond; if yes what is the minimum size (especially depth) required... (Added 8-17-08) —See reply.

  24. ...This fish was active and eating well twice a day. Surfaced and ate yesterday morning. Last night, didn't surface to eat. Found him hiding behind the water lily, very lethargic... (Added 8-17-08) —See reply.

  25. I can't seem to get rid of the algae on the rocks and green water. My water is very clear just green. I did a treatment of Clarifier and a 50% water change it really made the water clear, but is still green. What am I doing wrong, how can I get crystal clear water and get rid of the algae on my water fall? (Added 8-17-08) —See reply.

  26. We just did a complete water change today. We emptied our pond and cleaned it with a power-washer and added tap water. The fish are at the top of the water, at the base of the waterfall. I think they are having a hard time breathing. What do I need to do? (Added 8-17-08) —See reply.

  27. ... they recommended Melafix, we are treating at the correct dosage (it has been 5 days) but, the Kio that ended up in the skimmer now, has had the outer scales fall off ( just where the score was) and now has a concave, open flesh area, that hurts me just to look at it... (Added 8-17-08) —See reply.

  28. ...I changed about 50% of the water on Sunday , added a bit of salt, and we let the pond go. Filter still running, believing we had no fish. Cup of coffee this morning and up comes one. Appears to be ok, what of this secondary population of bacteria? (Added 6-21-08) —See reply.

  29. We have had our pond for about 8 years and have had minimal problems until recently. Without going into a tons of detail....had some electrical issues over the winter and lost some koi due to the surface freezing....BUT NOW.... a heron has found our pond in the middle of the city!! (Added 6-21-08)—See reply.

  30. A friend of mine gave me some water iris a few years ago. They are now taking over my pond. They are a tall iris with a yellow flower and long narrow leaves. (Added 6-21-08) —See reply.

  31. Subject: Need to eliminate "Green Water"
    Hi Bob My wife and I recently re-did our pond from a 1000 gal pond to an approximately 1800-2000 gal pond. We live in Naperville and our pond receives direct sunlight almost the entire day. We have always had trouble with green water and we want to do it the right way this time. (Added 6-21-08) —See reply.

  32. Our pond has a water particulate problem that hampers visibility. No green water, because we have a UV sterilizer. Just lots of floating particles. I've seen pictures of other ponds with clear water, and I wonder how they do it! (Added 6-21-08) —See reply.

  33. ...My question, now that the pond has frozen over and the temperatures have remained so cold for a prolonged period, will my fish survive and what do I need to do if they do survive, the temperatures start to warm up and now even though they survived are going to stress and possibly get sick on me. (Added 2-23-08) —See reply.


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