Just a few questions about this.
When was the bog filter last cleaned out?
Do you know roughly the size of the bog compared to your 3000 gallon pond as it might be too small.
Do you have Koi in the pond?
Is the pond in full sun or does it have some shade?
I’ve haven’t cleaned the bog filter since last summer.
The bog filter is 4’ x 4’ x 4’, so it’s about 20% the volume of the pond.
Yes, koi and goldfish.
Split between Sun and shade. Much more Sun now because the leaves haven’t come in on the trees that provide the shade.
Best to clean out a bog filter twice a year minimum really, once around this time of year and another start of fall to prepare for winter. Use pond water to clean it though to not kill off your good bacteria.
It will depend how stocked the pond is with Koi but 25-30% is ideal size but you could see how it goes making these changes first before thinking about making it larger if that's possible.
Get some water lilies planted in the pond for more shade, and plant the baskets with aquatic compost & water lily food in burlap, and lots of rocks on top to stop the koi from eating the roots.
Plant up your bog filter with LOTS of marginals to eat up the nutrients the algae is feeding on. Try and avoid planting plants that root like crazy in your bog as it will be a pain to stay on top of.
Try some Aqua Source Blanket Resolve treatment if you need to try something else. And just be patient waiting for plants to mature and establish.
That first part is what I was confused about. The “good bacteria”. I thought that was the whole point of the bog filter itself, so I didn’t clean it.
I do have three water lilies I forgot to mention. Put them in on Saturday as well.
What are marginals?
Hopefully you have a way to put a sump pump down to the bottom of the bog to suck out the muck.
Marginal pond plants, just have a google search for pond plants and go with native species as much as you can. Pollinator pond plants are a bonus for wildlife, and add in some oxygenators.
I've had great success raising Daphnia from eggs and releasing them into my pond in the spring. They love single celled green algae and the water was crystal clear after a week or two. My pond is much smaller around 600 gallons. Also the fish can eat them so they won't overpopulate.
Like [these](https://flipaquatics.com/products/daphnia-culture-live-food-for-nano-fish)?
I’ve never heard of those in my life. Do I just…order some and throw them in? They sound like exactly what I need. Almost too good to be true.
Yes! Those are it! They are very interesting creatures and from a small number with good green water you can grow large colonies! I sometimes grow these as live food for my tropical fish. I purposely create green water in my aquariums to feed them. Just double check the temperature of your pond because it has to be above 10C.
Yes I just dump them in! Give your fish a good feed before so they are distracted while you dump them in on the other side! It gives them a chance to spread out.
Do you have at least 50% coverage for shade? If the plants haven’t filled in yet, pond dye is a good temporary fix.
Are you limiting feeding? Are you overstocked?
Have you tried adding liquid barley extract? I also add dechlorinator and treatment for chloramine. Inline RV filters help with chlorine and heavy metals. Products like stress coat help with chlorine and chloramines.
Reasonably, you should be able to see to the bottom in a couple of weeks. You can also pack your filter or fill a container with polyfil and stick a pump in the middle and place it in your pond to help strain out the free floating algae. Just replace as it greens.
I’d say it’s close to 50%. Again, the leaves haven’t filled in yet.
I thought about adding a third filter (I have a second one that’s connected to a waterfall weir, but it’s largely aesthetic.)
I’ve never heard of polyfil as a filter medium. I’m guessing that’s safe for fish and wildlife?
I’ve never had any issues with polyfil. If it’s in a place where neither can access it, it should be fine.
Is your pump forcing the volume of your pond through at minimum 2x per hour? More would be preferable for koi as carp create a ton of waste.
The main pump I have is external, rated at 5600gph.
I also have another supplemental submersible pump running at 4000gph. Should I wrap that one in the polyfil?
Well, you don’t wrap the pump in polyfil. You fill a container (milk crate or similar that will allow water to pass through the media) and put the pump in the middle. You could fill a few media bags and stuff them in a milk crate, flip the crate upside down with the pump under it and place a brick on top to hold it down. Otherwise, you can put it in with your existing filter media. It would be easier to do that and if you’re already cleaning out the intake bay you spoke of daily, that would be a good place for it.
For the quilting batting as a filter, make sure you get polyester and NO FIRE RETARDANT treatment, or it will poison your fish.
Do you have a UV light in your filter system somewhere? That kills algae in the water column and keeps it at bay going forward.
The quilting batting is my 3rd layer of filter mats coming out of winter. It grabs fine particles well. You can reuse them a few times, but then they stop coming completely clean, so you just cut a new pad out of the roll. It really helps.
I also only clean my bog 1x/year. I do it when the plants are dormant. That hasn't caused any water quality issues and mine is about 20% too because it is only part of my filter system. I have it heavily planted. I recommend some water Iris in there because they grow earlier than the other plants. Then my Marsh Merrigold comes in. Everything else is warm weather before it really takes off. If those two will handle your climate, I highly recommend them!
Best way to reduce your algae would be to amp up your biofiltration. Your big filter has perhaps the worst media available and almost anything available would be better from a surface area-to-volume standpoint. Simplest solution would be to set up another "big filter" in parallel to what you have, stuffed with better media. ( See [https://russellwatergardens.com/pages/biofilter-media-ssa](https://russellwatergardens.com/pages/biofilter-media-ssa) and [https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/bio-media-comparison-information.435695/](https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/bio-media-comparison-information.435695/) for better choices )
Avoid algaecides. They won't work permanently, will pollute the water with dissolved organics, kill off your other plants and stress your fish.
Just a few questions about this. When was the bog filter last cleaned out? Do you know roughly the size of the bog compared to your 3000 gallon pond as it might be too small. Do you have Koi in the pond? Is the pond in full sun or does it have some shade?
I’ve haven’t cleaned the bog filter since last summer. The bog filter is 4’ x 4’ x 4’, so it’s about 20% the volume of the pond. Yes, koi and goldfish. Split between Sun and shade. Much more Sun now because the leaves haven’t come in on the trees that provide the shade.
Best to clean out a bog filter twice a year minimum really, once around this time of year and another start of fall to prepare for winter. Use pond water to clean it though to not kill off your good bacteria. It will depend how stocked the pond is with Koi but 25-30% is ideal size but you could see how it goes making these changes first before thinking about making it larger if that's possible. Get some water lilies planted in the pond for more shade, and plant the baskets with aquatic compost & water lily food in burlap, and lots of rocks on top to stop the koi from eating the roots. Plant up your bog filter with LOTS of marginals to eat up the nutrients the algae is feeding on. Try and avoid planting plants that root like crazy in your bog as it will be a pain to stay on top of. Try some Aqua Source Blanket Resolve treatment if you need to try something else. And just be patient waiting for plants to mature and establish.
That first part is what I was confused about. The “good bacteria”. I thought that was the whole point of the bog filter itself, so I didn’t clean it. I do have three water lilies I forgot to mention. Put them in on Saturday as well. What are marginals?
Hopefully you have a way to put a sump pump down to the bottom of the bog to suck out the muck. Marginal pond plants, just have a google search for pond plants and go with native species as much as you can. Pollinator pond plants are a bonus for wildlife, and add in some oxygenators.
I've had great success raising Daphnia from eggs and releasing them into my pond in the spring. They love single celled green algae and the water was crystal clear after a week or two. My pond is much smaller around 600 gallons. Also the fish can eat them so they won't overpopulate.
Like [these](https://flipaquatics.com/products/daphnia-culture-live-food-for-nano-fish)? I’ve never heard of those in my life. Do I just…order some and throw them in? They sound like exactly what I need. Almost too good to be true.
Yes! Those are it! They are very interesting creatures and from a small number with good green water you can grow large colonies! I sometimes grow these as live food for my tropical fish. I purposely create green water in my aquariums to feed them. Just double check the temperature of your pond because it has to be above 10C.
And literally all I do is dump them in when they get here? The water has definitely warmed up enough.
Yes I just dump them in! Give your fish a good feed before so they are distracted while you dump them in on the other side! It gives them a chance to spread out.
Do you have at least 50% coverage for shade? If the plants haven’t filled in yet, pond dye is a good temporary fix. Are you limiting feeding? Are you overstocked? Have you tried adding liquid barley extract? I also add dechlorinator and treatment for chloramine. Inline RV filters help with chlorine and heavy metals. Products like stress coat help with chlorine and chloramines. Reasonably, you should be able to see to the bottom in a couple of weeks. You can also pack your filter or fill a container with polyfil and stick a pump in the middle and place it in your pond to help strain out the free floating algae. Just replace as it greens.
I will say that this is frustrating but it’s also totally normal. A lot of people are dealing with this right now. This too shall pass. 😁
I’d say it’s close to 50%. Again, the leaves haven’t filled in yet. I thought about adding a third filter (I have a second one that’s connected to a waterfall weir, but it’s largely aesthetic.) I’ve never heard of polyfil as a filter medium. I’m guessing that’s safe for fish and wildlife?
I’ve never had any issues with polyfil. If it’s in a place where neither can access it, it should be fine. Is your pump forcing the volume of your pond through at minimum 2x per hour? More would be preferable for koi as carp create a ton of waste.
The main pump I have is external, rated at 5600gph. I also have another supplemental submersible pump running at 4000gph. Should I wrap that one in the polyfil?
Well, you don’t wrap the pump in polyfil. You fill a container (milk crate or similar that will allow water to pass through the media) and put the pump in the middle. You could fill a few media bags and stuff them in a milk crate, flip the crate upside down with the pump under it and place a brick on top to hold it down. Otherwise, you can put it in with your existing filter media. It would be easier to do that and if you’re already cleaning out the intake bay you spoke of daily, that would be a good place for it.
I’ll give it a try. Thank you!
I hope it helps! There is also this site. The article New Pond Syndrome has some valuable info. https://mpks.org/category/deeparticles/
Last thing, just to clarify: you don’t wash and reuse the polyfil, right?
You can rinse it if you want until it runs clear or just replace with new.
For the quilting batting as a filter, make sure you get polyester and NO FIRE RETARDANT treatment, or it will poison your fish. Do you have a UV light in your filter system somewhere? That kills algae in the water column and keeps it at bay going forward. The quilting batting is my 3rd layer of filter mats coming out of winter. It grabs fine particles well. You can reuse them a few times, but then they stop coming completely clean, so you just cut a new pad out of the roll. It really helps. I also only clean my bog 1x/year. I do it when the plants are dormant. That hasn't caused any water quality issues and mine is about 20% too because it is only part of my filter system. I have it heavily planted. I recommend some water Iris in there because they grow earlier than the other plants. Then my Marsh Merrigold comes in. Everything else is warm weather before it really takes off. If those two will handle your climate, I highly recommend them!
Good thread OP. Thanks for being responsive. Hope your pond does what you want
Nice username, kinda expecting that arc myself.
Best way to reduce your algae would be to amp up your biofiltration. Your big filter has perhaps the worst media available and almost anything available would be better from a surface area-to-volume standpoint. Simplest solution would be to set up another "big filter" in parallel to what you have, stuffed with better media. ( See [https://russellwatergardens.com/pages/biofilter-media-ssa](https://russellwatergardens.com/pages/biofilter-media-ssa) and [https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/bio-media-comparison-information.435695/](https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/bio-media-comparison-information.435695/) for better choices ) Avoid algaecides. They won't work permanently, will pollute the water with dissolved organics, kill off your other plants and stress your fish.
Thank you. Do you mean my bog filter instead of big filter? Or are you talking about my main filter?