Thinking ahead to Spring

[marla]

Ok, I know that winter is still here, but we are trying to get ahead start on our spring pond purchases. Yesterday my husband went out and bought a pressure washer, personaly I thought the hose would be good enough, but he's into the "more power" thing. We will be needing new skimmer mats, I've been thinking of the Matala's does anyone know how sturdy they are? We've gone through two ADI skimmer mats, one each summer, they tend to fall apart on us. Also been thinking of looseing the lava rocks. Heard bio-balls are great but how many to fit in our large biofalls box. Or is there another better option, or should I stick with the lava rocks and just get new ones. The lava rocks will be going on the third summer, if you count the first pond year which was only from Sept.-Nov. Any ideas or comments will help.

[Ahhuhz]

Get rid of the lava rocks.

I used bioballs from Aquatic. Takes about 3 cubic feet for a standard size Aquascape biofalls. I put them in two mesh bags on top of the filter pads. I also put a few rocks on the bags to hold them down as they do float.
Here is a link for the ones I got. They are not cheap but last forever.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/5021/cid/1392

[Jackie Ramo]

I agree with Chuck. The bioballs are great and so much lighter to pull out of the falls. If the lava rocks are still in the pond I'd remove half and add half bioballs so they cycle faster. Once cycled you can replace the next half. At 3 years your lava rocks are due to be replaced anyway. So changing them out bioballs or ribbon is a good choice.

Please ask hubby to go gently with the power washer. The idea is not to blast off the bio coating but to rinse the mud etc out. Unless of course you want to start with a brand new pond syndrome.... A gentle rinse is all that is needed. Also I've heard of folks blasting a hole in their liner with the power washer!!! So be sure he knows how to use it.

[Cinnamon]

Marla as far as mats I buy my replacement mats from Koi Village. I buy everything there. The filter media he has lasts a long time. You can email Gene and he can tell you what he has that will work.

Koi Village (http://koivillage.com)

Pam

[TASSAJARA]

I had pond echo replace my skimmer basket (for free I might add) and they packed it with cut up buffer pads from a floor wax and buffer machine. I wondered if this would be good to use in my skimmer to aid as a mechanical and bio filter.

[Jackie Ramo]

Wouldn't that make it harder to clean than one or two mats? Not knocking it if it works mind. I pull out the net, wish it was a basket, and the two mats and rinse them off and back in again. With green water this can be twice a day.

[marla]

Thanks for the input everyone. The mats in our skimmer have fallen apart, maybe I rinse to often. I want to redesign the way it sits on the ledge thing. It seems to get sucked down and loose shape, so I thought if I could place a plastic mesh of wider openings, like in a safty gate or milk crate, this might help it hold it's shape better. As for the bio balls, I've done some searching, there are quite a few different looking ones, do certain ones work better, then others?

[Jackie Ramo]

My mats sit on pvc pipe cut to sit on the ledge, there are even little indents to hold them. Perhaps your installer missed this part. Egg crate cut to sit on that ledge will hold the mats up better. Mats come in different grades. Matala being the best. They seem quite hard and stiff at first but soften up.

Not sure which bio balls would be best, probably the most expensive. Life seems to work that way :roll:

[Koidaddy]

My pond is approximately 2500 gallons. I run with a 60 gallon bio filter, homemade. My choice of filter material is a 2" thick polyester wrap (the kind they use to wrap foam seat cushions on sofas, but a little stiffer) It comes in 60" wide rolls. I usually use about 2-3 meters of the stuff cut up in 6" squares, sandwiched loosely between to grates. I pay about $2.50 a meter ~ it cost me less than $10.00 bucks a season! This keeps my water sparkling clean all season (after the mandatory spring pea soup) I might point out that I purchase the stuff at a wholesale level through my workplace ~ but you can go online and look up "foam suppliers" in your area (try for the manufacturers) and ask if they have rolls of "stiff polyester wrap 60".

Cheers!
Chris :frisbee:

[Koidaddy]

Oh ya, my point to all of this is that it requires virtually no maintenance. No rinsing...yeaaaaah! I just scoop out the foam in late fall and then juice my gardens with the best fertilizer mother nature has to offer and then I start the whole cycle over again in the spring.

Regards,
Chris

[Jackie Ramo]

Got pictures??? Love to see how you have it set up.

[Busy B]

Think you can do bioballs or springflo Marla..anything for the bugs to attach to..I need to get rid of those rocks also but may save them for some other part of the game..like a bakki or something.

My mats aren't falling apart but I bought home heating filters at ho-de-po to help at grabbing the fines that show up..they last for awhile, but my season is way shorter than yours..