Bacteria are required in order to digest the pollutants created by fish bodily wastes building up in the pond water

You are receiving this gazette because you requested it, bought my book or downloaded the "Successful Guide To Pond keeping"

You can unsubscribe at the bottom of this newsletter. I answer many pond keeping queries every day.

The main reason for this Gazette is to save pond keepers money by showing and explaining what is important and what is almost irrelevant. A great deal of money spent on ponds is wasted and doesn't help the pond, the fish or the owner.

Most of you will have noticed that I normally sell my unique book "Your Pond Crystal Clear Water - Guaranteed" by direct download at US$8.50 or GBP 5.90 or AUD 17.00. In Rands it normally sells for R75.00.

Summer can mean many hassles for pond owners.

Avoid the hassles buy my book at US$6.90 . Click below for this special price ONLY to Gazette subscribers. If the link wraps around to the next line you will need to select the whole link and paste it into your browser for it to work

http://www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?Weblux+104783013961

The book will put all you need to know in a single convenient easy to access and read place.

You have my unconditional personal guarantee that your money will be totally refunded and no questions will be asked

if you really believe you were not able to benefit from reading my book (in pdf format which means you need Adobe Acrobat reader to view). Here's the link.

http://www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?Weblux+104783013961

You will be taken directly to the ordering page. Place your order and provide the details requested. You will receive an e mail from Digibuy with a special unique download link.

All very simple and quick.

With this offer you do not get calculators downloaded automatically so if you want them then you will need to send me a separate e-mail including the purchase reference number and I will send as soon as I see your e mail.

About Water Gardens Gazette

Feel free to pass this Gazette as a complete document to friends you may have whom you think would like to improve their pond keeping hobby.

We received 453 new subscribers since last edition.

This edition includes ....................

1. Get all the calculators in a single file (all in Excel .xls format).

2. Biomedia basics revisited

3. More on chemicals

4. Large ponds ... a few words

5. This edition's quick tips

6. New articles: covers all kinds of topics related to water gardens

7. Subscribe and unsubscribe information

1. FREE POND CALCULATOR ...............

The free calculator offer has come to an end ....

I have made it easy for subscribers to receive the whole series in a single file. Click this e mail link and I will send within 24 hours of receiving your special request ... do not change the e mail in any way. Just send it as is .....

2. BIOMEDIA REVISTED

I get more queries associated with biofilters than anything else. This is not surprising since a biofilter is so important in any fish pond .... A biofilter for a fish pond is essential, it is not just a nice-to-have item.

Selection is much simpler than you think especially for small to medium sized garden fish ponds. The following points are important even if you build your own biofilter. Specification is based upon pond volume with consideration given to quantity of fish if you really overstock the pond. The size of the biofilter box or container is almost totally irrelevant .... many people will tell you that the filter should be a certain percent of the pond volume.

This is quite simply WRONG.

Such advice will cost you more money than necessary and will not help you. The biomedium used and the flow rate through the biofilter are important to determine the size of the box or container. As far as flow is concerned see the end of this article since many people misunderstand and believe all water must flow through the filter at the same time. In simple terms the biofilter contains media on which a large amount of specific bacteria grow. These bacteria are required in order to digest the pollutants created by fish bodily wastes building up in the pond water.

Think of the bacteria as clinging to all possible surfaces in the biofilter box. This means the more surface there is then the greater the space for the bacteria to cling to and the more the amount of bacteria there can be ... simple as that. The surface comes from media with rough porous surfaces (not smooth plastic or stones) and this is what creates large areas of surface. We talk of SSA ... specific surface area... Look for biofilters which contain biomedia with high SSA.

To really push this home take the situation of two different biomedia The first has an SSA of 5, the second an SSA of 10. The box for the first medium will have to be twice as large as the second one in order to hold the amount of media that will do the job of biofiltration adequately.

Please take a look at biomedia for pond biofilters and tips for making your own homemade biofilter Here you will find information on different biomedia and also tips on how to build your own low cost biofilter. Many commercial units are very overpriced and no better than a home made one. From what readers tell me Rubbermaid make some great low cost containers you can use.

By the way it appears Alfagrog is NOT available in USA. It is an UK product. We have it in South Africa ... I have been putting it into all my biofilters for years.

NOTE IMPORTANT.... If you are pumping more water around your circuit than stipulated as the maximum flow for any biofilter then all you have to do is split the flow so some goes into the biofilter and the rest by-passes the actual filter box and goes to your waterfall for example.

All the pond water eventually goes through the biofilter. In fact this will happen about 12 times a day for most ponds. The more serious koi keeper would prefer that all the water is passed through the filer 24 times per day.

If you want to calculate how many times your water is flowing through the filter every day just divide the flow through the filter into the ponds volume. For example if you are pumping 500 galls per hour and the pond is 2000 gallons then all the pond water if filtered every 4 hours which is the same as 6 times per day.

3. MORE ON CHEMICALS .. should be I hate Chemicals

The first point to bear in mind if you succumb to the temptation to add something to your pond is ...... you MUST know and know ACCURATELY the volume of water in your pond which includes the volume in the waterfall, filters (if large) and streams etc... in other words ALL the water in your system and not just the pond.

You must then be able to measure the dose based upon the total volume and the instructions. This can be difficult for many because of poor instructions and mixed units on the container.

If in doubt ..... seek advice

Malachite Green is actually a dye which is used in treating parasites, and fungus diseases in a pond. By overdosing you would tend to kill off your biofilter which is very dangerous. On the other hand it can be totally ineffective if dosage is not right. Are you starting to see what I mean about adding chemicals to a pond?

It is probably best to turn off flow to the filter before adding but only for an hour or so. Most dyes are broken down by air and sunlight so best time to treat is late in the day. This is another reason your supply might not be what you think (ie it has deteriorated in the container). This creates more complexities. Once added it cannot be added again for a period of time.

Like I said last time treating a fish outside pond is almost always better than treating in pond.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR POND CONCERNS OR QUERIES TO BE ADDRESSED DO PLEASE SEND THE QUESTIONS IN.

TO MAKE THIS EASY just click the link below - DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE just add your query to the body of the email and then just send. I will try to reply personally if I can.