Can you use the water and waste from koi ponds?

14 years ago

I have just started the lovely art of composting, and I am super new to what is ok for the compost pile, I know that dog and cat poo is a no no but what about when I clean the filter on the Koi pond, (its a 1100 gallon pond) they eat a mix of shrimp and veggies, the filtered stuff is muddy not smelly it has alot of plant matter from the lily pads I have to clean it every day and every time I rinse it out I think am I wasting great fertilizer? Or good water for the compost pile, any feed back would greatley be appreciated.

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Comments (8)

cali1023
14 years ago
Koi pond water and algae would be amazing for your compost pile BUT you must balance it with a bunch of browns--leaves, wood chips or shavings, straw, etc., otherwise it will stink to high heaven.
eyesofthewolf
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks cali, I thought so but didn`t want to introduce some bacteria like ecoli or some other harmful to human bacteria since the compost will be used in the veggie garden, Right now the pile is smelling pretty sweet like dirt so I know its doing the right thing, But it does seem like I have much more greens than I can cut with browns, I wanted to buy a chipper but its price is out of my range. I have alot of roly poly bugs, I think they are ok right?
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Frank, I can empathize about the bacterial infections. Over the years it has happened more than once to my pond. When the first pond was way too shallow, any fish that jumped out was going to die from massive gram negative infections. It was in the soil and short of solarization it just wasn't going to go away from our heavy, often water logged clay dirt. Once the 1000 gallon pond was in, storm created power loss caused backwash from the Skippy filter, making the pond a deadly sewer for the fishies. Some creative plumbing solved that problem until a clump of dead leaves and trash escaped the fall cleaning and over the winter allowed bacteria and parasites to multiply until spring when the fishies were attacked once again. A plant from a not very well kept nursery sheltered parasites. The latest insult was the downpour from Katrina. Farms in the area were affected by numerous plant diseases that had never been in this area previously but which are endemic in swampland the storms had passed over. My pond over flowed from the downpour and the rainwater, which was actually dirty from sediment, brought both diseases and parasites to the pond along with an oil slick. That was a hard one. Even with the help and advice of the sages on this forum, I lost twenty-one koi and fancy goldfish. Some I had for over seven years. I don't wait for the trouble to show itself now. I just go ahead and treat the water before the bad rains hit. I try to be philosophical about it but dang, I hate to lose my finny friends. There can be a problem with asphalt shingles. They leach chemicals and oil into the rainwater. If you could spread a tarp over the area that is draining into a holding tank some of that could be reduced. It would have to sit long enough to allow some of the chemicals to sink to the bottom and others with any oil would float. The top could be flushed off but only the center water could be salvaged. Then it would have to be aerated and treated before it could go into the pond. Does anyone from your area sell water by the tank? That would get you started and then you could treat the farm pond water to top it off or the half gallon a minute could be run to the pond continuously. That is a horrible rate. What do you do for your home? What supplies the farm pond? Sandy
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Do the dogs play in the pond now? It sounds like your average city creek / pond. People use them all the time to water grass, in fact the nutrients could be benefitial. Use a good well screen to keep the sand / algae out of your system, but start pumping away.
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There are several different ways you could go at it. If you want to keep it easy to convert back to "swimming pool" and keep the cost down for both factors, here are some suggestions. Leave the color as is, the blue isn't that big a problem with algae and a black swimming pool might not be as easy to sell. Some shade for the pool will help against the algae as well as would having it coated in black. Let the water age to get rid of the chlorine. (What source of water do you have for re-filling if you were to need to do any water changes? If you have city water with chloramine you might need to look into some water conditioner.) What is your existing pool pump/equipment? In some arrangements, you could simply continue using the existing pump/filter. Or you could shut down and drain (like for winter storage the pump and sand filter, if you do this properly, the equipment can be hooked back up when wanted for a pool again.) Then you can get a submersible pond pump and a bio falls basin. Put the pump in the pool and hook up to the bio-falls basin sitting on the edge of the pool and you are set to go for small numbers of fish. Add some aquatic plants (make sure they are in large plant baskets with gravel, no dirt.) Place potted plants around the falls tub to dress it up a bit and away you go. Now this might not turn your swimming pool into a perfect ornamental pond but it is the cheap way to do it. Make sure to choose an energy efficient pump as you will probably be running it 24/7. In warm water you need to keep it flowing or the fish can run out of O2. It is best to start out with smaller numbers of smaller fish and keep the feeding light until the system has stabilized. Now if you want to make it really fancy, it will of course get more complex and costly. If you want large or lots of fish, then you will definitely need to learn more about Aquaponics, bio filtration, fish keeping etc. Here is a link that might be useful: www.TCLynx.com
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Most likely the child is reacting to the concerns of the adults around him but there are many things in the pond that are not good for people even if the water appears pristine. This subject comes up periodically at the Aquatic Plants and Ponds forum and while many get great pleasure from getting into the pond it really is not the best idea. This is mainly because it is a closed system that doesn't operate like a natural stream. What is in the pond usually stays in the pond unless we do something to eliminate it. Think of all the purification done before the water comes out of the tap in your kitchen. Think of all the chlorine in swimming pools before it is considered safe for humans to swim. An open wound like a scratch is easily infected by contact with pond water. Remember that unless you are a fanatic about filtration and aeration the pond is where the fish poop. I would be very interested in hearing what the doctor said. The link below is a great introduction to the invisible things that live in the pond. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Ron's pond scum
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11otis
14 years ago
You can use newspaper and cardboard for browns.
Kimmsr
14 years ago
E-Coli are very common bacteria found in the intestinal tract of warm blooded mammals, not usually found in cold blooded fish. A few of the strains of E-Coli are, however, serious problems and since it is not real easy to determine if these are present the presence of any E-Coli, where they do not normally belong (food, water) are cause for alarm.
The only way the cleanings from your fish tank filter could be contaminated by E-Coli is if your added some manure from a warm blodded mammal.
eyesofthewolf
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks kimmsr, Yeah I will stay away from composting with manure from mammals that are omnivores. Since this is my very first attempt I will stick to the old tried and true and not mess with experimenting. otis11 I do have alot of junk mail for browns but not sure about the colored papers and shiny papers hey what about the glue in cardboard boxes? Are those ok? I have so many questions, I think I need to go to an aggie school. Thanks for the feedback
11otis
14 years ago
I have put coloured paper, even NCR paper in. i do not throw in shiny paper but there are people here who compost that too. Just takes longer to disappear. They won't be too visible when shredded.
Glue in cardboard boxes are great for worms, don't know how much longer the worms will be around but you are in 8b, so probably still for another month or so?
My composter attracts lots of worms and I even suspect that they multiply in the composter much faster than the worms I have in the worm bin.

Can you feed worms to your Koi?
eyesofthewolf
Original Author
14 years ago
Hello otis11 thanks for the feed back I have alot of boxes just sitting here now I can shred them and I needed browns bad anyway. As for the worms I have not tried to feed the fish worms because right now all the worms I have are precious to me. When I was hand digging the koi pond ( mind you its 1100 gallons) my small dog helped me he was thinking we were digging for worms and would eat every worm he could, I just thought it was cute then, now Im trying to discourage his digging for worms, I need them to help with my very clay soil, gosh I think If I put it in the oven I could make pottery, oh thats a whole nother hobby. But thanks again for responding. Deanna
cityworm
14 years ago
You can use koi pond water and also when you clean the pond filter to your compost as long as no medication were added.

otis11 Yes you can feed worms to your koi as a treat.

Can you use the water and waste from koi ponds?

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cali1023

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Can you use the water and waste from koi ponds?

Comments (8)

cali1023

eyesofthewolfOriginal Author

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11otis

Kimmsr

eyesofthewolfOriginal Author

11otis

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cityworm

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eyesofthewolf
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eyesofthewolf
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eyesofthewolf
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