Air

freddy · 23-09-2011, 09:57 PM

Hi folks.

As some of you may be aware, my fish aren't feeding as I would expect. Doghouse Riley asked me how much air was going in, and this got me thinking in general terms about how much air I should put in. I have a Hiblow 80, but since I only have three fish (and two of those are only small) I'd kinda figured that having it running all the time wasn't important. Maybe I have this wrong? What do you guys suggest?

Cheers...Freddy.

faz201283 · 23-09-2011, 10:14 PM

ive put mine on full time on DHR advice and they do seem to alot more eager to move around the pond and feed more

markf1fan · 23-09-2011, 10:25 PM

Hiya Freddy

I will let some one else answer this for you but what i will say is i have no air pump on my pond at all, but what i do have running is the bakki shower which for sure puts loads air into the water. what temp is your pond on right now. mines on 19 and fish are still going mad for food. are all your tests ok.

Davej · 23-09-2011, 11:26 PM

Hi Freddy

My take is that you simply do not have enough fish in the pond.

Smaller fish like the security of a group, to get the best out of Tosai you need a community of them, encourages competition for food etc, it only need one to break the surface for a pellet and they are all up.

But the crack is that the filters need to cope with the waste they produce and I am guessing that if you haven't seen readings of +1mg/l of Nitrite in your testing then the filters haven't cycled - so adding more fish at this time of the year would be a mistake, I'd be suggesting that you do a little work over the winter maturing some media to add in the spring along with some more fish.

At current temps oxygen levels will not be an issue but an aerator near the surface may provide the fish with some sense of security that they can take a floating pellet.

Dave

Ned · 24-09-2011, 12:40 AM

Freddy put some air stones in your filter and keep your pump on 24/7. Dr. Paula Reynolds reckons the friendly bugs in our filters need more air than our koi do. It's why aerated K1 and baki showers work so well.

freddy · 24-09-2011, 07:18 PM

Hi folks, thanks for the replies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davej

and I am guessing that if you haven't seen readings of +1mg/l of Nitrite in your testing then the filters haven't cycled

Dave, the highest my readings have been regarding Nitrite have been 0.5 and rising. But, I always took action to reduce this, by doing water changes. I'm now kinda thinking that this was a mistake, and I SHOULD have just gone along with it, ignoring the fact that the fish flashed now and again, right? BTW, I should have mentioned the fact that my blower is supplying a Spindrifter. At this stage, I have no intention of adding more fish until next year, unless something catches my eye

Mark, I haven't tested for a couple of days, but the last time I took them the Ammonia was 0.2 and Nitrite 0.2(maybe a bit less).

Anyway, I've turned to leaving the blower on during the day, and the fish SEEM to be quite a bit more active.

Cheers...Freddy.