Drip system-Any danger to koi health long term??

[An Ly]

hi All, I been using the slow drip system for about 6 months now, and was wondering if there is any long term effects to koi, as far as toxic level of chemical in the water. I have a 2000 gallons ponds and the system replaces about 200 gallons of water each day with fresh tap water, i don't add any declorinator. I remember reading that the chlorine will just evaporates and it should not effect the koi, but not sure if any other chemical that builds up that could cause toxic to the koi.

Hi Dick, love to hear your thoughts, since you also uses the drip system, do you add any declorinator and how much water you replace a day with your drip system?

Thanks.
An

[Flounder]

For municipal water I would not use a drip system w/o removing the chlorine. You're changing 10% each day & every day, what would happen if the city increase the chlorine level in your water?

Chlorine does evaporate if left in a out by itself but most cities now use chloramine and this cannot evaporate.

Your best bet is to use a carbon filter to remove the oxidizers.

[JasPR]

yes, raw water on a trickle can be very dangerous. Very few of us are blessed with the kind/quality of water that the Japanese use on their trickle systems. I know of several hobbyists here and in the UK that have woken up to a pond of dead fish when employing this practice. You simply don't know what the town/city is putting in the water supply or when ( at what time) they are putting it in- but typically it is during the night or early morning hours. In addition to this, you have the normal dynamics of any outdoor pond. That is, a swing in pH and an inversion of gases in their ratios. Oxygen and carbon dioxide then have a life of their own and well water, typically low in oxygen and often high in carbon dioxide ( and heaven forbid, nitrogen and iron) are all things to be aware of. I have seen a negative synergy when these two realities come together at night or early morning hours.
So always have a prefiltering system before a trickle application and do be aware of how many gallons you are running thru the units as there is a limit to their effectiveness. And always allow a trickle to enter via a tower or stray bar system so that gases can escape and oxygen can be in contact with the raw water before being in contact with the kois' gills.

JR

[PapaBear]

Once again it comes down to knowing all the variable all the time.

I have long advocated a drip or spray technique for adding water in order to volatize gases and aerate the new water going into the pond, but nothing is fool proof and the city may overdose the chlorine/chloramine without your knowledge and suddenly you could have a problem. If you don't have sufficient organics in the pond water to use up the chlorine quickly your biofilter and fish's gills will be the first to go, and in the case of chloramine, only the chlorine gets used up, not the ammonia.

We do have the good fortune to have chlorine in very low levels in our municipal water supply rather than chloramine with the added benefit that our city utility workers report their tests directly to my wife every day (since she happens to be their boss) Lucky for us, but few ponders have that kind of inside info as a matter of course.

If you want to run a trickle the safe bet is to get yourself a cartridge filter that is economical, locally available, and easy to use.

[dick benbow]

Looks like the subject got covered very nicely by others. The beauty of having knowledgeable folks available here on KB.

I replace 10% with my trickle system daily. It runs thru a Reverse Osmosis unit to remove chlorine ( activated charcoal) and some heavy metals, screened out by the membrain.

As expressed i do think it's important to remove the clorine. It's easy to spray the trickle in and by heavy mixing with air negate it's effect UNTIL
the city adds a new development on line and sends a big heavy shot of it thru the lines unknown to us. (kinda like the 100 year floods that happen every year now! ) So rather than trust to luck I want provisions of protection.

Water wears out. It provides health needs for the fish and filter bacteria.
If we were to chart the effect of water changes, depending on frequency,
we could see numerous mountains and valleys. I'd rather thru continuous
provision see a flat line.

[Auntiesue]

I have a leak in my larger pond that I gave up trying to find a few years ago. Because of that I installed an auto fill device in my skimmer. Since our city uses only chlorine (no ammonia), but does on occassion increase the chlorine levels without notice, I have hooked up two "under the sink" carbon filters on that line. They are plumbed one after the other so the water is actually going through two carbon filters. I've tested the water coming out and I get no chlorine readings at all. This auto fill runs OFTEN during the day. I monitor the use by watching a small flow meter that I've also installed inline. This tells me how many gallons per minute the flow rate is which gives me a good idea of when to replace the cartridges. Works great for us.

Sue

[An Ly]

thanks all, for all the input.

AN

[Flounder]

Quote: Originally Posted by Auntiesue I have a leak in my larger pond that I gave up trying to find a few years ago. Because of that I installed an auto fill device in my skimmer. Since our city uses only chlorine (no ammonia), but does on occassion increase the chlorine levels without notice, I have hooked up two "under the sink" carbon filters on that line. They are plumbed one after the other so the water is actually going through two carbon filters. I've tested the water coming out and I get no chlorine readings at all. This auto fill runs OFTEN during the day. I monitor the use by watching a small flow meter that I've also installed inline. This tells me how many gallons per minute the flow rate is which gives me a good idea of when to replace the cartridges. Works great for us. Sue

Sue, how much water are you loosing each day?

[Auntiesue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flounder Sue, how much water are you loosing each day?

With a surface area of 18' x 24' I'm loosing 4 inches minimum (sometimes as much as 6") in 24 hours. BIG LEAK!! You would think I could find it with that much water going somewhere wouldn't you? My little carbon filters handle 5 gallons per minutes with no problems and I have two of them plumbed one after the other.
I do have a few "drip, drip" leaks, but the puddles under those are not near what the water loss is. Has to be somewhere else.


Sue

[Birdman]

I use what I call "Flow Through" from well water on all my ponds, except one which is "Leak Through". I have a small pencil stream going in continuously. I really like this but for city water I would run it through a carbon filter 1st.