I had a learning experience a couple of winters ago with my Koi(had them 8
years at that time). It was early January 4 degrees F outside. I always
bi-pass my bio/veggie filter over the winter and have a good hard stream of
water going directly into the pond from the pump. When the water starts to
ice over(maybe for a week or two) in January the forceful stream keeps a
hole open in the ice. Anyway....I hadn't check on the pond in the morning
like I usually do(to darn cold outside!!!) , my daughter happened to be
going outside and I asked her to check on the pond. This was in the early
evening before sundown. She came running into the house saying the pond was
almost dry and the backs of the Koi were up and out of the water. I ran
outside in disbelieve. Sure enough the hose for the stream of water had
slipped and almost all of the water had drained from the pond(4 degrees F
outside). My garden hose was frozen so I ran to my brother in laws about 3
blocks away that keep his garden hose in a heated garage. I ran
home....threw some antichlor into the pond,hooked the hose up and started
filling up the pond. Never phased the fish one bit...the survived the
ordeal fine. No sickness..didn't lose one fish. {:O) KOI are VERY HARDY
and ADAPTABLE. Mike

http://makeashorterlink.com/?E4AE14BD7
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...od&cm_ite=prod
Melnor Flowmeter Water Timer Model 101CBS $11 bucks

You will never forget the water is on and come back to a pond full of dead fish.

wrote:

I think you are right. LOL As a side note and a helpful hint. I always
keep a bottle of dechlor on hand. I also now make it a habit when doing a
water change to set the timer on our stove as a reminder that I am adding
water to the pond. More than once I had forgotten about the hose running
and had added way to much chlorinated wat


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

To make a dechlor device to attach to the end of your hose go here
http://www.pondrushes.net/tips.htm
and scroll down to tip 18.
I use this and have been happy with it.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

wrote in message ...
I think you are right. LOL As a side note and a helpful hint. I always
keep a bottle of dechlor on hand. I also now make it a habit when doing a
water change to set the timer on our stove as a reminder that I am adding
water to the pond. More than once I had forgotten about the hose running
and had added way to much chlorinated water to the pond. Once again my
guardian angel was watching my fish.

I keep a half gallon of dechlor on hand at all times. When I top off/refill,
I use a meter on the hose ($15 at Home Depot) and I fill 200 gallons at a
time. Add dechlor, fill. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. Takes some extra
time, but pretty safe.

BV.

Thanks Kathy - We don't have chloramine, only chlorine here, so I just
'spray' the water when I add to the pond, but this device looks good and I
am going to look into making one
Gale :~)
"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

To make a dechlor device to attach to the end of your hose go here
http://www.pondrushes.net/tips.htm
and scroll down to tip 18.
I use this and have been happy with it.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

BV, You've touched on something I've been thinking about since reading
about all the accidents here - i.e. walking away from the pond while it is
filling.
When I fill the pond or top it off ... that is all I do. No starting or
continuing
or wandering off a job Until the Filling is complete.

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

wrote in message ...
I think you are right. LOL As a side note and a helpful hint. I always
keep a bottle of dechlor on hand. I also now make it a habit when doing
a
water change to set the timer on our stove as a reminder that I am
adding
water to the pond. More than once I had forgotten about the hose
running
and had added way to much chlorinated water to the pond. Once again my
guardian angel was watching my fish.

I keep a half gallon of dechlor on hand at all times. When I top
off/refill,
I use a meter on the hose ($15 at Home Depot) and I fill 200 gallons at a
time. Add dechlor, fill. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. Takes some extra
time, but pretty safe.

BV.

Gale wrote so I just
'spray' the water when I add to the pond

That reminds me of one of my goofier experiments as a new ponder. Setting the
hose on spray, propping it up and then trying to catch the spray in one of
those little test tubes...


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Why don't folks install a automatic valve to fill the pond? Co-op
stores sell a cheap valve to keep cattle troughs full (a toilet valve
would work as well). A supply line, check value, and the water filter
mentioned in this thread and you never have to worry about it again.
If your pond sprung a leak you could at least keep some water coming in.
What's worse on the fish, no water or different water?

Mark B.

Benign Vanilla wrote:
wrote in message ...

I think you are right. LOL As a side note and a helpful hint. I always
keep a bottle of dechlor on hand. I also now make it a habit when doing a
water change to set the timer on our stove as a reminder that I am adding
water to the pond. More than once I had forgotten about the hose running
and had added way to much chlorinated water to the pond. Once again my
guardian angel was watching my fish.


I keep a half gallon of dechlor on hand at all times. When I top off/refill,
I use a meter on the hose ($15 at Home Depot) and I fill 200 gallons at a
time. Add dechlor, fill. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. Takes some extra
time, but pretty safe.

BV.

In article . net,
Nedra wrote:

BV, You've touched on something I've been thinking about since reading
about all the accidents here - i.e. walking away from the pond while it is
filling.
When I fill the pond or top it off ... that is all I do. No starting or
continuing
or wandering off a job Until the Filling is complete.

I have a snooze alarm on my cell phone, I don't fill without starting
that 10 min alarm cycle.

Koi are extremely sensitive to chlorine.

jay
Wed Jun 09, 2004





Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

wrote in message ...
I think you are right. LOL As a side note and a helpful hint. I always
keep a bottle of dechlor on hand. I also now make it a habit when doing
a
water change to set the timer on our stove as a reminder that I am
adding
water to the pond. More than once I had forgotten about the hose
running
and had added way to much chlorinated water to the pond. Once again my
guardian angel was watching my fish.

I keep a half gallon of dechlor on hand at all times. When I top
off/refill,
I use a meter on the hose ($15 at Home Depot) and I fill 200 gallons at a
time. Add dechlor, fill. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. Takes some extra
time, but pretty safe.

BV.

What I meant by spraying the water is that I lay the watering wand in such a
way that the water sprays up in the air, with the setting on spray so that
most of the chlorine gets dissipated through aeration as opposed to dropping
the hose into the pond to top it up
Gale :~)
"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Gale wrote so I just
'spray' the water when I add to the pond

That reminds me of one of my goofier experiments as a new ponder. Setting
the
hose on spray, propping it up and then trying to catch the spray in one of
those little test tubes...


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

I've thought about this a bit.

The main reason I have not installed one is aesthetics. There is no
way to put one in my pond without it looking hideous.

I've spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars for a pleasing
appearance, so I fill and top the "hard" way, by hand.

Another factor to consider is that if the valve failed in "on"
position you could kill your fish with chlorine and not even know it
until their pooor lifeless little bodies are floating upside down...
:-p

And yes, I've had a toilet fill valve fail in just this way. Cost me
$6,000 just to repair my septic system, -plus- when the system was
saturated the water backed up into the house and all the toilets and
tubs overflowed. For about 2 hours until I woke up in the middle of
the night and stepped on wet carpet.

Mike

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:19:36 -0500, Mark Bannister
wrote:

Why don't folks install a automatic valve to fill the pond? Co-op
stores sell a cheap valve to keep cattle troughs full (a toilet valve
would work as well). A supply line, check value, and the water filter
mentioned in this thread and you never have to worry about it again.
If your pond sprung a leak you could at least keep some water coming in.
What's worse on the fish, no water or different water?

Mark B.

Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

Mike:
I agree, failure would be bad, but if you had the water filter on it
then chlorine would not be an issue. You could also have some sort of
redundant shut-off (a little harder to do).
Aesthetics would be an issue for me as well. You would want to hide it
for sure. In my case the pond is elevated and I will have a reservoir
sitting by the pump that this can attach to. An overflow pipe will also
be there. All unseen cause pump is in the garage.
Mark B.

Mike Patterson wrote:
I've thought about this a bit.

The main reason I have not installed one is aesthetics. There is no
way to put one in my pond without it looking hideous.

I've spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars for a pleasing
appearance, so I fill and top the "hard" way, by hand.

Another factor to consider is that if the valve failed in "on"
position you could kill your fish with chlorine and not even know it
until their pooor lifeless little bodies are floating upside down...
:-p

And yes, I've had a toilet fill valve fail in just this way. Cost me
$6,000 just to repair my septic system, -plus- when the system was
saturated the water backed up into the house and all the toilets and
tubs overflowed. For about 2 hours until I woke up in the middle of
the night and stepped on wet carpet.

Mike

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:19:36 -0500, Mark Bannister
wrote:


Why don't folks install a automatic valve to fill the pond? Co-op
stores sell a cheap valve to keep cattle troughs full (a toilet valve
would work as well). A supply line, check value, and the water filter
mentioned in this thread and you never have to worry about it again.
If your pond sprung a leak you could at least keep some water coming in.
What's worse on the fish, no water or different water?

Mark B.


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

In article , Mark Bannister
wrote:

Mike:
I agree, failure would be bad,

w/ autofills keep the water pressure to a minimum on a municipal fill
line. To keep pace w/ evaporation it can be set just to drip out very
slowly... its not getting paid by the hour... let it work all day long.

jay
Wed Jun 09, 2004




but if you had the water filter on it
then chlorine would not be an issue. You could also have some sort of
redundant shut-off (a little harder to do).
Aesthetics would be an issue for me as well. You would want to hide it
for sure. In my case the pond is elevated and I will have a reservoir
sitting by the pump that this can attach to. An overflow pipe will also
be there. All unseen cause pump is in the garage.
Mark B.

Mike Patterson wrote:
I've thought about this a bit.

The main reason I have not installed one is aesthetics. There is no
way to put one in my pond without it looking hideous.

I've spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars for a pleasing
appearance, so I fill and top the "hard" way, by hand.

Another factor to consider is that if the valve failed in "on"
position you could kill your fish with chlorine and not even know it
until their pooor lifeless little bodies are floating upside down...
:-p

And yes, I've had a toilet fill valve fail in just this way. Cost me
$6,000 just to repair my septic system, -plus- when the system was
saturated the water backed up into the house and all the toilets and
tubs overflowed. For about 2 hours until I woke up in the middle of
the night and stepped on wet carpet.

Mike

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:19:36 -0500, Mark Bannister
wrote:


Why don't folks install a automatic valve to fill the pond? Co-op
stores sell a cheap valve to keep cattle troughs full (a toilet valve
would work as well). A supply line, check value, and the water filter
mentioned in this thread and you never have to worry about it again.
If your pond sprung a leak you could at least keep some water coming in.
What's worse on the fish, no water or different water?

Mark B.


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

does this work on just an ammonia problem?

we use well water to top off our pond,
a small amount of ammonia is in it

(tired of spending the $$$ to add ammonia removers)


"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

To make a dechlor device to attach to the end of your hose go here
http://www.pondrushes.net/tips.htm
and scroll down to tip 18.
I use this and have been happy with it.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

muffin wrote does this work on just an ammonia problem?

That I'm not sure of.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A