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Filtration System Tips
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| DOCs AND HOW TO CONTROL THEM |
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| DOCs are a minor problem of relatively clean ponds, especialy common in freshly cleaned ponds or ponds with many breeding fish also ponds with a high concentration of scum on the bottom that has recently been stirred up then allowed to resettle. DOCs are the carbon based compounds left after the various oxygen using bacterial and metabolical processes occur. Typicaly DOCs may be composed of carbohydrates, fats, phenolic compounds, amino acids, pheremones and there are others. DOCs may be in relatively high or low concentrations in the waters of a well kept pond. The problems associated with a buildup of DOCs can be minimal such as the visual scum or froth at the base of waterfalls or fountains. Or deadly when the proportions get to the level where they support populations of disease causing bacteria and parasites. The third problem is the one of interest and concern to me and this is caused by the pheremones produced by fish these amazing hormones that affect or in some cases control fish behaviour can be responsible for inhibiting fish growth and lowering their disease resistance. (I have a theory on this that I am presently working on that fish may produce more hormones in an overcrowded situation as a territorial response) With most Pondkeepers tendency to overstock with fish these DOCs are the ones that the average pondkeeper should be concerned with. How to go about removing DOCs is a relatively simple process. In a small body of water (ie. a 20 gal. aquarium) a granular activated carbon filter is commonly used. The activated carbon will absorb the DOCs until it has become saturated or the surface becomes coated with sludge. At this point it must be replaced. The use of activated charcol would be expensive and therefore unfeasable in a garden pond. The rate of 1 pnd. activated carbon to 100 gals of water changed possibly biweekly or more often due to it plugging from suspended solids. Would also become a maintenance hassle. The easiest way to control the buildup of DOCs in the average garden pond system is to increase the volume of water changes. In some areas and in very large ponds the expense or volume of water makes large water changes unfeasable. Also some ponds are so overstocked that changing half the water everyday would barely keepup with the problem. This leaves some pondkeepers with a dilema how to go about removing DOCs affordably, cheaply and easily. Fortunately many years ago when Aquarists were trying to learn how to keep saltwater fish and invertebrates alive at home, some great minds developed a simple device called a foam fractionater or protein skimmer. In this unit a column of water injected with bubbles rises to a trap that collects the resulting foam and syphons it off to a disposal area. The protein skimmer works by a process called adsorption. Most molecules of DOCs have both a positive and negative attraction to water molecules. The repelled end of the molecule attaches itself to the suface of an air bubble rising to the surface of a column of water. The bubble than lifts the DOC molecule to the surface. The resulting foam head builds up and oozes out of the disposal hose. PROTEIN SKIMMER PLANS www.nisa.net/~gthorburn/proteinskimmer.jpg |
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