Cycling my fish pond

[Meg]

Hello everyone I’ve been doing my research a lot recently and I’m going to be setting up a big pond for sturgeon and koi.
It’s going to be dug out in the next few weeks and set up ready to cycle for a few months.
My questions are:

Do I need my filter to cycle it?

My filter will be attached to a 90cm long waterfall, will that be okay through the cycle as it’ll aerate the water?

How long do I cycle for before I can add my fish?

I have well water through my pipes and taps so should I add something to get rid of the chlorine and all that or does it settle on its own?

When can I start adding plants. At the beginning of the cycle or after it’s ready for fish?

Any tips or knowledge I need to know?

Thanks everyone!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

With well water you most likely, do not have chlorine unless you add it. Check the ph, ours is very acidic and I killed off the first fish I put in. Our well is a ph of 5.3.

Run you filter and waterfall, add plants all will help cycle the waters.

 

[addy1]

Cycling, some add a few fish with a week or so, some wait weeks, some wait months. The main thing to do is add slowly, check the water parameters.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome.

What size will the pond be?

 

[Meg]

Welcome to the forum!

With well water you most likely, do not have chlorine unless you add it. Check the ph, ours is very acidic and I killed off the first fish I put in. Our well is a ph of 5.3.

Run you filter and waterfall, add plants all will help cycle the waters.

What would you say would be a good stable ph for the fish with the well water? And thank you so much. Would you say I need a bottom drain. I’m quite happy to clean it a lot with the algae and stuff so I didn’t know if I nEeded a bottom drain as that’ll be quite tricky

 

[Meg]

Hello and welcome.

What size will the pond be?

I measured it and did it but the size is gonna be a little different now so I’ll measure and let you know later

 

[addy1]

What would you say would be a good stable ph for the fish with the well water?

I had to buffer mine up using chicken grip (crushed oyster shells) and time. Mine sits around 7.6 and the fish do fine.

 

[j.w]

@Meg

 

[brokensword]

What would you say would be a good stable ph for the fish with the well water? And thank you so much. Would you say I need a bottom drain. I’m quite happy to clean it a lot with the algae and stuff so I didn’t know if I nEeded a bottom drain as that’ll be quite tricky

you're not aiming for a particular pH; what you want is STABLE pH. The fish can adapt, unless you have extremes, like the Boss did with acidic pH of 5! You'll want at least over pH of 7. You should get an API test kit; you'll need it for testing and figuring out your water source. Your test should have; ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH (a VERY important one) and maybe phosphorus.

KH will measure the carbonates in your water; if not enough, you WILL have issues with pH crashes, which is bad for your fish. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all for later, as you're cycling or if you suspect your water params are off.

IMO, you don't need a bottom drain; others think different. A bottom drain usually entails a lot more 'gear' re filtration and some further cost re installation. If you don't plan on doing much manual debris removal, then a bottom drain CAN help but still not necessary. A lot will depend on how much fish load you have, how much gallonage, your feeding habits, how many plants.

Re cycling; you can do it a couple of ways; either with adding some fish (small amount) and letting them start it, or an ammonia start in which you actually add ammonia to your pond and then, let the bacteria build up and start your process. Cycles can take weeks to months, but imo, you should be good to go in 2-4 weeks, depending again on fish/feeding, plants, etc. You'll probably get green water initially, but that's a sign you've got the cycle started as the free floating algae is there because you've got ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Once established (the bacteria), they'll then reproduce and take up the bad elements and turn them into nitrates, which your plants will then absorb for you.

 

[Meg]

How long after starting it shall I add the feeder fish to start the cycle?

 

[brokensword]

How long after starting it shall I add the feeder fish to start the cycle?

you can feed them right away; just don't over do it.

 

[Meg]

you can feed them right away; just don't over do it.

Sorry not feeder fish I meant a small amount of maybe like gold fish to start the cycle?

 

[brokensword]

Sorry not feeder fish I meant a small amount of maybe like gold fish to start the cycle?

yes, you can get any type of fish, including the ones you want permanently; just don't put in a lot at first and don't overfeed. As algae grows on the sides of your pond, they'll graze on that and as they poop, they start the nitrogen cycle.

 

[Meg]

yes, you can get any type of fish, including the ones you want permanently; just don't put in a lot at first and don't overfeed. As algae grows on the sides of your pond, they'll graze on that and as they poop, they start the nitrogen cycle.

Awesome thank you so much. Shall I add them like 24hours after the water is in or the same day?

 

[brokensword]

Awesome thank you so much. Shall I add them like 24hours after the water is in or the same day?

were it mine, I'd add the water, add some plants, wait a couple days, do a couple water tests (to be sure your'e not an extreme ala pH) and then add. WHEN you do, do it VERY VERY slowly, like an hour or more. What I do is float the bag, opening it and adding a small amount of MY water to the bag. Then every 15 minutes/30 minutes, add more. You want to acclimate them by temperature, pH, general hardness, etc. Slowly allows them to adjust. Now, IF you're doing this with really cold temps, I'd hold off until the water is at least 50F. I've seen/heard of issues/loss of fish when lower temps are tried.

(and yeah, I know; others will say NEVER add the bag water to your pond; I like to live dangerously, I guess; never had an issue that way in decades of fish keeping).

So, make sure your water is okay THEN add the fish. Just a couple. Though, in a pond your size, you could easily add 6 fish under 10" no sweat.