Does seeding with another pond work?

[Malak]

I'm posting this here since it qualifies as a noobie question. lol

I thought of the fact that an established clear water pond obviously has all the necessary bacteria going(as well as other things) and was wondering if anyone had experimented with taking a gallon from one of these ponds for a new pond to speed things up in the new pond. It would be hard to scientifically determine if it worked without two identical new ponds, but maybe an aquafarm had experimented with this...

I know all about the seeding formulas/powders you can buy and I'm using those already but though maybe they might be missing some of the bacteria strains. Seems like people like Microbe Lift more than most of the others.

 

[fishin4cars]

Seeding ponds has been going on for a long time, It's really simple, A gallon of water won't help much but some used scrubbie pads, foam blocks,bio-balls, etc., that have been in a seeded pond work very well, Once all chlorine has been removed from a newly fill pond just add the new bacteria colony and give it it some food, bacteria booster ofra few small test fish and your off and running.

 

[Malak]

Yeah, I've heard of using biomedia, but the only thing I have is indoor fish tanks or my tiny frog pond which has no filtering or aeration. But it is 4-5 years old with crystal clear water. Not sure if it would be wise to use that because of parasites though.

 

[fishin4cars]

I don't know if I would use the frog pond water, But If you do water changes in the aquarium and do any gravel cleaning that is a great seeding for a pond, same good bacteria, It will be slighty dirty water so try and add where it goes into the filter as much as possible but it will work fine for you.

 

[shakaho]

The problem is that most of the organisms that keep the water crystal clear live on surfaces. That's why you can get sparkling clear water by pumping it through a biofilter with vast surface area. If you look at the surface of that media under a microscope you will see that it's a jungle in there, even if your microscope isn't good enough to see bacteria (which are boring to look at anyway). There are gazillions of protozoa and tiny animals living there that are basically filter feeders. All of them are continually slurping up bacteria, algae, smaller protozoa and animals, and tiny bits of detritus. All those good bacteria would overpopulate, die and turn the pond into a stinky mess if something wasn't eating them.

What you could do is put a bag of biomedia into the frog pond and leave it there for a week. Then gently rinse off any dirt and crud and put it in your filter. Unless you have a way of keeping frogs out of your pond (and if you do I want to know what it is, LOL) you aren't going to bring in any parasites the frogs aren't bringing.

I've had my microbiology students put trays of microscope slides in a pond, then bring them in and look at the biofilm that gets established. You pretty much have all the variety you are going to get in a week.

 

[Malak]

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I built my biofilters before starting my new pond this year, and ran one of the biofilters on the old pond for nearly a month before tearing it down. When I moved the biofilter over to the new pond, I never had any issues with cloudy water (except from the dirt I knocked into the pond while doing landscaping). I've been watching for signs that the new pond is cycling, but since the filters were pre-seeded, I think the bacteria are actually way ahead of the fish load.

As said above, its all in the surface area - taking the water from another pond will not get you anything that is helpful to the water cycle.

 

[Malak]

Well, my point was that you may be able to seed a specific type or strain of bacteria that is not necessary in the start up solutions. Or perhaps, even protozoans etc. that may be part of the big picture.

 

[shakaho]

What Shdwdrgn is doing is transferring all of the microbes and small critters that were cleaning his old pond and transferring them to the new one. I would guess that not a single kind of microbe in his filter would be found in a commercial "start-up solution."

 

[Malak]

yes, probably!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Plus all the bacteria/etc from my old pond have been built up over the years and are suitable to my local area and specific type of fish and water conditions. You certainly can't get that in an off-the-shelf bottle!

 

[Malak]

Ah, Shdwdrgn, your wisdom surpasses that of the ants.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Hooray, now I can be supreme ruler of the ants!

 

[mgeez]

I built my biofilters before starting my new pond this year, and ran one of the biofilters on the old pond for nearly a month before tearing it down. When I moved the biofilter over to the new pond, I never had any issues with cloudy water (except from the dirt I knocked into the pond while doing landscaping). I've been watching for signs that the new pond is cycling, but since the filters were pre-seeded, I think the bacteria are actually way ahead of the fish load.

As said above, its all in the surface area - taking the water from another pond will not get you anything that is helpful to the water cycle.

What is meant by "I've been watching for signs that the new pond is cycling"?

mgeez

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Well, when I did my first pond, and generally when you set up a new aquarium, the water might be somewhat clear, or it might be obviously cloudy at first. As the fish waste, beneficial bacteria, and other factors all try to reach a balance in the water, you might see spikes of nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia in a water test, plus the overall clarity of the water can vary. However one day you wake up and the water is just absolutely crystal-clear... this is usually a good sign that an equilibrium has been reached between all factors.

In most cases, when you start a new pond you would not have any of the beneficial bacteria present to handle the fish waste, so in the worst-case situation you could actually get enough ammonia built up to kill your fish. Until that bacteria builds up, your biological filter is really nothing more than a giant strainer for the water. Any way you can jump-start the production of the beneficial bacteria, whether through pre-seeding from another pond or pouring in a bottle of stuff from the store, you will reduce the chance of ammonia build-up.

Another situation is algae build-up. A good biological filter will actually help keep algae from going crazy in your pond. Some Winters here, it gets cold enough that my bacteria do not survive, so when Spring hits and the temperatures start getting into the 70's, I will see an algae bloom - suddenly the water is green because there is so much algae growing. These years I will grab a bottle of bacteria from the store to give the filter a boost, and after about 3-4 days the water will suddenly be clear again.