Hi from North Carolina

[Gabe]

Weird, when I use this calculator it says 4500 or so.

http://www.gardenponds.com/Oval-Pond-Calculator.html

Oval 8 feet long, I used a average of 5 feet wide, deepest 24 inches, average depth 20 inches. and it gives me this.

View attachment 99840

On the four different numbers are the fields taking into account that the first two fields are feet and second two fields are inches?

 

[Gabe]

Hmm ok, I got 370 with the pond calculator.
Even at 240, your filter is not going to be large enough for fish. And the recommended turnover for water with fish is 2x an hour. You might want to google skippy filters if you want to DIY a filter and possibly consider investing in a larger pump.
Of course, if you don't add fish you can leave it as is.

I wondered about that. I thought about adding a pond filter with a UV filter. Would that be sufficient?

 

[sissy]

welcome and if your pond is that small it is not good for koi .I think is is somewhere in the 250 gallon size .It is very shallow .My koi are over 2 feet long .Looking at the pic it only looks slightly bigger than a preformed

 

[Gabe]

welcome and if your pond is that small it is not good for koi .I think is is somewhere in the 250 gallon size .It is very shallow .My koi are over 2 feet long .Looking at the pic it only looks slightly bigger than a preformed

I'm gathering as much. I am just going to do goldfish but not for a while.

 

[tbendl]

I think, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong, you will want a filter that will grow with the amount of fish you think you will want. When I bought my filter and pump, I bought the pump to be able to move the entire volume of water in my pond more than 2x an hour. I bought a filter that would work for my max pond size and max fish load.
Also how often you want to clean the filter and what your budget is are all decisions to make about what your particular set up is.
As far as a UV, I don't have 1 so I can't comment.
I have an Oase Biosmart filter and a laguna pump which I am super happy with but you will find many other set ups on the forum.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[sissy]

fat fantails are great .They are slow and seem to not breed much .I have 2 for over 10 years and not one baby from them .

 

[Gabe]

I think, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong, you will want a filter that will grow with the amount of fish you think you will want. When I bought my filter and pump, I bought the pump to be able to move the entire volume of water in my pond more than 2x an hour. I bought a filter that would work for my max pond size and max fish load.
Also how often you want to clean the filter and what your budget is are all decisions to make about what your particular set up is.
As far as a UV, I don't have 1 so I can't comment.
I have an Oase Biosmart filter and a laguna pump which I am super happy with but you will find many other set ups on the forum.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

You and addy1 have been a great help, thank you!

 

[Gabe]

fat fantails are great .They are slow and seem to not breed much .I have 2 for over 10 years and not one baby from them .

Funny you say that. My mother lives with us and she really wanted to put one of those in there and I said no because I never heard of anyone putting those in a pond before. So, will any goldfish in general do well in a pond? except koi in my little pond of course.

 

[tbendl]

We love to help and will be glad to answer any questions. I'm sure the rest of the forum "gang" will chime in soon enough. But regardless welcome and we are glad to have yu, you're pond is lovely.

 

[tbendl]

Funny you say that. My mother lives with us and she really wanted to put one of those in there and I said no because I never heard of anyone putting those in a pond before. So, will any goldfish in general do well in a pond? except koi in my little pond of course.

I've got shubunkins and fantails and I love them.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210795193774357

 

[Gabe]

We love to help and will be glad to answer any questions. I'm sure the rest of the forum "gang" will chime in soon enough. But regardless welcome and we are glad to have yu, you're pond is lovely.

thank you. Yours is gorgeous! I should have looked for this forum at the very beginning. I also should have went with my instinct about sticking with goldfish and not koi! But they were so pretty. Lesson definitely learned!

 

[Nepen]

Hi fellow North Carolinian! Where are you? I'm in the triangle! If you are close I can give you a few shubunkin goldfish from my pond I just found (which some how escaped the heron and survived me empty the pond and refilled!)


From your post I think the cause of fish death was not the soap but the sudden ammonia build up. The algae had been keeping the water clean for them but when you empty and scrubbed away the good bacteria that live on every part of the pond, including the liner, you removed everything that help keeping the water clean.

The pond nitrogen cycle takes a long time and it can be frustrating dealing with green water and all for a long time but it is goof for the fish and health of the pond. When I started my pond again it took about 2-3 months to have clear water again. You can do partial water change but dont scrub the liner. The good bacteria also live in your filter (and every part that's under water) but since the pond is new I dont think it's enough to handle 8 koi at the moment.

The amount of fish you can add to your pond is depend on how much your pond can handle which mean how much filter you have. start small and add one or two at a time for the pond to build up the bacteria. Algae is your friend, don't be afraid of them! I scoop them out when they start to divert my water out of my pond, but generally i left them be. They will go away when your other plants grow to take the nutrient away from them or you eliminate/reduce the nutrient source or when you have enough good bacteria to the amount of waste created.

 

[tbendl]

thank you. Yours is gorgeous! I should have looked for this forum at the very beginning. I also should have went with my instinct about sticking with goldfish and not koi! But they were so pretty. Lesson definitely learned!

I got super lucky finding this forum first. And Shubunkins are pretty but they do have babies.
Don't feel bad, I built my pond and was adamant that I was not going to have any fish......
Less than a year later... I had fish. Lol
The fun thing about a pond is it can grow and change and you can always dig a bigger hole!

 

[Gabe]

Hi fellow North Carolinian! Where are you? I'm in the triangle! If you are close I can give you a few shubunkin goldfish from my pond I just found (which some how escaped the heron and survived me empty the pond and refilled!)


From your post I think the cause of fish death was not the soap but the sudden ammonia build up. The algae had been keeping the water clean for them but when you empty and scrubbed away the good bacteria that live on every part of the pond, including the liner, you removed everything that help keeping the water clean.

The pond nitrogen cycle takes a long time and it can be frustrating dealing with green water and all for a long time but it is goof for the fish and health of the pond. When I started my pond again it took about 2-3 months to have clear water again. You can do partial water change but dont scrub the liner. The good bacteria also live in your filter (and every part that's under water) but since the pond is new I dont think it's enough to handle 8 koi at the moment.

The amount of fish you can add to your pond is depend on how much your pond can handle which mean how much filter you have. start small and add one or two at a time for the pond to build up the bacteria. Algae is your friend, don't be afraid of them! I scoop them out when they start to divert my water out of my pond, but generally i left them be. They will go away when your other plants grow to take the nutrient away from them or you eliminate/reduce the nutrient source or when you have enough good bacteria to the amount of waste created.

Thanks for that, very helpful. I haven't lived here long so not sure where the triangle is, Durham county maybe? I am in Statesville, off of 77. I would love to take some fish off your hands, I haven't seen those shubunkins at the local stores. I am going to wait though till the pond is more stable and I have more knowledge under my belt. I think the biggest mistake I made was going to fast.

 

[Gabe]

I got super lucky finding this forum first. And Shubunkins are pretty but they do have babies.
Don't feel bad, I built my pond and was adamant that I was not going to have any fish......
Less than a year later... I had fish. Lol
The fun thing about a pond is it can grow and change and you can always dig a bigger hole!

I was thinking about doing that next year, making it bigger. I read that you have to completely clean out the pond every year and basically start over every year. Is that true?