I found a pond, I need advice

[adavisus]

Hornwort, pond iris, hardy waterlily would be a safe bet to start off with. Over time you can get picky about trying more exotic stuff

 

[brokensword]

What adav said. The idea with plants is that you naturalize and it makes keeping a pond a lot easier, imo. I have goldfish in my pond as it's not really that large (2700 gallons) for koi, though, I've lately been wondering if I could sneak one in! The hobby gets to you that way, so be warned. If you start off small, the pond population should balance itself out as any additional eggs/babies get eaten before they can be a problem. At least, that's my experience. You can't feed them all the time though as if your fish are 'full', they're less likely to go hunting for anything else, you know? I typically don't feed at all during the spawning period.

Hornwort can be invasive, so be aware. You MAY have to do some harvesting if you find it taking over. I didn't add any to my pond until two years ago (had a pond for going on 7 years now) and I'm still trying to get it to proliferate. The fish will eat it, as will turtles (I have 3 smaller ones now), and I think that's my struggle. There's a lot of nice plantings out there, just do some research on what will grow in your planting zone and be careful with anything that might take over. Unless you're the type that can keep up with maintenance.

Ponds are a bit different than aquariums, but it's a nice background to have. A pond is still an enclosed system (like an aquarium) but you have more fluctuations re temp, water addition/pollution, and gf+koi are a LOT hardier than tropical fish. In general, some water movement (surface turbitity), mech+bio filtration is some form, and plants will keep you just fine. All the mentioned can be tailored to your final pond vision. Some aren't even needed but I think they're the basics.

btw, you mention a skimmer in your OP but you don't need one to have a pond. It can help but it's not necessary.

Just start a thread if you have questions you can't find answers to by just reading here. Lots of nice folks will help.

Michael

 

[addy1]

I was thinking of common goldfish.

Get shubunkins, great colors, poor mans Koi and so easy to take care of, non fussy.

Hornwort can be invasive, so be aware. You MAY have to do some harvesting if you find it taking over. I didn't add any to my pond until two years ago (had a pond for going on 7 years now) and I'm still trying to get it to proliferate.

Mine is growing great, deep end of the pond, this year it did not die back over winter, have a forest of it growing. May need to purge some, but the fish love the forest.

 

[sissy]

You don't want something that breeds like bunnies .I know people like iris but the root ball as the grow can be bad for a liner or cement .I know I have removed a few from abandoned ponds

 

[CSMcMullen1]

 

[brokensword]

Hard to tell from the vid but how deep is your pond? If you get any kind of winter (ice), you're going to need at least 24", imo. If you want any gravity feed of bog into pond, either put the bog on the high side of your pond or think about raising it. Easy to do if you're going to dig and use a liner as you can use the diggings to berm up around the bog area and create the height.

Document as you go––you'll be glad later on after all your hard work.

 

[CSMcMullen1]

Hard to tell from the vid but how deep is your pond? If you get any kind of winter (ice), you're going to need at least 24", imo. If you want any gravity feed of bog into pond, either put the bog on the high side of your pond or think about raising it. Easy to do if you're going to dig and use a liner as you can use the diggings to berm up around the bog area and create the height.

Document as you go––you'll be glad later on after all your hard work.

I haven't measured the depth yet. But it goes almost to my knee I am 6'2". I was thinking of putting the bog in a shallow tank but may dig one . I have to get the under brush cleard out to see more of how the land goes.

 

[brokensword]

I checked and seems you won't get a lot of freezing weather so the depth info may be moot. As addy's mentioned, make your bog as large as you can as it'll only benefit you. For myself, my pond being enclosed, I didn't have a lot of room left after I dug the pond and put in a patio. I wish I had a larger one and have thought more than once how to link an inside bog with an outside one, just to give me more filtering. Since my waterfall is hollow, I added some lava rock there so I DO have more bio filtering, so maybe I can give a larger bog idea a rest.


Anyway, good luck and post pics or your progress; we like to watch/admire others during their labor/fun!

 

[Lisak1]

so the depth info may be moot

Depth can be important in the heat, too - deeper water will stay cooler for fish.

Don't be too hard on teenagers @sissy - my kids were always out fishing and building forts and catching frogs around our natural ponds when they weren't playing baseball or soccer or hockey or basketball. Kids haven't changed - it's parents who are the ones who should take the heat. And if it weren't for my kids I wouldn't have a pond - our youngest son designed and was the project manager on both my pondless waterfall and the pond at 18 and 19 years of age and his friends were all happy to come and shovel and haul rocks with him. Lots of good kids out there!

 

[CSMcMullen1]

Another thing that may help with freezing is my water going in. The water is from a sump that pumps every 30 min to an hour. I have a waterfall area that will get bio media but not a lot.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Any updates on your pond @CSMcMullen1 ?? I'm interested in seeing how it's been working out for you in the last few weeks.

 

[CSMcMullen1]

Any updates on your pond @CSMcMullen1 ?? I'm interested in seeing how it's been working out for you in the last few weeks.

Well I have all the under brush gone. I have 3 larger goldfish I am waiting to put in. I want to put Lilly pads in but I can't find any just yet. Had water tested and my source water is a bit acidic. The power outlet that's down there does not work and I will need to run new . Running new is not fully in my budget right now. I think with a few potted plants and just my 3 fish it should go ok. I have a leperd frog living in it . Starting to get hair algea.

 

[addy1]

Had water tested and my source water is a bit acidic.

My source water is a ph of 5.3 and very soft, be careful with putting fish in. I didn't know that, let the new pond sit for months, added some fish, they all died, poor things.
I had to add crushed oyster shells to help make my water harder and stabilize the ph. It was a year before I added fish again. Now my ph sits just around 7.6.

 

[CSMcMullen1]

My source water is a ph of 5.3 and very soft, be careful with putting fish in. I didn't know that, let the new pond sit for months, added some fish, they all died, poor things.
I had to add crushed oyster shells to help make my water harder and stabilize the ph. It was a year before I added fish again. Now my ph sits just around 7.6.

It shows that it's around 6.3 ish. I have the 3 goldfish I was given in a 20 gallon. I use the pond water to do water changes. They have been in there for about 2 weeks now. I want it to be warmer before they go into the pond.

 

[addy1]

It shows that it's around 6.3 ish

per the net

Most experts list the survival range of goldfish as 6.0 to 8.0