just joined so hello all.

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i bought a house last fall with a fish pond of about 1000 gal. not sure of the size but it is oval 8X15 and has a waterfall about 50 feet away that looks like a 2 ft wide brook back to the pond. it was terribly neglected and i had not done a thing to it until this spring. (i live in NJ) and lost about a third of the fish (originally about 4 6inch and 100 3-4 inch goldfish).

just installed the pump, fished out leaves and used a algae bloom treatment twice. fish look much happier, water lilies are thriving, frogs awoke only to lay eggs and many polly wogs. frogs have left though.

i need to replace the skimmer basket but don't know who made the skimmer so would like help. also need to add bio filter and some other mechanical filter. water is getter cleaner by the day. electricity for pump could get pricey. it pulls 800 watts and i calculated it would cost $100/month. can i run it just 8 hours a day? another question i have. does the manmade brook work as a mechanical filter? it is quite long and has 4 drops (or mini waterfall) spots. i'm thinking this actually may work to filter out sediment.

hope this forum can help me out.

thanks,
 
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You need to run it 24/7 if you have no other biological filter. Is the GPH overkill maybe? You COULD maybe do an on and off cycle to keep the bacteria alive. Maybe others could chime in, but half an hour on and off might work.

Welcome.
 

sissy

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welcome bluescoot and when you buy a house with a pond there is a lot to learn about .Where in NJ
 

addy1

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Welcome to the group!
WelcomeGroupSmiley.gif


You could have the heavy duty pump run the stream on a timer. Get a smaller more efficient pump for you pond and filtration.

We have our stream pump on a timer, the filter pump is running 24/7 but a very low electric use.
 
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what a great idea. i just didn't think out of the box. the principal filtration is the same skimmer box that my pump is submerged in. do i have to instal another skimmer for the smaller pump? i'd rather not do anything above ground.

thanks so much for the great tip.
 

addy1

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You can take the current pump out of the skimmer, put on a block, or something on the bottom of the pond, you don't want it right on the bottom in case it decides to empty the pond, stream waterfall leak. I would also place it in a milk crate or something the water would flow through, put some filter type material around it just to keep any large items from getting into the pump.

disclaimer...........lol..............I do not use submersible pumps, but this is what i would do if I did. Those that use them may have better ideas.

Then put the new pump in the skimmer.
 

sissy

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I put mine in a milk crate with lava rock around it and I cut 1 milk crate around the middle and set the whole one on top of the cut one .You can get lava rock in lowes or homedepot in the garden center around 4 or 5 dollars a big bag .My pumps have always been in the pond even though they have an adapter for a hose inlet to pull water from the pump
 
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Hi Bluescoot. Welcome to the world of ponding addicts! Water that looks clean to you may not always be good for your fish. I recommend to get a test kit that can check ph, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites so you can know what is going on with your water on a regular basis. If you want your stream to filter out sediments see if there is a way to create a bog filter in it. There are a lot of pond plants that have thick roots that can filter your water if you can run the water through them. If you wash the roots be sure to use declorinated water so you don't kill the good bacteria!
 

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