My goldfish pond

[CometKeith]

I'm gonna agree with more plants. And yes, your gravel won't always look "pretty" but if you have enough plants you won't see it anyway.

It's interesting that the string algae is popping up in an established pond, but you did do a lot of stirring up with all your reconstruction and plant removal so it makes sense. I wouldn't blame the bog for the string algae developing - when I get it, mine always grows on my waterfall. Does it like moving water? Is that where the nutrients are gathering? Not sure. And your bog is so new that the bacteria hasn't really had a chance to colonize yet... I think it needs more time to mature.

Your bog also functions a bit differently in that it's more a mixing of bog and pond water than a waterfall or other outflow, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. I've seen the in-pond style of bog used successfully in swim or recreation ponds, so they definitely work.

Thanks Lisa. It so green on top now... I'm worried the green algae will make it's way into the pond itself!

 

[CometKeith]

Could you add more plants for now, whether in pots or in the bog itself, and see if it helps? I think koi produce a ton of waste and you also have gold fish.

I'm trying to be patient with our bog, not easy. When we had a lot of string algae I removed it my hand, cause I don't like to look at it. I'll try to take some unclose pictures of our bog, so you can see we too have algae

Thanks. I went looking for bog plants and couldn't find much over the weekend. I'm going to need to figure something out fast before my pond and yard becomes a giant patch of green muck!

 

[CometKeith]

I haven't taken any pics of my fish since I installed the bog. These are a few I took yesterday. The five Koi stand out the most. I think my Jumbo Tosai Shiro Utsuri is becoming the star! (black and white Koi). I also have a Sanke, 2 Showas, and a Doitsu Gin Matsuba and a whole lot of goldfish most of which were born in my pond. The water is so clear you can literally see everything on the bottom. The
carpenter that lost his phone last year in the pond when he was building our fence spotted his phone the other day when he was working on our porch. He went over and "fished" it out!

 

[addy1]

Do you think it would hurt if I used a little stronger pump for the bog?

My pump is 6800 gph, minus some head pressure almost all goes into the bog. It looks like a mini river.

 

[Tula]

Wowser, your fish look great ! Love, love, love the koi

 

[addy1]

beautiful fish @CometKeith

 

[CometKeith]

I’m still working in the bog. I netted out some algae and planted some of the plants
I had on the edges of the pond in the bog like weeping willow and obedience plant. Also the water lettuces are multiplying. I would like to try some other plants that like wet but not really bog plants so I bought another 240 lbs of pea gravel to raise up the gravel a little so instead of 7-8 inches of water it will be closer to 4-5 inches. I installed my new pump for the bog. I now have 4 pumps running including my filter pump and the bog pump. I hope my fish like splashing water! The old check valve to my pump fell off the other day and I decided it was finally done for. The plumber who helped me last year put it underwater but the screws for the rubber connection were all rusty and I don’t think it ever worked very well because my pump always started out slow if it was turned off for any period of time. I installed my aquascape check valve that I bought a month ago. Also I moved the inlet pipe so it wasn’t close to the outlet like the pro suggested. My first time cutting pvc. It was so easy with my hacksaw I was surprised. I knew the inlet shouldn’t be close to the outlet but never got around changing it before. It took a while to get everything working but the new pipe with the check valve seems to be letting a lot more water into my pump and the outlet from the filter is a lot stronger. Maybe that was the problem all along why I never thought my filter was working that great. Anyway it’s all working now. I might go on the big pond tour this weekend and am thinking when I should add the extra pea gravel. Somehow my wife thinks I’m spending too much time on the pond lately!

 

[addy1]

It is called tweaking! Most of my gravel is either water level or around 1 inch below water.

 

[CometKeith]

I decided to try to mix the pond water and bog water more to try to eliminate the algae in the bog. This seems to be working. I raised the water level so the water interchanges more and put the aerator closer to the edge of the bog to push more water in that direction. I also made another opening in the stones between the bog and pond so water could circulate more. The bog has done a great job of cleaning my pond water but if I would do anything over I would get a much stronger pump for the inlet supply going to the pvc on the bottom

I just bought a 2000/gph pump for it so I don’t really want to buy another one right now. All the fish are doing well and there are some interesting looking baby fish in the pond too now. The bog gives them good protection when they are very small and eventually some make it back to the pond when they get bigger. I’m hoping to put some tadpoles in the bog too and think it will give them good protection. I just need to find tads/frogs other than bullfrogs because I don’t like them very much. This is a pic I took today. The bog is on the left where all the water lettuces are.

 

[Tula]

Your water lettuce are really doing well ! We have a 2500 gph pump to our bog and our bog is tiny and pond is only 1700 gallons....so I agree you could use a bigger pump next year.

How is your bead filter doing, less maintenance since you put the bog in ?

 

[CometKeith]

Your water lettuce are really doing well ! We have a 2500 gph pump to our bog and our bog is tiny and pond is only 1700 gallons....so I agree you could use a bigger pump next year.

How is your bead filter doing, less maintenance since you put the bog in ?

Hi Tula. Yes all those wl from two sickly ones I had that the koi’s ate all their roots. The bead filter is way more efficient and has much better water flow now. It’s been a week since I last did a backwash and it is still doing gangbusters. That was one thing the pro told me was not to replace it and just move either my inlet or outlet so they were not close to each other. It saved me a few thousand dollars to replace it so it way more paid for his visit. It’s totally logical and I knew they shouldn’t be next to each. One thing I did that I think made the biggest difference is I installed a high quality check valve I bought from aquascape for $54. It is oversized and I had to make adjustments for my 1.5 inch pipe but I saw the biggest change with my filter when I removed the old check valve and installed that. The water flow increased right away and it has stayed consistent. Oh so I hate to admit it but Im looking at a Koi again to buy! I keep getting e mails so it’s hard not to look! I have 5 Koi now... I should stay with that right? The two I bought this year are both doing great and getting big.

 

[Tula]

Your koi are really beautiful ! Mine are "pond mutts" but I love them. I did buy my chagoi from a breeder, but she's a deep redish color, .....so she's not as easily seen as the other three.

I'm glad your filter is easier to maintain now....makes life easier and more time to just enjoy the pond What type of koi are you looking at?

 

[CometKeith]

Your koi are really beautiful ! Mine are "pond mutts" but I love them. I did buy my chagoi from a breeder, but she's a deep redish color, .....so she's not as easily seen as the other three.

I'm glad your filter is easier to maintain now....makes life easier and more time to just enjoy the pond What type of koi are you looking at?

Haha. The problem is I am home constantly because of Covid other than my work so I really need another pond project.... I’m actually thinking of digging out my shelves in front to make my pond deeper. Does that sound crazy? My wife will probably get really upset if I do that because she already thinks the pond is the only thing I care about! So I really love Showa. I would love to get a high quality one that has a nice mix of red and black with a white background but that might be expensive. Also I only buy Tosai because of the price so that would be hard to get. If a breeder saw a good potential they wouldn’t sell a fish like that for $100 or $200 dollars. I also like a variety of Showa with red and black dots against a white background. If Im not too picky about the overall balance of the color of the suma that would be easier to find and I have found several I liked recently. I really love the jumbo Tosai Shiro Utsuri I bought. It seems to be growing every day. I would love to find another a Jumbo Tosai. The jumbos are from the best bloodlines and are easily 50% bigger than the same age Koi that are not jumbo. The ones I looked at recently went up a lot in price since spring because they have grown since they went unsold. There are a few jumbo Tosai Kohaku available at the dealer I use but they are pretty expensive. I might need to wait until spring to find another one I can afford. Lastly I would love to get another metalic variety. I think the Shusui are really striking in color. I already have a silver metallic fish so I would want some thing different than that. Is your Chagoi really friendly? I would love to have a friendly Koi to teach the other one’s better manners!

 

[Tula]

Cha Cha the Chagoi, is a feminist.....fairly independent ! LOL She loves to eat so will always come to me and will hand feed. The other three are often together and Cha Cha is doing her own thing !

I don't know if you use Face Book, but there is a good group for North American Koi Keepers and I noticed a thread on jumbo tosai yesterday.

I'm currently gathering information on how to safely remove my koi from the pond this year when I lower the pond to catch the babies. Last year I had to really lower it and besides being stressful on my adults, I'm sure the water quality was bad.

 

[CometKeith]

So I just ordered two more Koi. (I'm soooo addicted) These are for my birthday which is this month. Both 7-9 inches. One is a really pretty Showa with a lot of black and red and some white mixed in and the other is a Ki Utsuri. It's not the most popular Koi and not as valued as the Shiro Utsuri and Hi Utsuri. It's black and yellow. I always wanted a yellow fish in my pond since I had a yellow Hariwake that unfortunately didn't make it through one of the winters a few years back.. I'm getting them next week!