My goldfish pond

[callingcolleen1]

I have never used amolock, but it should help and can't hurt. I only decor the water now, but my situation is different. I had used lots of Beneficial Bacteria (BB) many years ago when I was still trying to balance the pond. I now believe their is lots of BB in my pond. I have read that once the BB is well established in the pond, it converts the nitrites to nitrates, and then the plants can consume the "ammonia nitrates". I also believe lots of the BB live in the roots of my very large hardy sedges, that I never remove from the pond.

I would run a pump with a good pre-filter that won't clog up, all year. The hose from the pump could be brought to the surface and directed over the surface, or have the pump on a shelf, circulating the the water near the top. Use a smaller pump, but not too small, about 300 to 500 gallon per hour, maybe more, but not less or hose may freeze if flow below 150 gph here anyway. If you don't get much ice, or temperatures below minus 20c, or about minus 10f, not to worry to much then about hoses freezing.(when they run non stop they don't freeze)

I would run pump all year, been running pumps for 20 years now, none ever died in winter, use large assortment of different types of pumps. My pumps have died in past, when I unplugged them to clean filter, and then they would not start again, that is usually how they die off.... I don't clean filters now till March.

 

[sissy]

I had a pump that stopped after I unplugged it and it was just an air bubble got stuck inside it and it took unplugging it and wiggling it around and plugging it back in and it was fine and still is going 3 years later .

 

[addy1]

Keith,
I have gutter water running into the pond. If we get a good rain, some of the water gets changed, if not we use well water to just keep the pond full. Last summer, (not a huge load of fish) very dry summer, just fluffed with the well. I tested constantly the water was always perfect. This year way more fish, around 200 or more, first part of the summer very dry, water still stayed fine, no water changes just adds. End of summer a bunch of rain, ph stayed fine in the pond, lots of water changing though.

When Sandy hit and we got 6 inches of rain in 24 hours, the ph did drop a little so I added some baking soda as a quick fix, now it is sitting around 7.7 or so.

Last time I tested our well it was 4.6 used to sit at 5.6 until sandy.

Long and short version of the above, no I do not change out the water on any sort of schedule, just if it rains.
I have the gutter feed coming in one end of the pond, it washes through the entire pond, running out the other end.

 

[CometKeith]

okay, great ideas all. It's amazing that the conditions for everyone's ponds is different and there is no single answer for everyone. It is dependent on size, type of filters and pumps, number and kind of fish, weather, and a host of other factors that makes every pond unique. That's why I think new ponders have such trouble digesting all the info out there and have a hard time deciding exactly what to do. It reminds me of when I first started learning to play golf. Everyone I played with told me to do something different and it just made things worse until I finally sat down with a pro and just listened to him. I have been doing this for about 4 years and thought I knew pretty much everything that applied to my small pond but keep getting into trouble with it in the spring so I'll need to take a new approach. Colleen, I'll try running my pump all winter. It gets colder by you so maybe if it works for you it will be okay here. The only thing I worry about is going on vacation the first week of January and I'm not sure if I should leave something like that unsupervised. I am definitely going to buy some sedges. i got some for free this year (thank you to you know who) but they didn't make it. Sissy i'll try not to unplug it so I don't encounter the same problem but it will be tempting to unplug it while I am out of town so I don't have to worry about it. I am already imagining all my fish in their own little ice cubes just sitting at the bottom of the pond! Addy maybe I overchanged the water and will follow your advice just to add water as needed.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Not good to leave pond unattended, cancel vacation stay home! Just kidding, should be fine with a small heater if you get lots of very cold weather, get the neighbor to keep an eye or something. I just hate leaving my ponds, winter or summer, like I get "panic pond withdrawal" symptoms after a day, so I never leave for too long, then I don't panic! Everything here works fine, but I just hate leaving home.... maybe I need "Pond withdrawal" therapy!

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I don't do ANY water changes either. Maybe the bog helps with all of this, too. I leave all my pumps and waterfall/stream running until ice forms and causes problems with the water possibly going over the edge, since I don't have tall edges on either (one of my projects for the spring, to raise the edge of waterfall and stream). When I shut down the Skippy, I turned on the skimmer pump, which is a 1600 gph, and put it on a bucket about 2' down and shot the water straight up to the surface, to keep the ice open. If ice formed, I used a floating heater to open a hole, then used the pump and water force to open and ice further. I sure didn't want to keep the heater running 24/7, as it pulls much more wattage than the water pumps.
This spring when we got 80's in March, I had turned on the pumps prior to that, and my water got murky. Not green, murky brown. I hated that, but I truly believe it did this until the plants started growing well enough to help filter the water, and I had to wait for the BB to build back up in the Skippy filter. Next spring, I'm going to boost the BB with Pond Perfect. I had run out of that and had to order it this spring, kept forgetting. Once I put a couple of heavy doses of that in the filter, the pond cleared up within 2 weeks. I take back my first comment, as I also did about a 5% water change, hoping to help clear the water. Also, I had netted the bottom before I turned on the filtration, too. Always wondered if that may have hurt more than help, as others have mentioned that beneficial bacteria grows in the muck on the bottom. I have not had much muck, mainly a matt of algae that comes out in huge flat pieces. So, next spring I'm going to leave that until the pond clears. And, I have not yet lost any fish in the spring, but this was my first "spring after winter" for me, so I'm not a good judge on this matter.
Keith, please go ahead and PM me, so I have that to remind me come spring. Then I'll contact everyone that asked for lilies, what colors you would like, as I'm sure I will have dozens of them to give away!

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Colleen. I tried a small de-icer one year and it must have been faulty or something because our heating bill went up $200 a month! I don't think I'll go down that road again. My wife suggested we could just buy new fish every year instead of paying that kind of money to maintain the ones we have! I'll probably leave the air pump on and turn the water pump off when I go away. I would be too worried that a water line would break and drain the water out while I'm gone. CE, my water starts out brownish in the spring and then clears up too. I couldn't decide if it is pollen from trees or maybe an algae that clears up. Even the rocks in the waterfall turn brown for a week or so. I'm sure I am doing something wrong in the spring. Maybe adding the Pond Perfect would help get the bb going? Usually my pond is not cycled until the 2nd or 3rd week of May. I try netting the bottom and may be that stirs up the bad stuff? I need to figure out what I am doing wrong. It does seem that when I do the water changes it does help. Maybe I'll do more water tests and try to really follow the water chemistry. All the fish are in perfect health the rest of the year. This year I am going to add a second bio-filter because I have at least 20 babies added to what I had last year. Here are a few pics from the other day before the air temp dropped over 30 degrees. You can see all the babies are doing good. There are still about 8 black ones that haven't changed color yet.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Those "small heaters" can draw lots of volts, like 1500 volts! Yes bill could be expensive if you pay lots for hydro there, and I think you do pay more than us here in Medicine Hat. I only use the heater when required, and don't plug in unless it is minus 10c or more.

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I only use the floating heater to open a hole on the ice, then have the submersible pump under there that I can simply plug in and shoot the water toward the hole, and it opens up the ice further. If you have a small pump you can attach to a milk crate or something similar, just put it at the bottom of the pond or on a shelf if it is a really small pump. Just need to have water moving to keep that hole open. Last winter, I let the ice form several times, when it remained for a week, I used the heater to melt a hole, and the pump to keep it open for several days. Some say that a pump on the bottom stirs up the colder water, that it's better to have pump circulating water from a shelf. Last year I was using my 4200 gph pump, so it was on a milk crate on the bottom. This year, however, I can use the skimmer pumps which are 1600 gph or an extra a friend game me, so may set them on the shelves. My point is that if you have the pump running IN the pond, shooting water to the surface, you don't have to worry about emptying your pond!

 

[CometKeith]

That's a good idea CE. Is there a way you tie the hose down in the pond to shoot the water? I was thinking I needed to keep my waterfall running but your idea is better.

 

[addy1]

Keith
I just use an aerator. It moves the water up 2-3 inches right above the diffuser. Hopefully good enough if we have a real cold winter.

 

[CountryEscape]

I bought that air pump, big one, too, the AP 100, and have not yet used it! Keith, I have submersible pumps, do you, too? If so, I don't use any hose on the end. I just attach the pump with zip ties to a milk crate so it is angling upward and drop the crate to the bottom of the pond. I may be putting it on the shelf this year, though, since I can use my smaller pumps. It was quite a "geyser" last year, with the 4200 gph, but from the bottom, it only shot maybe 6" above the water surface. And, I didn't run it all the time, just when I needed to melt the ice.
Another pointer is that if you use a floating heater, and place it on top of the ice, hold onto it! I thought it was melted enough to stay in place, but it turned and almost burned through the electric wire! Once it is in the water, it's no worry, though. But, then when you use the pump, one time the water was literally pumping on top of the ice, and I worried for a time if it would start going over the edge of the pond. Let your pond be a little low in the winter, just in case this happens. Mine was about 4" below overflow line, so the ice melted before that happened. It was kinda neat, though, seeing the water gather on top! Not neat if you were draining your pond, though. So, do it when you are paying attention, until the ice is melted that is.

 

[sissy]

I do similar ce shoot water from my pump but do it all year round to help aerate the pond .I started doing this after last winter and have had it going all summer and so far it works great .

 

[addy1]

My pump is external, so sticking with the air pump.

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree with you, Addy, I think air is the best way to circulate and oxygenate the ponds. I just keep forgetting to the make myself a list of parts needed to get it up and running. I think the air pump would take less electricity, and I could have both ponds running from the same air pump. How many things do you run from your AP 100 in the winter, Addy? I think you have the pond and maybe a lotus tank or two? And, I think I have asked this before, but assume you have some type of a valve that you can direct more or less air to the separate lines? Do you by any chance have a picture of the setup close that I can see what I will need? Or, do you think a couple of 1600 gph pumps would be about the same electricity? I know the air pump could freeze up, and I don't want to have to worry about that. I'm thinking they recommend it to be off the ground, and under a tote of some sort, maybe with some holes to allow air to be pulled in, so it doesn't overheat, although that probably would not be a problem in the winter, just need the air flow. At this point, I have 2 large air stones, but wondering if that is the best way, or maybe the more direct flow of air pushing towards the surface? Your thoughts?
This weekend is supposed to be mid 50's and 60's on Sat. and Sun., so will be a great weekend to get the parts and put it all together and see how it works. Then I can have everything ready when I shut off the waterfall and stream and get pumps ready for winter. I'll still put the 1600 gph pumps on milk crates on the bottom of the pond, ready to plug in when/if needed, though. Not sure if I will pull my two 4200 gph pumps from the bottom of the ponds, or just leave them there until needed. They would be shut off probably no more than 2 months total. Would that hurt them to be sitting on their crates, or best to pull them if not running?