New Pond owner with Lots of Questions

[Jacob]

Good morning guys!

The family and I just moved into our first home. The home came with a koi/goldfish pond. The original plan was to get rid of the pond, but the wife and kids decided they liked the fishes. I spent yesterday cleaning the pond out, spring cleaning according to the internet. Re-filled the pond. Treated with Microbe-lift, chlorine and heavy metal neutralizer, pond salt, and beneficial bacteria. Fish seem to have taken the whole day yesterday well, none of them are dead at least.

I'm writing for advice/help. I've attached some pictures of what the pond looks like and what I believe to be the waterfall filter system.

Equipment we inherited: Airmax Pond 4, Tetrapond DHP4200, Pond Vacuum II, Smartpond floating pump and filter with UV.

We've purchased everything we believe we need to keep the pond going, but I'm concerned about the layout of the pond. I'll do pond test and post the results tonight or tomorrow. I wanted to give everything time to calm down after the cleaning.

My main concern is that our waterfall feature feeds the water from the top of the box. Everything I've seen shows the water coming in from the bottom and filtering up. I'm not sure this is a problem, it just doesn't match with everything I have been reading online.

Any help or direction would be appreciated. If we need to redo the pond, I'd rather know sooner, instead of sinking a bunch of money into trying to fix it, and still replacing it later.

Cheers!

-jake

 

[MitchM]

Welcome Jacob!
You have made a lot of changes but you also may have triggered a new nitrogen cycle in your pond so I think the main thing is to focus on keeping the water quality safe for your fish.
How extensively did you clean your pond?
The sooner you can post the water test results, the better.
What is the present fish population?

.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Concerning your waterfall filter--What is beneath the lift-out tray?

 

[Jacob]

Concerning your waterfall filter--What is beneath the lift-out tray?

Another lift out tray similar to the one on top. About 4 inches below the second tray to the bottom of the box.

 

[Jacob]

Welcome Jacob!
You have made a lot of changes but you also may have triggered a new nitrogen cycle in your pond so I think the main thing is to focus on keeping the water quality safe for your fish.
How extensively did you clean your pond?
The sooner you can post the water test results, the better.
What is the present fish population?

.

I drained most of the water. Mucked out about a foot of dead leaves, acorns, and branches. Trimmed the lily pads. General rinse down of the liner. No pressure washer, just garden hose.

 

[MitchM]

1 foot is a lot of muck.
What are the pond dimensions?
(..also, the present fish population...)

 

[Jacob]

1 foot is a lot of muck.
What are the pond dimensions?
(..also, the present fish population...)

Rough dimensions are 21' x 12'. Maybe 2'-3' deep at the deepest part.

Present fish population is probably 30-40. Most are 3'' or less. Maybe 10 total are larger than that. Plus a double handful of some epic bullfrogs and leopard frogs. Loads of tadpoles.

 

[Jacob]

So I went ahead a did a chemical test of the water. Results are as follows:

pH level: 7.5-8.0
Ammonia: 0.25-0.50ppm
Nitrite: 0.0ppm
Phosphate: 0.25ppm

Done with the API Pond Master Test Kit.

 

[MitchM]

Ok, so we need to get that ammonia level down as a first priority.
Do you have an ammonia binder available?
Pond Prime, or an equivalent?

 

[MitchM]

Also, have you measured the KH value?

 

[Jacob]

Ok, so we need to get that ammonia level down as a first priority.
Do you have an ammonia binder available?
Pond Prime, or an equivalent?

Nothing on hand that indicates ammonia removal. I'll call the local pet place, or Amazon if that doesn't work out. Any other names besides Pond Prime?

 

[Jacob]

Also, have you measured the KH value?

Nothing in my test kit references a kH value.

 

[MitchM]

There are a number of ammonia binders, Prime, Amquel, Amquel Plus, Ammo Lock, Chloram-X.
If you have a local pond place, they will have something that will treat a pond for ammonia.
You want to keep the ammonia below 0.25 so the ammonia does not burn the gills of the fish. Ammonia burn is not reversible.

The KH value will help determine how stable your PH level is. You want a stable PH value more than a specific PH value.
Your pond place should have a separate KH test kit.

.

 

[Jacob]

There are a number of ammonia binders, Prime, Amquel, Amquel Plus, Ammo Lock, Chloram-X.

The KH value will help determine how stable your PH level is. You want a stable PH value more than a specific PH value.
Your pond place should have a separate KH test kit.

.

I'm heading over to petsmart. They have ammonia binder. I'll check for the KH test kit as well.

I've been searching the last few days for a semi-local pond place. No luck so far.

 

[MitchM]

I don't have any pond places around me either.
Ponds will look after themselves for the most part as long as we don't try to mess around with them too much.

Regarding ammonia levels, it's a balance between what's good for your fish and what's good for your bacteria levels.