I pretty much agree with what everyone else here has posted and they have done well at reducing the stress since this should not be stressful at all.
Do not over complicate the situation. Simply due to the fact of the "newness" of terminology and unfamiliar biology processes involved might make you a bit apprehensive, but this is true with all experiences that are new and meaningful. Take a few steps back, breath, maybe grab a beer or glass of wine, and then approach it again without the angst.
Your filtration system and pond construction will have a major impact on your pond's health and is the primary determinant in the pond health and there are endless options available out there with pros/cons to them all. This deserves its own thread that is seperate from "water chemistry and treatment" even though the two are mutually exclusive.
Test kits.
API freshwater master test kit.
API KH carbonate hardness test kit.
If applicable, a pool chlorine/chloramine test kit (found at a local hardware store).
There are 4 tiers of importance in testing. In the begining, all you need to care about understanding, as is described within the hyperlinks in this post, are the first tier of test for Ammonia, Nitrite, KH, and, if applicable, chlorine/chloramine. Next in importance, is testing pH. Then, Nitrate. Lastly, the other tests that are not as important or are very circumstance dependent on what the owner is trying to accomplish.
Paper tests strips are good for giving alarms rather than a "detailed big picture". Test strips can be useful to quickly detect ammonia and nitrite spikes, but then their efficacy significantly reduces for all of the other test parameters.
Preventative care.
When I first started this hobby, I was getting ready to pour all sorts of pond store products into the water. I think the thread is still on here somewhere. I pretty much thought my pond was full of all sorts of evil and needed to be saved and treated like it was a toxic dump of some sort. Welp, it's not like that.
For that "feel good" preventative care, if feel like you must do something, then you can dose the water with
Koi Clay and/or
KoiZyme. In regards to the koi clay, the typical fella I buy from seems to have his website down at the moment, but it can also be bought at
thepondoutlet in a 24 pound bag. However, these two products are definitely not a requirement.
Outside of adding something to the water, then all you really need to do is...
Be deligent about cleaning your filters and do your best (or what feels comfortable to do) to not allow too much debris, muck, and dirt to accumulate in the pond. I am not saying to be an obsessive compulsive about it, but do not allow noticeable clumps of leaves and other plant decay to build up into a thick layer over a period of time. It does not need to be spotless, but, the more debris removed then the better. This is how skimmers are very helpful in removing the floating debris before it settles to the pond bottom; on my little 435 gallon pond, I actually installed two skimmers, since it is under several big trees, and they make a tremendous difference in reducing my cleaning time.
Do your best (or what feels comfortable to do) to clean the most of the debris, muck, and dirt accumulated in the pond during the Fall before Winter. Leaf nets over the pond, to reduce this maintenance, are highly recommended during fall if you have alot of trees above the water.
Be deligent, at very least once a week/month, about testing the water for KH, ammonia, nitrite, and chloramine/chlorine (if you have it) and occasionally the pH. I know there are folk that are lucky enough to get by with never testing, but I definitely do not believe this should be the norm.
Do not feed the fish too much. If you register any ammonia or nitrite on your test kit, then significantly reduce feeding or stop feeding all together until the ammonia/nitrite numbers are near zero again. Generally, just feed them enough of what they will eat within a 5~10 minute period. Fish food adds to the ammonia production in your pond; so, if you feed more, then you will be taxing your biological filtration more. Fish are very resilient to surviving on bugs and algae and can go on for weeks without any extra food. However, if you want the fish to thrive, then you will feed them. Knowing when to "feed" and "not to feed" is a ballancing act and something you learn in time and experience with your pond.
Basic feeding guidelines according to water temps.
Also,
quarantining new fish so they are observed in a seperate for a period of 3~6 weeks should be done. If there is any illness, virus, or disease on the fish, then the signs will be shown during this observation time and then treatment can be made to fix them. This is done so you do not accidentally contaminate the pond water with a bad fish. With more expensive koi, some folk may actually quarantine the fish for 3~6 months or even a year. Now, I know folk have gotten away with never quaranting new fish...
Do not put too many fish in the pond. Generally, for beginners, only 1 goldfish per 100 gallons and 1 koi every 600 gallons. If you keep a healthy pond and after about 4~8 years, then the comet goldfish may eventually become 10" to 14" long and koi around 24" to 32" long. If you are keeping a health pondy, then the fish will also reproduce. The eggs and fry may likely be eaten by frogs or the other goldfish/koi or other critters, but, if too many survive, then you might need to eventually have to "thin out the herd". Once you get a better feel for your filtration and what you're doing with the water chemistry, then you can try increasing the population. Personally, I would do 1 comet goldfish per 50 gallons and 1 koi per 200~250 gallons, but this high ratio may cause you to stress out a bit more since maintenance on water quality will be higher. So, just stick to a very lightly stocked pond in the begining.
Do not salt the pond. Salting the pond is an old school approach to preventitive care in a full pond treatment context. (further explained below)
Here are a few threads on this forum that I think might be helpful to you read later on whenever time allows. Since some of the language might be foreign to you, the information might help you be aware of what to research, what to further understand, and might help you to better form your questions.
Ok, Now what do I do.
Your pond ecosystem.
Salt in pond.
Collection of useful pond calculators.
PH level (how to and why aerating your source water makes a difference)
pH, KH, and GH explained
When is the best time to add fish?
cr8tivguy said:
So, I'm starting the educational process on water chemistry and amassing all the chemicals, additives and home remedy ingredients I think I may need to maintain my pond.
My anxiety and confusion level just blew through the roof. My initial reaction: "I'll buy 100 bags of quickcrete and make a patio!"
Is there anywhere on the forum where there are simple solutions for:
2) Reducing High PH
3) Increasing Low PH
4) Decreasing Alkalinity
5) Decreasing Ammonia
6) Decreasing Nitrates
7) Softening Water
8) Use of Salt
9) Use of Koi Clay
10) Decreasing High protein levels
11) Any other miscellaneous water treatment needs?
1) My pond is approximately 1500 gallons with bio filter, mechanical filter, UV clarifier and bog. There is a 20" waterfall. No fish yet. I'm running the pond for about 3 weeks before I place any fish. I am considering some feeder goldfish or some smaller Comets for the stabilization period.
Tim
1) My pond is approximately 1500 gallons
"Approximations" are a big "no no". You need to know exactly how many gallons are in your pond, that is at least within a variance of +/- 50~100 gallons.
Other than a dechnlorinator, generally, folk only use chemicals on an
emergency basis only or if the owner is a bit more professional in really knowing what they are doing. Emergency chemicals might be a "binder" chemical or algaecide or an organic oxidizer. A very common mistake made by begginers is overdosing their pond when using any kind of dechlorinator or chemical or organic oxidizers or aquatic herbicides, which all have products and proper instructions that varies upon the pond and are fish and animal safe. I am referring to the various aquatic herbicides that are like the algaecide products (such as Algae-Fix) or various organic oxidizers that are like hydrogen peroxide (such as the typical food grade hydrogen peroxide bought at the grocery store).
If your pond is already full of water and the water volume was not metered, then there are two ways you can figure it out within an acceptable variance. The different methods used are:
1) How To : Figure the pond gallons in your pond using salt?
2) How To : Figure the pond gallons using baking soda (better option if you don't want the salt to harm any plants)
The most basic chemical you may only ever use is a dechlorinator, that is if you have chlorine or chloramine in the water. Chlorine and chloramine are organic oxidizers and will zap your fish's gills and good bacteria if these chemicals ever come into contact with the fish or good bacteria. Professionals use sodium thiosulfate for both chlorine/chloramine and the proper measurement of this crystalline product can be a bit more tricky, but it is impossible to overdose when using sodium thiosfulfate crystals directly into the pond and the crystals do not "bind" ammonia like a typical dechlorinator. Dechlorinators do not instantly neutralize all chlorine/chloramine present in the water at the moment the water is dosed. I know some folk will put a half dose of dechlorinator in the water prior to adding new water and then add the other half of the dechlorinator after adding the new water is complete. If you do have chlorine or chloramine in the water and want to use a dechlorinator, then you must dose the water according to the volume of chlorine or chloramine present in the water. The volume of chlorine/chloramine is never the same and sometimes city water will use both. Chlorine is a gas and will eventually dissipate if you spray the water through an aerator and up into the air a bit before the water enters the pond. Chloramine is a chemical oxidizer that binds ammonia to chlorine so that the chlorine gas does not dissipate until it is in contact with something organic; in this case, the dechlorinator forces the chlorine bond to break and neutralizes the chlorine, which in return leaves the residual ammonia (that will be consumed by your good bacteria). The dechlorinator product will also "bind" the release ammonia from chloramines to be non-toxic to fish.
If you're on city water, then it is a good bet you have chlorine or chloramine in your spicket water and might even experience both throughout the year. To know exactly how much chlorine or chloramine, then use a simple pool chlorine/chloramine test kit, that is found at any big name hardware store.
For a dechlorinator that will address both chlorine and chloramines, I have heard good stuff about Ultimate water conditioner (by AquaScience Research group) and ChlorAm-X and I've heard the dechlorinators by Tetra are good as well. Personally, I use safe well water, but these are the products I have read other folk use to deal with it.
If you want a professional grade filter that connects to the home so you never have to use a dechlorinator, then check out the residential options available for chlorine/chloramine filtration by
AMPAC. For something cheaper, then look into if there are any
In-Line chlorine/chloramine filters available in your area.
Personally, if I had to worry about chlorine/chloramine, then I would definitely get a filter system or something inline to nuetralize the water at the source, rather than accidentally underdosing or overdosing or accidentally forgeting to turn the hose off (which does happens!!). The cost of filter replacements will make up for the cost of dechlorinator chemical if water changes occur at a frequent rate such as during filter cleaning.
Thread titled
"new strain of algae" might give you a better understanding why folk might use an algaecide. Algae is good but too much of a good thing, that is too much algae, can be a very bad thing by consuming the pond's oxygen and reducing the pond's alkalinity. If your pond is relatively understocked or fish not fed much or filtration performs well, then you might never experience very bad algae blooms, but everyone will experience one sooner or later. The choice of using "elbow grease" to pull the algae or a UV depending on the algae species or using algaecide really depends on the situation. Algae will never be eradicated. Algae can only be controlled. I know one particular pond service man that has much experience and good results with Algae-Fix if you ever need to use an algaecide, but the use of these products tend to be that of last resort.
Very important to adhere to the instructions. Most often problems occur since folk simply just don't know exact volume of their pond, not paying attention to what they're doing, not following good advice, or not following good instructions. There are very few instances where it is the fault of the product causing problems.
2) Reducing High PH
Calcium chloride, with no additives and found at any big hardware store, at a dosage rate of 1 pound per 1,000 gallons will provide enough calcium to your pond to prevent your pH from raising above 8.3~8.5.
If your water is "alkaline", then your KH value is high. If your water is "acidic", then your KH value is low. If your water is "hard", then your mineral content (GH value) is high. If your water is "soft", then your mineral content (GH value) is low. Often times, hard water will be quite alkaline, but this is not always true and this is leads folk to confusion when they say their water is "hard", whereas they actually mean "alkaline".
The only time you might have to worry about a high pH is if your alkalinity, that is KH value, is quite low or if your calcium levels are low.
You can have a high mineral content (GH value) and still have low calcium levels, as is explained in the hyperlinks in this post. This is why viewing general hardness (GH) tests are very deceiving and sometimes not helpful at all.
Much about pH and alkalinity is discussed within the hyperlinks referenced above and within those hyperlinks; so, I am not going to repeat explaining myself unless a question is asked.
Do not let folk make you worry about the pH. The only thing that matters is that the pH remains stable and steady and not changing too much between dawn, mid-day, and dusk each day. As is explained in the hyperlinks in this post, your KH, that is alkalinity value, gaurantees the pH's stability assuming your tap water is not soft (that is low in calcium). You will know if your calcium concentration is going lower if your pH starts to slowly and continually nudge above 8.4~8.5 and, if your source water is sufficiently hard (with calcium), then simply small water changes will fix low calcium levels.
If the pH goes up to 9.0, then it's no problem as long as it is corrected within a few weeks. These more alkaline higher pHs essentially just "chaps" the koi's gills, where as the very low pHs (below 6) will burn them.
The japanese breeders across the ocean struggle immensely with keeping their pH above 6.0 in their greenhouses during the winter and do their best to keep the pH within the 6.5~7.0 range by using a
ton of oyster shells (which apparently is in quite cheap and abundant supply over there).
To get a better idea on how hard it can be to play the "pH game", then read
How to stabilise the pH at 7.0?. If anything is achieved through my explanation in this thread, then I hope it discourages folk from manipulating their water chemistry beyond the alkalinity value, and I hope it persuades folk to follow the time tested advice from others here that state, that "a constant, stable pH is healthier for your pond".
3) Increasing Low PH
To increase low pH, you increase your alkalinity levels, that is your KH value. To increase your KH value, you will use a bicarbonate product such as food safe baking soda you find at the grocery store. Here are two online calculators that I have immensely enjoyed using:
Aklalinity (KH) calculator
Buffering capacity and pH calculator
First dissolve the product into a bucket and then pour it around the pond. After the pond is dosed, it will take a few hours for the product to reach an equilibrium within the entire pond volume.
Calcium chloride, with no additives and found at any big hardware store, at a dosage rate of 1 pound per 1,000 gallons will provide enough calcium to your pond to prevent your pH from raising above 8.3~8.5. Never dose calcium chloride and baking soda at the same time since they will neutralize each other so wait at least 24 hours between each product. If you do add them at the same time, then these two products will combine to form a precipitated calcium carbonate product, that is unavailable to be stabilize a high pH until the pH becomes more acidic.
4) Decreasing Alkalinity
This should only be done by advanced users, as is explained above in the
Reducing High PH section. There is no ceiling to the alkalinity that goldfish and koi carp can endure. Generally, the higher the better, as is explained in the above hyperlinks. For a bit better understanding, then read the thread titled,
KH level.
5) Decreasing Ammonia
The primary responsibility of your pond's biological filtration is to reduce ammonia and nitrite. If you are noticing an increase in ammonia, then this is due to multiple possible reasons that are: 1) feeding fish too much; 2) too many fish; 3) too much plant decay in the pond; 4) biological filtration is failling you. Even during the transition between water changes and between Winter and Spring, there should never be an ammonia or nitrite spike if "best practiced management" is applied to the pond.
In the circumstance a problem does happen causing an ammonia or nitrite spike, then a "binder" chemical which will temporarily neutralize the ammonia and nitrite into non-toxic compounds.
AmQuel Plus is one of the many good water detoxifiers out there. This chemical should only be used in
emergency situations to buy you time to provide a fix to the problem.
6) Decreasing Nitrates
Nitrates are not harmful to goldfish nor koi carp as long as the value is not astronomically high.
How to control Nitrates? High nitrates is the result of the production of high ammonia. So, refer to section above,
Decreasing Ammonia.
7) Softening Water
This is of no concern at all to beginners. It is only a concern to more advanced users who are attempting to bring out better color or patterns from their fish.
8) Use of Salt
It is a very common practice while quarantining fish. At most, it is only done for very specific durations for a very specific reasons.
Generally, the primary reason to use salt is to nuetralize high nitrites values with a
.15% salinity. For more information and "how to", then read
salt in pond.
9) Use of Koi Clay
Pond calcium montmorillonite Clay. and more testimonials by folk using
ultimate koi clay. Generally, it is used as a "preventative" care option to keep the mineral water content high and better fish color.
10) Decreasing High protein levels
"High protein levels" are often referred to as dissolved organic particulates or DOCs. (dissolved organic compounds/carbons).
Generally, it is more of an aesthetic concern than a health concern, but, if the dissolved organic particulates become too high, then this will cause your pond's oxygen levels to decrease. It can take a long time for the dissolve organic particulates to reach this high of a level if the pond is properly maintained. When it does reach this high level, then a very thick foam starts to accumulate at the point where water is being agitated, such as by a waterfall or fountain. Dissolved organic particulates increases the water's surface tension allowing the foam to be created. This foam can also be created from the addition of pond products into the water, overdose of dechlorinator, and increased salinity, which all of these products increase the water's surface tension. So, if you have not recently added a pond product nor too much of a product and still have a noticeable volume of foam formed, then this is due to a high accumulation of dissolved organic particulates.
To reduce this, it is accomplished through water changes, the use of a low dose regiment of oxidizers, and through the use of a protein fractionator. This issue is talked further in the hyperlinks referenced above.
11) Any other miscellaneous water treatment needs?
Increase Water hardness.
Water hardness, that is the mineral content as measured by "GH" (general hardness) test kits, is only concern if your calcium level falls. The information within the above hyperlinks further discusses this issue and the remedies.
Other stuff that are not necesarily treatments but good to know...
Water changes.
Personally, I equivocate water changes to opening a window in a car to let the fresh air into the car. If you are in the mountains with all these nice fresh air and you're stuck in a van full of annoying family members, then opening a window really makes you feel better with the nice air into the car while removing the old stale, smelly family member air.
However, if you are in a big city stuck on a busy highway and open your window, then the "fresh" air will be that of lovely car exhaust smell filling up your car. Water changes are like this and very dependent on the quality of your source water and what it would take to "clean" the water if there were no water changes.
Water changes replenish minerals (depending on your source water), buffering attributes (depending on your source water), dilutes dissolved organic particulates, dilutes fish toxic nitrogens, and dilutes particular precipitated compounds or salinity or other inorganic chemicals that can only be removed from water changes or special media or an increase in plant density along with a routine of maintaining the activated charcoal.
Water changes are diluting your pond water to more emulate the quality of your water source. If your source water is more acidic or softer or has a higher salinity or has other contaminants, then water changes could make things worse, but, if you do not have an alternative source water, then you just don't have another option, other than using the water source you already have, unless you want to add products (such as buffering agents, absorbant medium, minerals) to the water so to avoid dong water changes.
Pond oxygen level.
Simply resolved by having a good water turnover, or water circulation, of the pond water and having an air diffusor in the water to further help with the circulation. The main problem is not the pond's oxygen level. The problem is the accumulation of dissolved gases, such as carbon dioxide released by fish and aquatic plants, that remain "locked" in the water until the water is pushed near the surface. This is also the reason why spicket water should be aerated, with a garden hose nozzle in the air or a faucet aerator, to remove most of the carbon dioxide before it enters the pond. High carbon dioxide levels can suffocate fish, even if the oxygen concentration is near the saturation point in the pond. If your alkalinity level, that is KH value, is quite high, then carbon dioxide becomes less of a problem, but, generally, it is a good practice to keep the pond water circulated and very well aerated.
What else is there?
Bah, I don't know... I give up...
This is a wonderful hobby and there is always something to learn. I believe that I have just barely scratched the surface, but I think those are most of the important points, that is without talking explicitly about filtration and pond construction.
Questions! Never give up on asking questions, even if you get put down.
