The Water Change Discussion

[pecan]

I'd like to have a discussion about how much and how often you should change the water in a healthy pond, well planted and not over stocked. I know all things change if you have too many fish and no plants so for sake of discussion let's talk healthy garden pond water changes.

I have heard people say a 50% change in the spring then 10%-20% water change a week is needed and others say just top it off but don't change the water.

In my limited experience I think with our high PH water full of minerals here in Utah that it may do more harm than good to change the water too much? I might be removing the water that has built up good bacteria replacing it with water that feeds algea blooms and boosts the ph higher.

I could be completely wrong but would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Thanks!

 

[sissy]

I do only a 10% percent 3 times a year .I used to do 20% but saw more problems .So cut it back .I guess it all comes down to your well water or city water conditions .Sometimes my well water is soft and then after hard rains and a lot of them my well water gets a little hard .My well is over 400 ft deep so I guess that could change things also .Deep well verses shallow well .

 

[pecan]

Sissy do you do a big water change in the fall or spring?

 

[sissy]

nope and never did only 10% once in March and then again in July and then in October .March depends on temps out side alsctober I do but I never know when I will shut my pumps down to the filter

 

[pecan]

Interesting Sissy. I have heard that my fish will die a horrible death swimming in their own waste if I don't do weekly water changes LOL. I am guessing your fish are fine :goldfish:

 

[sissy]

I guess so because they are all over 8 years old and the most water change they get is when it rains .I have never had a fish die from it yet

 

[ididntdoit99]

i really don't do water changes either, if there was an issue i would, but never had any water quality problems. Top it off once a week from evaporation, rain adds water, and thats about it.

 

[taherrmann4]

I don't do water changes, nature takes care of it for me. When it rains and my pond fills up then it over flows out into the yard, therefore changing out some of the old water that was in there. If we don't get rain for a few weeks then I will top off my pond.

 

[pecan]

Interesting, so none of you are doing weekly water changes. I have been doing about 10% a week since spring and noticed by the end of the week things start to clear really nice, then I do a water change again and things get murky. I have been doing this since I started the pond up in March. So for the last 2 weeks I haven't done any water changes, just topped it off (which is often since we get hot dry sun ALL the time and no rain). So I thought I bring it up. I wonder why so many people told me I had to do these water changes?

 

[ididntdoit99]

You know, I can't be really sure, but I imagine it kind of wafted over from the whole aquarium hobby, where you have a small tank, filled with a big fish load, and generally not a whole lot of filtration (at least compared to a pond)

I figure its different for every pond, but my aquarium for example, 30 gallons, 2 fish, and i have what pretty much equals out to a mechanical filter (they say its bio, but not really) water is pulled from about an inch from the floor and filtered mechanically, but most of the leftover food and fish waste settles to the bottom. Once a week, i vacuum the bottom and pull as much as i can out and do a water change.

Ponds nowadays have much better filtration, bottom drains, skimmers, biofilters, all of that waste isn't piling up like it used to, or like a general aquarium setup.

 

[JohnHuff]

Interesting indeed. I thought that if you only do a water top off, the resulting pond water will get more concentrated since when water evaporates, it leaves the dissolved solids behind. I do a minor water change every week or so, partly to water my plants. My wife would use a hose to water the plants but I told her it'd be better to put the clean water in the pond and use the nutrient saturated water to water the plants instead.

Also, keeping fish in a closed pond system isn't natural. In the natural state, such a pond would turn into a murky morass. Many years ago, my sister in law moved into a house with a very nice pond (two large ponds separated by a stream). Because they weren't the kind to care, they never did anything to the pond and a few years later when I went to visit, the water was completely murky and dead. Surprisingly, there was still 1-2 small goldfish alive in it after all that time with no feeding or water changing (except for copious rain (we are in WA after all)).

 

[mrsclem]

I do 10-20% every week or two. One pond has plants, one doesn't, one shallow-18"-36", the other 5'. Just got the overstock issue taken care of on the 10x10x5. Sold 205" of fish but I tend to overfeed so -- water changes!!

 

[sissy]

I tend to overfeed lol 300lb fish

 

[j.w]

I do partial water changes maybe once a month.........maybe 30% and water is from a well. Fish seem to enjoy it and I aways position the hose up high so it splashes more oxygen in the water. Somebody told me well water doesn't have much oxygen in it but raising the hose up helps put some in the pond rather than just laying the hose on the bottom of the pond.

 

[addy1]

I add water if it gets low, from the well. The only time the water gets changed is when we get some good rain fall. The gutter water flows into the pond, does a nice water change.

Have not seen any problems i.e. water tests even with the dry hot summer we had last year. Just added water when the pond needed it