Water change question

[MitchM]

I think the overall size of the pond or body of water plays a part.

How so?

 

[sissy]

Never had had a big algae problem and not sure if it has to do with over aerating the pond or not .The 1 pump has two ball valves on it one low and one high and then the other hose goes to the filter and a spitter in the waterfall pond and then I have air stones in each filter and air stones in the pond some low some high .12 of them .I do have 2 U.V.'s that I run in the spring from a small gph pump to both of them .This is the first full year for the new pond .Water is clear and all tests done by me and the pet store are always OK .ph is at 8. Never had a problem with other levels .Only feed my 17 fish 3 or 4 times a week .I add koi clay and that is about all .Maybe it is just dumb luck .No this leak I have ,I am hoping is the frogs fault .I got the new liner and patch kits and they are in the basement .I have never had string algae .A little green water in the spring but 1 month of the U.V.'s and the plants growing and that is gone and the U.V.'s get turned off .This is my first year owning them ,so was new to me .

 

[MitchM]

I think the vigorous plant growth that you saw from your banana plants saved you in part from an algae problem.

 

[sissy]

I have read that over aerating your pond is supposed to help .Actually the water hyacinth grew faster that the banana plants .The banana plants were put in after the hyacinth .I had no place to put the 2 banana plants and figured for the time being they would be fine in the pond .I think they did not go in the pond until july

 

[Mmathis]

How so?

It will be easier [not the best word, but have not had coffee yet.....] for a smaller body of water to become "concentrated."

 

[MitchM]

It will be easier [not the best word, but have not had coffee yet.....] for a smaller body of water to become "concentrated."

That actually brings into consideration another factor.
Surface area.
How does a pond of say, 100 gallons, differ between the same volume of water, but having 1 sq foot of surface and 15 feet deep area vs 27 sq feet surface area and 1.5 ft deep.
Are water changes more or less important?
I think the evaporation rate makes a big difference.

So how do we determine what is best for our own pond?

That's what I'm looking for.

.

 

[sissy]

Rain water is always a big factor too .I wait for that to add water .

 

[Mmathis]

@MitchM This sounds like an opportunity for an environmental experiment! Set up 3 identical "pond environments," keeping track of any and all parameters over a certain period of time. Choose 1 healthy fish for each pond if it's a small one like a kiddie pool or small preform [or if you know they are same-sex, can put 2 or more per pond -- but wouldn't want uncontroled baby fish if it made the ponds unequal -- UNLESS that was one of your variables]. And you can take it from there as to how to set them up, procede, and document -- I just came up with the idea....

 

[MitchM]

I have my 3 aquariums from my substrate pond thread, the "test", the "320g pond" and the "tropical", which may be similar to what you folks have down south. There are some differences I'm noticing that I will be posting in that thread, but I'm looking for people's thoughts on water changes here.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Well, Mitch, you know my stance on water changes.....more harmful than beneficial. Don't do them, never have and never will.

 

[MitchM]

Right, but you live in a high humidity environment. I don't know what quality source water you are most familiar with.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Right, but you live in a high humidity environment. I don't know what quality source water you are most familiar with.

Yes, but we have a very high evapotranspiration rate in the Summer months. Water Hardness runs about 50 -70. municipal or well.
My stance on water changes is based on science, environmental factors are, for the most part, really incidental.

 

[MitchM]

I may have missed it before.
How does a no water change routine deal with elevated mineral levels?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I may have missed it before.
How does a no water change routine deal with elevated mineral levels?

Exactly what mineral levels are you referring to?

 

[peter hillman]

Lately I've been taking some of the clay dirt from around our yard and placing it on the plant shelves, so I can try to encourage encroachment from the native plants. So far frogs seem to like the plant cover, although it's hard to see the pond edge at times.
That's a good thing, I think.

I've had that happen on it's own at my pond. I didn't plan on it but the plants around the pond have grown into the water and cause the water level to drop as they use the water. Looks neat and natural but sometimes I need to pull the roots out and rearrange them to stem the loss of water.