Do I have to many fish for my pond

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I have a goldfish pond that is around 4700 gals. I have always had problems trying to keep it crystal clear. Now I am wondering that perhaps I have to many fish in it. I drained my pond a couple of months ago and completely cleaned it out. I now know exactly how many fish I have in it. And that is 48 fish rangeing from 5 to 11 inches. Now is this to many fish for the size of pond I have?
Thanks
Bart
 

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first mistake was to drain and clean because then you are starting all over again and could end up with a huge algae bloom or end up hurting your fish .
 
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At 100 gals per hefty fish your safety margins are being squeezed a bit tight if ever adverse weather and pumps failing coincide
 
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Bart said:
I have always had problems trying to keep it crystal clear. Now I am wondering that perhaps I have to many fish in it. I drained my pond a couple of months ago and completely cleaned it out. I now know exactly how many fish I have in it. And that is 48 fish rangeing from 5 to 11 inches. Now is this to many fish for the size of pond I have?
Too many fish to have crystal clear water? Water clarity is unrelated to fish in many cases. Green water for example can certainly happen without any fish at all. Over time fish waste can add to other clarity issues along with other dead organic matter like from plants which includes algae. These issues would depend more on how often you remove waste, how much food you feed, how many and type of plants. So even this isn't directly related to the number of fish because cutting the number would only slow the build up of only fish waste. Keeping the same number of fish and cutting food back would also slow the build up of waste.

In many ponds the biggest source of organic waste is dead alage. Algae is continuously in a cycle of growth and death.
 
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Maybe I should explain a little further. I have 2 bottom drains that come together into a prefilter. In that filter I have a fine and a medium 20"X 36" plastic type filter media. From there water is pumped, via a 4500GPH pump, to a "skippy" type biofilter. The water then exits and goes over a waterfall. For plants I have 10 pots of waterlillys and am planning on putting in more soon.
Bart
 

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draining and cleaning was not the way to go something is not working ,are you over feeding the fish .Sounds like your filters should be keeping it clean .Find a fishy home for the fish you don't want .Craigslist or just word of mouth to other ponders .Do you test your water .You have plants and may need more.I know colleen told me about grasses in the pond and sedges and i was amazed at how much they clean
 
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Fish count sounds OK, but what do your water tests say?

Unclear water... is it green (as in algae bloom) or brown (as in muck)?

Unless your water qualities were bad (per testing), I agree with the other posters about draining the pond. That can cause more headaches.
 
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Yes, I do test my water and everything was good except for PH which was just a little low. 6.5 The Phosphates were 0. I don't think I am feeding to much. I feed twice a day 1/8 of a cup and it is gone in just a couple of min. The water is green, not brown.
 

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thats an algae bloom from the new water and baking soda can raise ph .I use quilt batting soaked in peroxide and water and use a basket to hold it under water flow it picks up all the fine algae cells
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Do you regularly test for ammonia or nitrites?

With an algae bloom, I would be careful adding baking soda to raise the PH, without knowing the HISTORY on ammonia levels. Algae can cause the PH to drop (thinking about KH and my words, calcium use), but algae also eats ammonia. I am still weak here:-(

My thought process here (and PLEASE, someone correct me if I am wrong) ... If the algae is eating ammonia, and if the algae suddenly dies off, there could POTENTIALLY be an ammonia spike ... isnt ammonia more toxic, the higher the PH is? I am still trying to sort out the chemistry of a contained ecosystem in my head ... Sorry this is coming out more as a ramble:-(
 
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Here is something else. It has been about 2 or 3 weeks ago since I ran the last water tests so I run another one today and here is the results.
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
But the PH was at the top of the chart 9. I have no idea what would raise the ph in such a short time.
I also have added 5 lbs of barley straw and 3 lbs of ground corn in a bag when I restarted after clean up-.
So, what should I do to lower the PH
I have been fighting this water since I started it up in March of 2011 and I am just about to call for a truck full of dirt and put an end to this problem. If I had known it was going to be this much trouble I would not have put it in.
Thanks
Bart
 
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Instead of continuously seeing a number and asking how to change the number it can be a good idea to actually learn what the number means first. And how the different numbers relate to each other. Then you can use logic and understanding to come up with a course of action.

Adding 5 lbs of barley straw and 3 lbs of ground corn only adds more organic waste to your list of problems. You want clear water but are doing everything possible to make dirty water. As long as you keep listening to internet crap you're going to have more and more problems until the pond gets filled in.
 
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Bart said:
Here is something else. It has been about 2 or 3 weeks ago since I ran the last water tests so I run another one today and here is the results.
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
But the PH was at the top of the chart 9. I have no idea what would raise the ph in such a short time.
I also have added 5 lbs of barley straw and 3 lbs of ground corn in a bag when I restarted after clean up-.
So, what should I do to lower the PH
I have been fighting this water since I started it up in March of 2011 and I am just about to call for a truck full of dirt and put an end to this problem. If I had known it was going to be this much trouble I would not have put it in.
Thanks
Bart
I am getting the feeling here that you are doing too much, without a real rhyme or reason. Algae can be a pain in the arse at times, but you shouldnt be fighting it for 2 years. The 6.5 PH reading. Was that recent, or 2-3 weeks ago? I would NOT add anything to the pond to LOWER your 9+ PH reading. That action could cause yet another problem. If it was my pond, I would get the barley and corn out of there. WITH algae, and ammonia at .25 with zero nitrites, it EITHER sounds like a new pond cycle, or things are getting ready to spike.

So far, you are questioning your fish quanity, dont seem to understand how to deal with algae, nor PH ... water changes that are likely not needed, present another issue ... NOT critizing, just trying to put together a big picture here.

Have you added ANYTHING else to the pond? We really need a full picture in order to help you get on track.
 

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