Establishing Nitrifying Bacteria in Biofilter

[djm02f]

Hello. Many years ago, my brother built a small (maybe 2' by 4') pond in our South Florida backyard. Long neglected, I recently started working on it: vacuumed out most of the muck; several water changes; hooked up our Laguna Pressure-Flo biofilter to the waterfall, and inoculated it with a beneficial bacteria mix ; added some small water plants, as well as creeping plants and moss to the waterfall; introduced a couple corydoras and plecostomus to help control the mulm/muck at the bottom. The water, once opaque to the point that you couldn't see any fish that weren't right at the surface, is now fairly clear: you can see the bottom well. The pond only houses maybe 8 small goldfish, 3 tiny corys, and 2 small plecos, but the TDS is creeping up, from 59ppm two weeks ago to 73ppm now. We don't overfeed, and I've been pretty diligent about skimming any leaves/grass clippings that get into the pond. The biofilter is half filled with foam pads, with the rest with plastic bioballs.
My questions are: 1) is it normal for the TDS to be creeping up like this; 2) how long ought it take for the nitrifying bacteria to get well-established in the filter media; and 3) are the porous ceramic rings a better media for beneficial bacteria than plastic bioballs? Any advice/input is much appreciated. Thanks,
David

 

[WaterGardener]

The bad news. The bacteria you used is not likely to be the type that is needed to establish the nitrogen cycle. Those bacteria cannot survive without oxygen so they will quickly die when sealed in a bottle and put on a shelf. There are a couple of businesses that sell the correct type, but those are expensive and have to be shipped cooled and overnight, also adding to the expense.

More bad news. Your pond is terribly overstocked. It is recommended to have 50 gallons of water for each goldfish in a pond. You might get away with more fish if they are very small and you have a lot of extra filtration. But goldfish grow quickly in a healthy pond and they will quickly overwhelm your system.

The good news is that the necessary bacteria is already in your pond. It just needs the right environment of oxygenated water, hard surfaces to grow on, the correct temperature and no toxins like chlorine or lawn chemicals that might run into the pond, that will kill it. Antibiotics will also kill it, so never put those in your pond. It just has to multiply enough to handle the fish load.

Please look up the nitrogen cycle. That will explain what has to happen in order for the pond to process the ammonia that the fish produce. It usually takes a couple of months, give or take, for this process to complete.

During this time, it's a good idea to be testing the water with liquid type tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and KH.

It's a good idea to have a product called Prime on hand since it will bind the toxic ammonia and nitrite and protect your fish. This is a very stressful time for them and anything you can do to help them is a good thing.

It doesn't matter what type of media you have as long as there is enough of it for your fish load.

Hope that helps and please ask more questions if you feel the need. We all started where you are and made more than our share of mistakes. At least I did!

 

[j.w]

@djm02f

 

[GBBUDD]

That's what I like about @WaterGardener and honest Joe.
Me I never make mistakes. Just convention distractions and detours.
Now I am being half serious here . Never making mistakes certainly not one of them However many of the mistakes I would also call brainstorming sessions. How to make these look like they were planned or how to simply make it fit.

I know I've gone off topic a bit here but it's the mistakes we learn from and often turn into the focal parts of our projects.
So as far as what bacteria to add I have to agree with the notes above. Though bacteria is everywhere. The hardest thing in the designs we mostly have here take TIME. There is no add this bottle and your good to go.
Even with the correct bacteria being added the correct fish load and feeding correctly with nutrients food and not too much. This all takes time for a lot more than bacteria to find our ponds the micro organisms the macros and all the creatures most do not want to get thafamilia with but they all eat they all have there own role. Andbit does take time for these colonies to become established. Now where you had an abused pond. Believe it or not you had a huge advantage over a new pond as you had/ have these colonies. You want to save them . I'm bettingbyousaw all kinds of things wigeling around in the muck
So if you didn't sterilize the pond just provide proper aeration, light stocking and plants and leave the pond to its own see where you end up. Observations are critical.

 

[HARO]

I don't post much any more, but this was once my favourite subject, so here goes... The bacteria your pond needs to start the whole nitrogen cycle need only one thing to start, and that is food. And that food is ammonia. Introduce it into your pond, and the nitrosomonas bacteria will multiply rapidly to consume their only food. In turn, they produce nitrites, which feeds the next stage of the cycle, the nitrobacter bacteria, who in turn, produce nitrates. Ammonia is fatal to fish even in low doses. Nitrites are somewhat less lethal, but can still kill your fish. Nitrates above 20 ppm (parts per million) are dangerous, but these can be controlled. Plants use nitrates as fertilizer, fixing it their tissues as long as they are healthy, but dieing foliage releases ammonia back into the water. Water changes remove nitrogen, and nature also turns harmful nitrates into harmless atmospheric nitrogen. So if you want to give this cycle a boost, just add a small amount of ammonia, and the simplest (and CHEAPEST) way to do this is to take a whizz in your pond!

 

[GBBUDD]

I don't post much any more, but this was once my favourite subject, so here goes... The bacteria your pond needs to start the whole nitrogen cycle need only one thing to start, and that is food. And that food is ammonia. Introduce it into your pond, and the nitrosomonas bacteria will multiply rapidly to consume their only food. In turn, they produce nitrites, which feeds the next stage of the cycle, the nitrobacter bacteria, who in turn, produce nitrates. Ammonia is fatal to fish even in low doses. Nitrites are somewhat less lethal, but can still kill your fish. Nitrates above 20 ppm (parts per million) are dangerous, but these can be controlled. Plants use nitrates as fertilizer, fixing it their tissues as long as they are healthy, but dieing foliage releases ammonia back into the water. Water changes remove nitrogen, and nature also turns harmful nitrates into harmless atmospheric nitrogen. So if you want to give this cycle a boost, just add a small amount of ammonia, and the simplest (and CHEAPEST) way to do this is to take a whizz in your pond!

You were doing so well @HARO that is until you took a wizz in your pond but what i don't get is won't the yellow cheeze wizz create a floating mess in my pond?

 

[GBBUDD]

You were doing so well @HARO that is until you took a wizz in your pond but what i don't get is won't the yellow cheeze wizz create a floating mess in my pond?

Should i use mild medium or hot salsa

 

[HARO]

Should i use mild medium or hot salsa

What, you can't get Suicide?