Fish in the pond

[fresia1999]

Yes, ponds are such a learning experience for kids. We had a pond at the school I taught at and the science coach would take the students out there and show them the tadpoles and frog eggs and the Arkansas fish she would catch and put in there. The kids loved it! I am hoping a frog or two will set up house keeping in mine so my grandchildren can watch the life cycle of the frogs. I even love the different insects that come around like the dragonflies, etc. What I am loving most of all is the serenity of it while reading and drinking coffee in the mornings.

 

[CometKeith]

Hey fresia, that's all so true. Even adults like watching tadpoles slowly turning into frogs. My wife and daughter never got excited about the fish but when they spotted the frog it was always a big deal. This is the first year we really have dragonflies and to me that is a hallmark of a successful pond. I read somewhere that a dragonfly can eat 1000 mosquitoes a day. My routine is to sit out by my pond with the morning coffee and the evening beverage feeding the fish. I don't think my wife even realizes your really don't have to feed the fish, but that is my time to relax and get away from the daily e-mails, phone calls, etc.

 

[waynefrcan]

Cute little pond, and add another rock lined pond to the list :goldfish:

With rocks, fish & no filtration, it will be hard to keep the pond clean. I agree for you to add some type of filtration or you will be draining and cleaning this every spring. Properly designed with proper filtration and you can go 2-3 years without a total clean out.

Good news is it's a small size and won't be too hard to clean.

 

[waynefrcan]

The stuff I am talking about goes in the filter and helps build up a bio load and never heard of using rocks as a filter all they do is trap rotting stuff under them and the beneficial bacteria feeds the filter to get it started .i had rocks on the bottom and took them out after the smell got bad and was worried about the gases killing my fish and never put rocks in again .I would never want to clean a rock bottom pond again and guessing they may put in pretty ponds and fountains ,but if you look at most succesful and easy to maintain ponds they have no rocks and no odor .Rocks get covered in muck after awhile and you never see them unless you pay someone to clean your pond all the time and then have to worry about fish dieing .

Rocks do work in some cases and add to the beauty. However in this case without proper filtration, the long term might be disappointing.

I can't believe a pond builder would design and setup a pond with 0 filtration??? I won't even count what little the pump will filter out before it becomes plugged.

 

[koiguy1969]

MYSELF... on my first pond i was buying fish as the pond was filling. i used a dechlorinator naturally. look, a pond will cycle faster when there is an actual source of ammonia to process.and build bacteial colonies... i had about 10 pots of lillies and 2 dozen fish in my first pond in 2-3 weeks ..never had a bad water test or had to treat a fish for an illness.

 

[fresia1999]

Hey Missy, the rocks in the bottom are my fault. I thought you were suppose to have them and when they left putting in the pond there were no rocks in the bottom so my son and I went and got some gravel washed it and put it in. So now (Ha!) I will be scooping rocks out of the bottom of my pond. I guess this is what it is all about (trial and error) and learning. The guy who told me rocks would filter my pond was someone else other than the landscaper that did mine.
Should get my biofilter next week and will get that in.

 

[sissy]

Every thing you do has a learning curve ,but at least this forum sight helps and really glad i found it and wish I found it before I built my pond the first time .More filtering always means cleaner water at least thats what we hope for .I want to rebuild my water fall .I have a small leak some where that is hiding .I hate to do it now because the bio filter will have to be taken down and apart and don;t want to do that until it gets lots cooler .It is a nice looking pond but still think you could have done it your self /I know mine has grown in size since I rebuilt it .But hey if I did not do it or at least give it a try I would never know .You will be surprised how you will be tweaking the pond over the years.We all say no way but most of us are guilty of it :razz:

 

[koiguy1969]

Theres not neccessarily anything wrong with rocks in the pond. they can create more maintainence, but if the extra work doesnt bug you...then enjoy them. the biggest issue is cleaning the pond. a bare liner pond can be cleaned of most excess debris with a simple leaf net. you cant do that when the debris settle between and under rock... i dont have them myself but thats my preferrence. a liner will fairly quickly get covered in bacteria, algeas, etc.. and can look quite natural.covered a mix of greens, tans,and browns,

SIDE NOTE: back to what i said about my first pond... it was around 450 gallons or so.the fish were 3"-5", and i had a biofilter setup that spilled back into the pond thru a semi submerged large mesh pond plant pot full of zeolite. zeolite does one thing and does it well, it absorbs ammonias.

 

[fresia1999]

Just had my first "down and dirty" experience with my pond. Woo Hoo!!! I got in there and removed all the bottom gravel. I left some gravel on my top level shelf but the entire bottom is rockless.

 

[waynefrcan]

Thanks Capewind! I went to Lowe's last night and they have a pressure filtrr with UV that will support pond up to 1200 gph. I may just have to run out there and get it. They will probably do liner, pump, and rocks today. I am also putting a spitter thst will hit close to the end of pond.

I can't wait to check out the Lowe's that is almost ready for opening. SHould give H-depot a good run.

 

[sissy]

For things like appliances and warranty contracts no one so far has beat H-depot .There contract is onlyy 99 dollars for 4 years and checked that out and only a few complaints about there warranty service here and most of the resolved .They also deliver here for free even to rural areas .Sears is over a hundred dollars for delivery and lowes is just about the same .Lowes does carry more plumbing supplies and more appliances and has a bigger garden center then H .But that depends on the store as lowes in Riedsville NC has better mark downs than my local lowes .H does have more variety of other stuff than lowes .I think the markdown part just depends on the manager and what they want to get rid of fast .

I bought these on sale 20 dollars a piece and gosh they never worked .I tried one out when I had my small pond and had to back flush the one i tried out 3 or 4 times a day and it seemed to never keep the pond clean and my pond was a small preformed I got at the end of season

 

[fresia1999]

Sissy, our Lowe's handles more pond stuff too than HD. I purchased a Garden Treasures pressurized bio filter on Ebay it was new $59.00 for 800 gallon pond. It does not have the UV. Looks pretty easy to clean out but will see hopefully I didn't get ripped off. My husband does Ebay alot.

 

[fresia1999]

Here is a picture after I took the rock out of the bottom. I left some on the top shelf.

 

[CometKeith]

The last pump I bought was from azponds. They were 1/3rd cheaper than I could find it in any local store. Fresia, it looks great! When are you getting your first fish?

 

[fresia1999]

In another week or two I want to get some goldfish. My son said you can get goldfish at bait shops very cheap but I don't know how good that would be. We have a Petco and one of our garden places that sells them.