General Filter Question

[Curious1]

Just finished putting in a 270 gallon pond (pre formed liner).

My wife wanted to add some small rocks to the bottom which we did. We bought a Pondmaster 1250 pump and filter.

We just added 18 very small comet goldfish.

My wife believes we should have some type of charcoal filter. She is concerned about ammonia levels. The Pondmaster has two filters...a coarse pad and a carbon pad.

DO you think what we have now is sufficient?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Didn't you just set this up the other day? It looks very nice. If so, I would return 16 of the 18 goldfish to reduce the bioload. Your pond/filter isn't cycled. Activated carbon will not help with the impending ammonia spike. The best thing you can do now is to quickly reduce the bioload and then read on this site how to cycle a pond. Lots of live plants from an established pond (or aquarium) will help get the cycle 'kick started.'

 

[Curious1]

Searched for how to cycle a pond and didnt find anything. Do you have a link? lots of conflicting information online

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yeah, lots of information. First, are you willing to start with no fish which is the preferred method? Fishless cycling is best. You might read the suggestion of using some 'hardy' fish for cycling but I disagree.
Here is what I do:
Fill the pond and treat the water with Prime. Then add an abundance of plants (preferably already planted in baskets) from an established pond. If you can't find pond plants then use aquarium plants not from a store but from an established tank. 'Seed' your filter with filter media from an established pond. That is, get at least one of your filter pads or some bioballs or mesh scrubbers from someone else who has an established pond or aquarium. I massively plant a new pond, 'seed' the filter and add large lava rocks (big stuff) from my other ponds. By doing this, the cycle time is tremendously reduced. Then I begin the fishless cycle. Here is a link on this site about fishless cycling: Read this first and then the second link which is by Duke University for aquarium cycling with a couple of fish. Pond/aquarium fundamentals are similar. Read both posts first then decide which way you want to go. Again, I recommend fishless. There are many members on this site who can also assist since we've all done it and have different ways to meet the same end.

Fishless cycle

I am currently cycling a 36 gallon tank to grow out juvenile Discus. I purchased a generic brand ammonia . To raise the ammonia level to 2 ppm I added 100 drops from a 5ml syringe The tank temp is set at 80-81* DIY sponge filter with 5 1" sponges ( 1 sponge was from display tank already...

www.gardenpondforum.com

Beginner: The Nitrification Cycle and New Tank Syndrome(

 

[Jhn]

Agree with Stephen, i pretty much do my ponds the same way seed it with some sort of media from an existing pond, then add a ton of plants. Granted my ponds vary in size from 2000 to 10,000 gallons, so I can put a lot of plants in there. Pretty much minimizes the cycle time and severity of it. Just take it slow once it is cycled to add fish, don’t put too many in at once or it could overwhelm the just established bio filter.

When I set up qt tanks for fish I pull media from existing ponds or fish tanks, and have had just a minimal cycle, with almost no ammonia spike.

 

[KimA.]

Agree with Stephen, i pretty much do my ponds the same way seed it with some sort of media from an existing pond, then add a ton of plants. Granted my ponds vary in size from 2000 to 10,000 gallons, so I can put a lot of plants in there. Pretty much minimizes the cycle time and severity of it. Just take it slow once it is cycled to add fish, don’t put too many in at once or it could overwhelm the just established bio filter.

When I set up qt tanks for fish I pull media from existing ponds or fish tanks, and have had just a minimal cycle, with almost no ammonia spike.

Are you adding the plants right after you fill the pond?

 

[Jhn]

Yes, I added the plants if I remember correctly the next day after the pond was filled. I am on a well, so there is no chlorine in the water,

 

[addy1]

Are you adding the plants right after you fill the pond?

I added plants to the bog as soon as I had it full of gravel, pond not even running yet. Used a hose to put water into the bog portion. Get them growing!