Hello Everyone. . .

[franuk]

Hello to all the members here on the forum.

my name is fran, and I'm from UK (as my chosen name suggests) lol.

I am married with 3 children. our family have a dog, a hamster and giant African land snails.

it was with great regret and sadness that we recently had to close down our 200 litre tropical fish tank. The tank developed a slight leak, and although we realize this was fixable with some silicone sealer it seemed virtually impossible to achieve with 2 large filters and many small tropical fish to re home during the repair work.

both myself and my husband got into the hobby of fishkeeping around 3 - 4 years ago and learned a lot about keeping tropical fish along the way.

as with most new fishkeepers we made the mistake of buying a "small" glass 14 litre tank and filling it with water, a filter and fish on day 1. within a week we had lost each and every fish and couldn't understand where we were going wrong.

I began researching and discovered the nitrogen cycle and felt terrible and responsible for the death of the original fish.
I bought a 90 litre tank and started afresh with a nice big filter.
I carried out a fishless cycle and after 7 weeks added fish gradually. (most of which are still alive 3 years later).

since discovering the leak we have discussed the possibility of building an outdoor pond.

we have a rough idea what we would like but are not sure what we need, what fish are compatible with what sizes etc..

this time instead of rushing in we are going to have a mooch around this pleasant little forum and ask millions of questions (sorry guys I need lots of help)

I can't wait to meet some of you and chat and learn....

kind regards, fran...

 

[RobAmy]

Welcome and ask away. I well thought out pond will save you money and headaches in the long run.

 

[Troutredds]

Welcome to our happy little community of ponders, Fran!

 

[sissy]

welcome and glad you joined to learn first before you jump in head first

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Fran. Welcome to gpf! We were all newbies at one point so asking questions and mooching is definitely welcomed. Hopefully you can learn a lot here. It sounds like you are one step ahead of most people starting a pond by knowing about the nitrogen cycle. Remember starting slow with less fish and bio-load is always better. Also you may want to consider only goldfish if your pond is under 1000 gallons..sorry is that like 4000 liters? because it will be much easier to care for. When planning the location look at the topography of your yard. You don't want water runoff to go in the pond and you should probably berm the edges to avoid that. Also most people find a mix of sun and shade is beneficial. You don't want to stick it underneath a big tree that will produce a lot of falling leaves in the autumn and if the pond is in the direct sun with no shade it will be harder to control the algae. Also remember that bigger is always better when planning your pond size! Good luck!

 

[Becky]

Welcome aboard! Sorry to hear about your tank leak, must have been a hard decision. What kind of pond are you thinking about building?

 

[franuk]

Thank you everyone.

We visited our local aquatics shop earlier for a look around and spotted a 500 litre pond.
It's probably going to be the biggest we can accommodate with the space we have.

The gentleman who assisted us said we would need a pump that's capable of filtering 1000 litres ph - is that about right?
He also told us we would need a UV filter - is that right?
He also said once a pond is set up we can introduce fish as quickly as 1 week later (at which point I became wary of his advice). I told him I'd prefer to fully cycle it without any fish as the principle must be the same as a fish tank and it's kinder to the fish.
He said it's easier with a pond to just throw the fish in and allow the bacteria to kick in naturally. Either way I want to get this right so any advice would be greatly welcomed.
He suggested that a 500 litre pond could accommodate about 6 fish (He recommended goldfish & shubunkin maybe 3 of each) - is that right?

is there anything else I need to get started? Obviously we are looking at taking our time with the whole process. it's likely to be next year when we get as far as introducing fish so for the time being we are just trying to get a plan together.
There is so much to think about such as exact location, weather we want it sunken or raised, waterfall or not, plants & décor.

any help, advice or suggestions are more than welcomed.

 

[sissy]

Me thinks he wants to sell you lots of stuff and fish that you will have to keep buying because the others died .1 week is not enough time .You can build your own filter but that is up to you .There are lots of filters on here that you can build and you tube has a lot of home made filters also .Throwing fish in and let it just work it's way through the process is never worth dead fish .remember fish will have babies so think ahead .

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! I think you are very wise to do your research ahead of time. Keep us posted!

 

[j.w]

franuk

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Fran, Probably just one or at the most two small fish would be okay to cycle it . Definitely not 6. You can also cycle it by adding a small amount of fish food. Also 6 fish seems like a lot for a pond of your size depending on filtration. I like to think of surface area when deciding how many fish. Sorry I don't have it in metric. 1 sq ft of surface area per inch of fish for a pond with average filtration. Also this does not include big fish like koi because a 10" koi could have the bio-mass of 100's of small fish.

 

[mtpond]

Welcome Fran.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

 

[Fishylove]

Welcome! Great to have you here!
Just keep doing your research and ask tons of questions from people. And be weary of lovely store salesmen who want to sell you things. ie: there are several factors to concider to decide if you need a uv filter- fish load, will you have plants, pond location( if your pond is in full sun it will be more difficult to control algae- but there are ways of controlling it without using uv.)

 

[CeeJayH]

Hi Fran,
Welcome, there are a few of us Brits on the site.

Are you considering a pre-formed pond or are you going to dig a hole and use a liner? Most go for the second option as it gives you more control over the size and shape, and pre-formed ponds are notoriously difficult to support properly and level.

Chris