How do I top off the pond with city water?

[tbendl]

I usually add a little bit of water to the pond every few weeks, not much, maybe an 2" or so and now that I have fish, I need some help. I have read on here that there is chlorine and chloramine to be concerned about so I had my water department send me the water quality table. It states that there is Chlorine (asC12)ppm at .31-1.75 mg/L.
Does that mean it's chlorine not chloramine?
Does that mean I can "trickle" fill to top off the pond (ie, put the hose in the bog and run at a very low rate for like 20 minutes)?
Do I need dechlorinator?
Whew, thank you

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Some folks here will tell you they top off their ponds all the time without using dechlor and don't have issues, personally I wouldn't chance it.

You really should use dechlor every time you do a water change or top off your pond. And you should treat for the total volume of water not just what you are adding (unless you add water to the pond that is already pre treated)

Something like Prime or AquaSafe will take care of chlorine, chloramine and any other heavy metals in the water.

 

[Lisak1]

You can't ever go wrong by adding dechlor so I always use it. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to use. You could also but the hose adapter that filters the water, if you don't want to worry about adding dechlorinator.

 

[tbendl]

I'm going to see if Lowe's carry it. I just add a little bit every week or other week so I didn't know if I still needed to.
Ahh it's crazy how different things become with fish.

 

[tbendl]

Ok now that leads to another question, how do I know how much water I'm adding? I mean is there an average for hose running on full for 1 minute= x gallons?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I'm going to see if Lowe's carry it. I just add a little bit every week or other week so I didn't know if I still needed to.
Ahh it's crazy how different things become with fish.

Yes, It is but it's crazy fun!

I'm not sure that Lowes will carry a water conditioner for fish. Do you have a Petsmart or PetCo near by? If your interested there are some good online aquatic supply places you can order from

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Ok now that leads to another question, how do I know how much water I'm adding? I mean is there an average for hose running on full for 1 minute= x gallons?

It does't matter how much your adding because you have to treat the whole volume of water in your pond. Example: my pond is 500 gallons and when I change water no matter how much I need to add enough dechlor to treat 500 gallons.

 

[Lisak1]

Well, I guess you have to quantify "a little bit". 100 gallons in a 4000 gallon pond probably would be fine. 500 gallons in the same pond might be a problem. And unless you meter your water it could be hard to tell. In fact, I often wonder how people know when they say they do a 10% change or a 25% change or whatever.

 

[tbendl]

Now you see my quandary. Lol I go by inches, which I guess would be easy enough to calculate, 2" by width x depth into that converter thingy that tells you gallons. But wait, I have to dechlor for the entire pond every time? I add water every 2 weeks, isn't that dumping a lot of chemicals in there?
I found aquasafe at Lowes, so I'll stop by on my way home tonight.

 

[Lisak1]

It does't matter how much your adding because you have to treat the whole volume of water in your pond. Example: my pond is 500 gallons and when I change water no matter how much I need to add enough dechlor to treat 500 gallons.

Maria - why is that? The water already in the pond does not contain chlorine, so why are you treating the whole pond? Just curious...

 

[Mmathis]

It does't matter how much your adding because you have to treat the whole volume of water in your pond. Example: my pond is 500 gallons and when I change water no matter how much I need to add enough dechlor to treat 500 gallons.

Maria - why is that? The water already in the pond does not contain chlorine, so why are you treating the whole pond? Just curious...

Same here! I never knew that, and have only ever treated for the amt. I add -- oops -- but so far have never had a problem. Guess I'll be stocking up from now on.

So WHY is that?

We have chlorine & chloramine. The product will say what it treats for on the label. I didn't know about the chloramine until I had my 1st QT. No matter what I did, my ammonia wouldn't come down -- not even with a water change........ Oh! So I checked, and there was ammonia in the tap water -- go figure! I like to use Prime [for ponds -- it's in a different concentration than that sold for aquariums].

 

[michey1st]

I recently got this digital flow meter from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/P3-P0550-Wate...pebp=1435000530083&perid=0NGXZKWMSX08QMACWJPZ

So, when I filled up my pond for the first time, I knew that I was at 1000 gallons when we stopped filling. We've since gotten 4-5 more inches in the form of rain, so I won't know how much I exactly have unless I drain to roughly where I was before and fill it, but still, it is nice to know how much water I am adding when I do end up adding more.

The other thing you can do is time how long it takes you to fill a 5 gallon bucket, and then extrapolate that time out by how long you have the hose running as you fill the pond.

 

[tbendl]

the report states it's chlorine, not chloramine so I'm assuming it is just chlorine, (although I vaguely remember reading that the chlorine can come from them adding chloramine). So if I need to call them and ask, I will but I would assume since those are 2 different chemicals, they would have them both listed on the water quality table. Yes? No?

The other thing you can do is time how long it takes you to fill a 5 gallon bucket, and then extrapolate that time out by how long you have the hose running as you fill the pond.

And that helps, I can do that.
But I'm still back to, can I add say less than 10% to the pond without treating or if I treat, do I treat the whole pond or the just the added water?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Okay ladies, I know this is going to sound lame on my part But way back when I first started keeping fish (about 15 years or so now) I was doing water changes and using only the amount of dechlor for the amount of water being added back to my tank. I was a member on a few different forums and when I mentioned that is how I was adding water back to my tank the folks there told me that it was wrong and explained why (but of course I don't remember) they explained to me that I should treat total volume of water. So that's what I have been doing for years.

I dunno *maybe* it's wrong but it's what I have been doing for years now and no problems.....

 

[tbendl]

Okay ladies, I know this is going to sound lame on my part

Not lame at all, I'm just curious as to why but I am the lamo in this scenario. Lol