I just can't figure this stuff out!

[JenH]

So, any of you live near NE Indiana and wanna come tell me what to do with this mess? I'll buy the beer?! LOL. Seriously though, I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong with the whole pond thing. Aside from not having any time to mess with it for the last few months.

I should have gotten the winterizing stuff done weeks ago. it still isn't really cold here though, despite a little snow. I can still go outside with just a sweatshirt on. But I thought stuff was supposed to die in there once it starts getting cold? If that is the case shouldn't the water be pretty clear? My pond looks like a giant mud-puddle. I don't even know if my fish are still there cause I can't even see through an inch. I stopped feeding them once the temps dropped below 50, and there was plenty of plants and algae to feed them. But, like I said haven't seen them in forever. This is just the pond that the waterfall feeds into. My top pond (which is separate) is clear. Which I can't figure out to save my life cause it doesn't even have a filter. Just a little fountain pump to add some interest. I've never even added bacteria to that one.

I saw a post somewhere else in here about putting pea gravel down with pvc under it to aid to the filtering. So I went out to see how deep my pond would be if I did that. I discovered that there is tons of string algae in there. Can't see it just to look, but I stuck a stick in there to measure the depth and holy cow! How do I get all that outta there? At this point should I just leave this mess alone until spring? Or do a water change now? Seems like if I did the pea gravel thing it would help a lot with the water clarity problems I kept having all summer. But if I do that I'll only have about 15" depth above the gravel. Would that even work?

I think my filter is a little small for my pond. I don't really know why though. I hadn't found this site before I built it. But I combined the skippy filter idea with some DIY video for a waterfall weir. Essentially building something that is like this:

http://www.diywaterg...all-filter.html

Sized pretty much the same as the ones at Lowe's that were rated for a lot bigger then mine so I thought all was good.

So what should I do with all this right now for winter, and in the spring to make it better? And how do I figure out if I still have fish in there? Oh and one more thing? How do I get those dang frogs under control. They totally took over my pond this summer.

Sorry to be such an airhead with all of this......

 

[adavisus]

When waters cool off, the fish and frogs much less active, that might be a time to peak at what debris, mud needs dredging out.

Removing a little often, a bucket at a time with a sturdy net will reverse the trend of silt and sediments that have accumulated.

When they are cold the large frogs will be easier to net and relocate

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[addy1]

So, any of you live near NE Indiana and wanna come tell me what to do with this mess? I'll buy the beer?! LOL. Seriously though, I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong with the whole pond thing. Aside from not having any time to mess with it for the last few months.

I should have gotten the winterizing stuff done weeks ago. it still isn't really cold here though, despite a little snow. I can still go outside with just a sweatshirt on. But I thought stuff was supposed to die in there once it starts getting cold? If that is the case shouldn't the water be pretty clear? My pond looks like a giant mud-puddle. I don't even know if my fish are still there cause I can't even see through an inch. I stopped feeding them once the temps dropped below 50, and there was plenty of plants and algae to feed them. But, like I said haven't seen them in forever. This is just the pond that the waterfall feeds into. My top pond (which is separate) is clear. Which I can't figure out to save my life cause it doesn't even have a filter. Just a little fountain pump to add some interest. I've never even added bacteria to that one.

I saw a post somewhere else in here about putting pea gravel down with pvc under it to aid to the filtering. So I went out to see how deep my pond would be if I did that. I discovered that there is tons of string algae in there. Can't see it just to look, but I stuck a stick in there to measure the depth and holy cow! How do I get all that outta there? At this point should I just leave this mess alone until spring? Or do a water change now? Seems like if I did the pea gravel thing it would help a lot with the water clarity problems I kept having all summer. But if I do that I'll only have about 15" depth above the gravel. Would that even work?

I think my filter is a little small for my pond. I don't really know why though. I hadn't found this site before I built it. But I combined the skippy filter idea with some DIY video for a waterfall weir. Essentially building something that is like this:

http://www.diywaterg...all-filter.html

Sized pretty much the same as the ones at Lowe's that were rated for a lot bigger then mine so I thought all was good.

So what should I do with all this right now for winter, and in the spring to make it better? And how do I figure out if I still have fish in there? Oh and one more thing? How do I get those dang frogs under control. They totally took over my pond this summer.

Sorry to be such an airhead with all of this......

We all are airheads now and then.............sometimes more often than we want to admit.

The pea gravel thing is for a separate pond, ie. a bog type up flow gravel filter, you would not want to fill the bottom of your pond with gravel with pipes below it. My bog/gravel plant filter is totally separate from my pond, the pond water is piped through the filter and waterfalls back into the pond. It does a great job on keeping the pond clear, water tests in great shape.

If you have a ton of string algae you can use a toilet brush, twist it in around in the pond and pull the stuff out.

We still have plants growing and blooming, the weather has been up and down so much.

The algae takes over when the filters quit working as well.

Frogs will come as long as there is water, you could try to relocate them.

The main thing is to get any dead plants, leaves out of the pond if they are on the bottom. They will rot and cause water issues for your fish over winter. You can use a net.

 

[sissy]

the main thing everyone is saying you have a lot of work ahead of you .But the real thing you want to get done now is get that algae out of there as it will really deplete the oxygen in the water and just make the algae worse .I have been working on my yard so much lately I have ignored my pond but the algae I get on some rocks I take out and put in the tank for my new snails .You may want to invest in snails because they are hard working little machines on algae .

 

[Waterbug]

I used to clean people's ponds, I've heard this same story many times. There's 2 ways to maintain a pond.

1. Hire someone. This works for people only interested in the pond as a landscaping element. They like to feed the fish, they find the pond relaxing, to impress guests, whatever their reason. I always found these people to be very friendly and very intelligent. Just didn't have the time or interest in the hobby aspect.

2. DIY. This is the hobby aspect. Interested in all things ponds, like talking and reading about pond. Half the time their pond is kind of a mess but that's OK because we're always screwing with it and having fun.

A lot of people try to be in between. They don't want the expense of hiring a pond keeper or live in an area where they can't find one. But they also don't want to spend a lot of time reading about ponds. It's all bah, bah, bah, boring stuff. These people are pretty much screwed.

Just as an example to explain my reasoning...a gravel filter is not meant to be completely submerged. I'm sure there are some yahoos out there pushing the idea, but then there's a ton of people out there who have no idea what their talking about. Someone here might even say that is the right way. Without a high interest to do the research how is a person suppose to tell the the good ideas from crap? One "sounds" better?

We just had a thread here a couple of days ago...fish are about to die...bunch of advice given...the ponder pulls out a few bits and does about the worst possible things. Luckily the are still fish alive, Goldfish and Koi are hard to kil. But none of the actions were done with any understanding.

One more example...you have one clear pond with no filter and one that's a mud puddle. You will get tons of suggestions for adding filters, and certain filters applied correctly will indeed clear a pond, so the the suggestions are not wrong. But you have a clear pond with no filter, that should tell you something...it's not as simple as hooking up some random filter. Sorry.

My suggestion is to hire someone. In general I think most professional pond keepers are pretty bad and then people like to hire the cheapest which compounds the problem. But at least it would be their problem.

Not trying to be harsh, just trying to get you from point A to point B in as direct a route as possible. Good luck.

 

[sissy]

Thing is there are going to be times beyond your control to have the time to tend to the pond .I know as this time of the year I am busy with my yard and 3 acres of land takes time and work and when your exhausted the pond is the last thing you want to think of . Give an hour at least a week that you give to your pond and I guess just over filter it to give you less work .Think of the work on your pond as like work on a swimming pool ,it has to be done .I know there are very few companies out there in most rural areas that work on ponds .I even see more ponds being turned into more just water features with no fish or plants .If you give that a hour a week you should be ok and I know what you mean by frogs I have had to take lots of frogs down to the creek to give them a new home .I think I'm going to populate the world with frogs .

 

[Catfishnut]

2. DIY. This is the hobby aspect. Interested in all things ponds, like talking and reading about pond. Half the time their pond is kind of a mess but that's OK because we're always screwing with it and having fun.

Personally, I want to be here, in this classification. Within this category of pond engineering technicians - so to speak. I have much more fun and get more of a reward through researching, experimenting and chatting with others about it than I would if someone else just did it for me. I don't want someone else to build my sand castle on the beach, I don't want someone else to build my home, I don't want anyone to provide me with the answers at the back of the teacher's edition of the text book either.

I don't want anyone to tell me how to play in the mud!!! I want to experience it for myself. That's where the fun is!

Gordy

 

[sissy]

Very true gordy learning and doing it yourself is fun .I have gone through a lot of different kinds of filters and filter media .Learning from what other people do is the best .I may not know much but my mind is open to all things new .Just like they say one day they will build a better mouse trap .I won't buld my own house though .I guess I am a simple DIY er myself and never going to be much more ,but l love it .As I have said before in almost 9 years and not one fish dieing I guess I must be doing something right .At least I hope so .Have to ask my fish that and if they answer then I'm either crazy and need commited or I can make a lot of money off talking fish .I really hope it is the second one LOL

 

[Catfishnut]

I doubt that my previous comments were entirely constructive for JenH, but I felt like giving a "pep-talk" if you will call it that. There comes a great deal of pride and self satisfaction with just the discovery process.

JenH,

I am too new to pond technology to relay any great advice to you on this subject.

I thought, however, that I might spur you on with some words of encouragement... Rah! Rah! Rah! Go Team!!! Well, you get the point.
I think you will find the answers you need here.

Gordy

 

[sissy]

Like gordy says don't give up you will get through it we all do and since you have had no other problems don't worry .Lots of elbow grease is all you need.Ok read what you wrote jen again and again and figure the pump is adding just the right oxygen to the pond and keeping it moving and you other pond with the fish you are saying has the string algae if I'm correct .That is because there are fish in there feeding the algae and nothing to keep it down .Maybe if you just add my oxygen to the pond with the fish ,but you will still have to remove the algae by hand .Be careful none of your fish are in it when you take the algae out .I guess you don't have any pump or oxygen going into the pond with the fish .Not sure how much you want to spend to put oxygen into the pond ,another pump done the same way or an aerator would help move the water .Aerator at petco 19 dollars and has 4 outlets and I have it and mine has worked great for almost 4 years now .Or you could do what I do in the winter when I turn everything off keeps water moving and adds air .Just pvc with end cap holes drilled in it and pump hose going into .

 

[Waterbug]

I'd assume every regular member of any pond forum would be in the DIY category. But based on my experience there's probably about 100 non-DIY pond owners out there for every 1 DIY pond owner. I'm not too keen on trying to convince the form to become DIY. In general they seem to find it a bit insulting.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

I agree with Waterbug, not everybody is up to the kind of “down in the mud” work that can be involved in maintaining a pond. Jen admits that she hasn’t had the time to mess with it for the last few months and that the water is so dirty that she doesn’t even know if she still has fish. Those two statements alone tell me that if she wants to have a pond feature in her yard she should probably hire someone (who knows what they are doing) to regularly maintain it.
She also makes the statement “But I thought stuff was supposed to die in there once it starts getting cold? If that is the case shouldn't the water be pretty clear?” If you take a second to think about that Jen, what happens to stuff that dies? It starts to decay, right. How can decaying stuff, be it plant mater or fish, make your water clear?

First order of business; you need to get all the decaying stuff out of your pond, if you can’t do that yourself then hire someone. Your fish won’t like the disturbance, but then they might all be dead already anyway.

Next thing is; make sure you have adequate filtration system and water flow, and regularly service and clean whatever filter system you use.

Third; keep the muck and dead stuff out of your pond. You can’t neglect this for months at a time or you’ll be right back here again.

There is work involved in pond ownership, just like a swimming pool. Many people who own pools hire people to clean and maintain them because they either don’t have the time, or they just don’t know how,,,, or maybe both.
One thing is for certain, if a pond, or a swimming pool, gets neglected for too long it gets a lot harder to rectify.

 

[sissy]

thing is you say hire that is easier said than done in a rural area and how can you make sure you can get one you can trust and know you are getting your moneys worth .I know that people around the holidays don't have the time and of course ponds do need time .There is a big learning curve to ponding and not saying there isn't .I have a longer pond season here and still have not had cold enough temps to even shut mine down .I keep a pool net handy to muck out the bottom of my pond and it only takes a few minutes and even that will help jen .I even over oxygenate my pond to help keep water clear .A pond is not as hard core hard as anything else you might do in your life .Jen was doing it before she she can do it again .I have taken ponds a part here at abandoned properties and they were neglected for over 3 years no pump no filter no nothing and some even had koi in them .No electric in the houses and no one to even feed them .Fish can be hardy when the want to be .

 

[Waterbug]

hire someone (who knows what they are doing)

Like Sissy says, not so easy. I know almost nothing about cars. How exactly am I suppose to hire a mechanic? References? Better Business Bureau? Maybe. Try that with a pond keeper. Do you know anyone that has hired a pond keeper in your area? Do you trust them to know if the keeper is doing a good job?

A couple of homes ago I sold the house with ponds. They hired a professional pond keeper who "fixed" the pond using standard methods. One "fix" was to move the pump from the skimmer to the bottom of the pond to get rid of all the "toxic" stuff. Same crap you can read on any web site. Raccoons pulled out a hose, pump drained the pond and killed all the fish.

Should the owners blame the keeper? From their perspective the keeper did nothing wrong...the raccoon did "unexpected" damage. The owners paid the keeper to fix the damage and add more fish. If the owners came to a forum they would get plenty of posters who would say the keeper did the right thing, that the fish would have been killed by the "toxic" stuff.

The worlds largest installer and maintainer of ponds builds a pond that almost 100% of DIY pond keepers condemn. There's zero agreement among even DIY keeper as to what is good and bad.

To me hiring someone is just hit or miss. Basically the pond becomes whatever pond they want. If it happen to be one the owner likes too then great.

 

[sissy]

well I know more about cars than ponds and can fix them to a certain point and then say let the experienced people fix it .But same thing find a mechanic you can trust ,not easy .It is the same with filter media what works for one does not work for all .The same is true for DIY filters .About the only thing that everyone can agree on is depth ,go deep and size matters to a certain point .When you sell your house with a pond it is not an asset most times.Pools work the same way and so do housing tastes and kitchen and bath styles .We are never going to get everything 100% right .I have yet to see 100 % and think I never will .I wish I was perfect .well that will happen when cows jump over the moon .