I need help and suggestions!

[addy1]

Don't stress about it sissy, i can always get some petsmart fish, I am not fussy, only requirement is that they can swim!

 

[sissy]

As they get bigger they get easier to catch and they do look like the calico fantails by the shape of there bodies ,well some of them do anyway .

 

[DrDave]

If fish stores went by all these tables, they would have to get rid of 90% of their inventory.
If you know what you are doing, you don' t need any tables.

 

[CometKeith]

Yes Dr. Dave you are totally right, but their are a lot of newbies that add way too many fish to their ponds. I think there is a disease named for it something like addafishites. Mygeez, the beneficial bacteria needs at least 50 degrees to survive. Also uv light can have a detrimental affect on the bacteria so you may want to wait a while!

 

[koiguy1969]

U.V has little or no effect on good bacteria...good (aerobic)bacteria colonizes surfaces. this is why you want lots of surface area on your biofilters media(s). for bacterial colonization.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks koiguy for the correction. Thats why the internet in general is so bad and this forum in general is so great. I read something somewhere about uv light and bacteria and had the mistaken impression that uv light would hurt the beneficial bacteria. I am going to plug mine in this weekend.

 

[mgeez]

Update to my original post:

The uv light is clearing up the green water, I re-engineered the bio filter, with a drain. I found out that the brownish water color was probably because i used plain potting soil when i put all the plants in last year. I am repotting everything right now. I do have a recurring foam problem which you can see in the attached pics. I am hoping once the bio-filter starts working 100%, the foam will be gone. It seems to be the general concensus that the green water was my biggest problem as far as zero plant growth last year. Thanks to all that helped! Pictures of my pond(s) attached.

 

[stroppy]

well thats a very nice looking pond :0) hopefully your new designed filter will help ...have you tried lilies in your pond as they give more surface cover ...as it looks like you get a lot of sun ? also you havent mentioned if you do water changes or how often ?...

 

[mgeez]

well thats a very nice looking pond :0) hopefully your new designed filter will help ...have you tried lilies in your pond as they give more surface cover ...as it looks like you get a lot of sun ? also you havent mentioned if you do water changes or how often ?...

Yes, we tried lillies. That was the reason i started this thread. They never really "took off" last year. From everything I have been told the last 3 weeks, problem was probably too much green algae, inadequate fertilization, and the bio filter clogged.
No, I do not do water changes, but just this past weekend, I piped the house rain gutters to the pond. Hopefully the intr of rain water will help.

 

[fishin4cars]

Yes, we tried lillies. That was the reason i started this thread. They never really "took off" last year. From everything I have been told the last 3 weeks, problem was probably too much green algae, inadequate fertilization, and the bio filter clogged.
No, I do not do water changes, but just this past weekend, I piped the house rain gutters to the pond. Hopefully the intr of rain water will help.

Piping the house gutters to the pond, Do you have a shingle roof? If so, that is probably not a great idea, If your using a metal roof or a type of roof that does not contain tar and chemicals that could be bad for fish then GREAT idea.

I don't think too much green algae stopped your plants from growing. Algae compete for nutrients that the lilies want too. But if the Algae is growing then that means there is still enough nutrients there for the liliy's too. inadequare fertitizer? again, this really doesn't stop them from growing this stops them from grwoing as big and reduces #'s of blooms. I've had lilies that I didn't feed at all grow and bloom, I've seen way to many green ponds growing lilies. Bio-filter clogged, I have to ask, was the water going thru the filter and back to the pond? If so, that's enough for plant growth, Fish on the other hand a different story.
Ok, lets move to fish, what kind do you have? A quick guess, KOI? Are they large? over 12", if so, I bet that's your problem with the plants. Second, how many? Third, The foam is a indicator of dissolved organic matter. Best way to remove it, water changes, second best, keep your filter working at it's peak performance, third way is to make, buy, or obtain a protien skimmer. It will help but the root of the problem needs to be found and addressed to get it all working correctly.
Back to, How many fish are in the pond and how large? How often are they being fed? What are they being fed? what are the water conditions in the pond, PH, Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, hardness?
looking at your set up, if you have Koi, Try growing all your lilies and such in the upper ponds/bog, Try planting plants in the lower pond that the leaves can completely emerge out of the water. Examples, taros, Irises, Cyprus, thalia's. arrowheads. These grow great root systems and most can be planted right in the rocks with no need for pots, the roots use the nutrients, the leaves grow out of reach for the koi to eat. Also try a floating plant in the upper pond, Hyacinths, or Water lettuce. once it really starts taking off in the upper pond move it down to the big pond, natural food for the fish, some may take off and grow, and it provides shade. can't start it in the main pond though. If you have those KOI we were talking about earlier, They will eat the roots off the first ones you put in, that's almost a quarantee they will eat the first few bunches until you get enough in there for some to go unnoticed. you have a really nice pond, Your just going to have to tweek a little on a few things and it should be clear, healthy and full of growth, Fishes and plants and all the other wonderful and NOT so wonderful wildlife will be enjoying it.

 

[mgeez]

Piping the house gutters to the pond, Do you have a shingle roof? If so, that is probably not a great idea, If your using a metal roof or a type of roof that does not contain tar and chemicals that could be bad for fish then GREAT idea.

I don't think too much green algae stopped your plants from growing. Algae compete for nutrients that the lilies want too. But if the Algae is growing then that means there is still enough nutrients there for the liliy's too. inadequare fertitizer? again, this really doesn't stop them from growing this stops them from grwoing as big and reduces #'s of blooms. I've had lilies that I didn't feed at all grow and bloom, I've seen way to many green ponds growing lilies. Bio-filter clogged, I have to ask, was the water going thru the filter and back to the pond? If so, that's enough for plant growth, Fish on the other hand a different story.
Ok, lets move to fish, what kind do you have? A quick guess, KOI? Are they large? over 12", if so, I bet that's your problem with the plants. Second, how many? Third, The foam is a indicator of dissolved organic matter. Best way to remove it, water changes, second best, keep your filter working at it's peak performance, third way is to make, buy, or obtain a protien skimmer. It will help but the root of the problem needs to be found and addressed to get it all working correctly.
Back to, How many fish are in the pond and how large? How often are they being fed? What are they being fed? what are the water conditions in the pond, PH, Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, hardness?
looking at your set up, if you have Koi, Try growing all your lilies and such in the upper ponds/bog, Try planting plants in the lower pond that the leaves can completely emerge out of the water. Examples, taros, Irises, Cyprus, thalia's. arrowheads. These grow great root systems and most can be planted right in the rocks with no need for pots, the roots use the nutrients, the leaves grow out of reach for the koi to eat. Also try a floating plant in the upper pond, Hyacinths, or Water lettuce. once it really starts taking off in the upper pond move it down to the big pond, natural food for the fish, some may take off and grow, and it provides shade. can't start it in the main pond though. If you have those KOI we were talking about earlier, They will eat the roots off the first ones you put in, that's almost a quarantee they will eat the first few bunches until you get enough in there for some to go unnoticed. you have a really nice pond, Your just going to have to tweek a little on a few things and it should be clear, healthy and full of growth, Fishes and plants and all the other wonderful and NOT so wonderful wildlife will be enjoying it.

Thanks, fishin.
Yes we do have koi, 2 over 12", 4 10", and numerous smaller. Yes, koi might be the problem. Iris grew pretty good, lotus and lillies, just marginally grew.Filter was not at peak efficiency. Water tested OK. Yes we feed too much!

mark

 

[fishin4cars]

Thanks, fishin.
Yes we do have koi, 2 over 12", 4 10", and numerous smaller. Yes, koi might be the problem. Iris grew pretty good, lotus and lillies, just marginally grew.Filter was not at peak efficiency. Water tested OK. Yes we feed too much!

mark

Mark, I think you can see where your problems now exist. Feeding to much, simple solution, cut your feedings down, smaller portions and feed two or three times a day. Try your lilies up the that upper section of pond, they will do much better, I know there is quite a bit of water movement there but as long as there isn't a lot of splashing on the leaves they should do fine, small koi under about 6-8" usually don't bother plants nearly as bad. If you must keep fish with the lilies try and use small koi or Goldies in there. If it possible try and flush your filter and get out as much solid waste as possible. leaves, fish waste left over food, even plant leaves from the plants themselves add to the organic waste, removing as much as possible without killing the bacteria bed will definitely help. you also may want to try using a micro-lift bacteria product like this or similar ( http://www.microbeliftstore.com/home/ml1/page_13_30/microbe_lift_spring_cleaner.html )
This will help renew your bacteria bed, help remove some of the sludge build-up and really give your pond a overall boost in performance. last but not least, some water changes would really probably benefit you greatly. Just a 10% weekly can reduce the dissolved organics in the pond greatly rducing the foam your seeing and should help get your water back to crystal clear in no time.

 

[mgeez]

I did my 1st filter flush w/ the newly designed filter. I was real happy with the solids that flushed out. Do I rinse off the filter media, pvc shavings, with a hose and pond water. Will that rinse away the good bacteria?

 

[sissy]

great looking pond and property I could tell it was PA green green green lol .Have you used oyster shells yet to buffer your water and I just use pea gravel for my plants because my koi root right through the clay they put in pond plants and make a mess too.I rinse my filters there but not much rinsing just a little and I leave 1 or 2 filters unrinsed

 

[sissy]

forgot now I use a dirty water pump in the bottom of my filters as the drain I had was a pain to get too and I just plug it in rinse water through the top of the filter to the bottom for a few minutes and then while I'm doing that I do a 10% water change and it works great takes about 10 minutes or so and do not have to take filters out .I'm now doing this to the other filter but cannot get a dirty water pump as cheap as I got the last one . Open damaged boxes great and 5 dollars for extended warranty golden harbor freight great.I have never used a uv and my pond is in total sunlight knock on wood lol