Inherited a pond but clueless

[addy1]

to our group!

Like said above clean it out, don't scrub all the good algae off the liner. Perfect time to get it in good shape, i.e. no fish. When I net the bottom of mine, I save a lot of snails, tads, dragon fly larvae, .................anything that moves.

With well water check your ph, mine is very low, when I first filled my pond, I waited 2 months, put fish in ,they died. The ph was around 5.5.

I don't use a uv, just plants to help filter via a bog. No koi, goldfish and shubunkins.

We have raccoons, I have tons of plants, they just don't bother my pond. Maybe they are afraid of the water..............lol My biggest predator is the heron, we are right in their flight path, every day one or two fly over our pond.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

Best of luck with the newly acquired pond, Susan.

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Susan Scott!

 

[Tula]

Welcome, let the ponding season begin !

 

[Susan Scott]

Thanks for the welcome greetings. This isn't the first pond owners forum I found online, but it definitely looks like the most friendly one. I always dreamed of having a pond in our old home, but we didn't own the place so it wasn't a real possibility. Having this one is an absolute delight. I'm already spending a lot of time puttering around it. Next step is to get a water test kit I guess.

 

[Dave 54]

Susan May I suggest the API pond liquid drop test kits to you , the other is Tetra Pond , I have used both over the last 28 years but really prefare them over the Tetra kits , they are less expensive too .
You'll get multiple tests out of them.
Another tip if you ever have to treat your fish with chemical treatments save money and buy the smaller bottles , it may sound like a false economy but its not Chemicals tend to loose there magic touch after being opened so why waste the chemicals left over in a large bottle .

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Susan. Welcome! Oh... the reason everyone is so friendly is that they sense you are going to get hooked just like us! GPF really stands for "garden pond fanatics" It looks like you are getting good advice already so i will just add two things. One your water will never be clean and clear until your pond "cycles". That is the process of building up beneficial bacteria (bb) that can digest all the wastes that result from the fish like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Until you have sufficient bb built up your pond will have a lot of algae and that is normal. Sometimes once it cycles the algae dissapears in one day like magic. Note that is why everone is telling you not to clean your liner because if has bb on it. Second item: Now is the time to think about making your pond a little deeper in the middle. If you get one section about 4 ft deep then your fish will have a nice place to get through the winter. The most dense water is 38 degrees and it will sit at the bottom of your pond if you make it at least 4 ft deep. I never use heaters in the winter and rely on a small air pump and a small water pump to keep a trickle going in my waterfall. If you make it a little deeper you won't have to either worry about your fish getting frozen or consider taking them indoors. Have fun with your pond and good luck!

 

[teeemkay]

We kept our waterfall running all winter and had two pond de-icers running (one high-watt one, and one low-watt one) in front of the skimmer box when it got cold enough for the pond to ice over. The water kept flowing well even beneath the layer of ice that formed over the falls, and the de-icers did their jobs--they kept a hole open in the pond and kept water flowing just fine into the skimmer box. The only disadvantage is that the high-watt heater REALLY runs up the electric bill.

As for the algae... if it's the green stringy kind, I've just been pulling some of it out by hand if it starts getting out of control. The fish are munching on some of it, so I haven't really wanted to remove every speck of it. Unfortunately my aquatic plants didn't make it through the winter, and those plants help clean/purify the water. I'm hoping once I get some new ones back into the water things will clear up a bit.

 

[Susan Scott]

Thanks for the additional information. I can use all the help I can get. I'm not sure why my pond would have to cycle. Is that something that has to happen each year after everything warms up?
There is a good layer of algae on the liner, but the water is okay. I tested the pH and that's between 7.5 and 8.5 even though the filter was off all night. I really can't make it any deeper without completely tearing up everything and it would need a new liner for the deeper size. Hubby is really, really, REALLY not wanting to add any more projects to our to-do list We have access to a large aquarium so we'll set that up in the basement and winter the fish in there.
The lines for our waterfall run on the surface so I can't really keep it going in the winter, the water would freeze in the pipes, so winter inside seems like the only answer.
The pond is pretty clean, with a bit of gunk still clinging to the bottom. Almost ready to add some fishies!

 

[addy1]

I had 3 goldfish in a tiny pond, around 18 inches deep, 6 feet long. They must be eggs that floated around, I had no clue they were there. Anyways, they survived the winter we just had, with the pond freezing to the bottom, or almost bottom.

Check into a pond breather, your fish might just do fine over winter. Keep the amount of fish low, do not get koi. Scoop out any debris in the fall.

this site has one of the lower prices. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pond-supplies/pond-de-icer/ps/c/5163/7660

My goldfish in a 1000 gallon stock tank, 2.5 feet deep all did great over the winter, with a pond breather. I turn everything off during the winter. My pump is external.