inherited a pond with our new house - What to do? What to do?

[JetSmooth]

Greetings. I'm Joel and we just bought a house that came with a raised deck pond. The previous homeowners said they were pretty successful in keeping goldfish in it, even wintering them there. I've drained and mucked it out as best as I could and am at the point where I'm trying to make some decisions about it.

It wraps three sides of a small deck and is about 33 inches from front to back by 63, 53, and 33 inches on each "leg". There is about two feet below ground. How do I figure out the volume of such an irregular pond? I'll try to put up a few pics when the email from my phone decides to work.

They left a pump and small box filter behind, with a lot of chemicals and some "fish food" in an unlabeled canister.

There's a "bridge" through the middle, but it essentially goes nowhere. They put a fence across the pebble walkway to the shed for some reason. I've actually been looking at aquaponics and would like to put some growing beds on the bridge.

I know I have to get started with the fish first and get the nitrogen cycle going. But that's as far as I've figured out.

I figure I'll start with goldfish and maybe change to tilapia at some point down the road (can they cohabitate?). So, how many can I start with? What sorts of plants do I need? HALP!

 

[Nepen]

Welcome!
Right now I cant imagine your pond at all so I'll wait for the picture

I think someone here (I know her name but forgot at the moment, Tuesday morning syndrome) has tilapia and goldfish together. First you need to know the volume of your pond then you can decide what type/ how many fish you want. Also the filter will play a big roll in that too.
Anya

 

[JetSmooth]

Thanks! Got some photos. I added the general dimensions to one of them.

 

[TgM]

That's pretty cool. Figure it in segments then add them together. Just google pond water volume.

http://www.hongslandscape.com/pond_calculator.php

Example
Seg 1 L= 5ft W=3ft D= 2ft
Seg 2 and so on.

Find the volume for each segment and add them together.

 

[Nepen]

It's quite a nice pond! Yea try to do it by segment. I tried and it came about 320 gallons but i did a lot of guessing and used the depth as 1.5 feet.

You should be able to build your own filter and make it blend with the pond. Do you plan on having water fall? or fountain?

 

[sissy]

Welcome and you could split it up into sections and put each section in the pond volume calculator .You would put it in as 3 sections and at least that would give you a rough idea.Get a liquid test kit and those chemicals you should not need if you do it right .A good filter and a good energy saving pump will do the job

 

[JetSmooth]

I used WolframAlpha.com to come up with some really rough estimates. Each segment is really a trapezoid, I guess. The inside lengths are shorter than the outside. And the bottom is stepped. It's about a foot down and then goes down another two feet below ground. WolframAlpha came up with roughly 660, which I'm thinking is over estimated because of the angles. So maybe it's somewhere in the 500-550 range? Bigger than I expected!

The grow beds become the filter with aquaponics. I'd fill with expanded clay or pumice gravel or something like that. I just need to find a plastic bin or two that's deep enough. Then I'll build a stand that's heavy enough to support the weight. I'll build a box around them that matches the trim.

I found a pretty good YouTube video where the guy was explaining his bell siphon method. Pump trickles a flow of water into the grow beds and fills for about 30 seconds When the water hits the top of a standpipe, the beds auto-drain, which takes about 30 seconds. They call it an "ebb and flow" method. I figure I'd add a fountain or waterfall to keep a continual agitation/oxygentation also (and mask the occasional dumping sound with a constant white noise).

 

[j.w]

Joel
Nice looking deck pond

 

[Fishylove]

Welcome! Pictures are much better than I could get in my head lol. First of all what zone are you in? Talopia are a warm water fish and would not survive over wintering. Very good for aquaponics though. Most set ups I've seen and learned about are in a greenhouse setting, so they can grow all year round. We're you planning on growing food plants? Or wanting something more like a bog?

 

[Becky]

Welcome! Great to have you here

 

[JetSmooth]

Thanks for all the welcomes.

It looks like we're in zone 7a. The pond gets a lot of light on the right side, but is pretty shaded on the other due to some tall trees and a gazebo/canopy. So that should give me a lot of flexibility in what I plant.

We definitely want to plant food. When we looked at the house, we considered filling in the pond and making it a raised planter. But it seemed like such a shame to do that if we could get it going with fish.

My plan is to fill it with water tonight and set up the pump and filter they left. Then it can run for a few days. This weekend, we'll be near the fish place that was recommended to us. We'll pick up a goldfish or two to add to the pond, maybe some plants. Then we can start an ammonia cycle. I'm just not sure where to go from there. How long before I build out the aquaponic grow beds and get some veggies growing.

Even with the tank being large, I'm thinking tilapia won't be happy in it. Someone mentioned on another forum that they prefer round tanks so they can swim in circles.

 

[Dave 54]

Looks a really nice setup personally I'd loose the bridge though apart from that it'll make a perfect home for goldfish , koi please dont be tempted with they grow way to fast for your little pond and would outgrow it in next to no time.
You could treat the filterpads with Microbe_lift PL filterpad innoculant gel which would help you kick start things cycle wise .
Chemicals and fish food wise ditch the lot in the trash they are no good once they have been opened for any amount of time and the food will have lost all its vitamins and nutrients so better to buy new there .

Dave

 

[JetSmooth]

Yeah. I'm thinking that bridge is more in the way than necessary since the path from it to the shed is now blocked by a fence.

 

[Nepen]

I like the bridge, I'll put lots of plants on it instead

 

[JetSmooth]

If it proves to be more trouble than it's worth to tear it down, it stays.

It does provide shade and I could drill holes in it to drain from the grow beds, camouflaging the pipes.