My new goldfish pond build

[CometKeith]

Thanks JW. They looked happier this morning. Maybe the only issue is they don't know what to do with all the extra room! Here is a picture I took this morning. The liner is started to get a little residue on it. It looked more like a fish pond today than it did yesterday!

 

[Mmathis]

@CometKeith What is that tree-like plant on the left side?

 

[cas]

Looking good! Where is that huge water lily? You didn't leave that at the old house did you?

 

[CometKeith]

That's my hat palm tree. I've had it like 6 or 7 years. It's tropical but seems to do fine in Chicago. Cas. Yes I left it. the new owners wanted to know what I was taking and I told them only the hat palm. It would be hard to take it now.

hmm.... Tonight is my last night here. I saw a bunch of fish swimming around my old pond. I knew I didn't get them all but was surprised actually how many were left. I'm guessing at least 10 including some that I really liked. They were zipping around the pond like crazy. So do I just chalk it up as to a nice gift to a 9 year old boy? I guess if i want to be sad it would be leaving our wonderful home and all the good memories. I'm sure it will be nice where we are moving to but it will be different.

 

[Lisak1]

He has a 92 mph fastball and is hoping to go pro.

@CometKeith did your grandson pitch at SHS?

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Lisak. Yes my nephew. JS. Do you know him? Feel free to send me a private message so we can chat!

 

[Lisak1]

Ah! Nephew! Sorry - don't know where I got grandson from! I've got grandkids on the brain!

I don't know him, but I know of him. My boys all played high school ball in the same conference. Mine are all out of college now and done with baseball (sadly!) but I still enjoy keeping up with the teams that were our rivals - I've definitely heard about your nephew! Good luck to him!

 

[addy1]

You will have new fish you like! The 9 year old will be tickled with them.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Lisak. He played ball in the Hamptons and Cape Cod league over the summer. It's pretty exciting he is going to try to make baseball work for him. Our youngest daughter just graduated for U of I as an engineer so all our children are doing well.
Thank's Addy. Here I am sitting on the floor of our new temporary quarters on the internet because the internet and my laptop are the only things here so far. For me to worry about a few fish seems pretty ridiculous and I think your right the kid will enjoy having the fish a lot. When his parents looked at the house he asked if he could sit by the pond and watch the fish after the showing!

 

[addy1]

When his parents looked at the house he asked if he could sit by the pond and watch the fish after the showing!

That makes it worth it! The kid is in heaven!!

 

[CometKeith]

Well yesterday I finally tracked down the fish food after the move and was able to feed my fish. They all seemed very interested in eating. One thing I did notice is they were not swimming a lot. I think it has do do with coming from a pond that was mostly covered with plants to a pond that is mostly not covered. I don't think they like being so visible. I can see the liner is slowly getting an algae film so that is good.

 

[Mmathis]

@CometKeith Boy, it didn't take long for the algae to find the liner!

 

[tbendl]

Oh my goodness you've been super busy. It looks fantastic! It looks like everyone survived the move and is going to be fine. I hope you are enjoying the new adventure amidst all the stress.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Mmathis. I think it was helpful to get the new bio-filter started on the old pond. Honestly I think the water quality is very good. I think it's probably helpful that my water volume increased 4 fold with maybe only 75% of the bio-load from the old pond. My biggest concerns were how long it would take to cycle the new pond, and to make sure the new pond water was well oxygenated. I think so far the dissolved O2 levels are okay and the algae levels are definitely in control and slowly building on the liner. I can't believe ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate would be a huge issue with the large volume and low bio-mass and the fact I introduced a somewhat seasoned bio-filter in the system right away. despite my apprehensions of introducing fish into a pond 24 hours old. So far things seem good. Also I have not been overfeeding them which is probably good. it took 4 days before I could even find the food after the move let alone feed them and now have only fed them once a day for two days in a row because I am living 5 miles from the pond.

Thanks Tbendl. Well the move was virtually a nightmare. It took almost 12 hours the first day and then continued to the evening the second day with multiple trips to our storage, old home, and new residence. The "moving" company if you want to call them that grossly underestimated the time and resources needed for our move and as a result some of our nicest pieces of furniture were damaged by "movers" attempting to get things done in a reasonable time. To top it off my wife and I feel like we are living like students in our new temporary quarters until our new place is ready. We didn't seem to notice the electricity is grossly inadequate with mostly pull chains instead of switches for overhead lighting in most rooms and only one electric outlet per room. My wife who is not very tall needs to carry around a step-stool to turn certain lights on and off. Also the landlord was nice enough to refinish the floor but neglected to open any windows before we moved in and it has been difficult to breathe. We got a nice check when we sold our house but it is taking a definite adjustment to how things are now!

 

[Mmathis]

@CometKeith About 2 years ago I completely rebuilt my pond. I had a very mature 100 gal. Skippy filter. My "holding tank" was a 300 gal. Rubbermaid tank. I estimated I had about 30-40 goldfish, including a bunch of small fry. I also estimated that the fish would be there several months while we worked on the pond.

I had a system worked out for transferring everything -- which had to be done twice: once moving TO the stock tank, and then moving back to the pond. That took some coordination, but got it done. With a 3000 gal pond to move the fish back to, I wasn't too worried about the bio-filter, but I was concerned about moving 30-40 fish into the 300 gal stock tank on the initial move.

Well, during the whole ordeal (3-4 months), I didn't lose a single fish, and my water parameters all stayed well WNL in both the "holding tank" and once they were back in the pond, and there was never even a sign of "new pond" once the pond was started back. I was really surprised at the "holding tank" as I 100% expected to be doing many, many water changes due to elevated ammonia levels.......!