My pond progression( DIY Skippy, inherited pond renovation)

[ponder630]

I bought my house last year and it came with a pond. Roughly 10 feet x 7 feet x Avg 2.5 feet. It only had a 400 gph filter box with a few foam pads and a few bio balls. Looks like a fountain kit from Home Depot. It has a few fish (3 Koi and 2 goldfish).

I managed through last year with a bunch of hyacinths, water lettuce, a floating planter with a bunch of bog type plants and a lily and that kept my water clear but had a tea color tint to it due to the leaves and muck before. I've used a ShopVac every other month to vacuum out the muck and performed my water changes with that last year.

This year, I finally settled into the house and am now focusing on this pond. I just finished building my Skippy biofilter, but still have a bunch I want to do. I still need to move this filter back a bit and rock it in, but for now I wanted it running to start the biological filtration as the weather is getting warmer.

Here is a few pictures of the pond last year:



Here are the pictures of the filter I built today. I have a 1900 GPH pump running this and I am using Koiguy's weir. So far so good, I think I may want to add a ball valve to adjust the flow into the filter and plumb the pipes through the wall too. As you can see the pond is filthy! The new pump and the waterfall kicked up all the muck on the bottom. I even cleaned the pond out last week and it "looked" clean...Boy was I wrong! I also have a 2" ball valve to back flush this and will be using this to change my water more often, I'm thinking a 60 gallon water change every week and to flush out any muck in the filter. I'll keep this up until my water clear up. Any opinions if this is too frequent?

I am trying to see if the flow is too fast. I timed a 5 gallon bucket was filled in 40 seconds. My pond is ~1000 gallons. What is ideal?



This is just the beginning and I will be adding pictures as I improve this pond more this season!

 

[addy1]

Looking nice. They say a turn over rate of once per hour is ideal, some like twice per hour. Mine does fine at around once every two hours or so.

 

[koiguy1969]

your flow is probably fine... if you want to slow the flow thru the filter you can put a tee and a ballvalve .. have 1/2 go thru the filter and the other 1/2 just go into the top of the filter so it can keep a nice flow for your waterfall.. thats what i do...1000 gph thru the filter and 2150 into the top so i get a nice 3150 gph waterfall.

 

[capewind]

Nice job.

 

[Carolyn22]

Very nice - beautiful fish.

Question for you ponder - what type of decision did the pond play in the buying of your house? I ask because I could see where something like a pond either being a real deal maker or a deal breaker. I am curious as I have seen a number of times over the years in various pond fourms 'bought home with pond.....'.

 

[ponder630]

It's been about 12 hours with the filter running and I'm seeing the clarity come back before the waterfall kicked everything up. The fish seem to be enjoying the pond with the water change, water fall, etc. They are very active this morning as you can see in the video.

View attachment IMG_3456.mov

This was yesterday when the filter was turned on:

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This is 12 hours running overnight:



The filter has some fine algae on the light grates from the pond I am guessing. Since the filter already caught so much debris I am wondering if I should backflush it today with the pond water being pumped into the down spout. Everything this hand fitted and not glued down so I can do this easily.

Seen here:

Question number 2: I did not have all this foam until the waterfall started to agitate the water. Is this DOC and if so my weekly backflush of my filter (which is a 70 gallon stock tank that has ~55-60 gallons of water) be sufficient to eliminate this issue? This does make sense that is is DOC since I did not have the ability to really change out the water easily except for the times I had my ShopVac vacuuming the bottom every month last summer.

I probably need to invest in a pond test kit, I currently have the strips and have been told they are not that accurate. This morning the pads read:
7.2 ph
Total Alkalinity: 120
Total Hadness: 250
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate was undetected


Nitrate both were undetected

 

[ponder630]

Very nice - beautiful fish.

Question for you ponder - what type of decision did the pond play in the buying of your house? I ask because I could see where something like a pond either being a real deal maker or a deal breaker. I am curious as I have seen a number of times over the years in various pond fourms 'bought home with pond.....'.

Thank you Carolyn, It wasn't a major factor. The main reason for this house purchase was pricing and it is in a top rated school district. It is an older home with the kitchen and baths re-done and in a great area of Chicago. The pond was just icing on the cake. It can be viewed from the kitchen from our kitchen table with floor to ceiling windows. The video was taken looking from the window of my kitchen so it made a great setting to view the pond at all times of day.

 

[koiguy1969]

if you want to run your plumbing thru the wall of the tank ...heres how i would do it... https://www.gardenpondforum.com/top...-hose-connectors-for-diy-filters/#entry166935

 

[Carolyn22]

Thanks Ponder - I was wondering.

Your pond is clearing up - soon it will be crystal clear. It doesn't usually take very long once it is on the way.

I would also test the KH and Ammonia in your pond.

 

[gardengimp]

I would also test the KH

Total Alkalinity IS KH

Very nice wier Koiguy.

 

[sissy]

more plants in your filter will deprive that algae from getting nutrients .I found the more plants in my filter the better that is why I did my filter bigger

 

[ponder630]

Koi guy, I was thinking of doing exactly that. I have an picked up a bulkhead but I may return it and go cheap with your parts. I already have a threaded end to PVC and a 1 1/2 barbed nipple on the other end.

Sissy, that is what I am trying to accomplish, but seems like I keep missing the shipments to water lettuce and hyacinths. Each time I go they either haven't arrived or I call and they have them in but they sell out. Seems like everyone has the same idea this time of year!

I was able to find watercress a few weeks back and it seems like they are doing well and my daughter brought home a science experiment with some type of water grass. (Not sure I'd throw any more "science projects" in my filter but this seems to be harmless. I did rinse off the roots to get rid of any excess fertilization they may have used.

What water test kits do you all recommend? I see freshwater and aquarium test kits, obviously they work in ponds but are the parameters on the kits the same for aquarium and ponds like the "ideal range" they have in the instructions? Do they sell test kits especially for ponds?

 

[Mmathis]

Very nice - beautiful fish.

Question for you ponder - what type of decision did the pond play in the buying of your house? I ask because I could see where something like a pond either being a real deal maker or a deal breaker. I am curious as I have seen a number of times over the years in various pond fourms 'bought home with pond.....'.

Funny you would bring this up as I was noticing the same thing. Seems like a good percentage of new members inherited a pond. These folks seem pleased [ or resigned ] to have the pond, but wonder how many folks are out there, with inherited ponds that we don't hear from -- who are on the opposite wall.

 

[sissy]

If you go to walmart the vegetable isle they sell potted herbs .I use them and the grasses work great and so do elephant ears and cannas .Lemon grass is great too ,smells fantastic also and sucks up the bad stuff
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[sissy]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:51120]I use api I got at pet mountain and I buy my activated charcoal there and I use crushed oyster shells