Hello all! I am new to ponds for the most part but have read a lot about them I need solid advice. I have a 250 gal eye shaped pond with a 400 gal per hour pump running a small waterfall. On the intake of the pump is a beckett biofilter (has anyone had any experience with these). This filter has the bio-balls inside of it and a 5 pre-filter posts. I have 2 airstones and it has a pvc liner. The shallow parts are lined with thin flagstone to give a bit of reflectiveness at night when lit up. This was built last summer and has been filled and emptied many times to leach the bad stuff out of the bricks and it only goes above ground an inch or 2 The pond is anywhere from 18-20 inches deep in the larger part and about 8-10 inches deep around the front edges and the left side. THIS POND IS FULL SUN. I have 1 potted Mayle Lily, 2 water hyacinth, 2 bundles of parrots feather, and a dwarf papyrus in hopes of shading the top, or at least part of it but they are not growing much yet. The papyrus and lily plants are just now starting to spring up after winter. I filled it, dechlorinated it and added algae killer. Within a few weeks the pond was thick green with algae so yesterday I did an apporximately 50-70% water change, dechlorinated it and added the algae killer again. I also put in a barley bail 4 days ago so it shoud start working soon. I really want to adopt a persons 3 comet goldfish that are around 12', 10' and 8' long and I want to do this before he gives them to someone else. I bought a test kit today and my levels were se follows:
GH-60
KH-40-80 (I cant quite tell)
PH-6-6.5
No2-0
N03-0
(Temps in Denver have been ranging from 60-80 degrees wiht lots of sun)
I have read that comet goldfish are best at 7.2ish ph level and a much higher kh and gh. I was also told (by a petsmart employee who may not be credible) that these paramaters would be fine and the pond would balance itself out. I DO NOT want these fish to die so I would like any advice I can get on correcting what needs to be corrected. I know comets are pretty versatile and I do not want to be upping and downing the ph levels and every other level out there.
1. Do I need to put fish in before the biofilter has the beneficial bacteria growing? Can i put them in before I have it? Will adding the fish complete the cycle?
2. Can I put these fish in at these levels and the pond will balance itself out? (I realize i need to monitor and do partial water changes when hot)
3. It is fairly warm here but certainly not hot yet. I am guessing I dont have to worry too much about shade until around June.( its April 30 2012 today) Is this acceptable to put them in there now before shade? I think things will grow a lot in a month and a half.
4. Is there any good rules of thumb to ponds? I really dont want to kill anything.
5. Should I add some type of good bacteria to kick start the biofilter?
OH!! I have a small bullfrog that was actually a tadpole last summer. He stuck around! I also added 1 new tadpole 4 days ago.
Sorry for all the info. Just want to be specific and get the right advice
Thanks all!
Josh
Pics attached along with a few of my back yard that I created from things off of Craigslist. It was an empty pile of dirt and weeds when we bought the house.
GH-60
KH-40-80 (I cant quite tell)
PH-6-6.5
No2-0
N03-0
(Temps in Denver have been ranging from 60-80 degrees wiht lots of sun)
I have read that comet goldfish are best at 7.2ish ph level and a much higher kh and gh. I was also told (by a petsmart employee who may not be credible) that these paramaters would be fine and the pond would balance itself out. I DO NOT want these fish to die so I would like any advice I can get on correcting what needs to be corrected. I know comets are pretty versatile and I do not want to be upping and downing the ph levels and every other level out there.
1. Do I need to put fish in before the biofilter has the beneficial bacteria growing? Can i put them in before I have it? Will adding the fish complete the cycle?
2. Can I put these fish in at these levels and the pond will balance itself out? (I realize i need to monitor and do partial water changes when hot)
3. It is fairly warm here but certainly not hot yet. I am guessing I dont have to worry too much about shade until around June.( its April 30 2012 today) Is this acceptable to put them in there now before shade? I think things will grow a lot in a month and a half.
4. Is there any good rules of thumb to ponds? I really dont want to kill anything.
5. Should I add some type of good bacteria to kick start the biofilter?
OH!! I have a small bullfrog that was actually a tadpole last summer. He stuck around! I also added 1 new tadpole 4 days ago.
Sorry for all the info. Just want to be specific and get the right advice
Thanks all!
Josh
Pics attached along with a few of my back yard that I created from things off of Craigslist. It was an empty pile of dirt and weeds when we bought the house.