New Kettle Pond

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Hi I just wanted to give a brief overview of my pond and some of the issues I've experienced. I have a large sugar kettle pond (fiberglass replica) it's round, about 6ft acrossed and maybe 2 foot deep and holds 250 gal of water. We live in coastal MS so it's hot. Right now it's about the worst heat in the mid 90s at the peek of the day and the kettle is in the sun between 9am and 5pm....so there is that. I have a 800gph pump and a canister filter that sits outside the pond with two layers of media, bio bals and a UV light. The filter is a little smaller than a 5 gal bucket. I have tubing to return to the pond in a standing Buddha that pours the water back in the kettle so I get nice waterfall effect. Let me back up a bit... I've had the pond for about 4 months. I had a smaller submerged all in one pump and filter for most of that time. I had some floating plants and two shbunkin that did great for a few weeks then my wife added 2 more fancy goldfish and everyone was dead within a week. I had constant algee blooms and could never see the bottom. Fast forward to today I've had the current setup I discribed initially for about 3 weeks. The water cleared up overnight. Crystal clear. My test were good I use the pond master test kit :
pH 7.5, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Phosphate .25
My pond buddy gave me 2 small shbunkins I added two days ago. I tested the water again and the pH was 9 and the Amonia was between .50 and 1.0 (everything else was the same) I noticed the water was still clear to the bottom but string algee was thick on the sides and on the roots of the plants. I took out about 50 gal of water trying to siphon out any trash at the bottom and added fresh tap water (conditioned in buckets before adding back). I got my Amonia down to .25. I'm hoping my new filter is just not cycled yet. I did put the new pump in the old filter box to try to transfer the bacteria and added some weekly beneficial bacteria from aquascape. Any additional advice?
 

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Meyer Jordan

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First off, this water feature needs some shade. If the fish are exposed to prolonged heat stress they will die, regardless of water quality.
Curious that the pH rose 1.5 points from 7.5 to 9 (which is the absolute upper limit for fish survival). What else was changed? Increasing the fish load should actually lower the pH.This increase in pH also greatly increases the toxicity of Ammonia especially when coupled with high water temperature.
Throw out the beneficial bacteria, they are doing absolutely nothing for your pond at this time.
 

sissy

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never add new fish to a pond that has fish .The water temperature should be taken also .All plants should have a good root cleaning and be repotted .You never know what is hiding in those roots
 
Joined
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Location
Ocean Springs MS
Hardiness Zone
8b and 9a
Country
United States
First off, this water feature needs some shade. If the fish are exposed to prolonged heat stress they will die, regardless of water quality.
Curious that the pH rose 1.5 points from 7.5 to 9 (which is the absolute upper limit for fish survival). What else was changed? Increasing the fish load should actually lower the pH.This increase in pH also greatly increases the toxicity of Ammonia especially when coupled with high water temperature.
Throw out the beneficial bacteria, they are doing absolutely nothing for your pond at this time.
I don't know about the pH nothing changed other than adding the fish as far as I can tell.
Yeah that's what I was afraid of with the heat. Plus it's a kettle so it stays up above the ground. I planted some large elephant ears to try to give some shade and they have helped. I was hoping my water hyacinths will also shade the surface they have only covered less than a 4th of the surface so far. My friend's pond is out in the sun a good bit too (who I get fish from...she has dozens and they are multiplying) but it's much bigger and deeper. I may have to resort to only having fish in the fall to spring and maybe transferring to a tank for the really hot months until I get some better shade results. I've kept fish for years in aquariums so a pond adds another level of uncontrollably to the mix.
 
Joined
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Ocean Springs MS
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United States
never add new fish to a pond that has fish .The water temperature should be taken also .All plants should have a good root cleaning and be repotted .You never know what is hiding in those roots
Yep! Lesson learned. My wife really wanted those fancy goldfish and everything seemed ok so she was supposed to bring home one but she got 3 (I think I said 2 in the introduction...now I remember it was 3). I have to remember to be extremely patient with adding fish in a new pond setup. I really should have a separate quarantine for any new fish as well. I'm sticking with the two I have now and I'm not going to add any more.
 

Mmathis

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Hello and welcome! We have another member who lives in the coastal MS area, @tbendl. I like your pond, but have to agree with the others regarding the heat. I'm in NW LA, and sometimes my water temp [and my pond is 3000 gal] can reach the 90's! That's the actual temp of the water! Plus, your pond is all black -- a heat magnet. Providing shade will help, and you have floating plants, which is good.
 

tbendl

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Yeah she got the fish from me TM. Lol I
Curious that the pH rose 1.5 points from 7.5 to 9 (which is the absolute upper limit for fish survival). What else was changed? Increasing the fish load should actually lower the pH.This increase in pH also greatly increases the toxicity of Ammonia especially when coupled with high water temperature.
Throw out the beneficial bacteria, they are doing absolutely nothing for your pond at this time.
Meyer, I wondered about the PH as well. Any chance it is from the constant deluge of rainwater? The first test she did was when she newly installed the pond and I think the latest test was right after the fish went in.
 

Meyer Jordan

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Yeah she got the fish from me TM. Lol I

Meyer, I wondered about the PH as well. Any chance it is from the constant deluge of rainwater? The first test she did was when she newly installed the pond and I think the latest test was right after the fish went in.

Considering that all rain is acid, rainfall can be ruled out.
 

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