- Joined
- Aug 28, 2017
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Ocean Springs MS
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b and 9a
- Country
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?
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?