New to ponds, couple of questions....

[soxfan]

@soxfan the way I look at it is the aerator running 24/7 isn’t going to hurt anything and I leave mine going year round. Active fish need a good supply of oxygen and expel a good amount of carbon dioxide so the aerator is only going to enhance that gas exchange which is a good thing.

The skimmer really only filters debri off the surface. The main mechanical and biological filtration will be done by the biofalls so you should definitely leave it running 24/7.

Also, we’d love to see pictures of your new fish. Shubunkins are my favorite goldfish!

Will do! I will get pictures tomorrow I love them too. One of the red/white ones is chasing them all around in a mating dance. If they breed, do I get red/whites or shubunkins? LOL!

 

[Lisak1]

Right. The only difference is your skimmer is providing mechanical filtration (filtering out debris from the water) where your bio falls are providing biological filtration (removing excess nutrients from the water). I like to think of it as one removes the things you can see, the other removes the things you cannot see. Both are important, but the bio falls will be using both plant matter and bacteria to provide filtration, both of which need to stay wet to survive. Hopefully that makes sense! Bacteria will colonize your skimmer, too, (as well as every other surface inside of your pond!) but that's not it's main purpose.

 

[soxfan]

They love the deep end near the waterfall. Best pic I could get- they are small. I should have sprung for the $7 ones, but these will grow soon.....

 

[soxfan]

It was 90 degrees here yesterday and about 58 at night? I lost about an inch of water overnight- is that normal? I don't think I have a leak. My husband did hook up the UV inline with the pump and waterfall yesterday afternoon, maybe he lost some water that way?

 

[sissy]

Be careful during spawning some fish will jump and can jump out of the pond .A net over the pond will help

 

[qclabrat]

It was 90 degrees here yesterday and about 58 at night? I lost about an inch of water overnight- is that normal? I don't think I have a leak. My husband did hook up the UV inline with the pump and waterfall yesterday afternoon, maybe he lost some water that way?

check the lines for small leaks, continue to monitor levels and water quality after introducing fish. Focus this spring on getting your Nitrogen cycle worked out, after that your pond will be so much easier to maintain.

 

[soxfan]

No leaks that I can see.