Newbie starter questions

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Hi All,

I've inherited a beautiful pond by moving house and I'm keen to look after it. It is about 6-7 meters in diameter and is a former water tank, here in Brisbane, Australia.

It is already well established as you will see from the photos. There are hundreds of guppies, many green tree frogs (dozens of juveniles) as well as a turtle or two, and a few other insects and snails.

I had a quote from a local expert that was just too much of a stretch, he was saying that he needed 56-60 hours to bring it under control so that's where most of the expense came from.

I decided that based on the existing wildlife, I would try a couple of goldfish, so I introduced them carefully and they seem to be enjoying the space, the ability to hide, and their new environment. They have now been in there a week so I'm looking at introducing some more. My questions are less about the fish and more about what to undertake myself in improvements to the condition.

My thoughts are that the ecosystem must be pretty good to have the plants, lily pads, and wildlife that is already there but I'm keen to do what I can to attract more wildlife and to make more of a feature of it.

You'll see from the attachments that there is a lot of weed/algae and I've been removing the floating plants that I'm assuming are weeds. There is a metal grid about 45cm down across the entire pond for safety (kids falling in) but it is much deeper. I'm assuming the fish are not going down beneath it but they could and I'm sure if the algae that I see on the metal grid is widespread then I'm assuming it's below too, but maybe not due to the lack of light.

Should I use chemicals to reduce the algae, if so, where does it go? Sink to the bottom? Is that OK? Should I continue removing the floating 'weed/algae' manually before using chemicals? What chemicals?

Should I invest in a filter? Won't that clog up in hours with what I have? What would be your strategy with this pond? I'm keen to learn.

I've been advised to get the guppy (Gambusia) numbers down as they are a pest - agree?

Thank you in advance

Ben.

Photos and video:
https://www.icloud.com/photos/#0b5s30I3HK1If4jPjCYZ2SPsA
 

addy1

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Welcome to the forum!

Don't use chemicals ! They can destroy your ponds wildlife.
 

addy1

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I can't see your photos my tab won't let me, my lappy at home.

Could you attach a few here in the thread?
 
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Here are the pics, directly attached
 

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addy1

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Very nice.

The murky look, either you had rain and dirt flowed in or you need to have a better filter.
A lot of us filter with only a bog.

That floating plant, is sort of like a weed but can be removed ie a net. Blanking on the name right now.
 

addy1

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Is there a net under the water? Third pic
 
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I don't currently have a filter at all. No, that's not a net, because this used to be water tank, it's 2-3 metres deep so the previous owner has installed a metal grid about 45cm down to prevent people from drowning and more likely the need to fence it off.
 

addy1

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Aww ok. So no filter, read about bog filters , pea gravel , plants, running water, it will clear right up.
There is a long thread in the construction area of the forum .

So about 9 feet deep that is deep!
 

addy1

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The plant tried to id via my app plant net, but picture of picture not clear enough. Others will chime in.
One possibility is azolla
 

j.w

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@parabous
You have a very nice huge pond and yep you should have a filter. If you can't make a bog, which would be great, you can still find a filter that will help a lot. Hope someone will let ya know what kind of big filter you could use soon for such a big pond. Not familiar w/that plant but I know it's not Azolla as I've had that one. Looks like those are some kind of long stemmed type that have roots way under the water. Kinda neat looking but they seem to want to take over!
 
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I've just calculated that it's 100k liters which would mean a massive bog filter, I don't know that I'm up to that task! Would there be a filter capable of doing this volume of water? Could I just use an aerator? It doesn't tend to go green (the water) but there is lots of 'duck weed' and algae.

For additional context, this pond has been left alone for years with no filtration, but I guess that's why it now needs cleaning!
 
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Be careful about removing plants, as they may be keeping the algae from taking over. Can you start with a circulating pump, perhaps with a fountain for aeration, and a pre filter for larger particles. And perhaps a bio filter with some surface area for nitrifying organism growth? I would avoid using any “cleaning“ processes that might kill your well developed microorganisms and throw it out of balance. What is the water source? Have you done any water quality testing yet? What fun to have a nice old pond to manage. :)
 

YShahar

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Beautiful pond! The floating water plant that looks like a fern is Salvinia Natan, and is one of the good guys. I would definitely leave those in there.

Anything you do to get the water moving will help clear it up, and the fish will be happier as well. You could add a DIY "intake bay" by putting a small pump in a bucket of some kind and creating a narrow entrance for water to flow into it. This will help in pulling the floating algae "islands" into one place, where you can scoop it out. That stuff makes fantastic compost!

Regarding filtration, check out https://ozponds.com/diy-pond-filter/ . You should be able to set up a bog filter in planter boxes inside your pond -- just run your tubing (with perforations or slits at intervals) along the bottom of the planters and top off with gravel. The water would be pumped up through the gravel and return to the pond. Add a few plants to the gravel at the top, and voila! instant bog filter!

By the way, you can also make your whole pond into a sort of "bog filter" by running your plumbing near the bottom and adding rocks and gravel. The downside is that it would be harder to clean out than a dedicated bog filter would be. Lots of ways of filtering the water, but the first thing is to get it moving!
 
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I can't believe I've removed 75% of the Salvinia thinking it was a weed, I'm going to slow down and research more!
 

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