Hello, I was about to post in the illness and disease sub but I thought better start here providing a bit of info on how I got till here.
I moved in September to a new house, has a garden and there was the abandoned pond.
It was filled about half capacity with a dark black water and had been abandoned for years. Being worried about having a body of water and attracting mosquitoes (leishmaniasis) I emptied and cleaned it. Fast forward a few weeks later I got the knack of starting back the pond, been an absolute beginner I got myself to YouTube and some online info and started my journey.
The pond is composed of two separate small ponds connected trough a small "tunnel". Since it has a irregular form I don't know the exact capacity it holds, I think it may be around the 1000lt mark.
I built up a DIY filter out of some online guides, one day I may do a separate post about it. It's composed of coarse foam,hard green kitchen sponge, softer sponge, filter wool, volcanic gravel and for media I have 1kg of ceramic cylinder, a bunch of small PVC corrugated pipe and those plastic balls with sponge inside. Not gonna lie, had to rearrange it a few times till it started filtering water properly. Main issue was water entering at the top and coming out from the bottom so I reverted the flow, now water comes from the bottom and once it reaches the upper part with the media it goes out. I use a 1500lt/h pump btw.
I went to my local shop to get some bacteria for starting out and I got the ones that come in powder, i think that was an issue, I'll explain.
I got 8 shubunkin and 7 comets, one of the shubunkin has some wound or illness wich I'll explain on the proper post.
Also a yellow comet, and an orange one, those two got what I thought was ammonia burns related to the bacteria not growing, the orange one it's almost black and I feel really ashamed of it... possibly because those powders aren't so good, possibly because the filter didn't have a big water flow. I corrected the water flow as mentioned and bought more bacteria. This time I went with these ones:
So far water levels seems to be fine now, at least the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates wich I test a few times a day since I got really concerned with the sick fishies
PH ranges from 7,5 to 8,5, I think it may be high
I do water changes on a weekly basis (first ones I took water from the surface, now I siphon it with a DIY hose+funnel) of 20% of capacity less or more. I use Aqua Safe, at first I filled a 40l bucket with the proper quantity of Aqua Safe but not gonna lie, lately I been tossing it in an arch in front of the hose when I refill.
For plants I have a few lilypads, papirus, vallisneria and a bright green one that I don't know the name.
If you made it till here cheers and thanks for your time!!!
I'll leave a few pictures so you get the idea. Feel free to give advice and ask any questions!
I moved in September to a new house, has a garden and there was the abandoned pond.
It was filled about half capacity with a dark black water and had been abandoned for years. Being worried about having a body of water and attracting mosquitoes (leishmaniasis) I emptied and cleaned it. Fast forward a few weeks later I got the knack of starting back the pond, been an absolute beginner I got myself to YouTube and some online info and started my journey.
The pond is composed of two separate small ponds connected trough a small "tunnel". Since it has a irregular form I don't know the exact capacity it holds, I think it may be around the 1000lt mark.
I built up a DIY filter out of some online guides, one day I may do a separate post about it. It's composed of coarse foam,hard green kitchen sponge, softer sponge, filter wool, volcanic gravel and for media I have 1kg of ceramic cylinder, a bunch of small PVC corrugated pipe and those plastic balls with sponge inside. Not gonna lie, had to rearrange it a few times till it started filtering water properly. Main issue was water entering at the top and coming out from the bottom so I reverted the flow, now water comes from the bottom and once it reaches the upper part with the media it goes out. I use a 1500lt/h pump btw.
I went to my local shop to get some bacteria for starting out and I got the ones that come in powder, i think that was an issue, I'll explain.
I got 8 shubunkin and 7 comets, one of the shubunkin has some wound or illness wich I'll explain on the proper post.
Also a yellow comet, and an orange one, those two got what I thought was ammonia burns related to the bacteria not growing, the orange one it's almost black and I feel really ashamed of it... possibly because those powders aren't so good, possibly because the filter didn't have a big water flow. I corrected the water flow as mentioned and bought more bacteria. This time I went with these ones:
So far water levels seems to be fine now, at least the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates wich I test a few times a day since I got really concerned with the sick fishies
PH ranges from 7,5 to 8,5, I think it may be high
I do water changes on a weekly basis (first ones I took water from the surface, now I siphon it with a DIY hose+funnel) of 20% of capacity less or more. I use Aqua Safe, at first I filled a 40l bucket with the proper quantity of Aqua Safe but not gonna lie, lately I been tossing it in an arch in front of the hose when I refill.
For plants I have a few lilypads, papirus, vallisneria and a bright green one that I don't know the name.
If you made it till here cheers and thanks for your time!!!
I'll leave a few pictures so you get the idea. Feel free to give advice and ask any questions!
