Hi! I just found this forum, so I can actually have someone to talk to about my pond. I have a small (400ish gal) prefab pond that was in my backyard when we moved into this house about 1.5 years ago. My first spring/summer, I cleaned the pump filters, bought some goldfish, and planted a lily pad plant. It was going pretty well, had some fish loss (I assume due to predators, since fish don't run away), my lily pads grew, until late summer I was getting a lot of algae. I used some algae reducer from the pet store and ended up killing all my fish 
. So I let the pond sit over the winter (running the pump) to try again this spring. My lily pad grew back (yay!), but I still had lots of algae. I tried planting some more water plants, but they didn't grow. I just took their containers our of the pond today...the soil was smelly, maybe because I used dirt from my compost pile that wasn't quite composted enough(?). I bought a dozen Japanese Trapdoor snails and they're having lots of babies, though I'm not sure how much difference they are making with the algae. I also just did my first water change, probably about 60-70% of the water. My pH is 9, which has me concerned, though I just read to try testing it early in the morning instead of middle of the afternoon like I've been doing. Ammonia and nitrites are both 0 and phosphates are 1. My questions are 1)when should I try fish again? and 2)what should I do to get more plants to grow? I do love my little pond...its so relaxing to go out and watch it!
. So I let the pond sit over the winter (running the pump) to try again this spring. My lily pad grew back (yay!), but I still had lots of algae. I tried planting some more water plants, but they didn't grow. I just took their containers our of the pond today...the soil was smelly, maybe because I used dirt from my compost pile that wasn't quite composted enough(?). I bought a dozen Japanese Trapdoor snails and they're having lots of babies, though I'm not sure how much difference they are making with the algae. I also just did my first water change, probably about 60-70% of the water. My pH is 9, which has me concerned, though I just read to try testing it early in the morning instead of middle of the afternoon like I've been doing. Ammonia and nitrites are both 0 and phosphates are 1. My questions are 1)when should I try fish again? and 2)what should I do to get more plants to grow? I do love my little pond...its so relaxing to go out and watch it!
