Unexpected pond owner

[Tonja]

We looked at and bought a house in January when there was snow on the ground. After closing the previous owner told my husband not to break the ice on the goldfish pond and exsplained we were now the owners of a outdoor goldfish pond. I have tried to read up on maintaining this pond and we have done work on it. It was half anove and half below ground. We could not see any fish. We knew we lost 3 fish. So after it warmed up we started emptying it and found I think 6 about 3 inch goldfish. We put them in a container and cleaned out the hard shell liner. Dug a hole and put it in the ground. Filled it with water let it set for 24 and added the fish. There is no filter. It. Does have a pump with a frog fountain. I have sence added a couple iris, another plant,3floating plants Im not sure what they are and 12 dwarf lettuce plants. Today Im adding barley straw because the water is so green . Im not really wanting to add chemicals but not sure what else to do about it. Do we need a filter? We think its about 100 gallons. I looked on line and found the hard liner that looks like ours to determine that. So I could be very wrong. It has plant shelves so I think the formula to figure out how many gallon seems to be way too much. We are really enjoying this added surprise of this pond with our house. But really need help on maintaining it. Any and all help will be appreciateýù

 

[poconojoe]

Welcome!
A filter would certainly help. Hopefully someone here will suggest what type/size filter would be best for your size pond.
It's good that you added plants. They will live off the extra nutrients created by the fish waste. This will help reduce some of the algae growth.
Good luck and post some pictures if you can. We like pictures and they will help us help you!

 

[Tonja]

Well here is a pic. You can see the 2 barley bails. I think we are going to have to dig up the far side of the pond. It didnt seem to settle down as far. At least not on the narrow end. Guess husband didnt pack it down very well

 

[addy1]

They are hard to level. I had some preforms, finally got rid of them, dug a deeper hole and put in liner.

A small pump sending water though a pot of plants would really help with the filtering of your pond, like a mini bog.

 

[addy1]

I have a mini bog on my hot tub pond. The red arrow points to it. I pump water into the bottom of the pot filled with some pea gravel and kitty litter, planted up. It waterfalls back into the pond, cleaned up the water beautifully. And you can see a ton of other plants in the water, parrots feather, lilies, etc.

 

[j.w]

@Tonja

 

[poconojoe]

Great! A mini bog like addy did would be easy and work perfectly to keep your water clean. Instead of buying a filter, you can save money and make you're own out of a rectangular flower pot.

 

[Tonja]

Going to put together a filter with a waterfall as soon as we use all the liter from the cat litter container I want to use. LOL

 

[Tonja]

Havent been here in forever. Very frustrated with the pond. We have a filter now but the pond gets direct sunlight and you just cant keep it clean. We tried putting an umbrella over it but it still gets too much sun I guess. Tearing it all down and scrubbing is a big job to have to do 2 or 3 times a month. We love it when its clean but that doesnt last long. I'm not sure how to get around on this site very well. I'd love to do what someone was saying was a bogg but have no clue. Seems like every time we clean it there are more fish.

 

[IPA]

I couldn’t tell you anything about it but some people use dye in their ponds to cut down on algae growth.

 

[poconojoe]

By draining and cleaning your pond 2-3 times a month you are not giving it a chance to colonize beneficial bacteria within your filter. You're also preventing the growth of biofilm on the surface of your liner.

Basically you are creating what we call new pond syndrome over and over. All new ponds will suffer from this syndrome where the water turns green due to the growth of algae.

Once all the components are in place, given time (3-4 weeks) the water will clear up. But its important to include all these components. Adequate filtration with bio materials for the beneficial bacteria to colonize on, aeration, lots of plant life (planted correctly), water movement.

This is what is happening in your pond in a very basic description: the fish create waste which turns into excess nutrients and the algae is feeding off those nutrients and flourishing. Algae is a form of plant life. If you add lots of other plants, they will compete with the algae and starve it out.

You also mentioned a bog, which is an excellent way to cure your problem. I suggest you look around this forum for information on the nitrogen cycle and bog building.

 

[addy1]

the pond gets direct sunlight and you just cant keep it clean.

All of my ponds are in full sun, from daybreak to sunset. My water is crystal clear, no green water, minimal string algae if any. I only filter with a large plant filled bog. And have a ton of plants in the pond. Plants are the answer. A bog will take care of your pond beautifully.

 

[Phaewryn]

Havent been here in forever. Very frustrated with the pond. We have a filter now but the pond gets direct sunlight and you just cant keep it clean. We tried putting an umbrella over it but it still gets too much sun I guess. Tearing it all down and scrubbing is a big job to have to do 2 or 3 times a month. We love it when its clean but that doesnt last long. I'm not sure how to get around on this site very well. I'd love to do what someone was saying was a bogg but have no clue. Seems like every time we clean it there are more fish.

You are making the problem worse by tearing it down and scrubbing it "clean". Clean is the enemy in a pond. Clean = new and new = green. You have to let it cycle. It will never balance itself out of you keep emptying it and scrubbing all the beneficial algae and bacteria out of it. It's a pond, not an aquarium. Set it up with some more floating plants (I can mail you some that grow fast for the cost of shipping if you like) and leave it alone for 3 months straight. Your plants should ideally cover at least 1/3 of the pond's surface. Yours are no-where near doing that yet. If you want to speed it up, you can buy beneficial bacteria to add, but it's not going to work if you can't leave it alone.
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/products/pond-starter-bacteria
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/products/beneficial-bacteria-for-ponds-liquid
or an aquarium one also works:
https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-116012607-Stability-250ml/dp/B0002APIJG/ref=sr_1_30 (this is the one I use personally)

You didn't tell us what kind of filter you added. Knowing that would help us advise you. If you don't know what it is, can you just pull it out and take some photos of it for us? One thing you can do is place some quilt batting in a crate with holes (like a milk crate or anything that's got holes to drain the water out) and place it propped up under where your fish spits the water so the water passes through the batting. The quilt batting will filter out more of your floating algae since it appears your filter is not up to the task. See this thread (https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/filter-for-pump.15766/), 6th answer down for pic, just place something like this under where your fountain spits the water.

As for the growing population of fish, give them away! You can post them to Craigslist (in the Community/Pets section), Freecycle.org (join the groups in your area on their website and post an "OFFER"), or Facebook (Marketplace). Or you can even try doing that here, but you'll need to add your location to your profile so people know if they are local to you or not unless you want to learn to ship fish.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Havent been here in forever. Very frustrated with the pond. We have a filter now but the pond gets direct sunlight and you just cant keep it clean. We tried putting an umbrella over it but it still gets too much sun I guess. Tearing it all down and scrubbing is a big job to have to do 2 or 3 times a month. We love it when its clean but that doesnt last long. I'm not sure how to get around on this site very well. I'd love to do what someone was saying was a bogg but have no clue. Seems like every time we clean it there are more fish.

I would recommend a UV clarifier, although this may break down some of the beneficial bacteria it will definitely clear the water up, I recently bought one, and would recommend the tetra green free, it took my water from pea green to crystal clear in just 4 days! As for the spawning problem, you may just want to give the fish you don’t want away, as I know for a fact if someone came up to me and chucked a bag of goldfish at me O would wholeheartedly take them

 

[Lin]

You are making the problem worse by tearing it down and scrubbing it "clean". Clean is the enemy in a pond. Clean = new and new = green. You have to let it cycle. It will never balance itself out of you keep emptying it and scrubbing all the beneficial algae and bacteria out of it. It's a pond, not an aquarium. Set it up with some more floating plants (I can mail you some that grow fast for the cost of shipping if you like) and leave it alone for 3 months straight. Your plants should ideally cover at least 1/3 of the pond's surface. Yours are no-where near doing that yet. If you want to speed it up, you can buy beneficial bacteria to add, but it's not going to work if you can't leave it alone.
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/products/pond-starter-bacteria
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/products/beneficial-bacteria-for-ponds-liquid
or an aquarium one also works:
https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-116012607-Stability-250ml/dp/B0002APIJG/ref=sr_1_30 (this is the one I use personally)

You didn't tell us what kind of filter you added. Knowing that would help us advise you. If you don't know what it is, can you just pull it out and take some photos of it for us? One thing you can do is place some quilt batting in a crate with holes (like a milk crate or anything that's got holes to drain the water out) and place it propped up under where your fish spits the water so the water passes through the batting. The quilt batting will filter out more of your floating algae since it appears your filter is not up to the task. See this thread (https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/filter-for-pump.15766/), 6th answer down for pic, just place something like this under where your fountain spits the water.

As for the growing population of fish, give them away! You can post them to Craigslist (in the Community/Pets section), Freecycle.org (join the groups in your area on their website and post an "OFFER"), or Facebook (Marketplace). Or you can even try doing that here, but you'll need to add your location to your profile so people know if they are local to you or not unless you want to learn to ship fish.

Yes , and when the pond is really cycling properly, it will form a beautiful patina on the liner. of rich nutrients, not slimy, and wonderful for easy walking around on in the pond . It is nature's perfect cycle, "full circle of Life."