Water return from bog

[Fruit loop]

Greetings to all,

I'm sure you've heard plenty of belly aching from newbie diy pond builders so I will spare you that drama, as there is plenty of it!!

This year so far, my water is yet to see no ammonia, its been running at .5 ever since the early spring. I can't seem to figure out why. Fish are not sick (yet) because I've tried hard to make sure they have their little slime coats zipped up and rain boots on.
Nitrites look good at 0.
ph has been high alkaline until the last couple of days and now it's high acid which I'm wondering if it's killed some of the beneficial bacteria I've worked so hard to promote.
1200 gallons roughly Combined with bog and pond
I have 10 goldfish (5 are small)
Nitrates are low I have a lot of plants in the bog.

Also we had a small leak in the pvc elbow that comes from the bog back into the pond. We have to find a better solution than we had which seemed to wick also. Please see attached drawings and let us know if we are heading in the wrong direction.

Thank you so much!

 

[Mgessert]

I would reduce their feed and do 20% water changes until the ammonia comes down. Might your test reagents be expired? How long has the pond been operating?

 

[Fruit loop]

I would reduce their feed and do 20% water changes until the ammonia comes down. Might your test reagents be expired? How long has the pond been operating?

No, I wish it were that, simple! Ha !!

I have been going through a lot of api test drops because I test the water repeatedly a couple times a day.

My pond had a leak so I would keep topping it off when the water line would drop. (making sure of course to add water conditioner) so in a sense, I've been doing regular water changes.
And I've tried to be careful not to overfeed. I just dont know what else can do. I think I've been more stressed than my fish. Ha