***The Pond Discussion Thread****

[NickK]

Well 7,500 litres so far on the fill and in the next 10 mins will start touching the bottom of the window glass. I stopped the fill over night as I want to see the water and the window..

What is good is if there's a problem with the window resulting in a catastrophic event.. there will still be 7,500l of water for the fish to sit in.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

You folks need some lillys and reeds in the pond, natural cycle will begin when you add plants.

 

[NickK]

End of the fill today..

10200 litres.. so I think I have a good 2000-3000 litres to go not including filter or pipes.

 

[father-ted]

You folks need some lillys and reeds in the pond, natural cycle will begin when you add plants.

I have some plants in floating beds in mine....didn't stop my issue though.....which is hopefully well on the mend now

 

[father-ted]

Looking good that Nick, looking forward to seeing it with fish in

 

[Deleted member 77746]

don't forget it's cold for the fish so they will go to the deepest part of the pond. If it's shallow you 100% need something over the top otherwise they won't be there next time you check if something flying by sees the pond.

 

[NickK]

don't forget it's cold for the fish so they will go to the deepest part of the pond. If it's shallow you 100% need something over the top otherwise they won't be there next time you check if something flying by sees the pond.

184cm water depth.

 

[father-ted]

Update on my water issue - it is getting much better and the fish are looking a lot happier:
PH: 7.5
NH: 0.2
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 30
KH: 7
GH: 12

 

[father-ted]

184cm water depth.

Roughly the same as mine

 

[NickK]

Roughly the same as mine

Also the bottom drain aeration churns the surface. Still, I may end up putting something in for them to use as cover.

 

[father-ted]

I have a few floating beds with plants in 3 corners.
Makes it look a lot more natural and does give them some extra cover.

 

[father-ted]

Pond update:
Been cycling 20% of the pond water daily to get everything back under control.
All levels now 'good', so just a matter of maintaining.
Adding small amounts of bicarb daily now has the PH stable between 8-8.5
Fish look a lot happier and water crystal clear again.

Main thing I have noticed is the fish are a lot more active now, swimming around the pond a lot more rather than sat stationary.
Water temp has risen slightly to 8 degrees though, so that is probably why (mild weather for this time of year).

 

[NickK]

Pond update:
Been cycling 20% of the pond water daily to get everything back under control.
All levels now 'good', so just a matter of maintaining.
Adding small amounts of bicarb daily now has the PH stable between 8-8.5
Fish look a lot happier and water crystal clear again.

Main thing I have noticed is the fish are a lot more active now, swimming around the pond a lot more rather than sat stationary.
Water temp has risen slightly to 8 degrees though, so that is probably why (mild weather for this time of year).

That’s good news. I agree the warming up has probably got them searching for food. A bit of wheatgerm should keep them going without causing a problem.

 

[father-ted]

I gave them a small amount of wheatgerm earlier, they soon polished it off

 

[father-ted]

My PH is sitting consistently at 8.5 now.
I have reduced the bicarb to every 2nd day and it is still at that level.
Will keep monitoring weekly and if it starts to dip again I will do the bicarb daily.

 

[kindai]

I have reduced the bicarb to every 2nd day and it is still at that level.

Whats your KH at?

 

[father-ted]

KH is 7

 

[father-ted]

Just done a full water test this morning, the water is now far better than when I was having issues and the fish all seem fine now:
PH:8 / Ammonia: 0.1 / Nitrite:0 / Nitrate:5 / KH:7 / GH:12

Is the high GH going to cause any problems? What do I need to do to bring it down?

Thanks

 

[kindai]

Just done a full water test this morning, the water is now far better than when I was having issues and the fish all seem fine now:
PH:8 / Ammonia: 0.1 / Nitrite:0 / Nitrate:5 / KH:7 / GH:12

Is the high GH going to cause any problems? What do I need to do to bring it down?

Thanks

Its fine. GH is only something you need to watch if you are producing and growing award winning koi.

But those values are 100x better than they were.


Just work out your bicarb dose interval to keep things stable and you'll have a happy pond forever more.

 

[father-ted]

I am bicarb dosing every 2nd day at the moment.
It is very cold outside so will probably have to do it daily in Summer when the water is warm.