Couple of pond questions (UPDATE........finished pond pics)

[Anonymous]

Well today I went out with the intention of remodeling my waterfall and by the time I was done I had removed the whole pond and dug a huge hole for a new pond using a rubber liner.

Shocked

Should have just left the friggin thing alone.

Anyways......now I am boned so I am trying to come up with some ideas on short notice to make the most of what right now seems like a lot of work I really didn't need.

These are the things I am wondering about.

The waterfall........options and/or things to make sure I do or don't do to avoid a constant PITA situation.

The bottom.......leave it bare liner or put small pebble like stones? The big pond dealer around here puts stone on the bottom of all his ponds but to me that would make clean up a *****.

The pump..........I want this thing to move some serious water so anyone know of a good pump option?

Algae control tips always welcome Smile


Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Anonymous]

As you already know the key to pond algae control is establishing plant life you like right from the start. One guy in our local club built a pond with a refugium pond feeding it as filtration. Just like we do with reef tanks/refugiums only on a much larger scale. He was extremely happy with it and actually enjoyed seeing the diverse life in the refugium pond more than the display pond. Just an idea.


note to self. watchout should you ever decide to build a pond. LOL.

 

[Anonymous]

As you already know the key to pond algae control is establishing plant life you like right from the start. One guy in our local club built a pond with a refugium pond feeding it as filtration. Just like we do with reef tanks/refugiums only on a much larger scale. He was extremely happy with it and actually enjoyed seeing the diverse life in the refugium pond more than the display pond. Just an idea.


note to self. watchout should you ever decide to build a pond. LOL.

:lol: :roll:


the key to algae control is to make sure the buildup of nutrients does not allow a food source for algae to be established-it is more than possible to get algae growth in spite of heavy plant growth, if the nutrient production of the system exceeds that of the plants nutrient uptake ability

 

[brandon4291]

If it were mine I'd stock the koi/fish carefully to allow for generous growth and feeding/waste allotments. Plant nicely for visual pleasure in my opinion...yes they fix nitrogen but not at a rate that typically outpaces the fat koi you are likely craving...in order for plant growth to be the sole source of filtration the stocking needs to be light and heavy growth/pruning would be required--which is not your typical decorative type plant's intention. A pong full of hygrophila or hortwort/egeria densa would do the trick, but those are considered pesky weeds due to their ability to choke out space in the pond. Now that's more along the lines of heavy natural filtration--but it won't have the aquascaping and visual clarity most pondkeepers desire and heavy pruning would be another form of work. I prefer to rely 30% on plant fixation and 70% on sunlight/nutrient consideration/system design (uv's) for algae control.

Denser stockings are possible but require more maintenance compared to lightly-stocked ponds...algae control in the making. Also, although not required, a giant UV sterilizer is a really really good cheat and doesn't hurt anything in a pond system. We have ran one on my grandmothers 15K gallon pond (quite a doozie for sure). It keeps all algae at bay considering the pond isn't serviced as it should be, and has at least 10-15 15lb koi (all grown from fingerlings) and way too many pond comet goldfish.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, it took me a couple days to get it right but I finished it and am pretty happy with how it came out. My fingers are so dry and sore from handling all those rocks it's rediculous...........started wearing gloves a little too late.

Here are the specs.

6 feet long
5 feet wide
2 1/2 feet deep with a shelf on the right at 18 inches
Roughly 500 gallons of water
Pondsweep Purifalls filter/waterfalls
Tetra canister
Pondmaster 3600 pump by Danner
MAG 500 running the Tetra
1500 lbs of flagstone

The Purifalls is GREAT.........it has 2 layers of weaved foam as a mechanical prefilter, then a big bag you can fill with anything.......I used bio-balls......and you can top it off by setting your pond plants right on top but for now I put a few bags of carbon and some barley straw in there instead. The Tetra canister has a foam prefilter and is full of Bio-balls. I through some carbon in there as well.

Here is a pic of how the Purifalls works.

So far so good.

Thanks again you guys..........If you have any other advice for more long term care I would love to hear it........especially plant choices. I am going to wait on putting a UV sterilizer on it because it only gets morning sun and I want to see how the algae goes with the current filtration and some plants before I decide.

This was my pond BEFORE........all I meant to do was straighten the waterfalls a little and next thing I knew I was going postal with a shovel.

Here is the new pond.

 

[Anonymous]

nice job, salty 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Question...........

Should I just go ahead and put a UV sterilizer on my pond and be done with it??

I had a spat of green water for about a week and I was not very pleased. I have since boosted the biofiltration with with bacteria and used some Clarity Max Plus and and Accu-Clear to flocculate out some of the algae as a quick fix.

The water is now almost clear again.......I can see the bottom but it is not crystal clear for sure. I have about 40 snails in there so I don't mind some algae but I don't want green water.

I just don't want to be CONSTANTLY adding chemicals to combat the algae blooms.

Should I wait and give it some time to settle in and stabilize with the new bacteria or will I be fighting this problem regularly and should just get the UV??


Here is some info

Approx 600 gallons
Purifalls waterfall LOADED with bioballs and bags of carbon.
Purifalls has a double mechanical prefilter as well.
Tetra PF-1 canister with 2 prefilters and bioballs.
Plants are Hyacinth and oxygenators.
Pump to waterfall is 3600 gph.
Pump to Tetra is 350 gph.
Fish load is high.

Fish are all very active and healthy and everything about the pond is perfect..............just want the water to STAY clear.

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

just add the UV


you should also run some phosguard (available in 50lb. bags) for better long term solution for the source problem correction

snails only add to the overall algae issue/production :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

just add the UV


you should also run some phosguard (available in 50lb. bags) for better long term solution for the source problem correction

snails only add to the overall algae issue/production :wink:

I added a Tetra UV today

I can pick up some Phosguard and fill a media bag with it and toss it in either the Tetra canister or the Purifalls.

How/why do the snails contribute to the algae production??........Just by the waste they produce??

Here is a pic I just took.......you can see the fish in the water but it isn't crystal clear.......check out how much that little cherry tree filled in.....it covers the falls pretty nicely.

 

[Anonymous]

Barely bail. Add a bag of that to your purifalls. That and UV is just about all you should need. I occasionally use Algea Fix is string algea starts apprearing. I just bought my second bottle and my pond is about a year and half old.

 

[Anonymous]

app 90% of the phosphate in algae that a snail eats is recycled back into the snailpoop, to feed more algae

using an animal to control algae is like putting a fire out w/gasoline :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Barely bail. Add a bag of that to your purifalls.

They have so many products now that contain barley in powder form that I doubt I will throw in a barley bail. Clarity Max Plus is a sweet little formula.........little pricey though.

I have the UV running and I used some MicrobeLift to boost the biofilters (Lovely rotten egg smell) and I think I will be fine. Found a big tub of Phosguard in the attic and will add a bag of that today. Plants are starting to spread and everything looks tip-top.

I think I may get a bigger pump for the UV/Tetra line........I plumbed the UV in-line and I think I could get away with more flow.


Damn snail poop :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Don't even know why I hesitated for a second to put the UV on there. Took me about 5 minutes to plumb in and my water is crystal clear again.

My water was on it's way to clearing up anyways but now I know I won't have to worry about it at all.

Now I just have to be sure I don't let the clear water lull me into assuming the water quality is perfect.