Any garden pond owners out there

clammy

Mad dog do you feed you fish alot ?Have 2 buddies with ponds one has had the same pond and fish in it for about 8 or 9 years and only feeds his fish about once a week he uses a home made filter using ridge vent materal in a 5 gallon bucket states mostly his fish live off the alage and his pond has a butterfly bush which hangs over it so it does not get full sun .While my other buddies feeds his fish every day his pond is in full sun and he 's got alage up the yin yang .I was told by some one who builds ponds for a living that full sun and daily feeding increase the the amount of debrie in the pond and will prmote alage growth 'he stated that the water also needs to be aerated by a fountain or water falls the fountain method works a little better but in most cases then the water falls they tend to get alaged up .The full sun and all the oragnic waste just feeds the alage even with suckers and snails my one buddy still has alage he's get a larger filter like a small pool filter set up but i think it won't make a difference he'll stll have alage from his habit of over feeding .On another note my buddy with the 9 year old set up lost all his fish last year to a freak hail strom the pond fill with hail and the sudden temperture drop shocked and killed his fish he was sad needless to say .Peace clammy

Mad Dog_2

Been fooling around the last few years

with the pond but I'm ready to get serious about algae control and filtration. Can anybody recommend a good UV/Bio filter brand. Thanks in advance. Mad Dog

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

The Tetra biological filters seem to work nicely. Rather large tank that sits outside the pond. They have a connection for air input (supposedly enhances the biological action) but even when mounted well above the tank they tend to start blowing off water instead of drawing air, so I wound up plugging mine.

If pump stops for more than a few hours, the filter "dies" and you have to clean thoroughly.

Have a UV sterilizer, but it's a maintenance headache and the bulbs are very expensive.

Plenty of plants seem to help. Water hyacinths are cheap and reproduce RAPIDLY. Just remember to remove them for the winter! If you forget and leave them covering the pond it will become a fetid, stinking mess with dead fish.

Mad Dog_2

I figured you would know something about this

Thanks Mike. I've tried the water hyacinths. but the pond gets a lot of sun and They kind of take over you know. I like to see most of the pond. I saw a guy last year that had a crytsal clear pound not too many plants but a real good UV filter. How expensive are those bulbs? Mad Dog

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

Believe last one I bought was about $70. They're supposed to be replaced once their output drops below 60%. Different grades (of course) and the best are good for about 8 months (one season) of constant use. Only work on single-cell algae--not the "string" types that form into clumps. If you're a touch stingy with the food, fish will graze on the string algae.

Regular, partial water changes are very good, but a pain to remember and do. Collect rain water, let tap water stand a few days, or use dechlorinator. Don't accidentially leave the fill running!!! If any chance of "boys being boys" at the pond, COMPLETELY REMOVE YOUR FILL HOSE even if you have a backflow preventer. Have lost two ponds full of BIG fish to neighborhood boys and two to myself by forgetting to turn off the fill...

The ones for outdoor ponds have low wattage compared to the sterilizers used for aquariums. They're generally used on salt water aquariums with really expensive fish and they kill nearly everything (animal and plant) that passes through them.

Mark Eatherton1

Water Hyacynth's (SP?)

Our pond is 120 gallon, kidney bean shaped, approximately 5 foot long. I use water hyacinths and Bio Clean to keep mine clean. The hyacinths are a natural sewage treatment plant. They absorb the ammonia that comes from the fish urine and that keeps the algae blooms down. The solids drop to the bottom where mother nature (BioClean)digests them. I have to pull the fish and clean the bottom about once every 5 years.

During the winter, I cover the ponds surface with 2" of XPS foam and have a stock tank heater I use to keep it from freezing. It adds about 40$ to the monthly electrical bill, but the wife has NAMES for all the fish (12) so I don't dare let them die off.

This year, I discovered that someone had inadvertently shut off the power to the pond, killing the air bubbler and the heater. Not sure how long it had been off, but I turned it back on without telling the wifey, in hopes that everything would be OK when we pulled the cover. Finally pulled the cover this spring, and they all survived. Ma Nature is a wonderful thing. We had 15 fish in the pond!

There is a natural balance that occurs with every pond. Too many fish, and things get mucked up. The fish realize this, and they kill off the weaker fish to get things back to natural neutral. There are guidelines available telling you the optimum number of fish and number and type of aquatic plants to maintain a natural balance. It's a science as much as an art.

There are also pond water clearing agents available that help suppress algae blooms.

Here's an interesting web site http://www.clearpond.com.au/water.htm

Good luck, and don't let your wife or kids name them. They become too attached to them and if and when they die off, it's too traumatic...

Also, watch out for racoons and sandhill cranes. They'll clean you out in the blink of an eye...

ME

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Bruce L.

Garden Pond

I have a 300-400 gallon pond,and algae was a big problem
until I got a u-v light.It cleared the water in stages in about a week.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

water running over rocks

also helps keep the water clean. I have a 3' stream with shallow water for the birds to drink, they won't go in water if they can't touch bottom. I think the running water also generates heat because the pond didn't freeze 2 years ago when it was 15 below zero. I had to make some rock caves in the bottom because the great blue heron's were eating my fish. Bob

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Mad Dog_2

Thanks for all the great advice guys

Forget the Wall being the sharpest guys in the industry.......how about the sharpest guys...period! What a fine resource . Mad Dog

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S Davis

Green Water

Mad Dog,

Tetra has a 8 watt UV for about $120.00 with bulbs in the $30.00 range.
I have been using one on my 1000gal pond for the last 6 years and no green water since I installed it.

S Davis

Apex Radiant Heating

bovide_4

algae-fix

you can purchase algae-fix at the pond supply, but be careful: the stuff depletes the oxygen in the pond. when used sparingly, the algae clumps for easy netting. cant go with the not feeding the fish so they eat the algae route. also, throw out the foam filter on the pump and buy the one for the huge pump-it still fits the pump inlet and doesn't muck up as quick.

Mad Dog_2

that sounds good

does it do bio -filtering as well? MD

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Mad Dog_2

Yeah I used too much of that one year and killed some

nice koi. Thanks Matt

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DanHolohan

Got

photos? Sounds lovely.

S Davis

Bio Filter

Mad Dog,

No it is just a UV clarifier, but you can make a real inexpensive bio filter, I use a plastic tub with a spillway on it that I got at the farm supply store.
I ran 1" PVC into the bottom and tee into four 1/2" PVC lines then drill holes about every inch to get even water flow up through your filter media, I use about four cubic feet of lava rock as my media.
This feeds my waterfall.
One place I found that has alot of good info is www.koivet.com

S Davis

Apex Radiant Heating

John Jr

One word

Aquascape! That's what I used on mind. Whats a wethead without a good size waterfalls and pond. All I do is add some natural enzymes and bacteria and they colonize on the rocks and bags of lava rock I have in my Biofalls.

Come home from a hard days work and have a nice drink and just watch the water.

John Jr

one word

Aquascape system! All I do is add some natural enzymes and bacteria and they colonize in the bags of lava rocks in the Biofalls and on the rocks in the ponds. The drop from the top of the falls to the bottom pond is about 17’. I have a 3 inch pipe running from the skimmer to the Biofalls box which holds about 250 gallons of water ( they make them smaller).

After a hard day at work it’s nice to come home have a nice drink and watch and listen to the water run.

A real wetheads waterfall!

Mad Dog_2

Wow! why doesn't everyone post some pics

of their ponds? Mad Dog

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

STUNNING! Ron Jr.!!!

Here's some shots in my back yard.

Hard to see the ponds for all of the plants and the one in the "hidden garden" is almost impossible to photograph well. Rails on the staircase are the "temporary" ones I installed way too long ago. Still can't settle on a permanent design. The "railing police" have made it really difficult to build something attractive that doesn't look too heavy.

West pond is about 12' x 5' x 4' deep in the center. Pond in the "New Orleans" garden is a commercial hard plastic. Pond in the "hidden garden" is about 10' x 6' with a narrow winding waterfall about 12' long and 6' in elevation.

Mad Dog_2

Boy you guys have set a high standard for ponds

Mine is very crude at this point and I'll never have the space I'd like, but it'll do ...thanks man I think its a John Jr., Mike - not Ron Jr thats how he posted. MD

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