New Pond Owner - Maintenance Question...

[Vinnie Murdico]

We just built a new, small (above-ground) pond inside our screened patio
here in Florida. It will *not* contain fish or plants -- it will just be a
simple pond with a waterfall. The pond holds approximately 75-100 gallons
of water (city water). It has a 170 gph pump that is running all the time
to circulate the water via a small multi-shelf waterfall.

Can anyone suggest any good web sites where I can learn more about the
required water maintenance for a pond without fish or plants?

Thanks,
Vinnie Murdico

[BenignVanilla]

"Vinnie Murdico" > wrote in
message t...
> We just built a new, small (above-ground) pond inside our screened patio
> here in Florida. It will *not* contain fish or plants -- it will just be a
> simple pond with a waterfall.
<snip>

We'll see how long that lasts. :) Oh, we'll just put one in...and a
lily...ooh what are those?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

[Vinnie Murdico]

> We'll see how long that lasts. :) Oh, we'll just put one in...and a
> lily...ooh what are those?

You're probably right -- my wife has already mentioned some plants :-)

But the problem I'm having is that every web site or newsgroup article I
read talks about managing water such that it will support fish and plant
life, which (right now) I don't have, so I'm not sure if I would need to do
all those things: (i.e. dechlorinate, balance pH, treat for scale, etc.).

We have a hot tub so I have an idea how to some of do these water
maintenance things, but I don't want to do something that isn't necessary or
that might gunk up the water because some chemical really wasn't needed.

Thanks,
-- Vinnie

[[email protected]]

you want absolutely crystal clear water just get an ozonator ... forget the chlorine,
bromine or bleach. our spa is always crystal clear with our ozonator. Ingrid

"Vinnie Murdico" > wrote:

>We just built a new, small (above-ground) pond inside our screened patio
>here in Florida. It will *not* contain fish or plants -- it will just be a
>simple pond with a waterfall. The pond holds approximately 75-100 gallons
>of water (city water). It has a 170 gph pump that is running all the time
>to circulate the water via a small multi-shelf waterfall.
>
>Can anyone suggest any good web sites where I can learn more about the
>required water maintenance for a pond without fish or plants?
>
>Thanks,
>Vinnie Murdico
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Vinnie Murdico]

> you want absolutely crystal clear water just get an ozonator ... forget
the chlorine,
> bromine or bleach. our spa is always crystal clear with our ozonator.
Ingrid

Does this mean I should treat the water in the pond the way I treat the
water in the spa?

-- Vinnie

[Andy Hill]

"Vinnie Murdico" > wrote:
>We just built a new, small (above-ground) pond inside our screened patio
>here in Florida. It will *not* contain fish or plants -- it will just be a
>simple pond with a waterfall. The pond holds approximately 75-100 gallons
>of water (city water). It has a 170 gph pump that is running all the time
>to circulate the water via a small multi-shelf waterfall.
>
>Can anyone suggest any good web sites where I can learn more about the
>required water maintenance for a pond without fish or plants?
>
With no fish or plants, I'd just treat it like a small swimming pool (without
the chlorination...just some algacide on occasion). Other than topping off the
water, I can't see how a lot of maintenance would be required for something
indoors.

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:10:04 -0700
Andy Hill > wrote:

> "Vinnie Murdico" >
> wrote:
> >We just built a new, small (above-ground) pond inside our screened
> >patio here in Florida. It will *not* contain fish or plants -- it
> >will just be a simple pond with a waterfall. The pond holds
> >approximately 75-100 gallons of water (city water). It has a 170 gph
> >pump that is running all the time to circulate the water via a small
> >multi-shelf waterfall.
> >
> >Can anyone suggest any good web sites where I can learn more about
> >the required water maintenance for a pond without fish or plants?
> >
> With no fish or plants, I'd just treat it like a small swimming pool
> (without the chlorination...just some algacide on occasion). Other
> than topping off the water, I can't see how a lot of maintenance would
> be required for something indoors.

With no fish and no chlorine it might be a good idea to use mosquito
dunks, too.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L

[[email protected]]

all but heat it.. sure. no plants of fish tho. Ingrid

"Vinnie Murdico" > wrote:

>> you want absolutely crystal clear water just get an ozonator ... forget
>the chlorine,
>> bromine or bleach. our spa is always crystal clear with our ozonator.
>Ingrid
>
>Does this mean I should treat the water in the pond the way I treat the
>water in the spa?
>
>-- Vinnie
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

Basically, but putting in fish & plants isn't that big a deal or people
like me wouldn't have 3 ponds, 2 small above ground ponds, one of which is
inside, and half a dozen aquariums. The biggest maintenance headache people
get into when it comes to ponds is trying to support too many fish. Your
little pond with plants could support 2 fantail goldfish with a small
bucket filter around the pump easy. Maintenance would be small water
changes (10-20 gallons twice a month). All you'd need is something to
dechlorinate the water or do like my MIL and just let it dechlorinate out
in a tub between changes. If you have problems than we could discuss water
tests to fix the problem, or remove the fish and plants and go with
chlorine tabs. ~ jan


See my patio pond by clicking on *My Pond Photos* Page 1, 4, 6 & 8,
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

>>Does this mean I should treat the water in the pond the way I treat the
>>water in the spa?
>>
>>-- Vinnie
>>
>
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
>http://puregold.aquaria.net/
>www.drsolo.com
>Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
>compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
>endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Anne Lurie]

"Cybe R. Wizard" <Cybe_R_Wizard@WizardsTower> >
> With no fish and no chlorine it might be a good idea to use mosquito
> dunks, too.

If it's moving water on a screened patio, wouldn't mosquito dunks be
unnecessary? Or are you just suggesting that it's best to be proactive
rather than reactive?

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:45:07 GMT
"Anne Lurie" > wrote:

> "Cybe R. Wizard" <Cybe_R_Wizard@WizardsTower> >
> > With no fish and no chlorine it might be a good idea to use mosquito
> > dunks, too.
>
> If it's moving water on a screened patio, wouldn't mosquito dunks be
> unnecessary? Or are you just suggesting that it's best to be
> proactive rather than reactive?
>
> Anne Lurie
> Raleigh, NC
>
Probably unnecessary, although I've been bitten in screened areas. Did
I miss the part about the screened patio?

Cybe R. Wizard -eyes getting older
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L