New Ponds

[Peter Pan]

I just set up 2 ponds in my yard. A smaller that cascades into the bigger
( no idea what size they are, both were given to me). I'm using one pump to
move the water from the bigger tank to the smaller for the cascade. Before
it reaches the upper pond, it passes though a UV sterilizerthen trickles
into the upper one. My question is what do I do next. is there anything I
need to add anything to the tank, how soon can I add fish. And what do I do
about filtration?
Thanks for your help.

[Ron in Radio Heaven]

Randy R > wrote in message
oups.com...
> What a lot of people do is put plants in the smaller pond for a sort of
> bio-filter and to promote oxygen (this is referred to as a bog.)

Well, it's not necessarily a "bog".
What it is is a veggie filter. Fill it with lots of plants
Water Hyacinth are best, cilantro from the grocery store will work
good too. No fish in the small upper pond, after a week or so get
some feeder goldfish from the pet store, .12 - .15 cents each.
If they die you're not out much. Have fun.

Ron

[Randy R]

I was trying to find a website that mentioned what they were called,
but I guess they aren't as popular as I thought.

The goldfish are a good way to start the nitrogen cycle. I think there
are other ways though... (water from an established pond?)
I have also read somewhere about putting barley in the pond.

Randy R

[Koi-Lo]

"Randy R" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I was trying to find a website that mentioned what they were called,
> but I guess they aren't as popular as I thought.
>
> The goldfish are a good way to start the nitrogen cycle. I think there
> are other ways though... (water from an established pond?)
> I have also read somewhere about putting barley in the pond.
==================
Barley is supposed to control algae from what I understand, not start the N
cycle.
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[Randy R]

Sorry, I meant that last line to be a new paragraph, and I couldn't
remember what the Barley was for. I wouldn't use it till you actually
had an algae problem, because algae IS part of the nitrogen cycle.
I guess you could also use rocks from an established healthy pond to
help set up the new pond. You do not want too many rocks in your pond
though, because it will be harder to clean.
You normally use rocks to hide the edge of your pond liner or
container. You can also use rocks to build a wall on the uphill side of
a pond, but you'd probably need to put liner behind the rocks, and
mortar them together (big rocks with little rocks to fill the gaps.)
Randy R