New Pond - what now?

Hi,

I've finally put in my pond liner and filled it with water. This is a
year after I started digging my 5000L / 1100 gallon pond. I've added
some water conditioner which I picked up from the local fish shop.
Now what? How long should I wait before adding fish and plants?

Han.

1. fill pond
2. clean liner and flush water.
3. put in plants.
4. fill pond.
5. turn on aerator.
6. put in fish.

All these steps within a few hours.

wrote:

Hi,

I've finally put in my pond liner and filled it with water. This is a
year after I started digging my 5000L / 1100 gallon pond. I've added
some water conditioner which I picked up from the local fish shop.
Now what? How long should I wait before adding fish and plants?

Han.

Sean Dinh wrote:

1. fill pond
2. clean liner and flush water.
3. put in plants.
4. fill pond.
5. turn on aerator.
6. put in fish.

All these steps within a few hours.

Very nice :-(

1) it helps to not do this before (2)
3) it's a lot easier to do (4) first.
5) is entirely optional
6) should let the pond settle down for _weeks_ before adding fish.
--
derek

Sean Dinh wrote:

1. fill pond
2. clean liner and flush water.
3. put in plants.
4. fill pond.
5. turn on aerator.
6. put in fish.

All these steps within a few hours.

In my case I did this and lost some of the fish because I got a gloom of
string algae that acted like a spider web to the fish. Some fish got
tangled in the string algae and never escaped. After I got the algae
bloom, I added bacteria, snails and barley straw plus about 4 weeks to
eliminate the algae. Fortunately I had some fish left and the pond came
into perfect balance.

Unfortunately many plants placed in the pond have nutrients and of
course the fish excrete nutrients. If there in not enough capacity in
the pond to eliminate the nutrients, the algae bloom is unavoidable.

In my case the elements that keep the nutrients in check a
* lots of underwater oxygenator plants
* lots of marginal plants in plain clay, no fertilizer
* pond bacteria and enzymes
* trap door snails

and as insurance against any algae starting up I use
* barley straw

The pond can get out of balance if too many fish and/or plant fertilizer
are introduced.

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

"Sean Dinh" wrote in message
...
1. fill pond
2. clean liner and flush water.
3. put in plants.
4. fill pond.
5. turn on aerator.
6. put in fish.

Step 4a, which is Add Dechlor was implied.

BV.

I would do a search for the Nitrogen Cycle, which essentially developing
adequate bacteria to rid your water of the ammonia the fish produce. If you
add too many to quickly, you may poison your fish. Feed them sparingly till
your pond is cycled, and not at all till the pond temp is consistenly 55 or
higher. Ideally, your should quarantine your fish before adding them to
your pond. If they do have any problems it is easier to treat a smaller
container than 1000 gallon pond. If you cant bring yourself to do this, IMHO
dont use 25 cent feeder comets. I know some have done this quite
successfully, but they are disease prone/ridden and may well cost you more
time and money than you save by not starting with a few 'real' fish.
Bill

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've finally put in my pond liner and filled it with water. This is a
year after I started digging my 5000L / 1100 gallon pond. I've added
some water conditioner which I picked up from the local fish shop.
Now what? How long should I wait before adding fish and plants?

Han.

I don't do 4a in SoCal. I would if I my pond is in Las Vegas...

Benign Vanilla wrote:

Step 4a, which is Add Dechlor was implied.

BV.

"Newbie Bill" wrote in message
m...
I would do a search for the Nitrogen Cycle, which essentially developing
adequate bacteria to rid your water of the ammonia the fish produce.
snip

And by a serendipidous aligning of the planets, I have just published an
article to our site about this. What a great coincidence.

Ammonia
by Ruth Francis-Floyd and Craig Watson

Ammonia is a major metabolic waste product from fish. It is excreted across
the gill membranes and in the urine. The primary source of ammonia in
aquaculture systems is fish feed. When feed is eaten by fish it is
metabolized into the energy, nutrients, and proteins used for survival and
growth. As with all animals, there is waste produced by these normal
metabolic processes. Ammonia is the principal waste product excreted by
fish. In trace amounts, ammonia is odorless and colorless, so the only way
for an aquaculturist to know if it is there is to test the water.

http://www.iheartmypond.com/topic.asp?article=99735

--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
Check out the IHMP forums, ihmp.net/phpbb
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

On or about Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:18:32 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
wrote something like:

I would do a search for the Nitrogen Cycle, which essentially developing
adequate bacteria to rid your water of the ammonia the fish produce.

Some are squeamish about adding fish to provide waste products with
ammonia since the fish may die off, or worse, an undesirable
inexpensive fish may proliferate. It is simple enough to provide a
human based liquid source of ammonia. Beer helps.
"Honey, were out of 'pond helper', I'm going to the beer store."
--
Crashj

"Crashj" wrote in message
...
On or about Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:18:32 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
wrote something like:

I would do a search for the Nitrogen Cycle, which essentially developing
adequate bacteria to rid your water of the ammonia the fish produce.

Some are squeamish about adding fish to provide waste products with
ammonia since the fish may die off, or worse, an undesirable
inexpensive fish may proliferate. It is simple enough to provide a
human based liquid source of ammonia. Beer helps.
"Honey, were out of 'pond helper', I'm going to the beer store."

Beer...a great source of solutions for so many of life's problems.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
Check out the IHMP forums, ihmp.net/phpbb
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.