New Pond Keeper needs help

On 13 Sep 2005 10:52:05 -0700, "hotpepper" wrote:

Hmmm...I'm getting more hooked by the minute :-) Having read your
replies I am starting to thing about draining the pond and giving it a
once over...I have a free weekend this week so why not. I would be
good to know whats under there, the water is pretty clear now and there
appear to be some nicstuff under there. It would be good to sort it
out and arrange everything as I want.

I think you did quite well starting out. If you do decide to totally clean
it, save as much as the old water as you can. When you take the sample to
the store, if they say, it's great. I wouldn't clean it. Especially with it
clearing so you can see the bottom.

Only thing I would recommend is pick up your own test kits for Ammonia,
Nitrite, pH, KH & a Thermometer.

As far as the fish, sounds to me like you've got great filtration to handle
the load. Though I wouldn't add koi unless you plan to start digging a
bigger pond real soon.

Feed the goldfish sparingly, that will hold down the population.

I would like to keep Koi but by the sounds of it I need a bigger pond.
By gardern which is 100' X 25' is big by London standards by probaby
not big enough to allow for a pond big enough for Koi + my better hald
wants a new kitchen...priorities.

Let's see, who needs lawn or terrestrial plants? Koi pond 50 X 20 works for
me. ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

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

look a carol sovk puppet
Ronn wrote:
"pondmeister" wrote in message
o.st...

You seem new here. Let me update you. Reel Mckoi is a visicious
Off-Topic
spammer that brought decay and destruction to rec.ponds

/FLUSH!

Your hysterical semi~literate message is completely off topic,
inflammatory, self serving, petty, a waste of bandwidth and
you're trolling rec.ponds. You're adding to the problem you
claimed you wanted to end.

Whats a matter Ron or is it Ronn like you nym shifted to today to
bypass anyone that may have made a filter for you, can;t you handle
the truth.....Pondmeister stated the facts and only the
facts.......YOu and Carol both need to pass go and not collect the
$200 and go straight for some help in dealing with your mental
capacity and outlook in life...........The folks here can easily see
though your facade of bull****.

On 14 Sep 2005 01:07:03 -0000, er
(Ronn) wrote:

==="pondmeister" wrote in message
===news:ed0184545aa3b1cf4f5a717184904b8b$1@grou ps.expo.st...
===
===You seem new here. Let me update you. Reel Mckoi is a visicious
===Off-Topic
===spammer that brought decay and destruction to rec.ponds
===
===/FLUSH!
===
===Your hysterical semi~literate message is completely off topic,
===inflammatory, self serving, petty, a waste of bandwidth and
===you're trolling rec.ponds. You're adding to the problem you
===claimed you wanted to end.
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

On 13 Sep 2005 18:22:47 -0700, "Zod" wrote:

===look a carol sovk puppet
===Ronn wrote:
=== "pondmeister" wrote in message
=== o.st...
===
=== You seem new here. Let me update you. Reel Mckoi is a visicious
=== Off-Topic
=== spammer that brought decay and destruction to rec.ponds
===
=== /FLUSH!
===
=== Your hysterical semi~literate message is completely off topic,
=== inflammatory, self serving, petty, a waste of bandwidth and
=== you're trolling rec.ponds. You're adding to the problem you
=== claimed you wanted to end.


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

You noticed that too huh Zod.........Ron (n) a Carol sock
puppet.......Lets have a drink to Pondmeisters view o9f Reel Mckoi aka
Carol...............as he sort of hits it right on the head......

On 13 Sep 2005 18:22:47 -0700, "Zod" wrote:

===look a carol sovk puppet
===Ronn wrote:
=== "pondmeister" wrote in message
=== o.st...
===
=== You seem new here. Let me update you. Reel Mckoi is a visicious
=== Off-Topic
=== spammer that brought decay and destruction to rec.ponds
===
=== /FLUSH!
===
=== Your hysterical semi~literate message is completely off topic,
=== inflammatory, self serving, petty, a waste of bandwidth and
=== you're trolling rec.ponds. You're adding to the problem you
=== claimed you wanted to end.


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

In us tems By Pond is about 800 Gals and 9' X 6' if that helps. But
from what you guys have been saying + what I've read I think I will shy
away from Koi until I know what I'm doing and by the sounds of it got a
bigger pond. I probably have enough space to double the size of the
one I have already. Maybe in a couple of years.

Nice pond, looks really good and close to the house. Ours is at the
opposite end of the garden in a quiet shady spot which is nice but you
cant see/year from the house. Now that I'm getting into it a bit more
I may decide to build a small water feature nearer the house.

Thanks for the advice BTW I'm still in two minds whether to drain or
not. My logic at the moment is this...

1 - The fish seem happy enough

2 - The are Frogs and newts in the Pond

3 - the Water is very clear

4 - the fish have been stressed enough for now

5 - Its hard work :-)

so...may be leave it till next year when I know a bit more about what
I'm doing

But...on the other hand it would be nice to know whats down there in
detail and a good once over at the start may be good in the long run.

I am assumeing that after a few weeks after cleaning it would go dark
and silty at the bottom anyway or am I wrong here?

thanks

Congratulations on getting hooked. Have you posted any pics of your
pond? (Our pondsite below shows ours.)

Your manual cleaning is a good move. The fish and plants will continue
adding muck, and you will come to guage when the pond is so full want to
clean it.

You have a pond full of seasoned water. We would just enjoy it and
learn about the pond's growth cycle this year.

If you could work out a bottom drain for the pond and a good veggie
filter with your water feature, you could avoid most of the cleaning by
having a good sized drain in the bottom of the veggie filter. We would
be glad to comment more on that. Our berm ponds get the muck and they
and the pond are crystal clear (tho' tea colored). We have not changed
out our water in the seven or so years we have had the pond.

Phyllis and I spent a number of years in Cambridge studying. Where do
you live in London?

Jim



hotpepper wrote:
I inherited a pond about 2 years ago in my new house in the south of
England and although it was a nice feature I ignored it until very
recently. Its about 3000 ltrs (650 gals) 2m X 3m X 0.7m and I think
its many years old, I think its made of concrete and has some very
attractive stonework around and in the pond, the sides look like stone
bricks. Someone obviously spent a lot of time on it so I thought I
should do something with it. It's in a very shady spot but does get
some direct sunshine in the middle of the afternoon.

It was not filtered and everything was overgrown, it basically looked
like a swap. I started by clearing all the overgrown vegetation and
have left a decent sized patch of Lilly's in the middle with some
oxygenators and reeds.


Then (I didn't now about pond vacs at this point) dredged the bottom
with my bare hands then a coarse net, then a fine net. So now I have a
thin layer of sludge at the bottom. I then added a good quality
filtration system with a small water fall, UV clarifier, an air ball
and some lighting.

I already had three largish goldfish, I've added 3 Tench, 3 Commits,
3 Goldfish, 3 blue orfe, 3 Sebunkins, all are quit small 3in.

Everything seems fine expect I can't see the Tench but I assume they
are ok. The water was very murky but after a few days it has started to
clear (you can see the rocks at the bottom of the pond) and is no
longer green.

My questions a

1 - Have I done the right thing in terms of setup and cleaning?

2 - I have had mixed advice on this but should I drain and clean the
pond and does this need to be done every year?

3 - Can I keep Koi in this pond?

4 - Is there anything else I should do?

5 - How many fish should I keep in the pond?

5 - Where have the Tench gone?

Sorry for the long story but I didn't want to leave anything out but
needless to say but I am now totally hooked!!!

Thanks in advance for you help.

Thanks for you comments. I was starting to get a bit put off by the
amount of nonsense about the trolling issue. Hope it doesnt spoil the
group.

I started with the manual cleaning as I did'nt really know what I was
doing and was'nt about to go out spending lots of time and money on the
pond. Two weeks later I have done both! The temptation know is to
drain and clean just to see whats down there but my gut feel is to just
leave it alone.

There was a huge amount of stuff down there, about a foot deep, mainly
stuff from a large conifor near the pond. However, it did'nt smell and
was easy to scoop out with hands and then net. I thought it would be
too much work to drain but know I've spent nearly a week doing it by
hand I suspect it would have been better to drain etc.

I think at some point I will drain it when I know more about it, I will
start to keep an eye on the water quality and if it get bad then do
something then. It will allow me to secure the hosing for the pump and
the electric cables for the lights and pump too and arrange the
lighting better.

Not sure what a bottom or a verggie filter is, My filter has a biologia
media section in the base - is this the same thing?

I will post some pitures once I get it sorted, it looks a bit dull and
boaring at the moment :-(

Its a small world, although I live in the south of London I actually
work in Cambridge! It's a lovley City but I dont get to see much of it
as I spend my spare time in London - mostly these days on my pond :-)

BTW - your pond looks fantastic. I would love to have something like
that but alas space does not permit - gardens in London are postage
stamp sized compared to what you get in other parts of the world.

Vak

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 06:34:35 -0500, Phyllis and Jim Hurley
wrote:

We have not changed
out our water in the seven or so years we have had the pond.

Not even 10% water changes? ~ jan

hotpepper see: http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/finalnet.html#waterchange