Few odd Questions Any help appreciated (pond/water couorse building/sturgeon) (UK)

WELL SAID! ~ jan

I too am very new to all of this. I read a very interesting newbie article
once which said "Figure out how many fish your pond can support - then start
with 1/10th that." Also read "Pond keeping is not a science it is an art".
Ponding is not a formula. There are just too many variables which can
frequently change making each pond it's own little learning experience. You
will make mistakes - that's a given. Start slowly and your mistakes wont
cost you nearly as much in time, money and satisfaction. The bigger the
cushion to start the less the bruise in learning. Get to know your pond,
your filter, your fish, your unthought of problems. Quarantine all new fish
and plants before adding new problems to your pond. Don't start with
feeders. These things and more will help to keep new problems from becoming
a string of disasters. I say this having not done most of these things, but
I sure would do it differently if I had a second chance. Things will be
just so much more controlled and happy for everybody and everything. I
suspect there are some 'fast track' people who could also add their
disasters - but they're no longer ponders. Yes I think the 1000+ rule is
probably overstated.
I have already seen several EXPERIENCED ponders who have broken it. But if
you are soliciting advice and INEXPERIENCED this is probably a very good
rule. Start slowly and someday you will probably figure out how to 'break
the rules' safely in your own pond with your specific variables, or figured
out why you shouldnt. Or if you're like many in this group you'll have a
bigger pond and altogether different issues.

Bill Brister
Austin, Texas


(Do you know where your water quality is?)

wrote in message ...
I have Koi..never have followed that rule... BUT Useing the rule
described below you are saying that you need 1000 gallons of water to
succesfully keep one KOI Healthy??? I disagree.... MIKE
snip

What I am saying is that you can keep a Koi alive in your kitchen sink with
the proper filtration. BUT, since none of have our ponds in a labratory with
carefuly monitoring filtering, it is good to give some buffer space to
prevent large swings in the water parameters. The 1000+100 rule is a good
rule of thumb for hosting a pond full of Koi, simply because it provides an
easy to remember number, and enough water to properly buffer spikes in water
chemistry. In addition, as Sam pointed out, 1000 gallons will often result
in a size and shape pond that gives the Koi room to move.

BV.

Even though there isn't much natural about
our ponds - they are made with liner and filled with city water for the most
part - it is still a good idea to look to Mother Nature sometimes.

Mother Nature provides lots of water for relatively few fish, she lets the fish
find food on their own (no tasty koi kibble dropped from the sky), she does
water changes, she filters with plants, she doesn't freak out over algae,
she encourages predators and ignores the pond for the most part.
Every once in a while she kills off too many fish with a hard winter, sends a
flood to clean things out or fills in the pond with cattails and willows and
starts over someplace else (you can do that with a whole planet to play with).

Mother Nature doesn't run her water through UV (she has the sun at her beck and
call), she hates chemical treatments, she doesn't want to zap her creatures
with shock fences, thinks fish chow tastes nasty and would never think of dying
her ponds...

So Mother Nature has a few hints for us. Not that we'll pay that much
attention. It is too much fun to feed the fish and we love to fuss over our
pets but do keep her in mind everytime you get the urge to get too retentive
about the pond and open a beer, zip some wine or have your morning coffee by
the pond instead.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Hi again

I've read all the responses, (most don't actually answer my questions, but
ill get to that later..)

It seems many people feel my pond is too small for koi, this is NOT a
problem for me, im quite happy to have other breeds of fish.. However I
will mention that Oasis (pond Product manufacturing company) produce a 223
litre pond Called Koi. that anyone would assume should be big enough for
Koi! (and i know 3 people with one and several Koi within (for several
years.) (6 + years in one case)

Now i have already kept fish and ponds for a long time (although my biggest
pond to date was only about 100 gallons (and was a nature pond (about to be
recreated on a larger scale)) (ok im only in me 30's so some have kept foir
much longer than me). this is where all the fish i already have are coming
from

this is my first onamental pond, and its been 4 years in the planning, im
not some ooh a pond would be nice, and 3 days later its done.. 6 months
later its gone again..

please could someone pass advice on the other questions i posed (expanding
foam to make a fountain base, and the sturgeon (who havent done it
since.. ))

Lost

Ive had water in my 3600gal for over 4 months. Its had 100 fingerling
bluegill perch and 200~300 fathead minnows for 2 months. The minnow
death rate stableized last week. Up until then i lost minnows everyday
about 75 to 100 overall due to unaged water. It appears that waiting
until the water has had at least 1 algea bloom before stocking is good
advice. The 2 2' sturgeons you have will be lucky to make it to August
in a brand new pond. You may want to leave them in the bath for awhile
they would be Ok because Ive seen that size (1) in a 55gal aquarium
Oh yeah Ive only lost 2 bluegills but thats because their the
toughest fish around.
On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:37:47 +0100, "Lostin1999"
wrote:

Hi again

I've read all the responses, (most don't actually answer my questions, but
ill get to that later..)

It seems many people feel my pond is too small for koi, this is NOT a
problem for me, im quite happy to have other breeds of fish.. However I
will mention that Oasis (pond Product manufacturing company) produce a 223
litre pond Called Koi. that anyone would assume should be big enough for
Koi! (and i know 3 people with one and several Koi within (for several
years.) (6 + years in one case)

Now i have already kept fish and ponds for a long time (although my biggest
pond to date was only about 100 gallons (and was a nature pond (about to be
recreated on a larger scale)) (ok im only in me 30's so some have kept foir
much longer than me). this is where all the fish i already have are coming
from

this is my first onamental pond, and its been 4 years in the planning, im
not some ooh a pond would be nice, and 3 days later its done.. 6 months
later its gone again..

please could someone pass advice on the other questions i posed (expanding
foam to make a fountain base, and the sturgeon (who havent done it
since.. ))

Lost

and they also got a 1 gallon bowl called Goldfish. Ingrid

"Lostin1999" wrote:
Oasis (pond Product manufacturing company) produce a 223
litre pond Called Koi.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

I'm new here also and I'm also new at ponding. I know how frustrating
it is to need answers and not get any......perhaps were on our own until
we reach (their) levels in ponding. I've found several good
books.......at least with reading books there's no ( how many PORG'S
does it take to get ONE question answered) problems..LOL Wish I could
answer your questions { because I would ...there important to you }
hang in there...you still have a love for ponding, you just have to find
another means for getting your questions answered :-) A BOOK

"Mary kate" wrote in message
...
I'm new here also and I'm also new at ponding. I know how frustrating
it is to need answers and not get any......perhaps were on our own until
we reach (their) levels in ponding. I've found several good
books.......at least with reading books there's no ( how many PORG'S
does it take to get ONE question answered) problems..LOL Wish I could
answer your questions { because I would ...there important to you }
hang in there...you still have a love for ponding, you just have to find
another means for getting your questions answered :-) A BOOK


yeah ive been reading Pond and water garden book's for a few years (ever
since the idea first came to me to have a pond (well before the current
"FAD" of ponding)) ive read from Charlie Dimmock to RHS (Royal Horticultural
Society).

for the feature it appears I can use what I like as long as it has a liner
over it.. so the water feature is pretty much sorted (yet to be built, but
plans are afoot!!)

cannot get any answers on the Sterlets, (but I have learned not to call then
Sturgeon (they are too young)) but im assuming it may be I have 2 males and
they are seeking females (the smaller one of the trio at only 8" long will
not be up to maturity for another year..

brings me onto why I got sterlets.. I was told they ate Blanket weed
(string algae to this newsgroup) so promptly bought 4.. (lost one when I
was sorting a pump blockage and accidentally dropped pump into water right
on top of it.. (alas poor fish)) funny how easy some retailers find it to
lie to get a sale (that said I love em now!!)

was sorting out a slow flow through my UV filter yesterday and managed to
drop it in the pond.. (so had to reset the main fuse in the house and my UV
may be dead.. (oops) just glad it didn't hit any fish and that the fuse
was faster to act than the electric was to kill any fish!! (im very lucky
so far)

not putting a uv on new pond (yet) as I need the filter (all new bio media)
to fill with the good bacteria.. using alfagrog now (was on them plastic
things provided with a hoselock box,) but feel new pond will need more than
that. and read loads of good reviews of the Alfagrog stuff. so all is
going well..

as this is my first ornamental pond im being VERY careful..

Lost

Lostin1999 wrote:
"Mary kate" wrote in message
...

I'm new here also and I'm also new at ponding. I know how frustrating
it is to need answers and not get any......perhaps were on our own until
we reach (their) levels in ponding. I've found several good
books.......at least with reading books there's no ( how many PORG'S
does it take to get ONE question answered) problems..LOL Wish I could
answer your questions { because I would ...there important to you }
hang in there...you still have a love for ponding, you just have to find
another means for getting your questions answered :-) A BOOK



yeah ive been reading Pond and water garden book's for a few years (ever
since the idea first came to me to have a pond (well before the current
"FAD" of ponding)) ive read from Charlie Dimmock to RHS (Royal Horticultural
Society).

for the feature it appears I can use what I like as long as it has a liner
over it.. so the water feature is pretty much sorted (yet to be built, but
plans are afoot!!)

cannot get any answers on the Sterlets, (but I have learned not to call then
Sturgeon (they are too young)) but im assuming it may be I have 2 males and
they are seeking females (the smaller one of the trio at only 8" long will
not be up to maturity for another year..

brings me onto why I got sterlets.. I was told they ate Blanket weed
(string algae to this newsgroup) so promptly bought 4.. (lost one when I
was sorting a pump blockage and accidentally dropped pump into water right
on top of it.. (alas poor fish)) funny how easy some retailers find it to
lie to get a sale (that said I love em now!!)

was sorting out a slow flow through my UV filter yesterday and managed to
drop it in the pond.. (so had to reset the main fuse in the house and my UV
may be dead.. (oops) just glad it didn't hit any fish and that the fuse
was faster to act than the electric was to kill any fish!! (im very lucky
so far)

not putting a uv on new pond (yet) as I need the filter (all new bio media)
to fill with the good bacteria.. using alfagrog now (was on them plastic
things provided with a hoselock box,) but feel new pond will need more than
that. and read loads of good reviews of the Alfagrog stuff. so all is
going well..

as this is my first ornamental pond im being VERY careful..

Lost



Hi,

I do know who Charlie Dimmock is and do appreciate her work.
The reason many of your questions weren't answered is that
we don't know the answers. Many of your terms are unknown
to us in the USA. I know nothing of sturgeon nor sterlets,
nor hoselock box, or alfagrog. We need a translator!

--
Bonnie
NJ

"Bonnie" wrote in message
...
Lostin1999 wrote:
"Mary kate" wrote in message
...

I'm new here also and I'm also new at ponding. I know how frustrating
it is to need answers and not get any......perhaps were on our own until
we reach (their) levels in ponding. I've found several good
books.......at least with reading books there's no ( how many PORG'S
does it take to get ONE question answered) problems..LOL Wish I could
answer your questions { because I would ...there important to you }
hang in there...you still have a love for ponding, you just have to find
another means for getting your questions answered :-) A BOOK



yeah ive been reading Pond and water garden book's for a few years
(ever
since the idea first came to me to have a pond (well before the current
"FAD" of ponding)) ive read from Charlie Dimmock to RHS (Royal
Horticultural
Society).

for the feature it appears I can use what I like as long as it has a
liner
over it.. so the water feature is pretty much sorted (yet to be built,
but
plans are afoot!!)

cannot get any answers on the Sterlets, (but I have learned not to call
then
Sturgeon (they are too young)) but im assuming it may be I have 2 males
and
they are seeking females (the smaller one of the trio at only 8" long
will
not be up to maturity for another year..

brings me onto why I got sterlets.. I was told they ate Blanket weed
(string algae to this newsgroup) so promptly bought 4.. (lost one when
I
was sorting a pump blockage and accidentally dropped pump into water
right
on top of it.. (alas poor fish)) funny how easy some retailers find it
to
lie to get a sale (that said I love em now!!)

was sorting out a slow flow through my UV filter yesterday and managed
to
drop it in the pond.. (so had to reset the main fuse in the house and
my UV
may be dead.. (oops) just glad it didn't hit any fish and that the
fuse
was faster to act than the electric was to kill any fish!! (im very
lucky
so far)

not putting a uv on new pond (yet) as I need the filter (all new bio
media)
to fill with the good bacteria.. using alfagrog now (was on them
plastic
things provided with a hoselock box,) but feel new pond will need more
than
that. and read loads of good reviews of the Alfagrog stuff. so all is
going well..

as this is my first ornamental pond im being VERY careful..

Lost



Hi,

I do know who Charlie Dimmock is and do appreciate her work.
The reason many of your questions weren't answered is that
we don't know the answers. Many of your terms are unknown
to us in the USA. I know nothing of sturgeon nor sterlets,
nor hoselock box, or alfagrog. We need a translator!

--
Bonnie
NJ

Sterlets more info at
http://www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/cold/sterlet.htm

Hoselock box is a filter box made by hozelock but has now been modified...
http://www.watergardeningdirect.com/...OuterFrame.htm
mines the 9000 but as i say it has all new internals...

Alfagrog = a ceramic Lavarock style filter biomedia (and ill be adding a
veggie filter (having only learned of them here) soon)
http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/Brad...ct-1031277.stm

so to recap, ive got an old hoselock filter box that i have removed the
plastic biomedia from and changed it for the alfagrog, at the moment the
flow is a wee bit high, but the spitters are yet to arrive and the geggie
filter will also be needing some of the flow

id love to put up some pictures, but at present dont have a clue about
making interwebby sites (well maybe a clue but thats all) might try and put
some in a yahoo photo album! its still a work in progress, but as i have
learned in my time ponding, its always a work in progress.. lol

Lost