First Pond

[waywardwind]

Hi
We have a 50 Gallon preformed pond with a water fall and fountain we have set up. I have put a dwarf cattail, jap iris, 2 rain lilys,duckweed and 2 small water lilies. Submerged plants are foxtail and arrowhead. We have a 3 inch and 2 inch Koi in the pond. At this point everything seems to be doing fine. My biggest challenge has been ........my husband who told me he had ponds before.

A hole lined, filled with water and just throw fish in with no filtration wasn't my idea of pond expeince. I grew up with aquariums and have had both fresh water and saltwater tanks. I believe the basics for tanks and ponds are about the same. Water should be tested and treated, filters used, ect. Am I wrong in this?
I am sure I'll have questions to ask on this pond project.

Roger just wanted to say Hi as I you memtioned the U of I. I grew up on that campus many moons ago.

Have a great day
Klare

I believe the basics for tanks and ponds are about the same. Water should be tested and treated, filters used, ect. Am I wrong in this?

Not exactly the same, but similarities. You want to use declorinator when filling or doing a large water change.

We have a 50 Gallon preformed pond with a water fall and fountain we have set up

Any filtration on this?, You will need to clean the filter regularly.

I use basically no chemicals in my pond, only test water if theres some sort of disaster going on (dead fish or whatever).

Basically, plants do much of the filtration, fish eat bugs and stuff, plants use fish waste as fertilizer, pump/waterfall keeps it cicrulating, you end up with a nice balanced pond. Don't over feed the fish, you'll be surprised how much they can find to eat in the way of bugs/microorganisms.

At some point you are likely to have an algae problem, but treatment for those is algae type specific so I'm not getting into that now. Give it a few weeks, see what happens, you may not need to do anything other than clean the filter, net out laeves and such, and feed the fish.

Good luck, keep us posted on progress, and by all means, ask if you have any problems.

[RogerMcAllen]

Yea, feeding my fish little crickets and stuff I find in my adjacent garden is one of my favorite things to do. They love a chance to get a live feed, esp flies that fall off the plants.

[pondmom]

Hi Klare,

I'm sure you will hear this many times over but koi need room.
50 gallons is not even close to keeping happy healthy koi.
With being only 50 gals and 2 koi, please make sure you test for ammonia/nitrites.

These guys will grow in no time.
Please LMK if you have any questions. You can always email me and I can try to answer your questions too.

[RogerMcAllen]

I wish I could have a large pond like that. Right now I am confined to 4'x8'x2', not sure how many gallons that is.