Is a fountain/waterfall necessary?

[Jaxom_Ruatha]

Okay I have a 500 gallon pond with about 15-20 goldfish in it (commons and comets) and I really would like to take away the fountain that is disrupting the surface of the water, making it hard to see the fish and not giving the plants enough sunlight. The fountain is an extension from the filter that just pumps the clean water out in a spraying fountain straight above the water, creating lots of ripples, bubbles, etc. So my question is, if I stop the fountain frim spraying up, will there be enough oxygen in the water to keep the fish comfortable? If not about how many submerged plants would I need? I already have about one bunch of anacharis plants in there, some duckweed floating about, and some lily and aponogenton bulbs down there that I don't think are getting enough sunlight to grow currently. I have looked all over but haven't found an answer to my question.

(The answer is probably really simple and right infront of my nose, but please if you can help me, help me )

[RogerMcAllen]

You shouldn't need it. Try leaving it off and see how it goes. If the fish don't gasp at the surface, you should be fine, though some form of surface agitation would be nice.

[AngelFishFan]

Excellent question. As Roger stated, you shouldn't need it, HOWEVER, if you ever add algaefix, you WILL need it. See, algaefix reduces the number of oxygen particles in the water, making it harder for the fish to breath, and just as Roger stated, they will start to gasp. Also, if you take that out, the water lillies should actually grow better, since they hate water agitation to begin with. Adding some more anacharis, and maybe some parrots feather wont hurt, though may not be entirely necessary. Experiment around! You never know until you try!

[Jaxom_Ruatha]

Thanks a bunch, I'll try just that.

Any suggestion on where is a good place t order aquatic plants from? All my [acronym:03ed6e42df="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:03ed6e42df] carry are anacharis and sword plants which probably wont survive in my pond (The sowrd plants that is).

[RogerMcAllen]

www.tricker.com has some outstanding plants and lillies.

You need more SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation).
For a plant to actually help with oxygenating, it must be a trues SAV, not a plant that will have leaves on or above the surface.
Anacharis is a good start, but you'll need more than one bunch. Jungle val is great, and overwinters just as well as anacharis or elodea. Parrots feather isn't that great, [acronym:872390baab="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:872390baab]. It prefers to grow up out of the water, at which point it stops oxegenating the water.

Check the Retailers Forum, any of the plant companies sell both aquarium and pond plants.

If you want to buy local, check out the plant nurseries, a lot of them are selling pond plants these days. Heck, just check your yellow pages for Pond plants, or pond supplies. You'll likely find somebody.

[Jaxom_Ruatha]

Thanks for the advice

[boroughmal]

For aeriation all the time you really should think about a waterfall.
I have one with four ponds each tipping into each other. All the aeriation you need after the first six week start up.
Dont leave aeriation to chance. In heavy weather low pressure water loses up oxygen rapidly and you could be caught out by this and lose your fish.
A slow waterfall at the last drop will trickle into the pond and not disturb the water
Goldfish are very hardy but even they die.
|Regards