New pond

[blondie]

Hi to anyone who can help!!I have recently put in a new pond ,its been in just over a week now and already the water is begining to turn green and the plants have algae on them.I have an external filter,and the pond is not situated in direct sunlight.I feed the fish twice daily at the moment is there something iam doing wrong ??

[Atari]

Hiya.. Welcome to the forum

We have a pond section too, so you might want to ask there to get the best possible advice!

[RogerMcAllen]

Moved for you. What size is the pond, how many fish, what/how many plants, and what type of filtration do you have?

[SquishyFish]

Welcome to the hobby and the board!

First..before I answer the algae question...let me see if I can explain how the cycle works. Thats a big key in understanding how to control your pond. Short version. Fish waste, fish food, and other organic compounds break down and turn into the food for plants. The main one that you will find is Nitrates. The plants (including algae) feed off of this and multiply. The plants will starve the algae if you balance the pond. By that I mean you have enough plants to consume the [acronym:5d053ff8a8="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:5d053ff8a8]'s in the water, which inturn means there is no food for the algae. The floating plants also limit the amount of sunlight allowed into the water. No sun..no algae.

So...get some plants.....

[blondie]

Hi,
I have only a 250litre pond,but have just bought a 1000 l one to install next week as this one seems too small(pre formed)I was warned it would look tiny when in!!There are 8 goldfish 3 which are quite large!An external filter system.two large plastic plants,dont think i'll bother with them in the next one,and some floating weed live plants(sorry not very up on this pond thing but am very keen to learn)There is a waterfall powered by a secound pump.Iwant to keep the water clear,i desperately need advice on moving the fish as the new pond will be in the same place,also do i need to use sand to pack the pond ?????sorry so many questions!!!

[RogerMcAllen]

My best advice would be to get some quick growing stem plants like anacharis to suck up excess nutrients, and cut back a bit on feedings in the new pond. Perhaps add a few more of the floaters and you should be set. If that doesn't work, you should be able to purchase barley straw or barley pellets which create a natural enzyme which helps take care of algae.

[blondie]

Thankyou,yes i have heard of the Barley straw before,any ideas on putting the pre formed pond in ?Last time we packed the remainding space with sand ,but is that really necessary?could we just get it as near to the shape as possible?

Yes, it is my understanding that you have to pack in all areas with sand, otherwise the pond can warp and/or crack where it is not supported properly. packing the sand in ensures it is supported properly under the entire structure. If you haven't purchased it already, why not go with a liner instead? it forms itself to the hole you dig, as opposed to the preformed where you have to match the hole to the shape of the plastic.

Now, seriously, if I were you, I'd head off to the library, book shop, or garden/pond shop and get a couple of basic "Ponds for Beginners" type books. Since you are across the pond from me, you prolly have different books there than the ones I used. Read up and get all the basic info you can, BEFORE you dig anymore. It can be really dificult to fix errors with a pond. Doing some research first can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Good Luck!

[blondie]

Thankyou,have done the liner thing before but the fish were stressed out and tended to hide in all the crevises which made it hard for me to watch their progress! Managed to bring them back round though,have already purchased the pre formed pond so will have to go with that! Thinking of emptying the exsisting one so far down,hopefully pulling it out intact and getting the other one in all in the same day! I know you should leave the new pond at least a week to get established,but in this case that will be an impossible thing to do as the fish will be in the old pond only at shallow depth!