HELP - moved into house with small garden pond

[shw104]

Hi,

I just moved into a house located near Baltimore Maryland. The house has a 3-4' round, goldfish pond with 5 medium sized (4-6") fish.

I have no experience with outdoor ponds and have not been left any information on the upkeep of this pond. I do have experience with freshwater aquariums but nothing outside.

The pond is roughly 3-4' round and 12" deep or so. It is located in a very shaded area and has no chemicals or treatment in the water. It has a small pump & filter but no heater of any kind. All of the fish seem healthy.

Questions:
1. do I, or should I be treating the water with something? Algae doesn't seem to be a problem but there are a good bit of leaves, etc in the bottom. The previous owner would drain and clean the pond once/year in the spring. The pond gets very little direct sunlight.

2. What type of heater should I get for the winter? Do I need one?

3. Any other advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank!!!
Scott

 

[zacdl]

If you can run a FW Aquarium you can run a pond. Ponds are easier, less "rules" than aquariums.

#1, you do not need to treat water. Period. The only time I treat water is if I have a sick fish. Algea shouldnt be a prob since its in the shade.

#2. what type of fish do they have in there? If its the normal goldfish/koi you do not need a heater. I do not know how bad your winters are, will the pond ice up? Down here just the top few inches ice up. As long as the fish will have swimming room under the ice it will be fine. If it will ice up all the way you might need a heater (Stock tank heater, you pond is small enough).

#3 Like i said if you have done FW aquariums, a pond is a breeze. The only real maintaince is changing filters, trimming plants, feeding fish, etc.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I agree with the no water treatment deal.

If your pond is only a foot deep, then you will need to bring the fish in for the winter. It will freeze solid.

There is no need to ever completely drain the pond. Your first order of business should be to get yourself a net and get those rotting leaves out. After that you should be able to sit back, add a few low light plants, and enjoy.

 

[zacdl]

You dont even need a net as long as you keep the majority of them out.

In the long run you will be happier you keep them out


If you live here in OK 1' deep is OK for winter. I disagree with what Roger said on that one. As long as you have enough swimming room for the fish under the ice when its at its thickest point in the winter, you should be OK.

1' ponds work here. I know many people here that have 1' ponds and they are OK (We get a max of 3-4" of ice, so its not that big of deal)


There are so many ways you can do ponds WITHOUT chemicals. Not near as hard to maintian as an aquarium is.
The main pond chemical I would think would be an algicide. But since you have shade most of the day, and plant cover, I think you should be OK.

As for some plants, pretty much anything such as pennywort, watermint, water celery, just that general low bushy stuff will do fine in low-light.

Lilies will do OK too, but dont expect many blooms.

Hyacinth and Water Lettuce, I would not try. They like sun.

 

[shw104]

Thanks for the help everyone.. i really appreciate it!!

I'm using this pond as a learning tool and hope to enlarge or start another one closer to the house in the future.

How many fish should I have or what are the rules of thumbs? My current gold fish are 4-6". Pond is approx. 4' round and approx. 10-15" deep.

Also, I know I will need a new pump/filter in the near future.. any advice on the type, size, and where I should get it?

Thanks!!
Scott

 

[RogerMcAllen]

So your pond is something like 150 gallons. It is nice to have about 10 gallons per goldfish, so what you have right now should be good. Perhaps a few more.

The pond kit I started with I got from home depot. It was just a fairly small pump that goes inside a box full of bioballs, and a sponge on top. It didn't cost very much and worked fine for my small pond. As far as brands, I really like the little giant stuff.

When you are looking to buy a pump, first think about how big you might want to expand next time. You might be able to get a pump that is a little too big now, but will be perfect later to help prevent you from making a second purchase down the road.

 

[Guest]

Greetings fellow Marylander!

Everyone above has given you solid advice. I don't have anything to add, just thought I'd give a shout out to another local ponder!

 

[piranha]

Well I might add what you need to do in winter is prevent ice freeze over.There needs to be an opening in the ice to release dangerous levels of noxous gases that will most certainly kill the fish.This is done not with a heater but a de-icer. A floating de-icer being the best. I recommend Farm Innovators Ice-Chaser De-icer(3 year guaranty) with a thermo-cube.This is a device that will conserve electricity by turning on the de-icer at just above 35 deg. and off at around 45 deg. As far as filters go if you don't want a lot of maintenance,get an external cannister with an internal debri handling pump.Cyprio bioforce with a titan pump is what I use. Fishmate is another excellent brand. The extra money you spend you will appreciate when their is less maintenance. AZponds.com is where I found the best prices.If you have an algae problem,get a cannister with a built -in UV sterilizer.A pond net in the fall will keep the leaves out. Good Luck and enjoy your pond!

 

[zacdl]

The rules of thumbs vary.
I know of someone whos pond is so overstocked, its ridiculous. Has many 2' koi and goldfish and such in about a 2500 gallon pond. If you just look at a picture, you can just tell its way too many fish.

But, you know why it is ok? The filtration takes care of the extra load. Has great filtration, tons of plants, so it all balances out.
Just thought I would mention this, because there is no rule of thumb really, just an AVERAGE.

Now as for the filter, you can for about $100 buy a all in one filter for your pond. It has a UV in it. Or you can make your own cheap ones.

As far as the ice.... I went many many years without doing a darn thing to my ice. I let it ice over no problems. This last year I desided I would keep a hole open, just to see what would happen. It kept a hole open, but I didnt notice any changes in the fish. But I will continue to keep a hole open just because it was so easy to do so.

Here is what I did. I took the pond pump, and took off all the tubing and such, just let it shoot straight up to the water surface. The moving water keeps an area from freezing over.
Dont put the pump where all your fish stay (at the deepest part) as then, the pump is circulating the warmer water at the very bottom of the pond, it keeps the whole pond alot cooler than it has to be.

I dont know what kind of a pump you have, but for 12" deep any pump should keep a hole open.