Saving school fish pond

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cgthebeast

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Joined
May 6, 2013
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In a house
So last year, the world best ag teacher retired, i mean raising talplia and aquatonics and gardening ,wood working. Anyway he finally retried and the new ag teacher is letting everything go to waste, the water is putrid, trash collecting in it. It's breaking my heart and I wanna know if I can set it up again. We have funding an fees paid for anything. The thing I'm worried about is the weather. I live in Alabama, in the Appalachians, the weathe Tia flipping bi polar, it can get below 10 degrees in the winter and over 90 in the summer, the pond is in the shade thankfully. Anyway, I have no were to put the fish in the winter, so I need to know if it's possible.
I've never ran a pond before but have 5 yrs at least in tank keeping, fresh an salt, so I'm not completely out of the water.
Anyway any advice would be helpful


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I dont keep ponds, always wanted one though. My mom does, and i can give you a shot at what i know she does. I live in Kansas so the weather is equally as shifty, lol. Not mountainous though. First things first. Pump, i suggest pondmaster. Filters, lots available many are good. Heat, with spring starting this is a tough one because of the fast shifts of warm and cold fronts. Id go with a titanium one, in whatever brand you so choose, for longevity and quality being outdoors. As far as winter goes you have a while to plan for that, thank goodness. But my mom just sets up a good size kiddie pool in the garage and uses same stuff as in the pond equipment wise. She pulls half the water from the pond to the pool to help culture and keep water parameters similar. If you have anymore questions id be glad to help as best i can. I love the fact that your school has a pond and hate to hear that kind of unique effort by a wonderful teacher go to waste. I also feel like if you asked him, he might really enjoy passing along his knowledge to help keep it all going. Good luck and happy ponding.

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Are there any remaining fish or creatures in the pond? I am guessing if was running prior with fish, there has to be a decent filtration system as well as winter equipment (pumps, deicers). I would start by investigating what you have first, what works and what doesn't then figure out what you need and where you hope to take this project.

The size (gallons) and depth of the pond will be very helpful in figuring out possible stock and what may be needed for filtration (if there isn't already a functional system). And pull out your master test kit (gh & kh would help too!) and run the numbers based on fw to see how things stand presently. :)


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Ah, thanks everybody for the advice. There use to be fish an even had a old water wheel an such hooked up to and everything, but alas I can't go snooping yet as the new ag teacher hasn't decided if this would be a good idea or not. I know there's some vats somewhere that held talipa at one point so if I could jury rig that up with whatever part are there then I believe I can pull this off if I get the okay.


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So the ag teach is all for it! I went today during free block and was able to find 4 pumps, 2 nets, no filter yet. But we did start cleaning it out, an it turns out that he runs a pond at home, so he might bring some of his fish for an take them home on the winter


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No, no fish in the pond. But this thing is deeper the expected at least 3 and a half mange 4 at the deepest. And it's about a 6x8 layout.
 
Sounds awsome. The possibilities are gonna be fun to think abt.

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Yup, I'm thinking nothing too hard. About 3-5 fancy goldfish. And some mosquito minnows for the fish larva maybe a high fin banded shark

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High fin banded sharks are awsome!!! Great call.

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Yup, so went out in free period and found more nets, scrubbers, pumps ect. But no hide or hair of a filter. I have a 75g were gonna run for the meantime just to get some flow in it, prob gonna wire two together r


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The fancies may have tough time through the winter. Depends on the breed though and assuring there's some means in place to prevent the pond from freezing over. It's definitely deep enough to handle the level of cold you experience in the winter for cold-hardy fish. I would work on getting everything up and running and have a group discussion so everyone there agrees on possible (reasonable) stock for the pond.

Is there anyone around in the summer to take care of it? Look forward to seeing pics! :)


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So could never find a filter, so with a little redneck engineering and some pvc pipe, I'm currently making Alabaman largest canister filter. It's half a 50g drum drilled with pvc in the lower end and caped with a sponge filter. Then were gonna set in one of the pumps into a bigger pvc pipe that's gonna be drilled around the top for some sump action and to keep the media from getting sucked up. Then we made a spray bar out of, wait for it, more pvc and we're gonna burry it under the rock face.


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