My New 3100 Gallon Pond-Have a Few Questions!

[Bettafanatic]

My new pond is finally complete! It's my first pond, and I wanted to do some plants and koi. When I asked my mom to start a pond, she completely went all out and got our landscaper on the job and now we have an absolutely stunning 3,100 gallon pond.

I already have a lot of plants in there. I have six pots of anacharis and six pots of hornwort, which are sitting on the top of the cave at about a 10 inch depth until they grow enough to be placed on the bottom, which is 3 feet max. I'll also be getting some peach glow water lillies in the spring.

Now I just have a few more questions before I get a couple of goldfish to cycle with.

1. How do I dechlorinate the pond during water changes? If the fish and plants are still in the pond and I trickle hose water in there, won't everyone get chlorine poisoning? Or should I take them out every time? The sides of my pond are extremely steep and covered in rocks so climbing in to get everyone out would be extremely difficult. I'd also have to swim. Would it be possible to add water first and then dechlorinate or would this cause too many problems?

2. While I have the goldfish in my pond for cycling, which will be three of them at about 2-3 inches long each, I want to put some bullfrog tadpoles in. Will the goldfish eat the tadpoles or leave them alone? And if I get enough will some of them survive? The rocks around the sides of my pond have about a thousand little crevices and caves so it'd provide very sufficient hiding places

3. During winter, I want to turn the filter/waterfall off so that the pond can freeze. Will my beneficial bacteria suffer from this? At what temperature will they start dying off because I'm on Long Island and temperature can drop to 10 F out here. But usually we're lucky and only get under freezing point for half the winter.

4. What are some good pond snails that can survive our treacherous winters? I was on liveaquaria.com and read that japanese trapdoor snails are good for ponds, but I'm not sure if they can survive the freezing point or not. I'd only get them if algae begins to get out of control but I just want to know because I adore inverts like snails.

Those are all my questions so far. I hope that someone will help out because I've noticed this forum section isn't very popular. Please help because my pond is pretty much up and running. Thank you!

I'll provide pictures later so you can get an idea for how my pond looks.

 

[Autumnsky]

If the pond freezes over how do they breath?

 

[JerseyGirl1385]

I don't know anything about pond keeping, but my neighbor has this site bookmarked for references. Hope this helps and I can't wait to see pictures!

http://askville.amazon.com/fish-pond-winter-survive/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=672557

 

[Bettafanatic]

If the pond freezes over how do they breath?

You leave a whole open, using a de-icer or an air stone

 

[Bettafanatic]

I don't know anything about pond keeping, but my neighbor has this site bookmarked for references. Hope this helps and I can't wait to see pictures!

what do fish in a pond do in the winter? how do they survive?

Thank you but I already know how to prepare the fish for winter I was just wondering about snails and beneficial bacteria. But never mind about question four and three I figured those out. Does anyone have any answers for questions 1 and 2?

 

[Autumnsky]

Good to hear, I just had a sad picture in my mind of the poor fish...without an air hole!

Your BB without any water flow in the filter... they would die w/o water and food/ammonia.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Good to hear, I just had a sad picture in my mind of the poor fish...without an air hole!

Your BB without any water flow in the filter... they would die w/o water and food/ammonia.

But wouldn't they just go dormant? Because I'd prefer the surface to freeze over it would be much easier for me but the waterfall/filter makes the water really choppy so it'd never get frozen. And if I leave it running won't ice freeze inside it and damage it? It was a really expensive filter I can't afford to replace it. How can I help my BB survive?

 

[Alspond]

Enjoy your pond. I live in Florida so we have a few lilies all year.

Our coldest day was 22. On those nights I turnoff the pump to keep,the water warmer but hang old style Christmas lights on it to keep the pump from freezing.
You will need to protect your pump and plumbing from the cold. Probably drain the filter.... Whoever built it should be able to give you tips for winterizing.

I never change my pond water. I have had the pond about 6 years.
We have rainy season in Florida so all summer my pond about 3000 gal gets in overflow mode 3-5 times a month.
In the dry season I add water to replace evaporation.

I remove some water when I clean the filter twice a year and when I vacuum every 2 months or so and that's it.
Lots of plants, some goldfish, Sailfin mollies, gambusia, flagfish, and frogs.

We have a well. Chlorine tests at 3 in my solution tank that takes out the iron.
Then It tests 0 coming out of the carbon filter.

Carbon filters, misting, chemical additives will take chlorine out of the water you add.
Get a test kit. Test your tap water. Check your treated water.

Have fun,
Al

 

[Autumnsky]

There is something called heat tape/wire "water pipe heat cable" and people wrap it around pipes to keep them from freezing, there are thermostats for them. Local plumber or hardware store probably knows all about them.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Thank you for the good advice. Getting those heaters for the pipes would be really difficult because the landscapers did it all and left me in the dark. I will have to talk to them and ask about it.

As for the chlorine, what I mean is if I add water first and then dechlorinate it, will the chlorine still poison my fish and plants?

And how can I keep the BB alive during winter if I turn my filter off?

 

[Autumnsky]

You dose the water conditioner for the full size of the pond as my understanding...I have a small pond now but am moving to a new place in a month and will be building my own large pond soon, so I can't answer 100% accurately, but I believe that is what I read.

As for the BB you could pull out the media (unless it is sand and drop it into the bottom of the pond in a weighted net bag for the winter...maybe??? I would be leaving mine on with a deicer unit. Presently for the last two years in the winter I used two aquarium heaters (extra for back-up) and left the pump and water feature/aerator pump on as well. It was icy cold but not frozen.

Good idea to get as much info from the people who put it in as their experience. Even turning the water feature off the water that is left in the system can freeze so you would maybe need to do a air blow out like is done for sprinkler systems.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Good idea with putting the filter media in the pond. It isn't sand, so I'll just do that. My landscaper hasn't come back yet so I haven't been able to talk to him about winterizing yet, but when he comes I'll ask him. I have a skimmer too I think I'll stick a heater into it to keep the inside from freezing inside and I'll just drain the filter and leave preparing the pipes to the landscapers. Thank you for your help!

I want to have some japanese trapdoor snails as well just to take care of algae and debris at the bottom of the pond. I would have to bring them inside for winter, right? Or can trapdoor snails survive the long winter? I kind of doubt it but I just want to make sure. If not I'll just keep them all in a different tank for then. Do you know anything about them? Will they eat my plants to much, especially in an aquarium over winter?

Thank you all so much for your help it is really helping me

 

[Autumnsky]

Ideas...

I haven't had and don't have info about trapdoor snails, so I can't answer that.

Anybody else out there?

How are you going to get them out from the pond, maybe you could make a snail trap for them with bait and the fastest snails are saved???

Also you could add a heater in the pond maybe they would hang out near it if you put food next to it they will know it is warm...idnk!lol

I will also have this problem soon. Dragonfish71 lives here in Colorado and has a really lovely pond, maybe you can PM her and see how she does it.

 

[jetajockey]

Ammonia toxicity as well as nitrification slows as temps drop. As long as the temp increase is gradual the bb should be able to compensate, however its not too uncommon to get an ammonia fed algae bloom as it warms back up.

 

[Bettafanatic]

I'll just set up a snail trap, save the fastest snails, and let them repopulate by themselves.

 

[Horsegirlmaddy]

Enjoy your pond. I live in Florida so we have a few lilies all year.

Our coldest day was 22. On those nights I turnoff the pump to keep,the water warmer but hang old style Christmas lights on it to keep the pump from freezing.
You will need to protect your pump and plumbing from the cold. Probably drain the filter.... Whoever built it should be able to give you tips for winterizing.

I never change my pond water. I have had the pond about 6 years.
We have rainy season in Florida so all summer my pond about 3000 gal gets in overflow mode 3-5 times a month.
In the dry season I add water to replace evaporation.

I remove some water when I clean the filter twice a year and when I vacuum every 2 months or so and that's it.
Lots of plants, some goldfish, Sailfin mollies, gambusia, flagfish, and frogs.

We have a well. Chlorine tests at 3 in my solution tank that takes out the iron.
Then It tests 0 coming out of the carbon filter.

Carbon filters, misting, chemical additives will take chlorine out of the water you add.
Get a test kit. Test your tap water. Check your treated water.

Have fun,
Al

What kind of frogs do you keep in your pond?? And how do you keep them in, instead of wandering out?? Please share!

 

[Alspond]

We have pig frogs and leopard frogs and their tadpoles in our lily ponds.
We put a few tadpoles in but frogs just showed up before the tadpoles matured.
They laid eggs and the fish miss a few so we always have some tadpoles
They do wonder in and out.
We live in central Florida and during the summer rainy season frogs, crayfish and such wonder all over.

 

[Diveintoapool]

1) I use a chlorination remover for fish tanks and ponds, and just add it as I trickle the water in the pond. The fish in a pond are pretty hardy, and with the amount of water you have in your pond it should not be too much of an issue. I put in a couple of squirts, and then trickle the water where I squirted the dechlorinator. I use this brand: Aquarium Water Conditioners & Chlorine Removers: Aquarium Pharmacueticals Stress Coat®

My pond is way smaller than yours, and I never have a problem. If you are really worried and want to make sure they solution mixes well with the new water, drill some 1" holes in a 5 gallon bucket, squirt the solution in there, and trickle the new water in the bucket. That should give it a good mix before is spreads throughout the pond.

2) The tadpoles should be fine. If they are bigger than the fishes mouth they should definitely be fine. Bullfrog tadpoles are pretty big. Be sure to get a few minnows too. That's just my opinion though. They will eat the algae and stuff off the side of the pond. One of my other pond favorites is the Golden Dojo Loach. It is like an eel swimming through the water. They can also survive freezing ponds and are great bottom feeders.

 

[Diveintoapool]

They're Japanese! They can survive the winter