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Q and A; or...HELP!
Do you have a question about ponding,
planting, fish, filtration? Send us an e-mail.
We will do our very best to answer it.
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- alarming problem in an established pond
(approx) 5000 Gallons, Located in East Tennesse, During
extreme dry season, we have had several snapping turtles
occupy our pond. Is there any possible prevention or way
to deal with them after arrival? Thank you so much for your
assistance (Added
9-19-05) —See
reply.
- I live in Oregon and have a swimming pool
that I have turned into a pond. It is quite deep, 12 feet
at the deepest end and about 4 ft in the shallowest area,
other than the steps. Yesterday I saw a great blue heron
standing on the edge of the deep section, waiting. My fish
who come readily to the surface when I appear to feed them
were nowhere to be seen. In fact, still this morning I see
no sign of my 20 or so koi. My question is this: how big
a threat are heron to koi in a large deep pool where they
really can't get in and wade around? Are these diving birds?
I would hate to lose any of my beautiful fish but also can't
imagine trying to cover my 30' by 30' pool/pond. I have
already determined from articles that decoy heron don't
work reliably. Any thoughts would be most helpful! Thank
you! Laurie (Added
9-19-05) —See
reply.
- We have a 1800-2000 gallon pond with 4
koi. We have two pumps running to a biological filter and
want to replace the two pumps with one big one and also
add a UV filter. We came across a calculation for figuring
out how much a pump puts out per hour but cannot seem to
find it now. We want to figure out what the equivelant of
the two small pumps would be to give us a better idea on
what size should be for the one big one. The calculation
we saw was to fill a five gallon container and to time how
long it takes. One pump took 45 seconds and the other took
1 minute. The two together took 27 seconds. Do you know
of this calculation or a different one?
One other question is, we have well water and the "general
hardness" is extremely high. What are your thoughts
on lowering the hardness to an acceptable level. (Added
9-10-05) —See
reply.
- I live in Chicago in a condo building
and would like to have an outdoor koi pond. I know, it might
sound a little far fetched, but I'll explain. The condo
is in an old loft building that can carry at least 100psf
on the roof. I have a penthouse with roof rights. My unit
is on the 9th floor, and will be building a roof deck adjacent
to my unit on the roof of the 8th floor. It will be in the
neighborhood of 2000 sq ft. My question really is what to
do with the fish in the winter? My main goal would be to
keep them in their pond year round, but how do I keep the
water from freezing without spending a small fortune on
heating bills? Is this possible, what kinda dollars might
it cost? Might there be a product that is layed under the
liner, kinda like a tile warmer in a bathroom, that would
heat the water enough to keep it from freezing?To give you
an idea of the size pond I am talking about, it would be
probably no more than 18" deep, because that would be just
under 100psf, and the diameter would be roughly 12 x 6,
so maybe 550 gallons.
If I can't keep them in the pond, I don't want to set up
tanks inside every winter, so are there services that would
winterize your fish for you? If so how far from the city,
and at what cost? If I were to do this, and basically start
fresh every year, would I have to wait the recommended 4
to 6 week period every time before introducing the fish
back to its home pond? This would be such a beautiful addition
to my proposed roof deck, I just need some guidance if it
is to be done right. Any info you can provide me with would
be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.
(Added 8-19-05)
—See reply.
- i am having an impossible time with my
pond. brown water and the skimmer is filled with muck 2
times a day. 4000 gallon pond with a 5,000 gal pump going
to a pool type filter that then goes into a hydramax filter
with a 37 watt uv light. also a 10,000 gal pump to the little
giant waterfall with 2 pads and bio balls. i also have a
large bubbler in the 6' end. i was adding barley extract
now i have 2lbs of barley straw. i have made 8 - 1000 gallon
water changes in the last 4 weeks. i have been adding 4
ounces of clay a week for 8 weeks. any suggestions? (Added
8-11-05) —See
reply.
- Are there any native oxygenating plants
that will grow year after year in the Midwest area? I currently
live in the southwest corner of Ohio and put in a pond approximately
20 x 15 feet and 4 feet deep. The local pond store only
sells oxygenating plants that live for 1 year and that seems
odd to me. Even if the fish eat part of them I would hope
there is something that grows here native. It seems to me
that while fishing in lakes and reservoirs in southern Indiana
and Ohio I have seem numerous plants that resemble water
grass type plants. I've even collected some Lotus seeds
from a reservoir in southern Indiana that I plan to try
and grow this next year. Is it really necessary to buy plants
for a pond? (Added
8-11-05) —See
reply.
- After getting quotes on a pondless waterfall
installation, my wife and i decided to install one ourselves.
The problem now is that I've got leaks springing up along
my streambeds. It was reccomended that I use Great Stuff!
foam sealant between the rocks. It is now looking like I
have more foam than rocks. Any advice on products to use
to seal between the rocks? (Added
8-11-05) —See
reply.
- I just purchased a weekend home that has
a 11' x 17' x 16" deep (approx.) pond. Seems none of
the average landscapers, nurseries, plumbers, etc.. can
fully give me a solution to my situation: The pond is consistantly
fed by a deep artisian well, constantly displacing the water
& ecosystem. This makes any potential chemical treatment
near impossible.
I would like to put koi in to help keep down algae, snails
& small swimming "creatures"..... (Added
7-21-05) —See
reply.
- ...We have 6 mature gold fish ranging
in size between 2 to 4” and about 3 or 4 of last years
babies that are just turning gold now and probably about
a dozen new babies from this spring. I know this is probably
too many fish is they all grow up, so we will have to do
something. We have never done a water change or added any
kind of chemicals. I feed the fish only what they can eat
in 2 min once to twice a day.
1. Should I do a water change, as everything appears good?
And if so how often and what about city water with chlorine
in it?
2. Should I leave the babies and see how many actually get
big, or do I do something now with some of them?
3. We introduced two new fish a couple of weeks ago; one
of the small ones, but with neat markings had a white cloudy
spot on its mouth after about a week in the pond. It would
hide a lot and it never ate any of the food I gave the fish.
I can’t find it now; would the other fish have eaten it?
(Added 7-21
-05) —See
reply.
- We recently brought some water plants
at the Darien, Illinos show. All told six plants, they have
multiplied by the day it seems. Now the pond is 80-90% covered.Is
this a good thing or should we cut back a bit? Anticipate
any response, thank you. (Added
7-21-05) —See
reply.
- I live in northeastern Ohio. I have a
homemade pond in the backyard, about 500-750 gallons. The
pond has a black plastic liner. I just went outside and
the plastic liner has risen up from the ground; I removed
some rocks and looked under the plastic liner. There is
ground water that is forcing the liner to rise. This happens
several times a year and I have to use a sump pump to remove
all the water from beneath the liner, then put it back in
place and wait for the liner to rise again. I have contacted
several landscape companies and none can give me a way to
fix this problem, short of installing some sort of expensive
permanent sump pump in the yard. Is there a way for me to
solve this problem on my own? What about removing the plastic
liner altogether? (Added
6-29-05) —See
reply.
- ...we were wanting to know how many gallons
of water we have in our pond. we have calculated and figure
around 1000 but our brother in law figured 800 something
so now i would just like to be sure as to who is right.
our pond is a round 10 ft diameter 18 in deep with a center
4ft circle that is 3 ft deep. what is your calculation?
thanks again,i appreciate your help. (Added
6-29-05) —See
reply.
- I have a very sick koi, he was gorgeous
about 2 weeks ago, but then I noticed his tail fin looked
"funny", so I neeted him to inspect more closely, yes indeed
he had a problem, his scales were raised, eventually fell
off and his tail is completely gone. I placed him in a bath
with some medication for systemic infections for a few days
and he looked much better, but his tail & scales were still
missing. Last night he was swimming to the top gasping for
air, so again I put him in a separate container with the
medication, but I truly do not think he will make it.
My pond is 8 x 13 ftx18" deep, 1900 gph waterfall pump and
1100 pump that I use when it is very warm for a fountain
in pond. My fish include: 6 koi (1, the sick one, was about
13", 1 about 8" and the others under 4") there also is 2
comets and 6 goldfish and 1 10" plecastomous, all except
Mr. Hoover, the largest are fine. The amonia is good, the
ph is 8 (here in Watertown WI, I am told is about the correct
ph) and no issue with nitrites or nitrates. I also have
plants, though they aren't very large due to the continuous
nibbling!
My question is, am I over populated and if so, why did the
largest and most beautiful (he is a butterfly koi) get ill?
Are the rest of my fish suseptible to becoming ill too?
What should I do to prevent this with the other fish? And
if Mr. Hoover is still living when I get home today, is
there anything I can do to aid him. I am relatively new
to ponds, only 5 years, but this is a new and enlarged pond,
previously I had only 250 gal pond with no issues.
Another question I have is could I leave my fish outside
during the winter? I have a deicer I could use, but I think
I am too shallow for WI winters. Am I correct? Thanks for
any answers you may have. I hope you have some advice to
assist Mr. Hoover. (Added
6-29-05) —See
reply.
lots more--
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