Goldfish pond experts HELP!

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

I dug a, what seems to be, 1000 gallon, roughly estimated pond yesterday. I filled it up, conditioned the water, and have goldfish in it. Yesterday it was clear and today it is black. I have fish in it to commence the nitrogen cycle. No fatalities. I have a 3 tier waterfall. The filtration is a pond standard return pump and filter box rated to turnover 1200 gph. Why did my water turn black in less than 24 hours? I have a skimmer on the way to remove top water debris.

For the pond, I have a black liner in it to hold the water so it couldn't be the soil leaching anything in it and it also has a thin layer of river rock and pea gravel mixture for substrate.

Idk what to do! Please help! I've spent well over $1000 on this and I want it to look nice for that price tag.

Thanks for any and all advice!
-Taylor

kschweer · May 25, 2015

Do you have a picture of the pond after it turned black?

High Plains Reefer · May 25, 2015

could have been the gravel/rock did you rinse it off before putting it in I would do water changes but lets see a current pic too

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

I personally would not of added any gravel to it this is just going to harbor fish waste ect and will make any vacuuming in the future near on impossible.

Also if you ever have an issue with the liner leaking changing the liner will be a nightmare with that gravel in there.

My dad use to keep and breed koi his main display pond that was his own stock was 30ft long x 10ft wide and 6ft deep and that had a liner go on that and trust me that was an absolute mission to change and if it had shingle in there would of been ever worse.

He also use to vac the bottom once a year to keep things clean as you will be surprised how much sludge will collect.

If you get an algae bloom where water goes green a UV will solve this and if you have any trouble with blanket weed ect dosing salt into the water will rid you of it don't go adding bottled chemicals salt is the best option.

High Plains Reefer · May 25, 2015

Marty.h said:
I personally would not of added any gravel to it this is just going to harbor fish waste ect and will make any vacuuming in the future near on impossible.

Also if you ever have an issue with the liner leaking changing the liner will be a nightmare with that gravel in there.

My dad use to keep and breed koi his main display pond that was his own stock was 30ft long x 10ft wide and 6ft deep and that had a liner go on that and trust me that was an absolute mission to change and if it had shingle in there would of been ever worse.

He also use to vac the bottom once a year to keep things clean as you will be surprised how much sludge will collect.

If you get an algae bloom where water goes green a UV will solve this and if you have any trouble with blanket weed ect dosing salt into the water will rid you of it don't go adding bottled chemicals salt is the best option.

+1

if you get green water plants and uv are your friends I have a 5000 gallon pond and the only place there are rocks are around the edge and those are only to hold the liner in place and make the transition more smooth from yard to pond

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

My dad has his filter boxes , UV'S ect but his main asset was a large live filter bed it was around 6ft long × 10ft wide and in there was shingle , bio plastic rings and absolutely rammed with plants the water came into it and flowed through his live filter bed and over the waterfall which spanned the width of the pond and into the main pond.

His water was crystal clear all year round and water chemistry spot on. Ponds are not much different to a home aquarium just on a massive scale so as long as you provide the basics as in

Particle filtration
Biological media
Plants to help with nitrate removal ect

Good thing with ponds is you don't have to worry about dosing for the plants and providing CO2 and fert they will find all they need naturally within the water.

My dad never changed any water but had to regularly top up during the summer months due to evaporation due to the surface area being so large.

As I have already said don't use any chemicals from a bottle most will settle at the bottom of the pond and form a toxic area so steer clear of them.

My dad also never used any water declorinator when topping up there is no need as any chlorine is soon diluted due to the volume of a pond so don't bother adding any of that in the future you have no need.

Depending how deep your pond is and how your sides are cut will depend if you need a net over the top here in the UK we have Herons that will happily munch on your fish my dads had sloping sides which made it impossible for a Heron to walk in and feed on his koi so had no need for a net.

Water agitation is important you need plenty of it to oxiginate the water in the summer months here dad use to suppliment the waterfall with a bubbler placed in centre that would boost oxygen levels you will eventually learn how your fish naturally behave and if they are acting strange and it's really hot they may be glad of the extra oxygen.

Sorry to babble on just offering advice

The most important thing is enjoy it I would love a pond but don't have a garden big enough

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

I did rinse the gravel. I am at work so I will post a picture of it when I get off today around 1 or 2. Could it be the beginning of the nitrogen cycle?

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

Thanks for the advice! It has been of much help! Anything and everything is shedding light on the situation seeing as how this is my first pond.

The sides are sloped not straight down. It's about 2ft deep 11ft long x 6ft wide. Being a kidney shaped it's not exactly that, it will be bigger than what I've measured

High Plains Reefer · May 25, 2015

funny this came up today as I am doing the spring break out moving lillies up to the shallow section plus I bought a bunch of plants from a local hobbiest yesterday heading to the garden store now to get pots and a few more plants I love summer

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

We all have to start somewhere back when my dad started there was no forums or the Internet you had to learn the hard way by trial and error and the equipment available back then was limited.

Thankfully nowerdays we have places like this to be able to offer people advice and help and ask for advice as going into the unknown blind can be daunting.

In my opinion it's always better to ask no matter how silly you may think the question is the only silly thing in my opinion is not asking a question and struggling.

Forgot to add to my above post if you get ice there and it freezes over don't break the ice leave it this will keep it warmer for the fish.

Also my dad use to stop feeding during the colder months as there matabolism slows down and they don't digest food as well I'm not sure what the weather is like where you are as I'm in UK myself.

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

I live in the south and rarely ever see ice in the winter. But I did mean to mention, in the waterfall spouts, the rock inside of those look like it's covered in carbon dust. That's what the water looks like as well.

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

It's got to of come of the substrate as would not of come from the liner.

If it was me I would personally remove the substrate as it will give you a headache in the future in my opinion.

Dan1789 · May 25, 2015

Check out Thepondforum.com

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

Being down south in the USA, we have a lot of pollen. How do I strip the water of all the small particles like pollen and dust. The skimmer I have will pull the big stuff out but not the little stuff. Also, I am not currently running a uv sterilizer because I was under the impression it would kill most of the beneficial bacteria along with the unwanted parasites. Should I purchase the uv sterilizer regardless of it killing some of the beneficial bacteria?

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

I have put carbon in the return pump box and tied a Bag of carbon to the output hose to keep the water "clear" yesterday. I did not pre-rinse the carbon before adding it in

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

I run a UV on my tank as well as my dad did on his pond he had 2 on his pond.

You spec the pump for a UV to keep it simple a really slow flow through a UV will kill off paricites by altering the DNA not allowing them to reproduce. A faster flow will polish the water and remove algae ect.

Most good bacteria lives within your fitter and is attached to items as opposed to being in the water column they are present in water colum but not in the abundance the filter has.

My dad ran the feed to his filter that was dug into the ground lower then the pond this allowed him to gravity feed into it and at the same time pulled the surface water that way so was always having the surface skimmed.

NanaReefer · May 25, 2015

Your definitely going to want to increase flow. At least until you get enough fish in there to handle the Mosquito's and their larva.

Marty.h · May 25, 2015

NanaReefer said:
Your definitely going to want to increase flow. At least until you get enough fish in there to handle the Mosquito's and their larva.

That's one thing we don't really have to deal with in the UK so I can't offer much advice on that it's possible the advice I have given may not be appropriate for systems in the US I can only advise what has worked here in the UK I can't honestly see there being that many differences ect ambiant temps and different paricites ect

TaylorLee · May 25, 2015

So for clear water it should be a fast flow through the Uv. Does this mean I should get a second one for a slower flow through that Uv to kill the parasites or will 1 Uv with moderate flow do the job of both polishing the water and killing off the parasites?