Putting fish back into pond in the spring

[cemantic]

Hello,

Our adventures with getting the aquarium setup for our Goldie's from our pond finally settled down and things have been good.  Unfortunately we lost the Koi though when the air pump went down.  Very sad, he/she was the king of the tank and about nine inches.  The little smaller Goldie's seem to have survived okay and as active as ever.

I am now starting to think about getting the fish back into the pond in the spring.  The pump and getting it running again are not an issue.  But we did get caught with the early snow and did not get a chance to clean it so that will be the first job in the spring.  I am assuming a pond, like an aquarium needs to completely cycle before getting the gang back in there.

Any advice?

There was a lot of string algae in the end on the waterfall part so will probably do a thorough cleaning first.

It is an 185 gallon preform.  Pump is 110 gal/hour, needed to get up the slope for the bio-filter weir.

I will get it cleaned, up and running then add the bacteria etc.  I am also going to getting some barley straw pellets started from the beginning as well.  I have rad that in the spring you can get a huge algae bloom potentially.

This will be our first spring getting it going again.

The pictures below were from when it was first completed.  There was a lot of growth afterwards with all the plants.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[washefuzzy]

Nice looking pond! I glad I'm not the only one who believes spring will come. 
Sorry to here you lost you goldfish.

[Vizerdrix]

That is an absolutely GORGEOUS pond!

One thing that would concern me is the pump.  Is this the only waterflow you have for the pond?  In a 185g, you want MUCH more than just 110g/hr, especially with goldfish.  You should aim for at least four times the volume of the pond.

The algae on the waterfall, if you don't mind it's look, is actually beneficial in helping clean the water.

You could also try to get some sponge filters going in your tank to get them well seeded with bacteria to jump the cycling process in the pond.  You can take them and plop them in your filter to get things going.

Sorry I can't be more help than that!

[cemantic]

Thanks for the replies.

I mis-typed the pumps capacity.  It is actually 1100 gallons per hours.  With the math it should be about 8-900 by the time it hits the top where the bio-filter weir is.

I will probably clean the algae anyways.  It will come back.  LOL

I have a sponge filter in the tank right now.  A good idea to start things off.  There are two sponges on it I should be able to replace one then once I know the aquarium is okay I will replace the second one.

Has anyone had problems with a major algae bloom in the spring?

I should be able to have it running for about a month before the Goldie's go back in.  Can you add ammonia to the pond to help get the bacteria cycling before hand?  If so has anyone seen any sites that give you amounts, how often etc.

Thanks for the compliments on the pond.  When I get the time I will put up all the pics and as much explanation as I can for all to see the construction.  You do learn and there is always something you could have done.

cheers

[The Pond Boy]

First you have to clean the pond in the spring and check if everything is ok. Then you fill up the pond and let the fish go. April is mostly not that warm, so normal you will not have a big algae bloom in the spring. If you see it coming, you can kill all the algae easy.
Thanks,

The Pond Boy,
Greg

[Vizerdrix]

Glad to hear that was a typo on the GPH flow!

[cemantic]

What is the best way to manage algae in the spring?

I am going to clean it all up then refill it.  I will add something to remove any chlorine etc.  At that time I will then add the sponge from the tank and add some bio start bacteria as well.  I am going to also have a bag of barley pellets which ideally help with algae.

If algae is a problem what else can be done?  I would like to not be adding a whole bunch of chemicals.  Is there natural additives for algae control in ponds that won't effect the bacteria load and the fish?

Thanks

[The Pond Boy]

Sure there is, the most east way is using chemicals. I know there are people who don't want to use any chemicals, but it is a choice, it is the work of cleaning in you have algae or using chemicals. The owners of the pond are making their decision.
Thanks,

The Pond Boy,
Greg Veldhuizen