After reducing my fish's food intake, my pond keeps clearing up! Now that I can see the bottom of the Rubbermaid, I got some beach pebble stones to decorate the bottom.

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Three weeks ago:

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Looking good!

Nice going, George! Looks so pretty now, you can see all the fish, and the rocks. Some nice water lilies and hyacinth. Have they bloomed yet?

That is so cool-- it is very similar to mine.

I have been considering putting rocks on the bottom of mine. But mine is not fully supported underneath, in the middle, because of the drain pipe that's attached.

I clothespin bird netting over 2/3 of the top to keep predators out. The other 1/3 is where the water plants hang out.

I also have a flat slab of stone sitting on top of 2 flat landscaping stones that serves as my underwater cave. That was a successful protection from predators in my first pond too (same fish). I want to add a large piece of drain pipe since exploring is fun for them.

Also thinking about how to decorate the outside-- netting & floats? Bamboo somehow wired together?

Does anyone use a pond vac? I've seen a couple in the $50 range which operate on suction. I get sediment on the bottom so am considering.

Here's the link to the site where I got the idea for a stock tank pond: http://www.oaktrees.org/garden/pond.shtml

And this is so cool, a way for fish to see out of the pond! http://www.nettally.com/palmk/FishHiRise.html

Lastly, today I gotta betta. His name is Neva bin Betta (bin is "son of" in Arabic). He's fun to watch.

Good job on your pond!

Ooohhh, it's really looking great George! I love the plants and I just can't believe how much it has cleared up in just 3 weeks! Great job!

The hyacinths have bloomed but not the water lily's. I've learned a lot setting up this pond. . Maintaining a pond is completely different than maintaining a tank.

Oh boy, it looks FANTASTIC! Great job!

It looks very nice, I like the plants, maybe I should get some plants?

What a difference. It's looking fantastic.

Just when I thought my pond was looking so good, I tested the water and found ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates! I tested the water at night, but this shouldn't make a difference, should it? Now, I'm wondering if adding all those beach pebbles this week could have done something to disrupt the pond.

Thats a shock. Did you wash the pebbles thoroughly -suppose you did. Were they from the beach? I guess youll have to do some big water changes to get your levels back on target. the tub looks great by the way. Good luck

I got the beach pebbles from Lowe's. I started rinsing the first few pebbles I put in, then I just dumped the rest in the following day. The bag didn't say I needed to rinse the pebbles, and I figure whatever on them is natural and shouldn't kill the fish.

Well, just now, I moved the four new pebbles I had placed right on top of the filter. Maybe those pebbles were the main culprits, since all the water has to pass over those pebbles, magnifying whatever is on them.

Well, ammonia is down to about zero, but nitrites and nitrates are still high. I'm feeding the fish every other day now. I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong. Possible reasons:

1. Added the beach pebbles last week. However, the pH is still good.

2. Cleaned out my filter. I basically took the lid off and sprayed the gunk off with a hose without taking the pad out. This might have allowed a lot of tap water to run all the way to the bottom of the filter. I heard tap water can contain substances that disturb the cycle.

3. Delayed effect of algae death. In the preceding weeks, I was surprised that the clearing of my pond didn't have much of an effect on water parameters. I was replacing about 10 gallons of water a day, but I didn't think it'd be enough. Maybe, the algae died in a week, but then it took another week or two before it decayed. This then spiked the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

4. All of the above!

Thats a beautiful Rubbermaid! It looks great and the fish look really happy

Any advice guys? My nitrite levels are stuck, even though ammonia levels are at zero. The ponds still looks beautiful. :|

In my opinion, reason #2 and #3 are most likely.

By doing #2, u definitely exposing the BB (beneficial bacteria) to tap water which will kill them. Tap water contains chlorine and other substances which will kill the BB and lead to crashed cycle. That's why we always have to wash the filter media with aged water/water from the pond.

Reason #3 is not really the cause, but it played a part. When u were having the greenwater, there was no BB whatsoever established in the filter media as any ammonia, nitrite and nitrate produced was instantly consumed by the greenwater, leaving none for the BB to establish. When u kill off the greenwater, then BB has chance to establish itself, therefore u starting a brand new cycle again. BUT because u only feed them much less food than before, the ammonia takes a while to register.

I think u now have the ammonia-eating BB established and the nitrite-eating one on the way, so basically ur in the middle of the cycle. But then u sprayed the media with tap water, which takes u back a few steps in the cycle.

Gotta change more of them water

Interesting, so you think the problem is not the decaying algae but the lack of algae that would have consumed the ammonia and nitrites. So, I wonder what's keeping the green water from coming back with all of the nitrites and nitrates in the water (yes, I have both)?!

Do these stones look safe?

They look as safe as houses

The chloramines out of the tap would have destroyed most of your good bacteria - or the amount that housed itself in the filter. You never really got your cycle off the ground when you had green water because the algae would have consumed all your ammonia so I'm with Riz on this.

So in a way, it's good that you're starting afresh so your filter will cycle well but in the future, it'd be best not to use the hose to rinse your media. Wash it out using old water - this way you won't disturb your good bacteria

Greenwater first and foremost need ammonia to establish. So when u really cut down on ur food, the greenwater died cos there's not enough ammonia produced to sustain the green algae population with your pond size. Plus the big umbrella above ur pond might have something to do with it also as it blocks the sunlight needed to photosynthesize & reproduce.

Jen, what do you mean "as safe as houses"?

Well, I had originally got my umbrella hoping to cut down on algae and give the fish some shade. However, my green water didn't clear up when I put up the umbrella. After I cut the food, the algae went away. I've been leaving my umbrella down most days now. I do notice my plants grow faster when the umbrella is down, and I have enough plants to provide the fish some shade without the umbrella.

Can someone provide me a reference that algae consumes ammonia? I had only read that plants and algae consume nitrates.

Hmmm then the umbrella doesn't really make much difference

I've read it somewhere in a singaporean gf forum about the algae consuming ammonia, but only for unicellular green algae. Other algaes only consume nitrate.

George, safe as houses means safe to use

Here's a paragraph I pulled from the greenwater sections of Algone.com:

The more waste is in the aquarium, the larger the heterotrophic colonies will grow. During the mineralization process, ammonia, CO2, and dissolved organic matter are produced. CO2 of course is needed for photosynthesis; ammonia and dissolved organic matter are the other ingredients for the planktonic algae to thrive on

My little pond is in full sunlight all day. The fish hide under the shade from the plants sometimes, but they also just swim around a lot. And their colors are amazing in the summertime.

The water is completely clear too.

Update on my pond: After an initial scare with nitrites, I fed my fish very little. After two weeks, the pond was cycled once again. I'm feeding the fish more now, and the algae hasn't come back! I think my plant population has grown enough that it's shading the pond and competing with the algae for nutrients. Here's a movie of my pond as it is today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKYtv8eyLPc

looking good George....they all look very content!

Just a quick question: Where can I purchase a huge tub like that? I've been wanting to start an outdoor tub like koi pond and I don't know where to go to find something that big. Would I find at a place like Home Depot?

Thanks,

- Frusciante

you could look at home depot, but i dont think they will have anything. your best bet would be to find a tractor supply store or a farming store.

Wow, really? I wouldn't have thought of that! Thanks, Fuzzy!

I bought mine from a store, which is similar to Lowes and Home Depot. The brand name is Menards in Illinois.

I paid $63 for my stock tank. It is a lot cheaper than regular tanks.

I went to lowes and bought a liner for 70$ that made me an 800 gallon pond.

looks really good!