Okay, I have NO idea how a pond is set up, so this is prolly a stupid question to all of you...
We all know that GF need good filtration, aeration, clean water, etc... How do fish live in a pond setting where the water gets dirty sometime? Are there filters in the ponds??? Sorry, but I love looking at the pond photos and hope that I may have one some day!

Think of a pond as a giant outdoor fish tank. Still needs everything a tank needs just on a bigger scale. You still have to clean it and change the water. It's only alittle more complicated because you have to take special precautions for the seasons.


A water fall hooked up to your filter pump creates surface splash and aerates the water. And its soothing to listen to I think

I sit and watch them for hours!

Since a pond is a more normal setting fish tend to do better in ponds (at least mine do). I have a biofilter to clean the water and have 3 waterfalls to provie aeration.

Olivia, is that ur pond? I like the waterfall, Im planning one for mine, made some drawings, just the measurements are missing, I still need some help though cause I dont quite get how to put it all together and what i'll need

WOW! What a beautiful pond!!!! If it is your's, Olivia, will you set up one when you move? I think they are SO beautiful, unfortunately, my cats would love them, too! FREE SNACKS!!!! Thanks for explaining!

Yeah that's my smallest pond. It's only 150g. We'll be living in military housing when we get to NV so I won't be able to dig a pond but I will set up a few above ground units. Nothing like what I have here *sighs*. If you want to see a pretty pond ask garden girl her's are really something!

thats really pretty! I hope my pond will turn out like that!

I can't take all the credit...My sister planted the flowers.

well, then tell her she did a good job, Im guessing u set up the rest? It looks awesome! So, what kind of pump do u have to use for the waterfall? Im still trying to figure that out.

My pond has a pump inside that feeds to a 100 gallon filter on the outside of the pond. The water rises in the filter (actually a 100 gallon horse trough) up through filter pads, and overflows through a 4 inch tube back to the pond......

I clean the 100 gallon filter by rinsing the pads each month through the summer. I also use a shop vac to vacuum the bottom of the pond about every month as well. I have an outdoor air pump and a couple of airstones in the pond, as I don't have a waterfall. The airstones keep additional oxygen in the water.

I also do regular water changes when I vacuum. I manage to pull off about half the water while cleaning and replace it with dechlorinated water.... about every month too. SO, a pond is like a big aquarium -- you have to do all the things you would to a regular aquarium.

that sound like quite a bit of work! Im sure i'll be able to handle it though since I actually kinda enjoy cleaning fish tanks, Nickie I hope u do get a pond some day!

Maybe one day, Shamu. The problem is that besides my own three cats, we have a lot of the neighborhood cats that come to our house, so if I did have one, I would have to have some sort of cover on it to keep the fish safe.

my doggie is probably the best predator control I could ever think of, she's a german shepherd and doesnt like other animals in the area, she chases away everything, from leaves to birds, squirrels, racoons and deer, anything that comes onto our yard is not safe from my doggie lol, not even my kitty, she wouldnt be able to catch a fish without being interrupted by my dog

It's not too bad -- mostly just takes time. The heaviest thing is carrying the shop vac out to the pond and my husbad does that for me...... It takes me two hours to clean the Skippy Filter, and two hours to vacuum the pond. Since I do both once a month, I alternate and do one every two weeks.

Your parents can use the water to feed and water their garden. You wouldn't believe how great everything grows with fishy poo poo water! Once my husband started roses, he helped with water changes. He WANTS the filthy filter water for the roses and they grow HUGE.

yeah, my mom used to use my fishwater for plants too, with the pond she'll be able to water every plant on the yard lol

You know Python has a pond vac right??? Click here to see it!

how do u get those in Canada?

i wish to have one of those too!!!

I have that Python pond vac and it does a fine job, but I had a problem with all the water it wasted and went with the shop-vac with a pump out feature. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pythons in the house for the aquariums, but when you are changing a thousand gallons of pond water, you can waste A LOT of water with that little pond vac, also it takes a lot longer to vac the bottom of the pond and the tube won't let you get everywhere. On the plus side, it's has a great clear tube and you get a certain satisfaction in seeing all the crud that it's vacuuming from your pond, especially when it hits a pocket of black mulm and sucks that nasty junk out, LOL. I get into a kind of zen state using it, LOL.

I still use it for small jobs outside -- it's great for doing a quick vacuum of the bottom of the filter, but the shop-vac is so much better.

Save your money and spend 100 bucks on the shop-vac with the pump out feature. You can hook a hose up to it, put the narrow nossle on the end and get in all the little nooks and crannies of the pond..... The vac only holds 15 gallons of water and will turn itself off when full, but you can remove the nozzle from the water, turn it on and pump out the vac, then get started again. If my hubby is on the end of the hose, watering plants, I can generally get the whole 2000 gallon pond vacuumed in about two hours, with stopping to let the vac pump itself out. You can buy them at the local giant chain hardware stores....

Now if you hit the lottery, or have an unlimited supply of money, go for the Oase Pondovac 3, which sells for about $400. I hear it's incredible, but my indoor carpet vacuum doesn't even cost that much so I can't justify it....

OMG you dont know how lucky you people are, I have begged my mum and dad for a pond, we have a big garden so it would be great, but im not allowed =[

Beautiful pond Olivia!

Speaking of keeping ponds safe, I saw a shocking story on Fox News this morning...some of you may have seen it.

A couple in Florida had a gorgeous koi pond that had been vandalized, so they set up a security camera. The camera caught 2 teenage boys dumping liquid and powdered detergent into their pond, killing all 30 of their beautiful fish. The dollar value of the fish exceeded $4,000. The boys were arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty.

Just very sad for the fish, and sad for the couple who lost them and had their pond ruined for nothing. Also for the boys who were so cruel and have no conscience. Just another reason to have your pond in an enclosed area to keep out vandals and stray animals.

How SICK it that? I don't understand WHY the laws in this country for animal cruelty are not as severe as they should be? I mean, it is AMAZING to me how people think that animals have no feelings and it is okay to treat them like they are not alive and don't matter.

That's cool. Good ole Pythons.

I'd do some serious gettin' back at with them boyz, if they didn't go to juvie for a few years.

Well, they didn't charge them with vandalism or anything that was a misdemeanor. They were charged with FELONY animal cruelty, which says that the law is taking what they did to the fish more seriously than vandalizing and trespassing. I thought that was encouraging, although its not going to bring the couples' pets back.

Most serial killers start out by killing and tormenting animals, and I think the law is finally realizing that animal cruelty is a serious offense. I'm just glad they had the foresight to install a security camera so they didn't get away with it. Fox News showed the security video. It was sickening to see all of the detergent suds blow up and think about what was happening to the fish.

OK, I read the instructions. I'm usually not this dumb about such gadgets, but... where does the "used" water from the faucet go? I take it the movement of the water from the faucet through the hose and then through someplace creates a vacuum in the gadget that sucks up debris and pond water up the wide, clear tube. Then what... maybe my brain is off tonight, but I'm stumped. We certainly don't want the untreated faucet water to go into the pond, so.....????


Oliver

Well I have a drainage pipe to catch the water under my faucet it runs the water down to the storm drain....come to think of it I'm not sure how other people do it.

I just let the water splash out onto a nearby hedge, or thread the hose to the grass and let the water go in the grass.... That's a problem with the python pond vac -- too much water waste. Now if you're got a small pond, it's probably perfect, but at 2000 gallons, I can't afford the wasted water...... The Shop Vac is better for me.

Responding to the vandalism/fish kill down in Florida -- It's just awful. I hope they throw the book at those kids, but bet they will get off lightly. Afterall, it was "only fish" they killed. You know the drill. People won't see fish as warm and fuzzy, so I bet this plays differently once those kids get in front of a judge. Hopefully, the district attorney will stress that these were PETS and the judge will be sensitive to that, but I doubt it.

we have an outside pond, we only give it a top up.wen it needs it.the liner is plastic.it is full of algie and we never fully clean it of, the water is clear and u can c the fish very well. its not that big, it has 20 goldies in it, and they are doing real good.they seem to thrive on any sorts of conditions.my hubby made it him self and took three days of digging(we have very hard soil in toowoomba and red). weve had it bout 8 months.im thinking after reading how many fish other people have in there ponds i may have to many, we did have 10 in there but then we rescued the other ten.i will post pics up, i have to get my hubby to take the pics.lol