lu wrote Gosh, I'm glad I found this newsgroup.

We're glad you found us!

Let's start at the beginning ~

How many gallons do you think the pond is?
And if you're not sure what size is it, how
many feet wide from side to side and how
deep? One of our mathmatically inclined posters
can figure out the gallons from those measurements.
I think you might have too many fish in there from one of
the pictures but it is hard to tell. We recommend 1,000 gallons to start with
and 100 for each koi after that. Goldfish should have between 20 to 40 gallons
per fish.

Has it ever been cleaned? As in drained and all the slurry
sludge at the bottom taken out? Doesn't sound like it and there is a way to do
it properly. The sludge makes great fertilizer!
Where do your pumps sit?
On the bottom? Or up on a brick? Pump sizes as in gallons per hour and the
sizes of your hoses and what are them made out of? Are they clear or opaque?

Your plants looks great and plants are important for fish health. Many of us
filter our ponds via plants alone. There are tests available at the petstore to
help keep an eye on the water quality. Watch for expiration dates on test kits.
Post the exact numbers.

Pea gravel and rocks are hard filter media to maintain and need someone with a
fairly strong back to deal with it.
You can do better ;-) Many of us use light weight material such as black vinyl
screening, plastic bio balls, plastic curlers, shredded packing tape. One thing
to be careful of is that the material used hasn't been treated for various
stuff - bad for fish.

We have fish experts here, filter experts, someone to help with each of your
questions. I'm posting general questions for you to start with. Others will
post more specific questions for you to answer and then we can help put
together a solution for you. (It probably won't be me - I'm best at answering
predator and wildlife questions and I have a green water solution primer, but
hopefully I've got you started on getting some good info for our experts ;-)


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A