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#1
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Greetings from a newbie!
Great little pond start into the Porg collective.
------- The Borg said: "We are _Borg_ resistant is futile, you will be assimilated." The Porg say: "We are Porg, resistant IS futile, you will be pond-elated." P - Pond, O - Oriented, R - Recreational, G - Group ------ 10 gallons/goldfish is the standard aquarium rule, but to be on the safe side ponders usually recommend 20 gallons outside. What it really comes down to though is, how big is your filter? As RTB mentioned pond chemistry, in a small amount of water with a high fish load, the chemistry can go south very fast. I'd recommend 10% water change outs once a week and a water flow rate of 250 gph, as one would do on a large aquarium. Would you like to know about test kits? ~ jan See my ponds and filter design: http://users.owt.com/jjspond/ ~Keep 'em Wet!~ Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a To e-mail see website |
#3
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Greetings from a newbie!
We have a 210 GPH pump but we don't actually have a filter. I did place a
soft foam block over the intake and I clean it weekly -- it picks up a lot of stuff. The water just goes up to the waterfall and back in. Pretty elementary, I know. To really know if your situation is working you would need a test kit for at least ammonia & nitrite, the next 2 test kits I consider important are pH & KH plus a thermometer. Do I need a skippy filter or something? No, nothing that drastic, but a flower pot filter would be perfect. You can see 2 versions on my website by clicking *My Filter* and scrolling to the bottom of the page, the one on the left is a factory made by Tetra, the one on the right is homemade. I recently made my own for my lily pond, cost under $15, not counting media, which can be cheap vinyl coated window screening. On page 7, bottom right, of *My pond photos* is a recommended way to encase your pump, instead of dealing with that little prefilter foam you're cleaning weekly. Encasing it with mesh (do not leave the foam on) will make it so you won't have to disturb the pump, and residents, in the pond at all. I thought I was good with the plants and doing the water changes once a month. You obviously have been, but your fish are growing and you want to prevent "Critical Mass". That's when things go sour, fish get sick, half die while you try to get things back to right again. This is where the test kits come in. I highly recommend the tests kits from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., very easy to use, and reasonably priced. So far the cheapest place to purchase is thru www.thatpetplace.com Sometimes you can find them at a pet store, if so, open the box, one of the bottles will have a manufacturing date on the front label at the top. You want that date to be no later than 1/04, though they claim they're good for 2 years. The KHA program recommends getting fresh kits every year. ~ jan See my ponds and filter design: http://users.owt.com/jjspond/ ~Keep 'em Wet!~ Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a To e-mail see website |
#4
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Greetings from a newbie!
On 7/5/04 5:42 PM, in article
, "~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote: We have a 210 GPH pump but we don't actually have a filter. I did place a soft foam block over the intake and I clean it weekly -- it picks up a lot of stuff. The water just goes up to the waterfall and back in. Pretty elementary, I know. To really know if your situation is working you would need a test kit for at least ammonia & nitrite, the next 2 test kits I consider important are pH & KH plus a thermometer. Do I need a skippy filter or something? No, nothing that drastic, but a flower pot filter would be perfect. You can see 2 versions on my website by clicking *My Filter* and scrolling to the bottom of the page, the one on the left is a factory made by Tetra, the one on the right is homemade. I recently made my own for my lily pond, cost under $15, not counting media, which can be cheap vinyl coated window screening. On page 7, bottom right, of *My pond photos* is a recommended way to encase your pump, instead of dealing with that little prefilter foam you're cleaning weekly. Encasing it with mesh (do not leave the foam on) will make it so you won't have to disturb the pump, and residents, in the pond at all. I thought I was good with the plants and doing the water changes once a month. You obviously have been, but your fish are growing and you want to prevent "Critical Mass". That's when things go sour, fish get sick, half die while you try to get things back to right again. This is where the test kits come in. I highly recommend the tests kits from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., very easy to use, and reasonably priced. So far the cheapest place to purchase is thru www.thatpetplace.com Sometimes you can find them at a pet store, if so, open the box, one of the bottles will have a manufacturing date on the front label at the top. You want that date to be no later than 1/04, though they claim they're good for 2 years. The KHA program recommends getting fresh kits every year. ~ jan See my ponds and filter design: http://users.owt.com/jjspond/ ~Keep 'em Wet!~ Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a To e-mail see website Thank you, Jan, for such a thorough response! I have my work cut out for me. I think they have the test kits at a local pet supply -- I've looked at them, but didn't know what to buy. Now I do! I get to working on a filter solution next. Thank you again! You guys are so nice! Angie -- newest member of the PORG collective |
#5
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Greetings from a newbie!
Hi Angie, welcome to rec.ponds! kathy :-) algae primer http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html |
#6
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Greetings from a newbie!
In article , AngieB
writes: I got some more varieties of sedum from my sister today to put in between the rocks and stuff. I'm having such fun! Angie, That's the whole point of having a pond to have fun and enjoy it. Take care to look after what you have and bigger and all that other stuff will come naturally cause you'll know exactly what you want where. Karen Zone 5 Ashland, OH http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html My Art Studio at http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K....M.Studios.html for email remove the extra extention |
#8
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Greetings from a newbie!
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#9
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Greetings from a newbie!
Welcome to ponding. Angie. I can tell from your comments that you are hooked.
It won't be long before you and your hubby will decide to put in a larger pond. When you do, go the largest your space will hold. Believe me, from experience, I can tell you thats the way to go. Jan "Our Pond" Page http://hometown.aol.com/pinkpggy/index.html |
#10
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Greetings from a newbie!
Welcome to ponding. Angie. I can tell from your comments that you are hooked.
It won't be long before you and your hubby will decide to put in a larger pond. When you do, go the largest your space will hold. Believe me, from experience, I can tell you thats the way to go. Jan "Our Pond" Page http://hometown.aol.com/pinkpggy/index.html |
#11
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Greetings from a newbie!
On 7/21/04 3:18 PM, in article ,
"Pinkpggy" wrote: Welcome to ponding. Angie. I can tell from your comments that you are hooked. It won't be long before you and your hubby will decide to put in a larger pond. When you do, go the largest your space will hold. Believe me, from experience, I can tell you thats the way to go. Jan "Our Pond" Page http://hometown.aol.com/pinkpggy/index.html Thanks for the welcome, Jan! I tell ya, Cox news servers have been down all day and I was just now able to grab messages -- I was having withdrawals! Unfortunately, I have a gap in messages from yesterday at 9 pm to 2 pm this afternoon. Hope I didn't miss anything! I'll hafta google the group later. I really really want a larger pond, but I think our first priority for the back yard is a new privacy fence. But a new pond is already planned in my head! We'll get there! Thanks again! - Angie |
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