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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    New pond syndrome

    Good evening,

    looking to purchase some products in advance to help our new pond which will go live in around 10 days, looking online there appears to be bombs and gels and products which can be introduced, are there any recommendations as to what we should use and how much ? pond circa 2000 gallons...filtration bio will be compressed jap matting with drum via an Evolve 4000, we will probably put in around 6 fish to help start the bio process but they wont be big and it looks a potential slow process ? can we help to trigger the bio and make the water safer? thanks Steve.



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  3. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Think most of it is snake oil.

    £14 a pop on pond bombs.... I kept "believing" and buying them last year, drop it in the Nexus never to be seen again, and no change to parameters or clarity whatsoever. The only positive thing about them is the tubs which are good for measuring exactly 100 grams of pellets.

    EA sent me £50 worth of filter start gel as a good will gesture after a complaint..... it did nothing.

    Time is the only thing that works in my opinion.

    And fishless cycling.

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    I agree with RS. It took my pond 2 years to mature. I must have spent
    At least 150 pounds on bombs and stuff to mature the filters and pond.
    Time and lots of water testing is what it takes.
    I even had older mature medium in the filters.
    Its the pond its self. That in my opinion that has to mature. So in my opinion as said by RS.
    There just a money waster.


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  7. #4
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Rokusai AlanF's Avatar
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    Fishless cycling for me, every time, if you can wait for fish arriving. See www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/fishless_cycling.html
    Took me 6-7 weeks and at least you dont put the fish through hell while the filter bugs get going, plus you can add most of fish at one go.

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  9. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AlanF View Post
    Fishless cycling for me, every time, if you can wait for fish arriving. See www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/fishless_cycling.html
    Took me 6-7 weeks and at least you dont put the fish through hell while the filter bugs get going, plus you can add most of fish at one go.
    I wish now i had gone that way alan

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  11. #6
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion bowsaw's Avatar
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    Do as Alan says, there no need to put animals through stress of filters establishing

    the bombs can add a little something to the water, but those microbes are in the atmosphere in aerosol form and will find their way in to the pond in time, each pond is also different and so cultures and strains that do well in one will fail in another.
    the slow pond build thread

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Hi all, thank you for your responses, interesting to read your views on pre water treatments and the apparent lack of any benefits on what seems to be a buoyant market for these products, without fish in the water how will the bio kick start itself? will there be enough natural organism's getting into the water on a brand new build that has no debris or plant life and is well sheltered from trees etc, ? it will be interesting what my water readings will be once first filled, I will do my best to stay void of fish until the readings are acceptable.....going to be difficult, I want to do the right thing for the fish welfare but of course like anyone want some fish in too, oh dear sit on my hands for a while then...….I am already twitching ! will weed help? thanks Steve.

  14. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    2 choices really.... Chuck some ammonia in there to say 1 mg/l and wait for the cycle to start without any fish in there, or put your 2 tiddlers in and stick with them for a couple of months before adding anymore, but each time you add to the fish load it will take a while for the filters to catch up.

    My experience says the first option is the better one but ponds aren't so much fun without fish!

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  16. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Wait a minute.... Just had a thought.

    Go round your brother's and nick a load of mature media for your filter and put your new fish in straight away!

    Just mix his media in with yours if that's possible and things should get moving.

    If you are able to do that try and get a temperature match and PH match so it doesn't set the mature media back too much.

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  18. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Wait a minute.... Just had a thought.

    Go round your brother's and nick a load of mature media for your filter and put your new fish in straight away!

    Just mix his media in with yours if that's possible and things should get moving.

    If you are able to do that try and get a temperature match and PH match so it doesn't set the mature media back too much.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
    Hi RS appreciate your thinking.... my brother only took off his carb covers off on Sunday when we took our fish along, it was at 17 degrees then and probably 19 by now as he has heat option and its been sunny, mine will be stone cold, by brother will ramp temperature down a week or so prior to me collecting so its not such a temp shock for the fish..…. he has K1 media in his drum and I have jap matting, he is also nearly 2 hours away from me... but it was a good idea... thanks Steve.

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  20. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion bowsaw's Avatar
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    temperature won't be a big bug killer, time exposed out of the water would do more to denature a culture, pH will play a part of its miles different but its unlikely to be out of the factor 10 difference range and not into the 100 or 1000 ranges.

    there are plenty of microbes in the air that will colonise the water, they require their food source and the best method as mentioned prior is to use ammonia and add a controlled amount and routinely test to see if the cycle is in motion, you also will need to ensure the water is chlorine free when you start otherwise that will also do its job and limit the microbial life,

    cycling a pond is less of a pain than tanks, it still looks nice even with out the decoration of fish, the last tank I cycled I left it under a blanket for the 6 weeks it took, so out of sight out of mind in effect.
    the slow pond build thread

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