Reader Question: Questions about my garden pond in Hua Hin
Dear readers,
A few months ago (in November 2013) I started building a concrete pond. This is now almost ready and there is also water in it. Now I have divided this pond into several basins. A large basin in which I have nothing, except a lot of space and two smaller basins outside that I want to fill with plants and fish.
From my old ditch I got a few hundred guppies, offspring of a handful I bought for a few baht. These now live in the pond and are doing well. I even feel that the fish are comfortable. Also a few algae eaters (they look like Siamese algae eaters) have been living in the pond for over a week now.
But what I'm having trouble with now are the plants. The water lilies that I put in the tank have, as it were, dissolved after a while. Almost all plants die after a while. I have so far potted the plants with the original soil they came with. Could it be that they weren't getting enough fresh water?
Now I have stones in the small bins on the bottom. I don't have (pond) soil in the tank, because I'm afraid this will cause too much cloudy water and I thought that the plants get their nutrients from the water. Now I have bought two new water lilies and put them without a container with the root ball between the stones and covered them with fine pebbles, so that the fish cannot burrow through the mud. The plants wilted. However, new shoots are coming. Would that solve my problem and would I have to process more soil around the plants?
I bought my aquatic plants from local garden stores. However, the offer is not that great. I would like to put more oxygen plants in one of the small containers. This should be a beautiful biotope with plants that filter the water and in which the fish can retreat.
If you then stand in the large tank and put on a diving mask, you can view it, just like an aquarium…
Does anyone know where it is best to look for a vacuum cleaner to remove the fish waste from the bottom of the large pond? I'm afraid the bottom drainage doesn't work very well and I have to go through it with the plunger every now and then...
I would also like to put beautiful aquarium fish (so here in Thailand normal fish living here) in the pond.
The side tank of aquatic plants is larger than most aquariums people have indoors…and since the fish are free swimming, they can also flash through the main tank.
Maybe someone lives in Hua Hin or the surrounding area (Pranburi) who can give me a few more tips about the fish species that are available here, plants and places where I can get them. In Hua Hin I know a small shop that sells all kinds of aquarium stuff, but the choice is also limited there.
I have also heard of the big fish market in Ratchaburi. Haven't been there yet though. Who can tell me more about that?
You see, I am full of questions…. who knows some answers? Thank you in advance.
Sjaak
I passed my aquatic plant and fish pond in Pranburi.
Between the 1st and 2nd traffic lights (Pranburi) there are several plant shops on the left, which also offer aquatic plants.
I also know a fish (accessories) store there, which you can find if you turn right at the 3rd intersection (traffic light) and then the 2nd or 3rd Soi on the left, the store is located after about 200 meters in the Soi the right side.
Recently I bought another 500 algae eaters from Koi Family in Hua Hin (a German specialist in ponds)
Hallo,
Built a concrete pond myself a few years ago. Also had some issues.
Much was due to the fact that the concrete used released many substances that extremely increased the pH (acidity), this adversely affects your plants and ultimately the fish.
The solution was to apply a coating to the concrete that ensures that these substances resist.
In my opinion it is also important to fill a large part of the water with rain water, this means less algae and most fish like it, I did this by leading a water drain from my roof to the pond.
Have your own arowanas in the pond (the cheap silver ones). You have to grow these in an aquarium, as they are quite jumpy when young, have lost quite a few. Also bought some catfish from the Amazon, most fish are around 80 cm after four years, so big, they grow fast here. Even had discus fish in the pond for a period, lasted a long time but too slow to feed with all those gluttons..
It is also useful if the pond catches a lot of sun to use a good UV filter, otherwise the pond will eventually become green from the algae.
Also have a turtle that doesn't have to be on land, bought small four years ago already around 50 cm, celebrating out of hand is funny.
Live in Phuket yourself, know the way to the fish shops here, there are many, a trip to chatuchak in Bangkok is very worthwhile if you want to buy fish, huge offer.
Hope you like my comments.
Greetings Jeroen
Hello.
Jeroen…
Then you have been very lucky with your discus… I once had thirty aquariums, in which I bred hundreds of discus, and an ion filter and an installation to simulate the water of the Amazon, never heard of them surviving in rainwater, and they only survived on self-ground cow liver and stomach, and the young on brine shrimp, which I also grew myself…
As for that pond, the water turns green due to the sunlight, and the best solution is indeed one or more UV filters, but then the problem is that those UV filters also kill the bacteria that break down all harmful waste such as nitrite and nitrate, and that's for sure, if there are a few hundred fish in your pond, it's detrimental.
Where there are many fish, you need a strong filter with biospheres, millions of bacteria can attach to a biosphere, and many aquatic plants... and a pond that catches a lot of sunlight will get algae anyway, even with a UV filter...
And as for the concrete, I once lost dozens of Kois due to the harmful substances that came out of the cement, the best solution is to build it in concrete, then a layer of sand on the bottom and then a foil in the entire pond, until on the edge, and that is going to save you a lot, in my case expensive deaths…
Mvg… Rudy…
Those are good tips indeed. As for the pond, I forgot to add that to make the pond watertight, I put a concrete mixture from the company Crocodile on it. This will be a tough rubber-like waterproof layer. Then from the same company a color cement that is water-repellent again. So actually no substances could enter the water from the concrete blocks and stucco.
The water in it comes from our water supply. We live in the countryside and as far as I know there is no chlorine or anything like that added to the water. But it's tough. I'm starting to suspect that this is the reason most plants die.
Today I bought a test kit from the shop in Hua Hin that can measure the hardness of the water. I will do this tomorrow morning.
If this is the case, the upcoming rainy season will offer a solution….
Rudy, what are biospheres? In addition to the pond and the two "water plant containers", I have three large filter containers, which also contain the pump and in which I have a layer of stones and a layer of washed coral and through which the water runs. I want to add to these layers over time, because there is enough space. This way I hope to have enough surface area for the bacteria. These biospheres, are they these plastic balls with protrusions?? I saw these in the store today.
Bjorn, the German specialist in Hua Hin, does he build ponds? A few months ago I was with a German in Soi 143, which is less than a ten minute drive from me. He had wonderful projects and built ponds at hotels and resorts… I stopped going to him because he told me that he had stopped selling fish. And when he was still selling fish, he specialized in Koi. I think they are beautiful fish, but I don't like to put them with my small tropical fish. Then you have too much of a mishmash of fish that are not attuned to each other…
Hello…
@ shaq…
Biospheres are plastic balls the size of a golf ball, with all kinds of protrusions on them… I always used them in all my breeding tanks, and also a mass in the filter of my pond… a mass of bacteria can attach to them, good bacteria that produce nitrite and nitrate eliminate them, because those waste materials are deadly for your fish if you have a lot of them… they are made of white plastic, and cost nothing twice… fill the first compartment of your filter with filter watts, and never wash them, just wring them out, because it is full of bacteria, and fill the second compartment with a substrate to also retain bacteria, such as biospheres… won't do anything about the algae, but will keep the water healthy… don't know if you can get freshwater mussels in Thailand, those are very large, and also filter the water… and plants, lots of plants…
Success!
Mvg… Rudy…
At the beginning of 2009 we built a pond of approximately 15 m3. The pond is completely plastered.
We have gravel on the bottom and there are 2 UV lamps in it. In the pond about 20 koi carp swim in from 15-60 centimeters. bottle. However, every 2-2 months we have to add a few deciliters of anti-algae against the filamentous algae because, despite the UV, it sometimes sticks to the fountain, etc. The few flowers that are there are also doing fine. Good luck with the construction, flowers and the fish.
In my younger years I bred a lot of fish in the Netherlands and the lebistes reticulatus , or the guppy, albeit with the long tail and the completely black, were proud of my breeding. The diamond gouramy was my beloved cyclade, the trichogaster trigopterus.
Indeed the acidity of the water, and fresh concrete releases alkaline, play a role. Compensate with an epoxy coating or with humic acid. UV for algae is nice, but the algae that is already stuck somewhere in the pool does not move away, but what floats around in solution, less than 10%?
Processing fish waste. In the bottom of the pool, empty it first, put a header of PVC pipe with lots of small holes drilled into it, 2mm no bigger, thousands of holes, lots of pipe with T pieces, bend pieces, hundred meters or so . You connect this network to the ciscullation pump. On top of the pipes coarse sand, about 10 cm. Finer sand on top. You can plant your plants there. The fish waste is sucked into the bottom. The plants break it down and use it as food. Whatever passes through it, not much, ends up in the filter of the circulation pump.
Now exhaust circulation pump, to absorb a lot of O2, spray back very finely, and possibly place an air injector in the pipe.
Keep in mind that there is a max for the number of fish.
Plants, use wtre pest. This gores like the plague and keeps the water oxygen-rich and breaks down waste.
De-nitrification is an anaerobic process and that is close to rotting, dirty air, but then you have sunk very far
I also suffered from this, but with me it was mainly the fish that ate the plants. Annoying, because due to a shortage of oxygen plants I started to suffer from algae again. I did benefit a lot from this website: http://www.vijverhulp.nl/draadalgen.htm. Maybe you can find something useful there too. I read some good tips in the comments here that I will definitely apply.