Question about small pond.

[bumwrok]

I just setup a 100 gallon pond in my back yard and I have a couple questions and one mystery.

1. I'm using a 633gph pump to feed a pressurized canister filter filled with lava rocks and a course filter pad giving ~6 turnovers per hour. I'm used to saltwater tanks where more turnover is better. Is this turnover too much for bio filtration to work well in my pond?

2. Would covering the bottom with gravel or lava-rocks be a good idea or not? Right now there is no substrate

3. I used water conditioner, de-chlorinator, and bacteria. Then stocked the pond with 10 1" feeder goldfish. Aeration is sufficient. I expected to lose a few as the pond established and I have so far lost 4. Here's the weird thing, I tested the water both myself and at lfs and there were no traces of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. The water was only a little acidic, probably from the lava rocks. I've fed several times as well. Question is, how could there be no nitrate if ammonia and nitrate are at 0 ?:confused: And Whats killing the fish?

[bumwrok]

C'mon nobody even has an opinion to offer about the first two questions? I find that hard to believe.

[ohbly]

ok I'll put in my two cents..
1. you would be much better off with a pond pump and a pond filter. Ponds produce much more gunk than aquariums, so a low pressure, large volume filter with a slow turn over is much more effective.
2. covering the bottom with gravel or lava rocks would be a bad idea for the same reason as above. It would just trap and be buried in gunk. I think you'd be better off bare bottom for ease of cleaning.
3. put it down to new pond syndrome.

-I hope that helps

[Animallove]

I really dont know about #1. :headshake2: but heres what i think about 2&3

2. Personally I would not put any type of substance on the bottom, A) its harder to clean it out B) They will most likely turn green w/ algea C) Over time you will most likely get a small build up of pond guck, and the rocks will be covered anyway. The pond guck is also good for the benificial bacteria.
3. I would say that you probally lost some fish because feeder fish are not originally taken care of properly, and are usually diseased and just generally unhealthy.

[Sploke]

Agree with whats been said so far, and not sure what your final stocking plans are, but those fish will be too much of a bioload for a 100gal pond by next year. I have 10 comets and 3 koi in my pond, which is 1500gal.

[yada]

You have too much junk going on. Turn off the filter. Don't put anything else in the tank except a couple of old aquarium tank filters. Toss a few plants in it and let some life forms get established. You might want to look the enitre setup over. It looks to me like you are going fly hunting with a bulldozer. Good luck.