Thinking about using pond....good or bad?

[msr316]

I'm very new to AP and as much as I want to get up and running yesterday I want to do it right. I have a preformed pond that's 100 gallons that has been up for 3 years and right now has 7 comet goldfish that are around 2-3 inches long. The pond has many pond plants in it and for the past year has no filter on it and the fish feed off of the algae. I was wondering if I wanted to use this pond would I need to clean it first or can I do a water test and if everything is good with the levels can I just get started?

As far as my set-up I'm still unsure as to what I will be using. I want to grow a few vegetables nothing too big to start maybe around 8-10 plants. I have seen some fairly big plastic pots at Lowe's that I think would work good and I plan on use lava rock in the pots.

I also have a 45 gallon preformed pond that I would like to try and grow some vegetables. in my garage do I will be prepared for the winter. My question here is if the outside pond is good can I use some of the water from it to help cycle the new pond.

Like I said I am brand new to this. I was thinking of trying to do hydroponics but found out about aquaponics while looking around the web and love the idea of AP! So any and all help and advice will be greatly appreciated and welcomed!!

I forgot to tell you what kind of system I want to run after looking and the diffrent types I think the flood and drain is the way I would like to go with these.

Thanks for your help!
Sean

[kellenw]

Hello Msr315 and welcome to APHQ! A preformed pond is perfectly fine for use as your "fish tank" in your system. Yes, it would be a good idea to use some of the water from your existing pond to "seed" the new one as well. It will speed cycling.

[msr316]

Good! So It's ok that the pond has a good amount of algae growing in it? To date I haven't been feeding them anything just letting them do their own thing. I plan on feeding them a good quality food. Also should I add anymore fish to the pond, and do you think that this would support a beds to grow 10 or so plants? For the inside garage grow I only want to grow a couple of plants at first so i'm guess I'll only need a few fish. Is this correct?

[Crusty]

Hi

Is there light in your garage? 7 odd goldfish may not produce enough nutrient for many plants (cant tell you how much). If you knew how much feed you are added daily we could hazard a guess at the amount of plants it will support.

All in all is sounds like fun!

[msr316]

No real light in the garage. When I set that up I plan on using compact fluorescent lights that are for growing plants. I plan on adding more fish to the outside pond just wasn't sure how many I should add and as far as feeding i'm not sure. Is there a recommended amount or do you have any suggestions?

[GaryD]

Hi Sean,

A word of caution about ponds.....make sure that stormwater cannot wash into the pond or you risk toxic materials (like herbicides or pesticides) entering your system.

Gary

[kellenw]

Hi Sean,

A word of caution about ponds.....make sure that stormwater cannot wash into the pond or you risk toxic materials (like herbicides or pesticides) entering your system.

Gary

Gary makes a good point here. It is often a good idea to form a berm around your pond to prevent "bad stuff" from getting into it, and of course, then into the rest of your growing system.

[msr316]

Thanks guys! I'll make sure to keep that in mind.