Tropical Fish Forums

[iansmith]

A friend of mine wants to move their goldfish (not Koi) from an indor tank to an outdoor pond. Is it possible to do this without the use of a pond filter?

It would be a fairly large pond.. perhaps 500 gallons or more. Small number of adult common goldfish, currently one, max two or three males. Planned to be heavily planted.

So is this feasable, or is it not possible or too difficult to manage a filterless pond? I also am assuming a powerhead or fountain is needed to prevent stagnation.

Thanks!

[tom495]

without a filter the water would be very green if you had a pump or not so you would not really be able to see the fish. I also don't really think its fair on the fish to be swimming in their own muck plus other slim and rubbish you generally get in a pond. the only way it would work is if you clean it well every week or so but this would still not resolve the green water.

[Oscer]

Yes, 1890L will be sufficient for 1-2 adult gold fish, but for 3 goldfish I'd say go for 1000g.

As long as you have a water fall or some sort of flow. If you have any flow over any solid structure ex. rocks water fall/cascade or even pond side, you will have beneficial bacteria colonising that area, which acts as a bio filter, similar to nature.

The plants will also help with mechanical filtration and nutrient export. Nutrient export is very important due to the fact that, often extra nutrients cause
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Years of fish keeping = Good advice

[Oscer]

Example of natural ponds:

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=30471&sid=7c08d60470300c0a14ab6a502bb45189

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=31820&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
_________________
Years of fish keeping = Good advice