Adjust Your Pond Water’s Nitrogen Cycle
Why You Should Avoid Overstocking
The number one cause for high levels of ammonia in your pond is overstocking. The more goldfish you put in your pond, the more ammonia that will build up. A goldfish excretes ammonia in two ways: 25% of it is through waste vented and the other 75% is through osmosis through the gills. If the water contains higher levels of ammonia than the goldfish, the goldfish will not excrete it and will eventually die from ammonia poisoning.
Remember that one goldfish needs approximately 10-20 gallons. Don’t buy all your goldfish at once; buy them slowly over time so you can more easily adjust your goldfish pond’s nitrogen cycle.
How Aquatic Plants Help
Aquatic plants are a vital component of the nitrogen cycle These live aquatic plants help control the levels of nitrates by using them up as plant food. If the ammonia levels in your goldfish pond are constantly too high try adding a few more plants.
Rotting plant material is also a source of your goldfish pond’s bioload, the biological material that adds to the water pollution of a pond. One of those pollutants is ammonia. If your ammonia test kit shows elevated levels of ammonia, try removing any rotting aquatic plant debris from your pond.
For a list of suitable live aquatic plants for your pond, tank or bowl, take a look at our aquatic plant articles.
What a Water Change Will Do
Regular water changes of your pond water will help reduce ammonia levels. Fresh clean water is one of the best things you can give your goldfish. It is recommend to do a 20% water change every one to two weeks for an established tank. For your goldfish pond, do a 10% to 20% when your test kit shows elevated ammonia levels. Sometimes your goldfish pond will require a full water change in order to do seasonal maintenance when your aquatic plants out grow the size of your pond.
To learn the best way to go about doing this, read more of our goldfish pond maintenance articles
The Need for Pond Filtration
If you can, set up a mechanical filtration system in your goldfish pond. A mechanical filter can contribute to the health of your pond in many ways. The most noticeable is that a filter sucks up goldfish waste and rotting plant material; both of which contribute to the bioload of a pond and the increasing levels of ammonia.
With a mechanical filter, you can also benefit from having less frequent water changes. Less frequent being the keyword, since nothing can beat a water change, that doesn’t mean that you can simply add a filter and your maintenance requirements are over. You will need to perform regular cleanings of the goldfish pond’s filter; which should be easier than a water change. It’s easy to believe your pond is clean if you can’t visibly see any waste or decomposing plants in your pond, but that just means two things: One, your filter is working and two, all that bioload is in the filter which until removed will continue to add to your goldfish pond’s ammonia levels.
For more on goldfish pond filters, read our filtration articles: Goldfish Pond Filters and Goldfish Aquarium Filter Options
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