Hi - New and need to know if I am doing this right...

[KatzPhotography]

Hi, I am trying to make sure I do not screw up anything with my new pond. So, I will post what I have and if anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it!

Okay, we just installed a 100 gallon pond, it will have a waterfall with two inlets for the water to fall into the pond, I have not bought any plants for in my pond yet because I was not sure which ones were okay with fish and did not want to mess up the water by adding the wrong plants. I have ordered a Fish Mate Pressurized 5 Watt UV Bio Pond Filter 500 and a Pondmaster Mag Drive 9.5 Pump - 950 GPH

So, my biggest questions are, do I need to do any special water treatments or tests before adding fish? How long do I need to let the pond run before adding fish? How many fish can I add to a 100 gallon pond? And I have read that it is best to add Comets and Shubunkin goldfish, is that right?

Anything else that I need to know????

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

[KatzPhotography]

Oh, and we live in WA state and would like to keep the fish in year round, would a heater be suffice or what would be my best option? If a heater, which would you reccomend?

[emc7]

Read up about the 'nitrifying cycle of a pond'. The ponddoc is a good site. Also read about "cycling a tank" and "fishless cycling". 100 Gallons is very small for a pond and lots of whats written about tanks is more applicable to it than the pond stuff.
http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/newsevent.html

water treatments

You can buy Prime in 2.5L. Unless you use well or rain water, most likely you need at least a dechlorinator.

[Scuba Kid]

If you go to a garden store, they should have a section set up for pond plants. You may be able to find pond stores as well that will sell plenty of plants.

I'm assuming this is an outdoor pond though, so you will want to get plants according to your zone number or less. Depending on where you live in Washington state, you're either a Zone 5 or a Zone 6. That means you can keep plants rated to survive year-round in your zone or a lower zone.
Take a look at this chart to find your zone: http://www.bonniesplants.com/zone.html
Each zone is associated with how cold it gets in winter, so basically the plants' hardiness will be rated based on what winter temperatures they can survive. You don't want to get a plant rated for a zone higher than yours because it most likely won't survive your winter.
However, there are some seasonal plants that are great for ponds, like water hyacinth. They die off when it gets too cold, but in the summer they make great floating plants and provide coverage for fish. They also help battle algae and the fish like to pick at the roots.

I'd suggest a few shubunkins for your pond. It is a pretty small pond, so no koi or larger comet goldfish, IMO. Shubunkins get around 6 inches, and plus they have cool calico colors.
They're also very hardy and will do well in an outdoor pond. I have quite a few calico shubunkins and they have been doing very well.

You can winter your pond, and the fish will go into a sort of state of hibernation where their metabolism slows down (meaning don't feed them in winter). All you need to make sure of, especially in a pond as small as yours, is that it doesn't completely freeze over. You need to keep a hole in the ice at all times in order for proper gas exchange, otherwise the fish will "suffocate." Special heaters are designed to do just this and you can find them at most any local pond store or an LFS that sells pond supplies. I think even the garden section at Home Depot and Lowe's carries stuff like that.

[KatzPhotography]

Thanks, I know it is a small pond, and yes it is outside, with about 80% of it in shade all the time and only about 20% that gets sun during midday. It is the biggest we are allowed where we are at.

We live on the eastern side of WA. I will go up tomorrow and see what kind of plants they have for this zone.

The Shubunkins are very cool looking. I knew Koi would be too big and I didn't know how big Comets got but I am perfectly fine with the Shu's.

That site is really interesting and I found alot of interesting info. I will keep reading it too.

Is the pump and filter I got good enough?

I will have to go get some de-chlor too because we use city water.

THANKS!

[tburdock]

I have a pond as well and winter my fish in it. Last year I bought a device (not sure on the name) from my local pet store and it was great at keeping the ice open. It's a piece of foam that your pump suspends from. It bubbles air out around the foam so the water is always moving. It worked so well and I didn't lose any fish. It might be cheaper to run than a heater.

[Scuba Kid]

The heater isn't designed to heat the entire pond, just keep a small hole in the ice. The heaters tend to be a lot cheaper as well and really don't use that much energy. Most are only 100 watts I believe.
When using them, you just need to make sure they keep up with the weather. The pond air pumps work well also, but the good ones tend to be a bit expensive. I have a heavy duty pond air pump and it works nicely, but I use the heater and pump together.

950 GPH in a 100 gallon pond is a good amount of flow. That means your turnover rate is 9.5 times an hour....decently heavy filtration. Is your filter designed to handle that much flow? I know the Fishmate 2000 handles up to 1300 GPH and that's for up to 2000 gallon ponds. Its always good to over filter, but you want to make sure your filter can handle that much flow. It should say on the specifications its maximum GPH.