I do this for a living, and this is the simplest and most straightforward explanation I've ever heard. Well done!

How the hell does this guy only have 23k subs!? Maybe it's his voice... but I like it.. and I like the pace of information.

Kev is spot on! There are ppl on KZfaq who proclaim to know the best ways to filter and treat your ponds. 99% are bunk. Everyone is trying to do stuff nature does on its own. All the pond stores and manufactures all push chemicals. Again all bunk. Sure they’re happy to sell you expensive stuff you simply don’t need. A basic understanding and patience along with setting up your pond correctly works. Sadly I went down the wrong road for over a year. Kev is 100% correct. Now my water is crystal clear , all levels are good and my Koi are big and happy. And speaking of. The worst thing you can do is feed your fish too much. Koi especially. Sure feeding them is fun. But keeping your water clean and cleaning filters not so much. Trust me they will not starve! How do you think they can live through the winter without feeding them. There are so many things to eat in the pond let them do a lot of the work for you. They will scavenge the bottom stones and pebbles. They will eat algae. In the end you simply need to mimic Mother Nature. Trust me she’s been doing it right forever. Thank you Kev. You helped me a lot in the beginning when I had trouble. Most of which was bad information from so called experts. In fact there’s a jerk on here that says you shouldn’t have rocks or pebbles in a pond. They don’t provide wet surface for bacteria. Yeah right ….🙄. Thx man🤙🏻🤙🏻

Beginner here. Really simple and easy to understand. Thank you

The way Australians say “good’a” always puts a smile on my face 😊.

Not boring at all. I needed this info

Good detailed advice. Thanks 🙂

Great information.Man I am so impressed.

This was excellent! Thank you!

You are a Godsend for those of us quite new to "serious" pond keeping... Such a thorough, but simplistic way of explaining things... Thanks for all of your uploads..

Great tutorial. Thank you!

Thanks so much for your useful content.

Awesome talk and really stunning ponds 💯👍✌️

Your information was fantastic and eye opening, thank you😉

Thanks again big Kev. you kick ass bro.

Great information. It covers what it has taken me 20 years to learn through trial and error! I now have a 1000 gallon above ground pond with two filter systems: One a simple fountain with a mechanical filter and the other a pump running mechanically filtered water into two 1/2 wine barrels filled 50/50 with bio-balls and lava rock. The water enters one barrel and flows from it through two outlets, one back into the pond and the other into the second barrel and from there to the pond. I have comet goldfish, shubunkins and some ruby nosed minnows at about 150% recommended inch per gallon capacity (they do keep reproducing!). Other than during mating season, the water is always clear and I have never had any disease🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞 Encouraging good bacteria is a must!

Thanks for sharing your video, great one btw!

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. I found it very interesting and helpful great video.

very informative ...gave me some great ideas 👍🌿

Man I am so impressed. I threw together a quick bog filter to see if it would clear up my new 800l pond in my greenhouse. In 2 DAYS the water has gone from pea soup to totally clear. Going to build a proper one now that doesn't look as shitty. Thanks so much for your insightful and useful content. A+++

Kev you do amazing work I enjoy watching your videos thank you for sharing God bless you always have a beautiful day

This is seriously a really good pond video ..........loved it

Great video thumbs 👍

man im so glad to find your videos!!! converting a pool into a natural pond!!!

Great video thank you

Great tips, I’ve modified my bog filter with your important info ❤

Thank you for your insight.

Nice advice, thx

Definately not boring at all, and awesome helpful information. Thanks!

Excellent

Your large pond looks awesome. Wish I could fly you to Ireland to build mine

very informative

There is so much helpful information in your videos I have to watch them multiple times to take it all in. Every time I listen I get more understanding! Thank you so much for your sharing of information we love our ponds and they were just green cesspool’s now are clear and working to improve them every week. We found 20 fish we didn’t know were in our small one and have ducks swimming around in our large pond. Would appreciate a video on what you think about any benefits of birdlife attraction to your pond? Next upgrade bog filters in both thankyou x

Another great video, I will be using a large diy bin filter that flows through a tiny creek into a small bog and then into the pond. I have very healthy almost maintenance free (balanced) indoor aquarium. So will be stealing the substrate for the filter. Thanks for all your tips.

When my guppies moved out to the patio pond for the summer, they brought one of the two already in use sponge filters from their indoor tank with them. That's a good way to kick start your cycle: Pre-seeded sponge filters.

From your videos, I've learned a lot and changed the design plan of my upcoming pond in various ways even though our environment is totally different. The water for me is under the ice for 3-4 months of the year with air temp dropping to -35*C at the lowest but in summer +30*C easily in the shade... Thank you for your Playlists with explanations and reasons... (this allows me to understand and choose the best fit for me instead of only following someone's example) Thank you

i have ponds for years, and this is the first year i have ever had an algae problem, but when i put in new fish this year, i dont feed my fish, but rarely because they eat the algae pretty well and i add clean water to the pond every morning early, and i shade our small pond, in summer,

Even with a somewhat monotone voice it wasn't too boring especially sense the photography was great & love when people are direct :)

Great video Kev, thank you for all your time and info. I would like to request a video on how the best way to clean the filter skimmer and filter media materials...(I don't have a bogg filter) and I know you shouldn't really use a garden hose...so what the best way? Thanks again Kev!!

Awesome video, you have the best ponds! I think the water should be clear, a lot of people think it’s okay for it to be murky for the fish but I’d rather have good visibility to be able to see the fish and I think it’s just more hygienic for the fish. Very cool video 🐠

My name is Kev too thanks Kev for the info

Awsome explanation of how the biological bacteria works it magic in our ponds. Most concentrate on the mechanical I did not realize how Important biological was until watching your videos👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾 love your work Thankyou for your informative videos 😉

It's a fascinating subject.. Most of my ponds in Britain don't have moving water, pumps, but are fed from rainwater from the roofs. I wouldn't say zero issues but few, I use the native oxygenating plants and only have stickle backs for fish.. and keep the ponds for . Amphibians and dragonflies, if lucky reptiles, slow worms breed in one compost pile from excess cut pond vegetation. So far only client had to ruin things with goldfish!!.. One in semi desert lanzarote surprised me most with a couple of oxygenating plants being found in remote highland ponds.. Doing very well 30 years on!! I love ponds, keep getting ideas for designs, never enough clients.. Underwater spotlights rock.. I want to build a subterranean cosy room with a large window to view into a wildlife pond Not the usual monoculture of koy carp forced to swim in some kind of chemical soup?! "with some cameras that magnify the wildlife natural ponds are just so dramatic. I guess you agree with some of this?

Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge. Apparently I am also a pond crazed individual in Arizona, USA. I have built one pond a year since 2020. It's all an experiment using information gathered from around the world without leaving my house :). I thought I could get lucky and build an eco system with no filtering, only waterfalls, rocks and plants. I had some success for a couple years using a bit of beneficial bacteria but after my third build, I realized I needed some bog filtration. I used 55 gallon plastic barrels for bottom up filters and I am seeing results after only a week. At this point I am confident on success.

Kev, I would like to thank you for all the time and knowledge you put into these videos! My stepdad got a deal from a guy with "Koi" (they are comet goldfish) and I've used your videos to set up some temporary tanks to keep these fish in...they were in really bad living conditions and some have sores, diseases, fin rot, etc. We didn't really have time to let the tank cycle before needing to get the fish so at this point, we are hoping for the best. Our water is in what I believe to be much better condition that what they were in and they all seem to be looking better. Our Ammonia spiked, now the nitrite has spiked pretty high which I think is a good sign that the cycle is happening, but the ammonia hasn't dropped much. I'm pretty much just hoping the fish can hold out long enough because there just wasn't any time to leave them where they were previously. We've got plants and tons of rocks, bog filter from a trash can filled with rocks like you've shown in your videos. The water is still pretty clear but I'm worried about the nitrogen levels. The fish all seem to be happy but I can't help but worry about them since this was all so rushed.

What an incredible amount of useful information simplified so that us hobbyists can understand. Thank You sir. 2 questions for you if you please. Does the use of a UV Clarifier harm or kill beneficial bacteria ? Does a low Ph play a role in delaying the N2 cycle ? Thanks again from Pennsylvania USA !! Cheers Mate.

Great content 👍 Awesome video quality 😍 I really enjoyed watching this video New friend here 🙏🙏🙏

That was very good and I don’t think purveyors give enough credit to the science here as a fascinating hobby. Properly posed, it becomes the most compelling part of the hobby; certainly for the DIY’er who wants to develop on test various forms of bacterial filters, some of which can be very attractive gardens sporting wetlands plants.

Have you built a pond that does not require feeding the fish? I built a (hopefully) ecosystem pond. It has come through the first winter (Northern Hemisphere) with and has slightly non-clear water (lots of pine needles fall into the pond, releasing tannins. There is a fuzz on the rocks but no algae. It's now June in a cooler region in N America and I've barely fed the fish. If I offer food in a floating ring, they don't rush to the food but get around to eating it after a while. They seem perfectly happy grazing on agae/bacteria/scum on the rocks, mosquito larvae, etc. Even wild frogs in the area have moved in. Would be great if I could make it the entire year with only giving them treats from time to time. (about 2400l as as a small to medium pond with a 'river' area and short waterfall with a bunch of plants). About a dozen large goldfish.

thanks

Fabulous video. Really appreciate the detailed explanation. Would you say an adjoining wetland filled with small rocks and pebbles and plants would be an excellent nitrogen filter if moving the water from pond to wetland and back again? I'm in the process of converting a standard pool to a natural swim pond. I'm also lining the sides and base of the swimming pond with rocks and pebbles. I hope to add a few tilapia too. Any advice? How deep should the base of rocks and pebbles be? Thanks again for the reallly helpful video.

Very interesting and informative, I live in UK and have just had issues with "green water" in a goldfish pond 1000litres with pressurised spin filter, UV did not help, it only cleared when I stopped feeding the fish for a while, combined with a partial water change. Your video provides the explanation that this would give the biological process time to catch up and now all seems to be oK again and I can see the fish. I would rather have the "bog gardens" that you suggest but space in my garden does not allow this.

Thank you

Nice explanation, now I understand much better. As a note for improve show footage of the concepts you talk about, aerob, anaerobic zones, bog filters etc. that helps the visualization process. Besides that, thumbs up.

I built a 40 gallon patio pond. I researched and researched before I started. This video and the others you have greatly influenced my system. I added a bog filter but adapted it slightly. So far so good, and thank you. It makes total sense. I live in an area that has natural creeks and rivers with crystal clear water. Those all contain rocks and pebbles so what you say made total sense to me and is actually something that I can’t believe others haven’t clued in to. You are recreating a natural stream situation. Thanks for the content. I built my bog system in a planter pot with the hose at the bottom and circulating up through different layers of rocks and gravel. It’s working spectacularly.

Heyo! Kev let me start by sayin sorry I haven't been on your material as much of late! Just now getting that clearish water this season after all the leaves and muck have built up. I'd love to get with you and just share and chat about a current project if you get bored my smurfy friend! I have a super small and super cheat setup with such amazing small and friendly Koi. You should do a segment that includes viewer pics!

Great and informative video. Many thanks. I never have a problem with green or dirty water but a dark green algae eventually covers the bottom resulting in a horrible aesthetic. Some of yours looked similar but others where very clean on the bottom. Wondering if you had any ideas?

Subscribed

Cool information. I tried Daphnia but of coarse failed because of having to use tap water for an exchange kills the Daphnia. I like the beneficial bacteria thing. My pond is just an old bathtub with 3 little fish, a turtle and 2 Axolotls.

Thanks!

Kev, your videos are always so helpful. Thanks to you, the water in my 12,000 gal. liner pond has remained crystal clear this entire season here in north eastern USA. The rocks and gravel however, are all covered with a film similar to the rocks in the underwater shots of the video (1:53 and 2:08). How do you keep your gravel and rocks so clean and clear?

I small pond (1.6m at widest 2m at longest 0.5m at deepest). This works out to 1600L, but it would be a a few hundred L less given the pond slopes down to the deepest point. The pump is a low voltage 1800 L/H. The pump sends water to 100L bog filter (inlet at bottom of filter, rather than the piping coming over the top and down; I'll be making changes to accommodate a type of breather pipe setup) and the bog filter water leaves to a jug that pours back into the pond. It takes ~6sec to fill a 1L jug, so works out water flow through bog is ~600 L/H (after head, pipe friction, resistance from material in bog, etc). Water from the jug is on one end of the pond and the pump is on the other end of the pond (no skimmer). The pond is home to around 20 small native fish - small enough to be tadpole safe. The pond has several different plants in it, but the primary plant I can't get rid of is green string algae. It has been there for over a year. I have a drill with a stick, that I use on a regular basis, to get some of the string algae out, but it just will not go. I've used different types of natural additive bacteria products, but nothing. It just won't go. During winter, the water is clear, but with heaps of string algae. Now we're moving into the warmer temps, the water is still clear, but a lot more string algae is forming. I'm considering adding some small solar pumps to move water from the sides. Perhaps I have to fork out for a bigger bog? I just have no idea what else to do. It is rather frustrating :/ And I'm envious of your beautiful ponds and how they have turned out.

Lol can you please list your website on your videos? Lol 😂 I want to support you some how. You sparked something inside me. I wanted a pond so bad, but I thought it was just a large outside fish tank. After watching a couple of your videos, I feel that a pond with a big style filter is more my speed and I have some ideas for what to plant into the top of the bog filter. I legit spent a day binging your videos. Lol I spent 4 hours at lowes. Worst experience ever… luckily I met up with the manager of the garden center. I got some Papyrus plants. Lol I saw they can survive in water, so imma try to slowly train it so I can set a netted root ball to have it be a part of this thing I’m putting together. I got one of those plastic liner things, it’s very old and I got a good price. It’s old because it does not have that step platform thing as it gets deeper. It looks like 2 fused bowls, but I have to start somewhere before I jump into the liner sheets. I dug it too deep….. lol but luckily it’s on the part of my land that’s the highest and it’s next to the house. I’ll trench some drainage stones around it and have a path leading away from the pond. Still looking for rocks and I am making a big filter. Lol I’m using a thin tall 22 gal trash can. I get the concept and the shape of the trans can works out for me. I wish I could show you. It will be a while before it looks good enough to show off, but I’m patient enough to let life in at stages. Microbial life, then plants, and maybe 🤔 some sacrificial gold fish. Lol Thank you and please continue what you do. I’ll continue to share your videos on my Facebook to spread the news of what you do!!!!

came across your videos and have now suscribed to it as I have built a garden pond and was wondering - do you wash/boil the stones and pebbles before adding them to your pond or just lay them in along with plants < in soil > . my pond is 6ft long by 4 ft wide with the deep end at 1 ft and the shallow end at 6inches. I will be watching all your videos from now on. thank you for posting them. Billy Mac.

Hi Kev I’m just going through new pond syndrome now everything is going green and abit of string algae starting to form in the bog filter so I’m fighting the urge not to clean everything hopefully it will all sort it’s self out soon 👍

Good video. I'm in my 7th year with a backyard pond. Learning more all the time. One of the things I recently read was that plants photosynthsizing increase the pH. I'm trying to get the pH down in my pond. I understand that fish just want stable pH. But I've also read if its too high they won't breed. In addition I have aquaponics in my pond (last year I grew kale for example) and it worked but the plants were smaller than their ground based comparison groups. This has puzzled me and my research has suggested its because my pH is too high, around 9+. I've done all I can to decrease my pH and when I read that photosynthisizing plants increase the pH I about fell apart. I even resorted to adding a chemical to lower the pH, which I don't use any more because it accomplished nothing. I don't have any limestone rocks. Trying to think of everthing. So long story short, how the heck can I decrease my pond's pH?

Great videos ! Wondering if you could tell me the plants you used at 5:43 the green spiky leafed bush against the wall and the two small blue/gray bushes at the back of the pond?

Splosht is a wonderful product also

Good video. 👍👍 How do you stop your water turning green and forming blanket weeds? I use to pull out loads of those weeds. 👍👍

Trying to post for the second time 😊 just found your channel. Great info. I put in a small 8ft diameter by 2-3 ft deep pond about 3 yrs ago. No fish, no waterfall or filter. It just has a small aerator . Most of the past two years have struggled with string algae and not so clear water. I had(I think) a lot of plants too. Last winter I removed most of the plants and this spring the water has cleared up without me doing anything. Guessing the bacteria found my pond 😊 However, there is a lot of pine needles, leaves that constantly fall in and there is a quite a bit of sediment in the pond. The small rocks at the bottom are no longer visible and there is sediment on the larger rocks too. What do you recommend I do? I would love to see the pebbles at the bottom and have a “cleaner” looking pond. Thank you

Hi! I was thinking of white/light colored gravel for my pond's bottom and fine sand for the area near the shore (because I'm making a kind of foreshore), do you think that it would help to make my water looks even more blue/crystal clear? I want to specify that my pond hasn't a lot of light because of trees around (that I think it's not bad for preventing unicellular algae) but I also live on the Mediterranean Sea, so it's pretty much always warm. Thank you, your videos are great!

Does a pond vacuum help with keeping the Ammonia and Nitrites lower? Also thank you for all your information.

I have a wine barrel pond that I love. What can I add to keep clear? Are pathos plants and there roots safe for the fish?

1 may I ask what part of the glob you are in please? So I know how to try to compare it /or not to where I am. Thank for the info and videos

What is the powdery stuff that gets all over the pond plants in my pond? I think it’s killing my plants, is this the bacteria? Thanks for your videos, love your ponds!

Kev, does the intake in the bog filter have to come into the filter under pressure or can it just just flow in by gravity? I have only a solar pump?

Hey Kev, would love your thoughts. Just inherited a 600 sq meter natural pond, 3m at its deepest. Very cloudy, but there seems to be fish, frogs, and other creatures. Lots of ducks like to swim in it. No aeration or plants. How would you recommend clearing up a natural bottom pond this large? Also, I'm considering a future project of installing a ~116 sq meter raised wetland filter using a modified version of your DIY filter in a snorkel/centipede configuration. I'd like to clean it up to make it a rec pool eventually, though this configuration is only 20% surface area. I'm thinking two sets, laid side by side, of: two 6m lengths of 0.3m diameter pipes with slits cut in them, connected together by a vertical pipe (for cleanout). Each end having a 34000 L/h pump (4 in total across both sets). Do you think this would be sufficient? I'd love to hear cheaper, more efficient options if you have any ideas. Thanks!!

Good to hear an Aussie voice on Uutoob for a change, apart from that I'm gunna be the mug to react to the use or the non-word bacterias...... there can be one bacterium or two to many bacteria despite what spell-checker says. Cheers, by the way I keep 3 greenish water ponds with pondslime for the purpose of breeding native fish.

Kev you haven't done a video on this yet so I'll ask here. Do you have any experience with "aggressive fish behavior"? I got bored of my basic comet goldfish so I bought 2 shubunkins to add some color. They are maybe 1 inch smaller then the comet goldfish and the pond isn't crowded so I thought I'd have no issues but my comet goldfish are bullying the new shubunkins. They constantly chase them around and I've even noticed 2 or 3 of the comet swim them into the wall of the pond. Is this just them establishing a fish pecking order and they will stop in a few days or a bigger issue? I feel really bad for my new little friends. Thanks Kev.

I swear by a bog system. I used to use filters and it was a pain to keep clean. I've used a bog for years, never had to clean it once and my water is crystal clear

I have a new pond and it now turned green. I believe it does need more wet surface area. I'll add 2 bog filters connected to each other this weekend. My main question would be, how do I keep the pump from clogging up. It just collects mud into the intake holes. I already have a system with a UV light attached to the pump, but it doesnt seem to help. Any suggestions for the pump?

For more bacteria contact can you add Lava rock. This pond is located in New York Long Island. No plants in pond

I got my liner in and now have to get it pleated and folded and do all our adjustments.... if I have a stream going into the pond how far up that stream should pond liner go for over lap? My thought is the stream liner I'll bring all the way down into the pond over a 4ft wall in the pond, but I wonder how far out the pond liner should go under the stream liner? 🤔

Really boring. Just kidding! One of the best pond bacteria videos on KZfaq. I'm currently fighting muck buildup at the bottom of my pond. I'm having to clean my filter twice daily. Hoping Muck Away does the trick. Thanks!

Do you do anything different is you want to set up a pond as a freshwater swimming/dipping pool? Obviously it has to be deeper

Great video. Thank you for posting. I have a problem with string algae in my pond. This pond is 100% natural with the water pumped from an underground well. The area where I live has great clean endless water that is only a couple of meters underground. The water quality is great and cristal clear. Yet I have string algae. I have about 20 cichlid fish and probable 5 cat fish. I have aeration on all the time. There are no rocks anywhere and the bottom is full of aquatic plants. Since fresh water is constantly being pumped there are no filters at all. From you video I gather that adding stones will help get rid of the string algae. Do you have any other suggestions? Thank you in advance

From your experience what bacteria products should I buy and use for the ponds as you discussed here? Thank you in advance for your help!

So if the bog filter is deeper and/or slower flow (so the water takes longer to follow through), will you get anoxic zones in the bog filter that will completely remove all the nitrogen?

I have pond in my garden...about 2700 liters. First i got green water, but the bottom is brown/red....what can i do to get clear water. I have no fish inn it, only birds drinking and bathing in it. Greatfull for answer.

Never had a green water issue, but I do have a lot of suspended particles which is somewhat annoying.

How to increase the anoxic zones in ponds? Simply, depth and variety of surface materials, rocks?

I heard that it’s best to have different depths to a pond. It’s to do with movement of water or something. Just like the oceans. Is this true?

I have a 275 gallon tote with a 55 gallon drum bio filter that filters the water. There as been 8 sunfish in there for a few weeks now. In one week the water turned PEA SOUP green. The fish are still alive. I have nothing in the tank but water and the fish. In my bio tank I have lava rock, plastic Scrubys, and some PVC pipe, and old fittings. The tote gravity feed off bottom valve thru a 200 micron sock into drum. I then have a 800 gph pump that pump the filtered water back into the top of the tote. Tote then drains from the top portion of the tote back into the drum thru a sock. What can I do to get rid of the algae?? Tote is outside in the sun, but I now have place a roof over the tote which blocks most of the sun. Any help would be great! Thanks!!

What did you say you used to help clear the sediment?

what are the little green leaves in your barrel called? i dig em

Hello! I have a question that I have been posting everywhere and getting different answers, so I'm not sure what to do. I have a wine barrel pond (like the one you showed on min 6:49) and have had several goldfish whom have died for different reasons... It's a long story, but now my question is: do you change the water in such a small pond? And how many, if any, goldfish can you have in that volume? I hope you can help me! Thanks!

Have had my pond some 8 yrs and every summer it turns green. Trying to get away from algaecides and am using fine filter pads in my skimmer and polyester quilt batting to capture that pesky algae but with 90 degree weather it went green real fast. Have waterfall, 2 air stones, fish, not a lot of plants since here in mid Michigan their not a hot commodity. Very frustrating.

The coke that we burn in our fires makes a great medium for filters due to it massive surface area

Facultative bacteria is the type of bacteria that converts Nitrates into Nitrogen. They also consume Phosphates. This conversion only happens in an Anoxic environment between .5pmm - 2ppm dissolved oxygen in water.

6:42 how did you solve the sediment problem? is there any video about it?