I have a question,  Has any one ever used the foam thats simular to the stuff you would find in couch cushion in a bio filter ?   
 A friend of mine said it would be toxic but she said thats if you burn it.   The foam is  very porous and I figured it would be a great place for benificial bacteria to live.     


Also another question    Has anyone every used septic tank bacteria and enzymes in a pond? Someone told me it would work and it would eat the debris off the bottom of the pond the leaves I cant get to. 


Cross posted

We're having a rare rainy morning here in Aurora, CO.  When I woke up this morning, it was not yet raining at our house, but as I was in the bathroom performing my morning routine, I heard the drops begin to fall.

So on my way out of the bathroom, as I do most mornings, I paused to look out the window and down at the koi pond.

Then I had to laugh.

You see, the fishies were all clustered in the section of the shallow end of the pond where "food falls from the sky," (i.e., we feed them), performing the Feed The Starving Fishies Dance.  Well, after all, something was falling from the sky, and since mostly what falls from the sky is food, well...they were just sure that if they swam around enthusiastically enough, eventually there would be food...

Poor disappointed little fishies!

Current Mood: giggly

So i was thinking of getting a large pot and placing a water tolerant species of willow in it and placing it in my pond. now i know some disadvantages would be, its going to be/get heavy, it will become root bound, the leaves will cause mild pollution to the pond.

I think it could also help in removing nutrients from the pond, it would look STUNNING, and i own a pool so trust me when i say I'm willing to do daily skimmings. I figure I'd ask these questions now before I'm done digging so i can make accommodations as needed.

I will be moving- but looking to go later in the summer. No definate timeframe yet. So I'm working on getting the yard and house in order. Part of that- includes fixing/upgrading the pond.

It still has a big hole in the bottom of the liner- which is too ragged to patch without taking it out. Its not a great liner, so its getting replaced. Since I will already doing that- I'm looking for advice on other new equipment, which are the most necessary peices, and best places to purchase either commercial or on-line: (good prices, good customer service...)

If you could start your own pond over from scratch- what would you do differently? What would you add? Subtract? Different products? Have you had bad luck with certain products or companies?


( more under cut )

Current Mood: curious

( more behind cut )

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000692.jpg

This is my pond in the winter its very boring and theres alot of stuff I need to get rid of around it and finish putting the pea gravel around it.  

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000693.jpg

A closer look, its so green I  dont know if it was due to the couple of warm days we had or due to the electric current it had running through it from the defective de-icer. 

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000695.jpg

Bio filter and increased water flow I added another 330 gallon per hour pump so now its 660 gallon an hour in a 625 gallon pond. 


WORK IN PROGRESS 

 http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000698.jpg 

I started this in the fall didnt get done before the ground froze. I have been digging it by hand its 13 by 17 by 5 foot deep at its deepest 3 foot deep in the middle and 1 foot deep in the shallow end.  

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000700.jpg

Well it holds water its not supposed to yet.  

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/IM000704.jpg

Another angle  it will be done by spring well maybe end of spring start of summer. I hope, wish I had some help lol

I have a question, how much electricity does it take to kill off everything in the pond?   I was getting out some leaves  and when I stuck my hand in the water it shocked me pretty good like sticking your finger in a light socket.  I unpluged the de-icer and pull it out of the water the element is all cracked open and exposed.  Does any one know what could cause that to happen ?   The pond is green and theres stray cats so if they floated to the top they would have got eaten  and I wouldnt know I havent been home for a week.   Hope all my fish didnt die  thank you  for any advice 

TJ

 Patio misting systems are a great way add spectacluar fog effects to ponds and water features. They also keep them cool and chase awy mosquitoes. Check out patio misting systems where I found them, and just study up on them a little bit. They are an investment, but I found it to be worth it.

I have a 5 inch oscar in my 55. and my water has turned brown .   I have 2 magnum 350 canister filters that I clean every 2 weeks.  just wondering if any one had any idea why its brown  

Thanks 

TJ    

Here lately the tempatures have been down in the 40's and 50's I stopped feeding my fish about 5 weeks ago because it got down below 40. 

My question is When should I unhook my bio filter and drain it and get the pumps out and plug in the deicer ?  I took my fountain pump out today  the wqter is really cold haha.   and also wondering do I really need a net after all the leaves have fallen and I scoup them all out ? 



TJ

Anybody on this list in the vicinity of Indianapolis?

Due to my electrical issues that continue outdoors- and colder weather creeping in, I'm moving the fish inside a month early.

I am surprised to find out that at last count I have 16 good comets/commens ranging from 1.5" to nearly 5". This is about more then a 1/2 dozen goldfish then I expected to be housing and I find myself overstocked. *chagrin*
They are used to being outdoors, and by this time next year I think will be of a size/weight to winter over outside. Several are already pushing 5" after 3 months! I am working to get them healthy- as a few seem to have a fin ailment.

Anyone nearby starting/expanding a pond? Need/want fish?
Drop me a comment! :)

 I started digging the hole for my new pond today heres a few pictures of how far I got in 2 hours lol  its going to be 5 foot deep at its deepest and 1 foot at the shallow end. I still have to measure how long and how wide it is so I can get a liner. I didnt measure it out before I just started digging haha

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/sideviewgroundbreaking.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/groundbreaking.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/cuteandgoofy/endview.jpg  

What ive got so far 

TJ

It's The Frog!!!

Its a nice day out (I've even got the house opened up) I was sitting on the dry waterfall rocks watching the fish for any signs of distress, when the frog came up for air. I'm keeping my phone on me most of the time, so I happened to catch these pics- couldn't resist sharing :)

( My little pond-y visitor )

( more under cut: original post 7:30am )

( ADDENDUM: 4:40pm Lesson learned: GET A Battery backup in place of power failure )

why does water stay in natural ponds?

also im thinking of building a pond after all this time. im not TOTALLY sure but i could probably build a pond that is three feet wide and 5-6 (maybe more) feet long. with the water table around here not being any where near a depth i could dig all by myself (aka my city has a lake that is probably little more than 100 feet from my house and there is a hill at the edge of it that is proly 5 feet high which leads to a rock wall which is 6 feet high and the water doesnt even touch the wall there is like 1' of beach. aka my water table is about 11'+ down) and i was thinking maybe digging it 4 to 5 feet deep. i might keep gold fish or just smaller fish. id make it a rectangular(ish) shape with rounded corners and maybe other curves as well. i would probably elevate the rim of the pond a few inches above ground level.

so break out your calculators. how much liner would i need? and can anyone name a liner that will last the longest? i mean it cant be like insanely expensive but the longer lasting it is the better long run value it has. also any advice.... helpsssss.... aka i dont know very much of anything and im in my initial research/digging stage.... i mean if i have to ill just dig a hole this summer and leave it till next spring.

Ive been thinking about my bio filter and ive been wondering whats the best thing to use in it right now I have the blue woven air conditioner filters they are thick and pourous.      

Ive seen this stuff called bio ribbon or something like that.    
I was wondering would the ribbon they use to tie up ballons work? it looks the same  just all off of the spool and mangled together

any advice is welcome 

TJ

I  built another 55 gallon blue barrell bio filter for my pond. I used the parts  from my other one since I did the hole wrong and it leaked.  

When I was draining the bio filter when I got down to the sludge on the bottom there was a 2 inch long fish (stil alive) I  was puzzled.

My only guess to how he got in there is when he was an egg he went through the pre filter then made it through the pump up through the tube and into the bottom of the filter and survived.    What I dont get is why he is so much bigger than the other baby fish in the pond  there are no others his size.     


A question whats the best way to keep my numbers down ? (In the hottest part of the summer my fish must have had a million eggs  the most little fish I counted was about 50  I gave some away and still have a bunch. 

Any ideas on what to do with them? They upset my bio load really bad.   

Does any one have mud pond experiance ? or ideas or know if that would be alirght for my koi and goldfish so I wouldn thave to buy a liner?

Don't know how it got there, but I just went out to check on my outdoor fish after adding new water- drop in some de-chlorinator and such...

And there was a frog hopping away into the water.

Yes- a real live, long legs and all frog.

I hope it sticks around!

:)!!!

Current Mood: bouncy

( Finally caught them on film, my little 'pondlings' )