new/old pond project

[goatnad]

so i started this pond probably 3 years ago and never finished it because of financial issues. well now im back on my feet and ready to finish it. a few weeks ago i moved my inside turtle out to this pond but soon noticed that the water seemed to drop or drain pretty quickly. around a foot every week. i knew something was up and figured it was a leak/leaks since i never finished sealing the pond. inside the turtle goes again...


im back at it and ready to get this thing done and have a beautiful space out back to go sit and relax. i found all the places that water was draining out so yesterday i got out with some hydraulic concrete and fixed all the holes. today i got out and sealed what i could of the pond while i wait for the spots i fixed to dry. tomorrow i should be able to paint over the fixes and do a second coat of sealant. i also went to a local rock garden store and grabbed a piece of slate i plan on using for the border of the pond and i have to say i like it. tomorrow i will probably go and grab a few rocks to use for the waterfall area and see how well they match up to the slate. after that i will be tinting my sealant and do my second coat.



i am going to be doing a section behind the pond as a aquaponics test area to possibly grow tomatoes, bell peppers and whatever else comes to mind if it works out. if not i will just put some semi-aquatic plants in to use up the space.



now on to the questions....
first question is what would you guys stock this pond with?


options:
koi
goldfish
native fish from a local fish hatchery(sunfish, 1 bass, mosquito minnows, black stripe top minnows, my turtle and possible 1 or 2 other turtles)


im open to other options for stocking but all i ever see is people using koi and goldfish. also i do have an overflow drain and all though i do have it setup so more than likely no fish fry could get out i dont want to possibly be releasing nonnative fish as i do live only 1/2-3/4 of a mile from a large river and alot of your runoff drains do lead to said river. this pond is 1300 gallons and once i get everything done on it it will probably end up around 1400 gallons.



question 2:
this is again about stocking but about plant stocking. i do have a few local plant species i could use and will be but i would like some other recommendations that might work. im looking for plants that would do well at a depth of 2'-2 1/2 that get full sunlight for about 6-8 hours a day.


i will post more pics and info over the next few days.

 

[King Fisher]

Personally, I'd go with bass and sunfish if I had a pond. Maybe take some plants from a local lake? Keep us updated on this. Very cool.

 

[Autumnsky]

It is great that you are getting to this project after a hiatus.

It will be awesome for you to get this set.

Turtles eat smaller fish so that leaves out some ideas I was starting to get to in thinking about it. Flag or Killi or Rosy Minnows /fat head Minnows. I do not know the natives in your area. Sunfish Dwarf ones are awesome, big varieties are probably too big.

I just read that you have Gulf Pipefish in (lower???) Mississippi, and one called Dusky and one called Chain. How really cool!

Fishes Of Mississippi | Mississippi State University

Then I might consider going with a number of natives which could live compatibly. It seems a Bass would eat most things like small fish and the turtles would eat smaller fish they could catch.

Toads and frogs eat lots of smaller fish in ponds too especially with big tadpoles like Bull Frogs.

If there is likely possibility there could be spillover in flooding, I wouldn't do GF or Koi.

Love ponds!!!

Get some Papyrus!!!

I got to see one of the coolest home done ponds/ stream backyard things ever. Will have to look for the thread and link it to you.

 

[Autumnsky]

This
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f135/mr-dragonfishs-pond-project-148801.html

 

[goatnad]

This
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f135/mr-dragonfishs-pond-project-148801.html

wow that pond is amazing. i always wanted a pond that had a stream in it also. that is just to cool. you know i had never heard of a gulf pipefish before you said something about it lol. it seems to be a saltwater fish or brackish water fish. ive never heard anyone around here even mention them before.



for the native fish we have it would be largemouth bass, bowfin, catfish, sunfish(blue gill,green,pumpkin seed and several other varieties), mosquito fish, black stripe top minnows, suckerfish, freshwater drum, perch, blue catfish, channel catfish, longnose gar, alligator gar.



a native pond sounds great but the issue is all but the minnows like to hang out towards the bottom or middle of the pond and wont really be seen like koi or goldfish would. the only time they would be seen is during feeding times. not a very interesting pond . gar,drum,bowfin are definitely out of the picture because they can grow to insane sizes and are very aggressive fish(all but the drum). i can get the catfish, bass, sunfish, perch and mosquito fish from a fish farm but any others listed i would just have to catch them from the river and put them in which is something im not fond of.


now for the eating of fish i dont mind at all. if turtles, bass and frogs eat a few minnows its ok with me. thats part of nature right? i will only have 1 bass and 1 turtle in the pond so hopefully they wouldnt put that big of a dent in the population.



here are a few update pics of the progress for the pond. i started working on my retaining wall for the waterfall area. i am no mason so im sure to you experience guys this looks like crap lol.

i also put my second coat of tinted sealant on the pond and fixed all the leaks in it. i tinted it with acrylic paint from hobby lobby and went with a grey color. you can see the white vs. the grey. much easier on the eyes when the sun is out.

after letting that sit for 2 days i filled the pond and tested it for leaks for 2 days. i didnt notice the water go down after 2 days at all so thats looking way better than the 1 foot ever 7 days it was before. i also played around with the waterfall area to see how much of a drop was involved and how much i need to build up the walls to get the splash i want. also the red slate is not what im going with for the final waterfall. it will be greyish or tanish slate.

this is the slate i will be trimming the whole edge of the pond in. its called flagstone. you cant see it in the pic but it has this odd kind of shiny silver in it so when the sun hits it just right it has a nice effect to it.

welp thats how far ive gotten with it. ill be finishing up the retaining wall tomorrow and hopefully the next day ill be able to put dirt in against it and start working on the waterfall.

 

[Autumnsky]

Just considering which ones could eat the others in factoring the food source for the turtle shouldn't be a special or expensive type fish. That is mainly what I was thinking about.

Yes, the minnows seem to want to hide - a lot!!!

We live in a neighboring town where there are 2 mines for the flagstone. Some have fossil plants, mainly algae, moss and Lichens, have heard of animal type creatures but haven't seen them.

 

[goatnad]

back working on the pond again now that its warming up. i left my turtles in the pond over winter to see how they would do and they did great. glad to know i wasnt throwing food to dead turtles. i also found a frog in the pond and im pretty sure its the same frog ive seen for the last 2 years coming to mate. he has gotten to be massive compared to the frogs i normally see around here. here are a few pics of the turtles playing in my bathtub while i clean the pond.

https://imgur.com/a/GuILHox
and here are 2 pictures of the frog
https://imgur.com/a/59mcqBh


sorry i couldn't do actual picture links because imgur seems to be broken. it wont let me click on the image section to get the links. anyone have another photo site to use? this isn't the first time imgur has done this and honestly i'm sick and tired of it.

 

[Fresh2o]

Glad you have survivors. Never kept turtles before. I can imagine them being hard on the plant life.

When the link loaded, I clicked on the Get App button. I already have Imgur installed so it just opened that app. I tapped on the image once and a the icon/button with the up arrow appeared. I clicked on that and a menu appeared and selected the Copy Link item. I then pasted the link between the IMG tags. Hope this helps.

 

[goatnad]

ah thank you very much. i contacted imgur support and they got it worked out.

 

[IAmMP44]

Hey goat...

I’m looking to start my own pond, about 13’ x 7’ but can’t decide on what lining to get. I’ve seen good reviews on TotalPond pond liner however that’s PVC. The other option I’ve seen is Firestone EPDM. What would you suggest?

 

[goatnad]

Hey goat...

I’m looking to start my own pond, about 13’ x 7’ but can’t decide on what lining to get. I’ve seen good reviews on TotalPond pond liner however that’s PVC. The other option I’ve seen is Firestone EPDM. What would you suggest?

Sorry I wish I could help but this is my first pond ever and I went the reinforced concrete route. I barely even looked into plastic liner ponds years ago but I did read your post and did a quick 5 min read up on them and this is what I found.

EPDM seemed to be the most recommended
Epdm was said to last longer

PVC was more puncture resistant
Pvc was lighter

This was what I quickly read and could be wrong. Like I said I've never done a pond liner before.

 

[Autumnsky]

Fun to watch and see how it goes! Love the pond inhabitants!

 

[IAmMP44]

Oh sorry. I just assumed that you had done ponds before. My bad...