My pond build thread

[Fresh2o]

Matala is a nice product. Looks like you will be able to get a few layers out of it. I agree on the use of pot scrubbers to fill the void space.
I used barley extract to deal with green water in my pond. Worked well.

 

[Autumnsky]

I would do a search check online for "problems" with the product and see if anything negative pops up.

Reason is, I used a product (basically similar to Prime) which works by binding calcium in the water and all the other stuff), most people have plenty of calcium in their water, but I have 0 kH out of the faucet, so everyone's reviews said the product was amazing and wonderful. But if you use it when you have basically 0 kH it crashes your tank. And you don't know exactly what happened. When I checked Problems with [product] there were tons of people stating what happened and finally I found out how it does its chemical magic.

So any of these things I would be concerned with how the product works chemically and if it binds calcium then do you have enough in the pond to deal with the action it uses to accomplish this?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I would do a search check online for "problems" with the product and see if anything negative pops up.

Reason is, I used a product (basically similar to Prime) which works by binding calcium in the water and all the other stuff), most people have plenty of calcium in their water, but I have 0 kH out of the faucet, so everyone's reviews said the product was amazing and wonderful. But if you use it when you have basically 0 kH it crashes your tank. And you don't know exactly what happened. When I checked Problems with [product] there were tons of people stating what happened and finally I found out how it does its chemical magic.

So any of these things I would be concerned with how the product works chemically and if it binds calcium then do you have enough in the pond to deal with the action it uses to accomplish this?

I have 0 KH and 0 GH out of my tap. I have about 10 gallons of oyster shells in the bottom of my filter to buffer the pond, and I have a 10 lb bag of baking soda, and 2 lbs of potassium carbonate if I need to add more buffer.

I think the hydra crystal is a straight flocculant, but they claim it works on surface area and using crystals instead of a liquid. I'm trying to figure out how to get the most bang for my buck out of matala sheets cut to shape, and I think half sheets will do the trick, I'll get one full circle and a half circle out of each.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

My pond finally froze over for once. Last winter was so warm it didn't freeze. Don't have pictures of it during the -3F temperatures, but it never froze up and the water was flowing under the ice.

 

[Delapool]

Looks warm (brrrr!). Filtration system still going fine?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Looks warm (brrrr!). Filtration system still going fine?

Yeah the water was still flowing under the ice. It thawed out this past week, but it's probably got a layer of ice on it now.

 

[Autumnsky]

My Rosy Minnows are once again hiding and never see them. But added a heater to help the freezing issue. It is a small (temp) 120G pond not all the way full atm.

Looks frosty.

 

[Fresh2o]

I’m using a 100w floating heater to keep a hole in the surface. It looks like giant black donut.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I’m using a 100w floating heater to keep a hole in the surface. It looks like giant black donut.

Too cheap to buy one of those and frankly I don't think I need it. Ponds don't stay frozen around here all winter, and the volume of water is great enough that any bad gases would take a LONG time to have any ill effect, same goes for new oxygen. When I finish it off cosmetically and put koi in there it's a different story.

It'll be fun removing all these goldfish though. I'll be keeping a couple of the females, but I'm not doing goldfish babies again.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Those are the remaining babies from I believe two spawns year before last when my filter was broken.

 

[Delapool]

Looks a tribe in there!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Actually, it IS a problem if you've cut away too many of the support roots so that the tree falls over in a good wind storm.
We had to do a root trim when we re-plumbed the city water line to my Mother's house and that was one of the regs for doing it. Obviously I can't tell how many different roots you came across but if you have any large trees by the house, I suggest you check into how badly you cut the root system. Just sayin'. .......

We had some near historic level wind in March and they're both still standing!

I was reminiscing through my digging posts.

 

[Fresh2o]

That’s good to here! I lost a bunch of shingles off my roof. Historic, indeed.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Gotta start 'em young.

 

[Delapool]

Looking peaceful!

 

[Autumnsky]

Loving the attention the little one is a giving the pond. There's just nothing like hearing "feesh, feesh!"

 

[enrgizerbunny]

My favorite goldfish died yesterday, so I'm giving away all my goldfish to make way for koi.

Also planning to purchase slate to finish this pond off right. Also going to purchase some vapor barrier plastic in an attempt to kill the green water algae.

 

[Autumnsky]

Oh Sorry to hear that.

Koi are very neat, fun fish. If I had a bigger pond, I would already have a few. I had several, (when I moved and wasn't going to have a real pond of size) but 2 special Koi and gave them to someone who had a nice pond but alas later found they were taken by Heron.

That is hard when you lose a fish, you really like. Be cautious about how the predators can get in there - birds and Raccoons, cats.

 

[Delapool]

Sad news

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Oh Sorry to hear that.

Koi are very neat, fun fish. If I had a bigger pond, I would already have a few. I had several, (when I moved and wasn't going to have a real pond of size) but 2 special Koi and gave them to someone who had a nice pond but alas later found they were taken by Heron.

That is hard when you lose a fish, you really like. Be cautious about how the predators can get in there - birds and Raccoons, cats.

I haven't had any predator problems that I know of. I have to clean leaves out every year, but the two large trees protect them from herons (I live about 2 miles from the river), and the minimum 3ft depth gives room to run from 4 legged predators. I also shot the cat (with a bb gun) that was hanging around my pond and I haven't seen him back.

It would have been a .22, but being in the front yard and the prospect of shooting my filter isn't appetizing.