Thank you ladies.
Here is the skimmer box we came up with, all DIY. Want to make a fine mesh net also for this time of year. This allows me to keep all the benefits of my big water pit but still easily removed the debris.
1st attempt for the skimmer cover rock, turned out too heavy tho and too white, working on another one now. The big rock in the back with the wood on it is a DIY rock covering the pump vault.
Added an easy water depth checker now that the main pump vault is covered.The turtle statue sits on top of this and of course the stick is usually in the hole.
Added 3 more plant pockets...just can't seem to stop adding plants! hehe And yes, they have plants in them now.
Sat out one night and visited with the frogs and toads. There was a green frog but didn't get a good pic of him. We have many frogs besides these guys.
This guy was by far the noisiest! Toad
Bullfrog about 6" head to butt. He was hunting the toad here, toad is just off to the right of view.
Found the bullfrog in the skimmer box the next morning and relocated him far from my pond.
Back when the water was still clear, bad glare tho.
Now the water is a horrible pea soup. This is not green rocks, it is green water.
Lillies....in green water. Can't see 6" down now.
Mayla and Peaches and cream
"yellow" got it from my neighbor
Aflame
One of our daylillies too
Phlox! They grew SO much and this is their 1st spring.
Forget me not bloomed a lot! This was about a week ago and it is still blooming.
Love that cinnamon fern! Flox on their way out now tho.
Looking for an id on this plant...
Hoping this green water goes away soon! Have a cantilever umbrella covering about 40% of the pond plus the lily coverage but the poor stream is wide open. This pond gets about 8 hours of full sun. Haven't feed the fish for a few days, honestly haven't seen much of them since the water got really bad. I have TONS of plants but all are babies of course cuz the pond is new and none of them provide shade to the pond. No debris to be removed, have scooped the bottomed with no results and when I could see it there was nothing on the bottom. The stream was rinsed well at start up and I even flushed the bottom of my bog out. Test results are good, less than 5 nitrates, no ammonia, nitrites or phosphorous, 6 KH, 3 GH, 8.2pH ( ph is always high, on a well, have many aquariums so I am familiar with this). Been very little rain tho and usually does a water change for me thru the overflow. Think I will do a manual water change soon. With the added shade and plants on the rise I am hoping it will clear up soon. I made a makeshift "fines" filter too that I will added in a day or two to remove the dead algae..that is if things start clearing up.
