And so it begins...
- Thread starter beerfish
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Looking good!
Are you putting fish in there? If I were you, I'd put a small decorative fence around the pond to comply with your state laws and go deeper. After this last harsh winter and the fish carnage that ensued, I upgraded from a 2' deep pond to a 40" one. It's going to be much easier putting in a fence now than digging deeper later.
Are you putting fish in there? If I were you, I'd put a small decorative fence around the pond to comply with your state laws and go deeper. After this last harsh winter and the fish carnage that ensued, I upgraded from a 2' deep pond to a 40" one. It's going to be much easier putting in a fence now than digging deeper later.
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I wanted to go 4' deep and have koi, but a small decorative fence isn't an option. It needs to be 4' tall with small spaces in between planks or links. I'd either have to put in a chain link fence which would make the yard hideous, or a solid wooden fence, which would make it so that you can't see the pond. So a fence isn't an option. I'll use a de-icer or decide if I want to bring the fish indoors. I have a large basement, and can get rubbermaid tubs set up quickly, so I can use that as an option if needed.
I would seiously have a think about where that pond is going in beerfish , for one you have alott of trees around it that will drop their leaves during the fall meaning they would all have to be netted out prior to winter .
Two and nobody seems to have picked up on this but in your photo I can see roots being dug up as you dig your hole .
Trees will actively seek out water and have been know to acctually puncture liners to get too it so it my be an idea to rethink I'm sorry to say
On a brighter note bees have a by-product called propolis which is what we koi keepers use in both adding to foods and for finishing off wounds after they have been treated so your not going to be ever short of that perhaps you could even supply some of our US members with it even ?
Dave
Two and nobody seems to have picked up on this but in your photo I can see roots being dug up as you dig your hole .
Trees will actively seek out water and have been know to acctually puncture liners to get too it so it my be an idea to rethink I'm sorry to say
On a brighter note bees have a by-product called propolis which is what we koi keepers use in both adding to foods and for finishing off wounds after they have been treated so your not going to be ever short of that perhaps you could even supply some of our US members with it even ?
Dave
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They make tons of propolis, glue everything together with it, tree sap is what is starts out as.
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I found fish in my deck pond, 16 inches deep, on a deck no insulation, fish in the small preform, 2 feet deep in the ground. We hit -10 this winter, they survived just fine. But a low population of fish. Those ponds were not cleaned out in the fall, so they also had a ton of muck, algae yuck the fish still lived, go figure
also a ton of tads, bugs, snails, all lived.
No water flow, no heater, no air in those ponds
Stick with goldfish or shubunkins, you might be just fine, keep your population levels down.
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I would seiously have a think about where that pond is going in beerfish , for one you have alott of trees around it that will drop their leaves during the fall meaning they would all have to be netted out prior to winter .
Two and nobody seems to have picked up on this but in your photo I can see roots being dug up as you dig your hole .
Trees will actively seek out water and have been know to acctually puncture liners to get too it so it my be an idea to rethink I'm sorry to say
On a brighter note bees have a by-product called propolis which is what we koi keepers use in both adding to foods and for finishing off wounds after they have been treated so your not going to be ever short of that perhaps you could even supply some of our US members with it even ?
Dave
Dave, I don't really have another place in the yard that I can put the pond, and I appreciate the concern. I've relegated myself to the fact that this is going to be a high maintenance pond and the roots do scare me. I'm going to use a proper underlayment and I plan on draining the pond from time to time to check for any protrusions that could cause punctures. Maybe I'm out of my mind, maybe I'm an optimist, but I'm in the middle of a forest on a mountain, so if I want a pond, this is what I'll have to deal with.
My wife and I make a lot of soaps, balms, etc, and the propolis is great for those. I hadn't thought of it as an additive for fish food, but that's a great idea. Once the hive gets stronger, we're hoping to add a propolis trap to increase our collection of it, so I'll let everyone know how that goes.
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That's good to hear. I'm planning on shubunkins, so hopefully I won't have to bring them inside come winter. I do have a small aquaponics system inside, so it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I'd rather stock that one with tilapia once it's matured a bit.
I always joke that I'm slowly planning for the zombie apocalypse.
What about a country wooden fence that you can easily see through? They have a nice pond-friendly look too IMO.
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What about a country wooden fence that you can easily see through? They have a nice pond-friendly look too IMO.
problem is that is not a child proof fence, in arizona the pond could not be over 18 inches deep if out in public access., the fence rails, need to be smaller than a child can get through, I think 3 inches is the rule.
Here our pond is over 100 feet into our property, so rules don't apply i.e. fencing.
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We have tons of kids drowning in Arizona, I can understand the rules but sure makes it a pita if you want something like a pond. But if you see a kid that was brought back from a drowning never to be mentally the same, makes you want to put the fence up
You could do a farm type fence with the hardware cloth wire on the inside of it. well may have to be on the outside, the kid can't be able to climb over it either.
You could do a farm type fence with the hardware cloth wire on the inside of it. well may have to be on the outside, the kid can't be able to climb over it either.
Oh, I see... Hmmm, that makes things more difficult.
What ever happened to parents being responsible for their children?
What ever happened to parents being responsible for their children?
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Why should parents be responsible when they can sue other people? I could understand it in a more urban area, but my area is zoned for 1 acre minimum plot size. Our problem is that most of our 1.25 acres is woods, so I don't have much wiggle room on where to put the pond.
I know trees can be a problem with ponds... but damned if a pond doesn't look great nestled into a bunch of trees!
I know you said you weren't going to do a skimmer, but you may consider doing one to help with the leaves. I put in a poor man's skimmer in my current pond. I just dug a small hole next to the edge of the pond and then dug a shallow channel that connects the small hole with the main pond. I made sure my liner overlap was over that hole so that the liner that lined the pool also lined the shallow channel and hole. Then I put my pump in the small hole, and it draws water from the surface through the shallow channel. I haven't covered my hole yet, since I'm still working on the landscaping of my new pond, but I plan to cover it with a few boards and some flat rocks over those to completely hide it. One of the thin flat rocks will be easily moveable so I can get to the skimmer net easily to clean it out.
I haven't had this setup running through a fall season yet, but so far it works beautifully. My new pond sits right underneath a maple treee, and it has done a beautiful job collecting the little maple whirlies that fall. Here's a picture of it:
