CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[Pablo]

I guess i lived a deprived childhood i never saw too much of the muppets. Now Captain kangaroo NOW WE'RE TALKING. oR BOOM TOWN though i believe that was more of a strickly Boston SHOW i was a Villan , though admittingly not a very good one everyone guessed it was me

Ah Mr. Green Jeans, oh the memories

 

[combatwombat]

Hi friends.

Frogs got too hot to croak this week, so thought I'd take a moment to wander around this evening and share some photos.

The plants @addy1 shared with me in late 2022 started to grow up this Spring (check out the bog!) but still have space to fill in. Think I'll pick some more up at the local nursery once the heat subsides. Still lots of terrestrial planting to do back here. You should see the front yard, though. That's where our gardening effort has gone. We're no longer the trashiest-looking house in the neighborhood.

String algae. Hot damn. Thought we finally had it licked. Nope! It was here in some form full-time since last summer. Even through the winter. Started coming on strong again in May and then, in early June, it all just disappeared. Gone overnight. Like some sort of miracle. Pond had never looked better.

We rejoiced and enjoyed the algae free pond for about a week. Then it came back with the vengeance of 1,000 rabid badgers. Just exploded. So much I can hardly keep up with removal. It grows in the bog. In the reservoir. In the creek. In the shallow areas. In the deep areas. On the rocks. On the sand. On the vertical surfaces. On the horizontal surfaces. Just... everywhere.

I set a new personal record this week: 2 nearly full 5-gallon buckets. And that's after squeezing the water out. I've pulled single strand clumps that started on the waterfall and travel 10'+ out into the pond. It's absolutely wild. A bit discouraging.

Got counsel from @GBBUDD via PM when he wouldn't stop poking me in the Wordle thread. I even told him he could harass me all he wants if he just posted a score.

Tested KH the other day and came in pretty low in the 40-60 ppm range. Went to Costco this afternoon and picked up a 13 lb bag of baking soda to get to work on that.

Pretty sure I'm back to zero fish. Despite regular swimming this summer, we're still yet to scare up Clarp. Gone without a trace! And I worked so hard for that little turd. Been meaning to get more fish despite recently telling the wife I don't want any more things around here that are alive and need stuff.

Oh, and speaking of swimming... we have Swimmer's Itch! How wonderful. Couldn't figure out what the hell was biting us all over. No bugs (thanks frogs), the dog is flea-free, no bed bugs. Well, we narrowed it down. It is for sure Swimmer's Itch.

If you want a reminder of just how crazy nature is, look up Swimmer's Itch. You must have the right combination of water, waterfowl, and aquatic snails for this parasite to do its lifecycle roundtrip and end up on your skin . How lucky are we to have hit the trifecta this summer? Bet you're jealous. Anyway, "pool's closed" until further notice. Thanks ducks.

Everything I've read about treatment so far has been copper sulfate or "wait it out." Really don't want to go the CS route as I think it would nuke all the good bacteria. But not aware of any consumer-grade testing product to know when the water is clear.

So, that's what's up. Gonna go test KH again, net some more algae, put on some itch cream, and go to bed.

 

[Hound Heaven]

Good grief, swimmers itch. You need a duck deterrent and a 55 gallon drum of hydrogen peroxide. Wow - after all your hard work it saddens me that you don't have a few dozen colorful fishes to watch in that big beautiful pond. Well at least your bog plants seem to be thriving. Oh and congrats on spiffing up the front yard. I can feel your frustration from here.

 

[GBBUDD]

even told him he could harass me all he wants if he just posted a score.

You can count on I'll keep pestering but ain't nothing going to entise me enough to curdle some wordle. I would much rather Putz around my shop or pond.

Two things I'd consider on would be a fence to stop the frog invasion. That has to be your source of extra nutrients in the water. Though frequent swimming is as well.

Secondly I'd suggest gold fish look around there are always someone crying out to rehome some. They do not need to be fed they will munch on the hair algae . Knowingly or not as they graze on the rock. A dozen mature gold fish I'm thinking could help considerably.

I still have some hair algae up in my stream and upper pond though admittedly very little but you won't find on strand in the main pond the koi keep it bare.

I'm sure at this point the Mrs would prefer swimming with a couple fish over wading through hair algae

Good grief on the swimers itch. I've jumped in every body of water at one point or another never had that pleasure. Proforma c a very common and effective pond treatment, has copper sulphate I do believe. how ever it's definitely not something you want to swim in either. As it is banned from being used Comercialy where fish are raised for food. BUT it does disipate and water changes can help solve that.

 

[YShahar]

Swimmer's Itch, eh? Why can't you people have normal problems like Hamas terrorists and Iranians firing missiles at you, for crying out loud!?!

OK, having googled it, I'm now in possession of some new knowledge that I hope never to have a use for! But I think @GBBUDD is right: you need some fish in there! It seems like the ecosystem is out of whack to get that much string algae. Goldfish really do gobble up the stuff, but you could also add some smaller fish native to your area to eat it.

Your pond is looking really amazing! I love that bubble fountain in the bog. Here's to the swift demise of Swimmer's Itch. I can send you some Hamasniks, if you think it will help...

 

[bagsmom]

Oh my gosh! So sorry you are having to deal with all this! But on the plus side -- your pond is just beautiful! I know you wanted it to be for family recreation but at least you can enjoy your artistry from the water's edge!

 

[GBBUDD]

you could also add some smaller fish native to your area to eat it.

careful on the native fish they can breed more and make rabbits jealous. go look at one of my vids from last year 25 got me 2500 in one season thank god they could not deal with cold water

 

[combatwombat]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I added a dark-blue dye to the pond. Figured that would help with shading to slow algae growth. Put some more in this morning. Want to get it pretty dark. And since we can't swim for now, might toss some floaters in and see if they go wild. Kind of concerned about floaters blocking water flow and trapping surface debris, though.

You can count on I'll keep pestering but ain't nothing going to entise me enough to curdle some wordle.

I do it on the toilet!

I'd consider on would be a fence to stop the frog invasion.

I have a pretty tight-clearance fence around the whole backyard , but there was about 40 ft missing during pond construction that I just recently replaced. Hopefully that will begin to fix the frog issue for next year. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Wow - after all your hard work it saddens me that you don't have a few dozen colorful fishes to watch in that big beautiful pond.

Secondly I'd suggest gold fish look around there are always someone crying out to rehome some.

Fish are coming. I'm still confused about how more bio-load will help, though.

OK, having googled it, I'm now in possession of some new knowledge that I hope never to have a use for!

Pretty wild, huh? Our symptoms are not nearly as bad as some of the photos you'll find online.

 

[addy1]

Bummer! Your pond is beautiful!

 

[addy1]

My bog is full of plants, leaves nothing for the string to live on.

I need to do another purge of plants, ow bog overflow. It will be my third purge, this summer.

It helps I have 8 fishless ponds full of plants that help with the filtering.

 

[j.w]

I do get some cloudy green water in my pond now and then but I have don't have a nice bog to keep it clear. It does clear up on it's own tho. Like a cycle I guess depending on whatever the water or weather is doing. I never have that long string algae tho. Have about 12 to 15 goldfish (get a couple babies now and then from spawning) that must keep it under control as I always see them picking on the rocks, sides, everything. No ducks, just little birds bathing now and then as they get through the wide weave net holes. Have a net over the whole thing too!

 

[Lisak1]

Fish will fix what ails you. And you'll have something to watch while you wait for the itching to subside.

You have to be so proud of this project. It's an absolute gem.

 

[TheFishGuy]

The pond is looking wonderful! I’m glad I came back to see it finished. As far as string algae goes, at my work we use 0.2 - 0.3% salt levels in all the ponds to keep algae down and keep the fish parasite free, though this might not help with the swimmers itch situation. Personally I’m still having trouble coming to terms with adding salt to a freshwater pond, but it’s definitely effective at keeping algae growth down! If you are interested, I have a sheet that outlines which plants tolerate what levels of salt, as well as a salt recommendation that is affordable for such a large pond.

 

[combatwombat]

You have to be so proud of this project. It's an absolute gem.

Thank you! I am very proud of it. I just get this sinking feeling of failure when I spend SO MUCH TIME maintaining this thing after trying to design and build it so that I wouldn't have to do that.

Fish will fix what ails you.

I'm going to add fish (he says again...), but I really don't understand how adding more bio-load will solve a problem caused by too much bio-load.

The pond is looking wonderful!

Thank you! Just saw the photos of the bog from your Eagle project. It looks fantastic. I quit scouting one merit badge + project short of reaching Eagle. I'm almost 40 now and still regret that decision.

If you are interested, I have a sheet that outlines which plants tolerate what levels of salt, as well as a salt recommendation that is affordable for such a large pond.

Sure. I don't think I'll go that route just yet, but I never turn down an opportunity to learn. Can you post it publicly so others can reference it as well?

 

[combatwombat]

Ok, gonna dump a bunch of info here. Could use some help figuring out my order of operations for next steps.

Things I need to do:

• Dye the pond. Already done, now need to keep it dyed for the rest of summer.
• Add plants. Have some space. Need to get more and plant em. Look for plants that can eat up phosphates.
• Add fish. Honestly still don't understand this. Sorry, I'm dense. If I have string algae, don't I already have too much bio-load?
• Bring up kH to 150+. Have added 10 lbs so far and gone from about 60 to about 100. Need to get another bag and keep adding in 5 lb. doses.
• Eliminate string algae. Need to keep up on manual removal (now harder since I don't want to get in with the swimmer's itch). I bought a gallon jug of 12% hydrogen peroxide to dilute and try to kill off the rest. Hopefully the dye, more plants, and kH buffering will help keep it at bay.
• Eliminate swimmer's itch. I think the work on eliminating string algae will correct this. The snails are the host, and they thrive in the algae. Once gone, hoping that will knock it back. The ducks are gone for the season and, unfortunately, I'll need to chase them off if they come back. Don't really know how to test for this besides getting in and looking for bites the next day.

Thoughts on what to tackle first or insight specific to any of these steps are much appreciated!