Going for it! phase one 12,000 gallon pond.

[Lisak1]

That's a cool piece of wood!

 

[addy1]

Love that piece of wood! I have some favorite pieces sitting on shelves in the house, small ones, but still darn neat.

 

[j.w]

One can never have enough rocks and neat driftwood!

 

[Jhn]

Cool looking piece of driftwood. I keep an eye out for pieces around my worksites. I have found a few neat ones over the years that I added to the ponds for turtles to bask on.

 

[GBBUDD]

After feeling guilty not working on the pond in any way I went for a walk along the river again to see what else I could find. It was no fun dragging this thing out not because of weight but because of the size and I didn't want to break off any of the branches. This tree grew along the side of the river but died probably from the salt water as it is a tidal area and the wood is definitely salted. It's new home is going to be at the edge of the pond hanging over for birds to perch. Not sure if I mentioned this before but I plan on working with nature and not try to work against it. What I plan on doing is getting a couple hundred shiners or similar, I love watching fish school. If anyone has any suggestions i'd love to here what fish you'd choose. but I has to be able to withstand winter in new England.
If a blue heron or a king fisher want to stop by and have a snack why not. I plan on making plenty of places for the fish to hide so it's not going to be a free meal and having two dogs I don't think the predators will consider this to be the easiest spot in the neighborhood to get a meal as there is a pond across the street.

 

[Jhn]

Like the idea of a large school of shiners. I have one of my ponds stocked with native minnows (shiners, chubs, darters, and dace) that I got out of a local stream. The pond has a yellow perch in it, or at least it used to, it is secretive and hard to spot. So I am not sure if it is still in there as herons visit the pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

Starting to think I have a screw loose or three. TWO MORE LOADS OF STONE TODAY . I think my artistic creativity has gone hay wire. At least we are a little closer to building I ordered 8oz non woven underlayment between the Connecticut brown stone rocks in the soil and then lining the entire project pond and streams with rock I opted to go with a thicker layer of underlayment sandwiching the EDPM 45 MIL . The condition of the rock when I get it is it's covered in dirt and or dust. On the way home I stop at a self serve car wash and rinse off the dirt and dust. I do love washing them off It's like a scratch ticket. I know I have too much stone at this point but the picture is coming together. I probably would have been a safer bet to have started small and learn the ropes . But I feel confident having had planted and reef aquariums

.

 

[j.w]

Welcome to the screw loose club @GBBUDD

 

[sissy]

I love the moon shaped rock .I have one I dug up that looks like my home state of NJ .I go to the Dan River when they dredge it ,they drag up the neatest stuff and leave it on the banks of the river every year and my sister and I go on a find treasures hunt .Driftwood and rocks are neat

 

[GBBUDD]

I love the moon shaped rock .I have one I dug up that looks like my home state of NJ .I go to the Dan River when they dredge it ,they drag up the neatest stuff and leave it on the banks of the river every year and my sister and I go on a find treasures hunt .Driftwood and rocks are neat

There's at least 5 of them I was thinking they might make a nice walk along the stream they are a little bit more formal then I'd like but They may work out well with the over all design.

For a first year pond and bog what would be a good choice for a fast growing easy to grow plant I don't imagine there will be a whole lot of nutrients[/QUOTE]

 

[Lisak1]

For a first year pond and bog what would be a good choice for a fast growing easy to grow plant I don't imagine there will be a whole lot of nutrients

For an easy, fast grower try watercress. Just pick up a bunch from your local grocery (doesn't matter if it even has any roots) and tuck the sprigs in between the rocks. You'll be amazed how fast it takes off. It does like moving water though so pick spots where the water is flowing, even slowly.

We did find that we had to feed our marginals for the first year or so - as you said, there just aren't a lot of nutrients in new pond water. They were growing, but they just weren't green. They looked a bit anemic. So I added some iron around the base of the plants that looked like they needed it and I even stuck some aquatic plant fertilizer tabs into some of the roots to give them a boost. By the end of our second season, everything was completely on it's own and growing like crazy.

 

[GBBUDD]

I know I'll eat these words but I'm comfortable with the quantity of rock Only extremely choice pieces will be trucked back at this point. The latest pieces are LA LA LA LOADED with iron veins

I'm glad you mentioned iron. The scratch ticket revealed some great colors and I can't wait to get started. The ground is frozen and I have to wait for it to thaw can't be setting these stone walls on frozen ground. if they were all 2 to three feet tall i'd think about it but 7 foot tall not a chance

 

[GBBUDD]

In all the reading I have been doing I can not find a recommended gph for a sf of bog is there such a calculation.

 

[addy1]

In all the reading I have been doing I can not find a recommended gph for a sf of bog is there such a calculation.

My pump is 6800 gph, the majority goes right into the bog. Some say slow flow, some say no issue with slow or fast. Mine is a good flow rate, keeps the pond perfect................very large bog.

 

[Lisak1]

Our pump also goes straight to the bog - it's a 4-8000 variable pump. At some point the "variable" part stopped working so we got stuck with the flow we had, but it's reasonably fast. My bog is about 6 x 4 and about 6 feet deep, if that helps.