Hello from San Diego

[Lisak1]

My husband considers himself lucky that he's married to a girl who loves the rocks that go in ponds and not the kind you buy at the jewelry store! haha!

Love the ducks! Look forward to seeing how it goes from here!

 

[Duck Farmer]

Welcome!

Yes, I'm building my duck pond at the moment

Mine will also be for 5 Ancona ducks, which right now are only 2 weeks old and already love my fish pond/stream (Picture here https://www.gardenpondforum.com/thr...nd-look-like-today.13806/page-214#post-336964)

I love how big yours is, wish I have more space to make mine bigger. Also love your slope! I think mine will only be a step for them. How long do you go without water change or clean the filter?

My husband kept saying why do you need pump for duck pond and all the stuff I'm going to build, I just told him I do not want to have to clean / empty / refill the water every day for them if I have a kiddie pool and the area will be a mud bath.

Mine will only be about 8x5x2 with part of it will be a bog. That will be my filter. I'll pump the water to the bottom of the bog fills with gravel and plants and the water will return back to the pond. My bog will be only about 2 or 3x5x2 which is pretty small but I think it'll be sufficient. Plant like rushes and grass and cattail are good at taking nutrient out and grow quickly too. My pump will be just a bit above the ground so that the dirt can stay in the bottom and I'm planning on planting some wild water grass on those dirt/poop/sludge or even just use pond pump to clean it once in a while. I dont mind algae... it'll be vitamin for the duck.. I have a month to cycle this pond before the duck is ready to use it so I should have at least the biological filter started.

And...
My husband………does not want to hear about (duck or fish) ponds anymore too, especially when it involves buying things...

Hi Nepen! Your duckies are cuties!!

My Khacki (not in the picture) has a permanently injured leg, so the slope was mostly for her. But as it turns out, the ducks love to sit there and dabble and preen all day lol.

I clean the filters weekly, and while i am cleaning them i let the pump run into the garden. The two most critical things when dealing with duck ponds are water changes and mechanical filtration. I do about a 5-10% water change weekly, though admittedly sometimes I just clean the filters. I am guessing with the new pond capacity, I will do water changes bi-weekly, but will always clean the filters weekly, that duck poop HAS to come out of the pond or its a disaster. What you told your husband is 100% correct, 5 ducks will ruin a pond in short order. My mallards rarely get out of the water.

I think your design is pretty good overall, though i am concerned that if your ducks use the pond constantly it may overwhelm your ecosystem as ducks are awesome poopers. ill be curious to see how it goes but I like it! The plants are a great GREAT idea for helping with that problem though. I am struggling with that as my duckies eat every piece of foliage that goes near or in the pond

Let me know how it goes!!

 

[Duck Farmer]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am going camping with my scouts this weekend but there are many changes coming in the weeks ahead. But for now here are two updates:

My UV pump started to falter and the water started turning green. I tore down the UV pump and found that some leaves had gotten around the impeller. Once I cleaned that out, the UV system killed that green water most expeditiously.

The output from the filter system had dwindled over the last few days so I had to clean the filters early. There was a fair amount of dirt on the pads, so I may need to raise the pump a bit so its not resting on the bottom, or build bigger filters or both. Once I cleaned the filters the output was back to normal. It is such a different dynamic dealing with a bigger (to me) pond.

Next week I will be redoing the electrical and water supply for the pumps and pond to make things more efficient and to install outdoor switches for everything. I will take pictures and post if anyone is interested.

 

[sissy]

I must be the unusual then hubby know every thing about the pond stuff I purchase and anything I buy for the house or myself .I tell him and he just says you want it buy it you have money and the credit card .Just like the new car you want it and he went to the bank and got a cashiers check and gave it to the dealer .I guess I just never thought about keeping anything secret from him .I guess after 44 years whats the sense

 

[tbendl]

I must be the unusual then hubby know every thing about the pond stuff I purchase and anything I buy for the house or myself .I tell him and he just says you want it buy it you have money and the credit card .Just like the new car you want it and he went to the bank and got a cashiers check and gave it to the dealer .I guess I just never thought about keeping anything secret from him .I guess after 44 years whats the sense

Oh don't misunderstand, it's not a secret so much as he doesn't care. Lol

 

[addy1]

My hubby has no idea either.
Although to be fair, I don't ask what he spends on golf. Hehe

lol my hubby knows , he usually says buy MORE! He has his multiple cars, corvettes, Camaros, firebirds, etc I have my ponds and plants and tractor...........lol

 

[Nepen]

I must be the unusual then hubby know every thing about the pond stuff I purchase and anything I buy for the house or myself .I tell him and he just says you want it buy it you have money and the credit card .Just like the new car you want it and he went to the bank and got a cashiers check and gave it to the dealer .I guess I just never thought about keeping anything secret from him .I guess after 44 years whats the sense

lol he knows, it's not a secrets I buy stuff, lots of stuff because he'll see packages on the front porch a few times a week, almost all stuff for the house. We just dont talk about how much they costs

 

[sissy]

Oh I know that for years hubby traveled with ford and he had no time to care .Even when we bought our second house and moved he was away and he had to stop at the plant to ask them to find out the new address so he could get home .Guys got a big laugh out of that ,I moved and he did not know it was right down the street from the plant .The ford guys knew because they helped me move with the children .That was back before puters and cell phone kept people up to date on things

 

[Nepen]

Hi Nepen! Your duckies are cuties!!

My Khacki (not in the picture) has a permanently injured leg, so the slope was mostly for her. But as it turns out, the ducks love to sit there and dabble and preen all day lol.

I clean the filters weekly, and while i am cleaning them i let the pump run into the garden. The two most critical things when dealing with duck ponds are water changes and mechanical filtration. I do about a 5-10% water change weekly, though admittedly sometimes I just clean the filters. I am guessing with the new pond capacity, I will do water changes bi-weekly, but will always clean the filters weekly, that duck poop HAS to come out of the pond or its a disaster. What you told your husband is 100% correct, 5 ducks will ruin a pond in short order. My mallards rarely get out of the water.

I think your design is pretty good overall, though i am concerned that if your ducks use the pond constantly it may overwhelm your ecosystem as ducks are awesome poopers. ill be curious to see how it goes but I like it! The plants are a great GREAT idea for helping with that problem though. I am struggling with that as my duckies eat every piece of foliage that goes near or in the pond

Let me know how it goes!!

I'm attaching 2 inches bulk head to the side of the pond for draining the poops. I'm thinking about using 2 at the bog and pond itself but I'm going to have to figure out how to attach one at the bog. I'll probably have to put a little fence up to prevent the ducks to eat all the plants