My first pond build - in slo-mo

[addy1]

Great going john!

 

[johnnyi]

Vector Control is pretty quick. I ordered the mosquito fish on Wednesday night and they were planted today, Thursday. I wasn't even home and they just come in and do it. I can see them exploring their new home - they really seem to like swimming among the rocks on the edge.

John

 

[j.w]

Wow that was quick, now where are the photo's,lol!

 

[addy1]

Didn't know you planted mosquito fish, john!

I ordered the mosquito fish on Wednesday night and they were planted today, Thursday.

John

I had a ton in my arizona pond, they even swam up the stream.

 

[johnnyi]

Gee, it's been a month almost since I posted anything about our project. Lots of things have been happening. We re-potted our water lilies, added various rushes, cattails, grasses and other plants both into the bog and into the pond. We purchased 6 feeder goldfish (for $1.50 total) and introduced them to the pond. Stuff has been growing and some have been blooming.

The work that's left is both a lot and not urgent at least to us. The main thing is trimming (or hiding) the excess liner, placing rocks and/or plant on the borders of everything to create more naturalness and hide the plumbing. The stream bed need a lot more work in terms of rocks and the water isn't very clear. On the other hand there is lots of living things in and around the pond and the fish seem quite happy (anthropomorphism at work) in that they are healthy, constantly on the move and eating vigorously. We'll work on what we can as we have the time/money, but we're enjoying having this living environment in our back yard.

Here's some pictures from the last 4 weeks in no particular order.


We are really enjoying all of this.

 

[sissy]

Different areas get different colors of pea gravel .I notice that down at harris nursery ,they have pea gravel there that says it is from California and some in anothe bin that says Arizona and another bin says Utah and another says Colorado and they all are different colors some look red and pink and some looked grey and there was black and some looked yellowish orange .I never knew pea gravel came in so many colors .I guess it is just like rocks ,tons of colors.Forgot i like the shape of your bog and nice looking fishies

 

[j.w]

Everything looks good and glad you got some nice fish in there and you have pretty lilies in bloom! I'm still waiting for mine to bloom..........might be awhile tho as our weather is still quite cool! They are sending the pads up tho!

 

[johnnyi]

I just wanted to report that we put about 300lbs of small rocks in our streambed shortly after the last post. The rocks are about half 1" to 1.5" flat skipping rocks and the other half are round 1.5" to 2" lighter colored rocks. Within 2 days our water was clear and has been ever since. Certainly it is a possible coincidence but I remember Waterbug suggesting that streambed like that would function as a kind of trickle tower filter. Whatever the case we can see everything now.

I'll post some pictures in the next day or two.

This forum has been a great resource during this build - we couldn't have done it as successfully without reading many hundreds of threads here.

Thanks,

John

 

[addy1]

Woopee john, great to hear! Got to love clear water.

 

[johnnyi]

As promised, pictures. These have been taken over the last couple of weeks.

Water clarity was about 10" on average for the two months leading up to the weekend that we put 300lbs of small rock into the stream bed on May 6. The water became somewhat cloudier immediately after the rocks went in, but within a day the water started to clear and within three days and for the past 3 weeks the water became clear and has remained in that state.

Here's a picture of the rock cleaning operation.


And some close-ups of the rocks. First are the dark skipping type rocks and the next are the rounder lighter rocks.+

Though not a pretty picture, it shows water clarity (and four of our goldfish). The fish are cruising the bottom about 29" deep:


Our honey bee watering facility:


And flowers:

 

[j.w]

That is so neat that the stream can work as a filter. I remember reading that and glad it worked for you. Nice rocks and love your bee's drinking from the water. I can see your little fish down under and your flowers are growing nice and pretty! Good job!!!

 

[addy1]

Very nice, love the look of your stream rocks

 

[CountryEscape]

Those flat and round rocks are beautiful! Surely you paid premium price for something that smooth and pretty. Wow!!!
And, how did you know those honey bees were drinking in that area? I didn't even notice them until I read what you posted, and then I looked at the pic again. Very cool! Do you have bee hives, or do your neighbors, or you just have lots of honey bees? Not many in my area anymore, too many farmed fields, not so many flowers anymore. :-(
JW, is that purple flowered plant what you gave me some of last year? The plant looks similar or the same, but I didn't know if it bloomed or not.

 

[johnnyi]

CE,

We just noticed that they were flying into a particular spot. I often just sit on the porch and observe what's going on and I noticed this behavior. We don't raise bees nor do any neighbors that I'm aware of, but they are around. I guess they need a source of water like other things and communicated it back to their hive.

The purple flowered plant, above, is a Blue bell.

John

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, thanks for letting me know about the blue flower. Doesn't look like the wild blue bells around here, but then it wouldn't, since what grows in CA probably would not grow well in IL. That is so neat about the bees, though. Very observant of you as well. I like to sit and watch and observe, too. I noticed a second painted turtle this morning in my goldfish pond, because I was sitting and watching, while I was feeding the fish. It's more shy than the turtle that was in my pond last year and returned, but Aris will teach the new one the ropes, I'm certain.