koiguy1969
GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
sorry to hear it hope this works out for you.
My First Pond is under way.
- Thread starter Quantum673
- Start date
it looks really good...i hope that you get that leak fixed
The pond seems to be holding water fine now. Unfortunately the weather has been horrible. Raining and cold. Tomorrow it is going to start warming up. We started picking out the pond plants last night and hopefully will pick them up this weekend.
I will post updated pictures soon. Thanks to everyone for all your comments and help!!!
I will post updated pictures soon. Thanks to everyone for all your comments and help!!!
Here is the latest on my pond project. After fixing the waterfall and re-sealing everything it holds water with no loss. It has been running for a week now and other than some evaporation I have no other water loss (had about 2" of evaporation in a week and the last 4 days the temps have been 80+ and windy so I think I am good. I have the filter running 24/7 and have established my bacteria for about 5 days now. The water is crystal clear and mother nature has started adding some algae to the liner. I am going to the pond store today to start buying plants. I will start with 2- lillies, some hyacinth for the skippy filter, some water lettuce to add to the main pond, and some submerged plants. This weekend we will make another trip up as a family to pick up more plants including some marginals, some grasses, and others to get it really going.
I plan to leave them in for a week or so then it will hopefully be time to add some fish. We haven't decided what type fish we are going to go with but it should be fun. I can't wait to get it all set so I can get some good photos.
Thanks to all who have helped out on this forum. I was totally out of my element and have learned more than I could have ever imagined from all of you.:bowdown:
I plan to leave them in for a week or so then it will hopefully be time to add some fish. We haven't decided what type fish we are going to go with but it should be fun. I can't wait to get it all set so I can get some good photos.
Thanks to all who have helped out on this forum. I was totally out of my element and have learned more than I could have ever imagined from all of you.:bowdown:
koiguy1969
GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
if your in full sun stick with the hiacynths, they tolerate the sun alot better than the lettuce, but lettuce will do better in shadier areas, and parrots feather does well in full sun as a floater, it might come in a pot but its not neccessary. good for the skippy it will grow up over the rocks and help hide it even more, even between your waterfall rocks, and arouind the edge of the pond. in fall it will sink to bottom and come back up in spring.
If you don't have fish in it yet, then your bio filter is not doing anything except passing water. You need the fish to get it going. Feeders work great so you don't lose the more valuable Koi.
Thanks Dr. Dave. That was what I was kind of thinking. I will be adding fish this weekend so the bacteria will have plenty to feed on. I ended up purchasing a few plants yesterday to get started with but have a lot more to get. I did pick up two lilies, a marsh marigold, a small varigated cattail, some ubmerged plants, and 10 hyacinths. We are going back on saturday to pick up some more plants and the fish. We still haven't decided to go with a few koi or go with shubunkins to get started and then work our way to koi later once we are confident with what we are doing.
Here are some of the newest pictures. We have added some plants, 4 shubunkins and some tadpoles. We will start the landscaping surrounding today. We are having fun with it. We still have to get some more rocks to help hide the liner edges but it is coming around.
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koiguy1969
GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
very nice... i dont see any fish tho!
Great start! If I were you, I would keep rocks off the bottom, they will not add to the health of the fish unless the water is raging past it.
Koiguy - Yeah the fish are in there they are small about 4" and can't be seen in these photos. As they get adjusted to their new home I will try to get some photos.
Dr.Dave - Other than one large rock that is holfing an extra return line in place I have no rocks on the bottom. I do have some rocks on the shelves just so I can stack other rocks on top to help hide the liner. I will continue to keep an eye on all the my water tests to make sure everything is good.
Dr.Dave - Other than one large rock that is holfing an extra return line in place I have no rocks on the bottom. I do have some rocks on the shelves just so I can stack other rocks on top to help hide the liner. I will continue to keep an eye on all the my water tests to make sure everything is good.
Well we finished planting around the pond and getting all the topsoil in around the filter. We still have a couple things we want to add but that will come later. Now all that is left is to get some mulch down around everything.
The 4 shubunkins have been very happy in their new home. They are not eating any pellets yet but I did not expect them to yet. I try every night with a few pelletsto get them used to us. I let the food float for about 5 minutes then I remove it before it sinks. They have great personlaities playing chase and 2 are real jumpers. They swim under the waterfall then try to jump up it. They try a couple times then go back to swimming around. Really neat to watch. I will get some better photos of the final project this weekend if I get the mulch done.
The water quality has tested well but I will keep an eye on it real close for the next 2 weeks to make sure nothing spikes then I will feel comfortable doing normal weekly testing.
The 4 shubunkins have been very happy in their new home. They are not eating any pellets yet but I did not expect them to yet. I try every night with a few pelletsto get them used to us. I let the food float for about 5 minutes then I remove it before it sinks. They have great personlaities playing chase and 2 are real jumpers. They swim under the waterfall then try to jump up it. They try a couple times then go back to swimming around. Really neat to watch. I will get some better photos of the final project this weekend if I get the mulch done.
The water quality has tested well but I will keep an eye on it real close for the next 2 weeks to make sure nothing spikes then I will feel comfortable doing normal weekly testing.
koiguy1969
GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
excellent job, my friend! finally got some swimmers in there...... i wish you the best of luck on keeping it a nice and a healthy enviroment. get some better fish pix
Your pond looks excellent and you definately gave me some new ideas for what to do with the one that I'm planning. If you don't mind, could you please tell me what size pump you're using. I like the configuration of your waterfall feature and would like to duplicate it but I'm not sure what h/p or gph would be required.