pond in progress started 4/21/10

[addy1]

I shipped box after box jw, couldn't handle just tossing them. Next year leaving them alone unless they really outgrow the pans again.

 

[j.w]

Yep you should be able to go a few yrs w/o doing anything to them. I'm leaving mine alone also next year.

 

[addy1]

yeah it was a ton of work, taking it easy next year. Need to purge the bog now, once the day lilies bloom.

But ................are you ready for this........lol, we did plumbing today, put in a t to pull water from the pump going into the bog. Going to send some water to the lotus pond, after I make a steam between the lotus pond and the big pond. As long as the fertilizer in the lotus tub does not make the pond green, don't think it will, but will see. If it does can just get rid of the connection. Will give the lotus tub better water. Another project in process lol. The lotus tub is 300 gallons

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy, I did that for three years with my lotus and didn't get green water. You don't need very much water movement to help the lotus. just a few gallons a hour is plenty for the plant, But I'm sure you will want more than that for the stream going back in the pond. i was running about 500 gallons a hour through my 50 gallon container and it worked just fine. Never had a issue with green water and I fed lily tabs once a month to my lotus.

 

[addy1]

Thank fishin, it would actually just be a low flow. It is around 2 feet above the pond water level.

this is an old picture, but it shows the lotus tub the best, too grown up right now to find it lol.

My honey has wanted to get water to it, to change it over. We have rosey reds in the lotus tub, they hang out low esp after all toads laid eggs and tads hatched. I do have air flow in the tub, just no water change over.

So during our day of re-plumbing ( we installed my dragon pump that came from arizona, 2000 gph more) we installed a y so we can path some water out of the outflow line, around the bog (35-40 feet of line, might just use a garden hose) to the lotus tub. But first build a stream, need to cut into the stock tank make one edge lower. I have some liner laying around, so might not need to buy any. and figure out a path that won't be in my way when I work on the pond. Probably need to move some plants too, so it might wait till fall. maybe

 

[j.w]

Sounds like a great idea addy! Bet the lotus w/ love it and the little rosy reds. And neat another stream! Oh boy I just thought..........I can actually watch you build it on the your camera feed!

 

[myswtsins]

Wow, what a fantastic pond and garden! You did an excellent job of turning that difficult hilly yard into a beautiful wildlife preserve! Could you confirm your filter setup for me? Is it just skimmer to bog/stream or is there more in there?

 

[addy1]

Wow, what a fantastic pond and garden! You did an excellent job of turning that difficult hilly yard into a beautiful wildlife preserve! Could you confirm your filter setup for me? Is it just skimmer to bog/stream or is there more in there?

Thanks, I hated mowing that slope, if damp at all slid into the apple trees, have a zero turn mower, but still slid off the slopes. The stream slope is around 25 degrees, the mower is rated for no more than 15.

My only filter is the bog, we draw water from the deep end near the bog water fall and from the skimmer at the other end of the pond and downwind. It runs 24/7. Two inputs that T together before they get to the pump. We have the skimmer on a ball valve to turn off, slow it down if need be.

The stream can count as a filter if we ran it more, it is on a timer, just turn it on once a day, sometimes twice a day for an hour or so to freshen the water in the small fishless ponds. If I am out working in the yard I turn it on just to listen to it running. ow it is off the majority of the time. The stream ponds are full of plants. I like the look of it even when it is not running. When I built the stream I made sure there were plenty of water retention areas in the stream bed and at every turn of the stream. With mosquitoes starting to come around, I have the timer set to "flush" the stream twice a day, the fish gather at the waterfall and snack on the bugs that come down.

This is the bog/filter, I would show you the plumbing,but have not taken any pictures yet, we just re did the pump (ie yesterday and today) and pump pipes to make it easier to work down there. And to install my dragon pump that was just shipped here from my arizona pond. Love the flow it is giving, around 2k gph more.

These are day lilies in the bog and the other plants growing like weeds, but it sure keeps the pond and pond water perfect.

At that far end is the skimmer, it was white, but I coated it with roofing goop. The tipped over black pot had frog eggs in it, waiting for them to swim out, then going to remove. The skimmer is the black to right at the end of the pond, still need to cover up that piece of liner.

 

[myswtsins]

That's quite lush and inspiring! Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Looks like you have a lot of trouble with predators? So, how are you drawing the water from in the deep end and by the skimmer, retro BDs? Do you have some sort of pre-filter before it hits the pump? I believe you said the bog is 27x6x2, how big is the main pond?

 

[addy1]

The only problem I have is the great blue heron and recently the green heron. The green heron came once, the gbh has not stopped by this summer yet, it flies over every day. Last summer it came to visit every day. The chicken wire keeps it from standing on the side and fishing, the once piece of deer fencing down the middle keeps it from being able to fly in. I would prefer nothing, but those birds loved my pond last year. Nothing else has bothered the pond. The floating alligator heads seem to discourage the herons as well.

The gbh, two or three fly over every day, we must be on their roosting path, east in the morning, west in the evening, usually right over our pond and house, tree level. I know one of these days it will land.

Except for right at the walk out end it is deep enough to keep the heron from wading.

I draw the water just via piping no retro drain. The pvc we just put in (this weekend) is 3 inch, the end terminates about a foot off the bottom, netted with the plastic gutter net (some one on the forum suggested it) I have a retro bottom drain, just shipped from a pond I had torn down. I am thinking of installing it via a different pump to use occasionally to sweep the debris to the drain pump it into a leaf basket, then in to a skippy type filter, then right back into the pond, like a home made vac sort of lol. I have a ton of trap door snails, don't want a drain running all of the time. So far all I have done is net the bottom of the pond with a swimming pool net and pole, sort out the critters and toss them back in. Usually do twice in a summer, a good cleaning in the fall a good cleaning in the spring when firing the pond back up. To me easy maintenance.

The Dragon pump has a huge leaf basket, my skimmer has a huge leaf basket. I try to keep large debris out of the bog.

The pond is from 10 feet wide at the walk out area to around 20 feet at the deep end, about half plus is 5 feet deep, then decreases to 1.5 feet deep or so, the 1.5 feet deep area is only about 1-2 feet of the pond end. I made it so I can walk out or anything that falls in can walk out. The length is 26 feet. All soft measurements, I wasn't that concerned about actuals.

If you wanted a bottom drain going into the bog, well at least the way mine is built, I would have a pre-filter/settlement chamber to keep large debris out of the bog.

 

[addy1]

Some of the herd............ The dark spots on the bottom are trap door snails, around 5 feet down

The old pump set up, that is a sequence 4200, great pump, the new (old one) is a w lim dragon pump, big size difference, around 2000 gph increase. It was tough to get to the edge without tripping so we spent the day redoing and installing my new/old pump. The sequence will be installed in line with the dragon as a back up.

Here is our new plumbing, we are going to add a second pump to that stub sticking out, as a back up. The main pump dies, plug it in and it takes over. The T for the skimmer is up by the edge of the pond. It added feet to the plumbing to do it this way, but now I can get close to the edge of the pond easier to work on things. We changed out the 2 inch in pond pipe for a 3 inch pipe. The pump is just about level with the water.

The bog today, I groomed back some of the rush to make it easier to walk in it, just clipped them like grass.

The yucca is getting ready to be fully open

This was a throw away from lowes last year

hollyhock near the pond

red hot poker plant

 

[callingcolleen1]

Fish look really good, goldfish were my favoritve, they look really healthy and water looks really good. Looks like "the mother of all pumps" going on in your pond. Your bog looks really good, everything very green, turned out just fabulous! I love your spectacular red flowers too!

 

[taherrmann4]

Wow that looks great. I wish I had a bigger yard for a bigger bog, might have to add another one somewhere next year.... It looks like your pump is on the opposite end of your skimmer and what is the black corrugated pipe for that goes into your pond.

 

[addy1]

Wow that looks great. I wish I had a bigger yard for a bigger bog, might have to add another one somewhere next year.... It looks like your pump is on the opposite end of your skimmer and what is the black corrugated pipe for that goes into your pond.

The skimmer plumbing is 2 inch piping set right below the bog wall, under 2 feet or so of water. We don't have to worry about it freezing in the winter, it comes out and T's into the pond plumbing.

lol tmann, that black corrugated pipe comes from one of the house gutters, that is right at the top of the stream, it does not go into the pond anymore.

We buried it in the pipe trench to direct that gutter water away from the house and stream. In the redo it is running right along, but below the new plumbing. We are going to add a 100 or 200 foot piece, solid, to get the water to the corn garden, then have the water enter the perforated drainage piping, to maybe help water the corn during our dry spells, if it rains. We don't water it, so it either lives or dies dependent on the rain fall, last two years it died.

Fish look really good, goldfish were my favoritve, they look really healthy and water looks really good. Looks like "the mother of all pumps" going on in your pond. Your bog looks really good, everything very green, turned out just fabulous! I love your spectacular red flowers too!

It says especially designed for KOI ponds on it, so will probably take care of my goldie pond lol. I had it running my arizona pond, my renters finally shipped it to me. A great pump, but pricey. I had two in az, so now have a back up if this one quits. They shipped both pumps for me.

 

[j.w]

Wow addy your herd is really growing and they are all a nice mixture of colors! You have a very nice setup w/ your pump/plumbing.......no worries for you w/ all that backup. Love the blooming flowers! I got one of those throw away lilies from Lowes last yr also and think mine is a light pink. I'm gonna look for more this year as I love those plants.