pond in progress started 4/21/10

[addy1]

I sure hope you get to feeling better soon, Addy. I'm so thankful I have missed that flu this year. Lots of people have had it, seems to take forever to get rid of.
I noticed the floating rings above what I think are lilies in your pond. Is that a way to keep them more in one area, or what is that? Looks kind of like what a tomato cage does, or maybe I'm seeing things ....

I used to get bronchitis all of the time, this is the first time in many, many years, still fighting the last of the cough, but feeling so much better. It is not the flu, have not had that in about 10 years. We came back from florida exhausted, mentally and physically worn out, my body just could not fight what every floating germ it picked up.

I am doing an experiment with the lilies. The way my pond slopes I had all the lily pots in the "shallow" end, where I walk out. The deep end had none. The pots took up the bottom of the pond making it hard to walk around, the leaves got all tangled up, making it hard to groom. So I made floating rings for the lilies. (I had done it with one last year and liked it) Made out of pvc, the lilies hang below in their oil pan. Each ring is tied off to the side of the pond (mainly because the water fall draws them all over to it) So now when I need to groom them I just pull them to the side clip and push back out. This way I can have a bunch in the deep end where the fish really hang out, and just a few in the shallow walk out end.

Once the leaves grow up the rings disappear. I spray painted the pvc with brown and black plastic paint, they sort of blend in . The lilies like the 1.5 to 2 foot depth I have them hanging at.

 

[j.w]

addy what size pvc pipe did you say you used and what did you use to seal the ends together to make them leak proof? Oh and did you just make holes in the pans that you put the lilies in to tie the ropes to? Did you make a post in the DIY thread for this project? Sounds like a great idea!

 

[addy1]

lol no I didn't post it. I used 1.5 inch pvc, 90 degree pvc angles, and good old pvc glue. Just primed glued and stuck together.

The rope is poly rope, cheap home depot stuff. Tied it on to the frame, gooped the tied end with a little pl roofing goop to make it secure. I drilled 4 holes about 1/8 inch into the rim of the oil pan. Ended up using a piece of small electric wire into the hole twisted the end around the rope with a knot in the end. I didn't want to make a big enough hole to fit the rope into it.

I sprayed the top and sides of the pvc with plastic paint, brown and black to get rid of the white.

For bigger pans I would go with 2 inch pvc, the clay can be heavy.

 

[j.w]

Thanks a bunch for posting that info addy. Looks really good floating in your pond and easy to maintain and not in the way of the netting,love it!

 

[addy1]

The shubbies got moved from the house tank to the stock tank. I have flow going from the big pond into it and back to the big pond. Still have window dressing to do. Did get a net over the pond, deer fencing right now, supported by pvc, anti heron. I need to make it nicer, hate netting that you can see easily, but didn't want to take a chance with the bird.

The fish were so easy to catch, they had no clue what a net was for. Totally undisturbed except for tank cleaning since last november. I didn't bowl them, but did get some pictures in the trashbags before they were floated.

So funny watching them sit in total stillness before they finally realized they have a lot of water to swim in, 20 times the amount of water and space.

This was the size in november





They are in the bottom of a 5 gallon hd bucket for size comparison.














They seemed fishy happy!

 

[addy1]

Just love the different colors and textures that spring brings

 

[j.w]

Yay fishies have escaped into the great outdoors! Pretty Spring pix going on at your place :blueflower:

 

[johnnyi]

Addy,

Very nice as always.

John

 

[callingcolleen1]

Nice pretty goldfish too! Can't wait to see your new pond all up and running, it will help motivate me to get my front yard done. Addy you are like the energizer bunny when it comes to ponds, you just keep going and going and going.....

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, those are some beautiful Shubies you have there, Addy!!! So, you are going to have a Shubie only tank, then, so we will know what it's like to have all Shubie babies. Lucky you!!!
OK, I have to ask. In one of the pics above, it looks like you have a yellow and white fish, and an orange and white Comet. Did those stay inside? I've NEVER seen a yellow and white goldfish, ever. Is that the actual color, or maybe since it was swimming by, the color was not true on the pic? If you had a yellow and white, then I know I'll be watching for one like it. Very pretty!

 

[addy1]

The yellow and white is a pond bred fish, a fry I pulled from the leaking preform. The orange and white, more red in real, is a sarrassa, it is in the big pond with the other few sarassa types out there. I took three of the more "goldfish" looking fish, color wise and put them into the big pond.

I have three yellow goldfish with nice long fins in the big pond. Not sure where they came from, but sure are different looking and pretty. Two are pure yellow, one is yellow with a little white.

I am going to try and have a shubbie only pond, would love to pull the long finned, dark shubbies from the big pond, but they are almost impossible to catch. Two shubies have already spawned, both long finned pretty, the fish chasing where goldfish. But you never know what combination will come out of that chase, if any survive.

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, I'm glad I asked about the yellow and white fish! That's amazing, as I've never seen a yellow and white goldfish. And, yes, I meant to say red and white Sarassa. I guess Comets just mean long tailed, right? My mistake. I have not yet seen any of my Shubies spawn or chase, but there's a first time for everything. My really large Shubie I got from Pond Kid is a male I'm pretty sure, so I need to have a pep talk with him to be sure to fertilize any eggs the girls lay. LOL

 

[addy1]

I will try and get a decent picture of the yellow ones in the pond. My honey wants me to raise shubbie fry..............I tell him nope, what lives lives.

 

[Minnow]

I need to ask....

How do you make those connections watertight?

That is my one concern when even thinking of putting a filter outside the pond, leaking pipes!

 

[addy1]

Good old pvc glue and primer. We prime the pipes well, let it dry, then use a bunch of fresh pvc glue inside the fitting and around the pipe. Shove the pipe in twist it slightly, hold it tight for 30 secs to a minute. Then don't pressurize i.e. run water, for at least 15 minutes. I have never had a fitting fail.

This is my first out of pond filter, if it gives us issues, I can just yank it, let the shubbie pond get water right from the big pond without any filtering. The connections into and out of the 55 gallon barrel are triple sealed, flange, sealant, roofing goop tested for a week for watertightness. We have a ball valve right at the output from the pump, easy to shut the system down if it does leak for any reason. I filled the pipes and let water sit in them to make sure there was no leak before I started covering with dirt.

My main filter is the bog, all contained within the pond liner.