Pond in the foothills

[MitchM]

Yikes what's with all that liner showing? NO time or don't care? What was your occupation again Mitch I forgot or never knew?...

HA, I wondered when someone was going to call me out on my bare bones pond.

The primary reason for the existence of my pond is for a fire fighting backup water supply. Next is a healthy home for the fish, last is an attractive garden feature.

This is my first outoor pond. I didn't know what to expect as there are not many examples of outdoor ponds in Calgary.
I dug a hole, built up a berm and put in the underlay and liner. I didn't know what to expect as far as berm settlement with our winters and Chinooks, how much or how long the water would freeze and what I could keep for fish or plants.

I soon found out that there wasn't much point trying to keep show koi with 6 months of ice cover.
Plants that are offered for sale at garden centers will not grow with my cool water temperatures.
The ice and cold will destroy any elaborate waterfall/wetland filter feature I build.

The fish I have, goldfish and minnows, do quite well without any feeding. I innoculated the pond with a bucket of water from the natural pond and that has provided plenty of natural food for the fish.

There is a huge rockpile about 3/4 of a mile from me, but to get the rocks is time consuming and hard on my ATV.
We haven't had a visitor here for many years.
There are way too many other priorities on our property that need to be done before making the pond more attractive, plus by waiting, I have saved a lot of money and time that would have been spent on plants and construction material for my initial "ideal pond"

The fish and wildlife in and around the pond seem to be thriving, if that changes, the pond design will rise to the top of my priorities.

I'll send you a PM as far as what my occupation is.

 

[CountryEscape]

The fact that you get moose to your pond to drink, priceless. They evidently don't mind that there is no rock edge. LOL
I loved your explanation of priorities, Mitch. Sometimes we put things first that should not be first, and in the grand scheme of things, life does go on, no matter what we do! I have spent a boatload of money on my ponds, but they are my hobby, and I love to see them 12 months of the year, no matter if they have ice or not. I sure could not stand ice for 6 months, though. I hate having 2 months of ice, if that! I'm very fortunate to have much warmer temps here.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks.

We haven't seen those moose since.
The pond kind of disappears during the summer when native grasses get 4 feet tall and provides great cover for frogs and small creatures to venture safely for water.
I don't want the pond to become a chore, so I'm trying to think of a way to make it look natural with as little intervention from me as possible. Unfortunately the liner creates a barrier if I wanted to plant native willows because their roots need access to the water, and if I was able to find some natural lilies, they would need some kind of substrate, which I didn't put in.
Work in progress.......


.

 

[CountryEscape]

Just a thought, but if you found some natural lilies, you could simply add a pot with substrate and drop it to the bottom. No need to ever do anything after that! As long as the pot would be below the freeze line, the lilies will survive.

 

[MitchM]

Yes, I would like some natural lilies.
It's on my list of nice to have, but not necessary at this time.
A canoe, hipwaders and some anticipation of falling in while I try to rip them up comes to mind...

 

[CountryEscape]

Rip them up why? Are you concerned with them taking over the pond, perhaps? I guess wild lotus that I see in lakes around here do multiply fast. I brought a wild lotus tuber from a lake 3 years ago, have yet to see it bloom, and it has stayed in the large pot I planted it in. Also got a tuber last year from another lake, same thing, still in the 3 gallon bucket, but no blooms this year. If they never bloom, I'm remove them. I don't think they would multiply with no substrate in the bottom of your pond, although I'm sure you have more stuff down there than you would think ... leaf mulch, dirt/dust, etc. ;-)

 

[MitchM]

No, I mean when I'm trying to collect lilies form the natural waterways.

 

[addy1]

lol and they will have massive root systems, heavy, yep I can see falling in................

 

[MitchM]

My pond water temperature is reading 0.0 celcius today.
I'm not liking this.
I'm going to unplug that recirculating pump and just keep the breathers running.

.

 

[addy1]

56 at home, pond is 42. Here 75 or so.
Still nice and toasty at home, sort of

Love the 0.0 temp! Cold.....

 

[MitchM]

Since I unplugged the submersed pump, both levels of the temperature sensors have risen to 2.8C/37F.
I don't have any data that tells me that 2.8 celcius is better for the fish than 0.0 celcius, I just don't like the idea of the fish spending 6 months at 0.0 celcius.

I'm always looking for information that confirms my thoughts on that, though.

.

 

[addy1]

Nice followup. I still have my bog running, slow flow pump just flowing over the surface of the bog.
I will be asking my friends to unplug and plug in the breathers soon. The pond is sitting at 40f

 

[MitchM]

I keep thinking of Colleen's fish that do just fine with circulating water all winter.
There's really no benefit to me keeping an open hole in the ice. The goldfish in my pond pretty much disappear sometime in October, although the rosy red minnows remain quite active when I can see them under the ice while it's still transparent.

 

[addy1]

We have been darn warm. With the slow flow pump running it actually warms the water on sunny days. I watch the temp climb a few degrees during the day.

 

[MitchM]

Arizona or MD?
Your MD weather station say's it's cold right now.