some advice to start

[sissy]

oh geeze did not see that it was see c .sorry thought it was an f I guess .For that small a pond 2 pumps may be to much could your one pump support a split in the line to maybe pump to both of them .In my first pond which was a preformed I used one pump and 2 hoses one to the filter and one to the waterfall and it was only a 450 gph pump the filter went to the waterfall also and did not have any problems with it .I had a low water turn off pump .I got it at harbor freight and it is strange but they stopped making them with that feature .I guess they want to sell more pumps since I still have that one until this day .It has a float switch on it and I still use it in the winter on my pond and it is over 8 years old and really closer to 9 years old

 

[Fantazmic]

Hi Guys

Thank you so much for your thoughts

Here is the first stage of the pond



if you look at the larger shell you can see what looks like a black inlet or outlet ? not sure what it is but it is a hole which means I probably could work something out gravity fed or pump fed. with the water pumped into the deeper end travelling up through pea gravel and along that shallow part to the 'hole' and then feeding either into the big pond or the little pond. Or even using that outlet to draw the water out ?



or into the smallest pond an then into the big pond.

I would most likely use a piece of plastic tubing to achieve this ? and would just have to watch for it getting clogged and then using a pump from the big pond back up to the top again. My problem though would probably be clogging of the pipe ?

The other alternative is to not use the big pond at all and try to create something for frogs which would require less water......I would be pumping the water from the black hole through a shallow bog on the end of the pond and then through a mini bog in the small pond on the top. If I had a frog pond I would just use some australian native fish which eat mossies but not the froggies eggs. The size of the first two ponds is perfect for a frog pond and there is an advantage to encouraging frogs into the garden as with any luck they will eat the snails !!

I am sure I will work it out,,,,and the ponds are very cheap on ebay rather than buying new so I will have some spare cash to get a good pump

Thanks for letting me know about synchronising the pumps I hadnt throught of that I am probably better off using one larger pump with plenty of capacity and thinking about how I might set it up to do the whole lot.

You've all really helped me heaps !

I promise I will post piccies when it is finished and will lt you know what I have decided to do.

Kind Regards

Elizabeth

PS where I am in Australia if we ever had snow I would be VERY excited lol

 

[HARO]

My daughter and her family live in NZ, and are coming to visit at Christmas. The kids are looking forward to the snow and winter activities. When you live here it just gets to be a bit much! Good luck with your pond(s). John

 

[Fantazmic]

Ive decided

Im going to do a natural frog pond

If it doesnt work.....then we will look at fish....but i think setting something up and waiting for the frogs will be sensational

I have done some reading and the pond I am intending to get will be pefect

When it is all set up I will post some piccies to show what I have done

Elizabeth

 

[taherrmann4]

The frogs will just show up once you have water, it took no time at all for them to make my pond a home and have all sorts of babies.

 

[sissy]

you know how hardy frogs are I saw tadpoles in the tub outside that i keep my water hyacinth in and they were just getting here legs and temp hit 80 today

 

[Fantazmic]

well I dont know if they will turn up....we are in inner city melbourne and there isnt any wildlife at all

well we have ringtail possums living in next doors trees

thats about it

so it will be a challenge

But I have found some good aussie sites on frogs and discovered a place not far drom me that sells the frog friendly plants to set the pond up and the cloud minnow fish that eat the mosquito larvae and not the frogs eggs...tadpoles....etc...

the pond I want to get with the medium sized pond and small fountain will be perfect and I will be able to fun it with a solar pump (we dont have any electricity near the pond)

we also had an idea of a garden sculpture using terracotta pots which will be perfect for the adult frogs to hide in

when it is all done I will post piccies...and I think it will become a talk for the garden club I go to if it all works.

I will just have to set it all up and be patient........I have just missed our spring rainy season here but if I get it all going it will be ready for next year........

In Australia we are not allowed to purchase frogs or tadpoles you have to wait for them to naturally occur....so in a way it is good we will have it all planned for this year and hopefully conditions will be perfect for next year.

I am glad I have chatted with you all though as you have helped me really get my thinking clear...we definitely want to do a larger goldfish pond and it is nice to know my idea of the bog pond will work.....but I am going to do it in the backyard of my house and this will happen later on when we landscape that area. I suspect ponds are addicitive and so this will give me another project for later on !!

Thanks so much for all your posts you have really helped me clear my head about what I am doing....it will be excellent !!!!!


Elizabeth

PS I am hoping some blue tongue lizards might be attracted tot he environment as well...but that is another story....

 

[addy1]

Can you gather frogs if they are near to you? Frogs do seem to just appear, build it and they come.........lol

Glad we were able to help you out with your ideas. Look forward to seeing pictures of what you will be doing.

 

[Fantazmic]

Hi Addy

No I cant legally

The idea is you set up the frog pond and you 'wait' so that the frogs from your area 'eco system' come and colonsie your pond.
They have this huge awareness in Australia that frog populations are in decline and they are worried about the spread of nasties, or that we might introduce the wrong species...

So we will set up our pond and wait. The trouble is I am not at all hopeful as we are not near any water.......and I've never so much as heard a frog.......however I went on an Australian "froggie' forum and people on there were saying they were like us and the frogs did come...so it will be interesting to see what happens

There is a place I can go to to get the frogs that are native to our area...they sell froggie friendly 'stuff' like ponds set ups cloud minnows etc.......however it is illegal for them to sell me the frogs to put in my garden pond. I can buy them for an inside set up but not for outside. So if I was to buy the frogs and put them in my outdoor pond essentially the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) would say I am breaking the law.

So at this stage we will wait for them to arrive.

The first thing we have to do is trim the tree back which is right near where we want to put them and prepare all the ground where the pond will go etc...plus let the pond cycle etc...so by the time we set up the pond it will probably be over this warm period and we wont be ready by next spring anyway...and by then the froggies will probably have moved in anyway.....

Well heres hoping....

I am thinking that it might be a good topic for our garden club (Cacti and Succulent Society of Australia) as nobody has spoken about setting up anything in the garden to attract predators for snails and wildlife into the garden. So I will be taking lots of piccies and promise I will include them on here.

Kind Regards

Elizabeth

PS I have included a pic of the pot sculpture we want to put around the pond we will make holes in the bases of the pots to give the frogs somewhere to hide....and the picture of the blue bowl is to show the way we want to do the plantings and we are definintely going to use the blue and glass beads to depict water.....

View attachment 39565

 

[Fantazmic]

sorry dont think this one attached

 

[Waterbug]

I loved my bird bath pond. Smallest pond I ever made.

 

[Fantazmic]

That is really lovely I love the moss absolutely beautiful !!

 

[sissy]

Waterbug thats a moss bath lol .All ideas are great and it is amazing just to see things I would have not thought of .This past summer I was taking tad poles down to the creek near my house ,buckets and buckets full of them .Noisy when they get bigger .I like the stacked flower pots and clay pots we can get cheap here .The really big 50 inch ones iget for 10 dollars .The only thing is here you have to protect them in the winter from freezing and cracking .I even sealed them and one still broke .I guess thats why they are cheap .The concrete 50 inch one I got cost me 30 dollars but I sealed it and it is still in great shape after 3 years

 

[taherrmann4]

I have a lake that is about 400 yards away from the house and the frogs just showed up and never left, you might be surprised how far they will travel. I had made frog houses also and they never used them, preferred to dig themselves into the mulch or bury themselves under the plants.

 

[taherrmann4]

I also made a moss garden out of my cracked bird bath, but the raccoons ravaged it this year and made it a mud pie.