Good call on the stain. I would an exterior stain of coarse. Stain penatraits the wood deeper than paint, and will give the wood a longer life.
Sparky’s Pond Build.
- Thread starter Sparky
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Yep. I got Cabot Deck Stain. I did a test coat on a scrap. Left 10 minutes and wipe. Looks sweet. Still see a little grain which I wanted. Liner is in. 250g’s in and holding. Had to stop as hands and feet quit working. Also had to seal the liner to the sump chute. Let that dry over night and hit it in the morning. Thanks for the help guys. Panzer, I built a dead man across the pond just in case. So far no movement or pressure against the bracing. The somewhat goofy thing above is a mock-up/temp mini bog. Already have different new ideas mostly from here. It’s plumbed in and it’ll work for now.
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Looking great Sparky! You built her strong. Let's hope you can do away with the brace across the top. I think your solid bottom and the fact that part of the pond is below ground are giving allot of stability. I think I am going to put that into plans for when I build another pond.
The bog box looks good, too although making it a bit bigger would be better for your pond. Addy1 wrote a really good bog article. Have you read it yet?
Looking great Sparky, can't wait to see your fish in their fancy new home
The bog box looks good, too although making it a bit bigger would be better for your pond. Addy1 wrote a really good bog article. Have you read it yet?
Looking great Sparky, can't wait to see your fish in their fancy new home
Haven’t read Addy’s article but now on the must read list. Lots to tell. Giddy as a schoolgirl right now. The pond is up and running! I’ll post this evening.Looking great Sparky! You built her strong. Let's hope you can do away with the brace across the top. I think your solid bottom and the fact that part of the pond is below ground are giving allot of stability. I think I am going to put that into plans for when I build another pond.
The bog box looks good, too although making it a bit bigger would be better for your pond. Addy1 wrote a really good bog article. Have you read it yet?
Looking great Sparky, can't wait to see your fish in their fancy new home
Looks great. Really like the way the water flows out of the bog box. Interested in how you did that. Maybe if you get a minute you could take a few pic of it closeup.
It’s about as complicated as a 1/4” drill bit, a planter and about 30 holes. A bit moreLooks great. Really like the way the water flows out of the bog box. Interested in how you did that. Maybe if you get a minute you could take a few pic of it closeup.
I will get some pics for you. Pond read 58f this morning so the kids are hitting the pool when I get home. Got down to 39f last night. So it’s holding heat. Again I can’t thank you folks enough.
Heading today to one of my favorite customer’s today to work on a real pond. 12000g, 2 3hp 3phase pumps, 4 skimmers, 4 waterfalls and not one fish. Just 5 brown bears. Parameters for brown bears? They like it cold. They do have a beautiful 500 gallon indoor tank with the biggest bluegill i’ve ever seen in my life and a couple of monster small mouths.It’s about as complicated as a 1/4” drill bit, a planter and about 30 holes. A bit more
I will get some pics for you. Pond read 58f this morning so the kids are hitting the pool when I get home. Got down to 39f last night. So it’s holding heat. Again I can’t thank you folks enough.
Good morning folks. Been a busy week and so much looking forward to playing in the garden and pond this weekend. What did the first week of the pond bring? First off the intellectual discussion of what’s a pond and what’s a tank. A friend said, well what you have here is an outdoor aquarium. Hmmm. Something to think about. Of course I shot back with “it has no windows”. Anywho, fish are doing great! They are so freakin happy. I have already spent numerous hours watching them. I had the OMG there’s a leak! My pump house has a six gallon reserve. Once everything was topped off and running I noticed after half a day ((very hot)) my level was down to half my reserve. Crap! Panic! Well, false alarm. First off my gravity system is getting settled in. Holding more water in the media now. Second, my spraybar was to high above the filter and was losing a lot to splash over. And it was hot! After some adjustment and not running around like mother hen I realized that at perfect balance I hold at 4 gallons in reserve now consistently. No adding water. If I add, the reserve tops off but then after an hour back to four gallons and stays there. That’s it’s balance point I guess. Whew! Here’s something crazy. This morning’s parameters. Water temp 68F. pH 7.4. NH .25ppm. NO2 .5ppm. NO3 .20ppm. Now, I consider myself blessed by the tank gods because on average I can “burn in” a tank in two weeks. I have never done fishless. But that’s pretty crazy to have nitrates showing in one week! Going to play with the mini bog today. Funny story. Was pulling some grasses to play with at the pond a few blocks from here. I was crouched down cutting through the bog mat and realize I am being watched by the biggest snapper I have ever seen in my life. The head was the size of a honeydew. I slowly stood up and backed off. It moved off to deeper water and I couldn’t see its body but a chunk of bog about 2 feet around swam off with it. I will be more careful in that pond!
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That would be a OUCH! If it decided it did not like you.
Had run in with a snapping turtle when was stationed in Kentucky. Saw one on a road and went to have a closer look. Girl I was dating at the time worned me to be carefull. Though she was kidding till it started hissing and snapping at me. Talk about a bad tempered little beast.
As far as pond being like a large fish tank, no not even close. First you have the seasons which bring huge changes in the ponds environment. I wonder how many of my plants will survive the winter. This year I am going to mostly cover the pond hoping that it will give me a greenhouse effect and keep the water a bit warmer. I think I am going to use a small heater in the pond when it get in the twenties at night. Hated seeing the fish sitting on the bottom so cold.
Then their are predators, frogs, birds, bugs all kinds of critters that interact with the pond. Aquariums are much more stable and controlled. A pond, especially a garden pond, is it's owne changing ecosystem.
Glad to hear your fish herd is happy. It Is fun to watch them explore a new space. Mine are used to me tinkering with the pond now. I put in a new water lily in the pond today. I was built repoting it and looked over at one of my other pots. My big female is a digger and she was rooting around in one of the other pots. I said, what do you think you are doing and moved closer and she took off. I couldn't figure why their was so much gravel on the bottom until I cot her digging, little varment. Oh well guiss she thinks she is gardener like me.
As far as pond being like a large fish tank, no not even close. First you have the seasons which bring huge changes in the ponds environment. I wonder how many of my plants will survive the winter. This year I am going to mostly cover the pond hoping that it will give me a greenhouse effect and keep the water a bit warmer. I think I am going to use a small heater in the pond when it get in the twenties at night. Hated seeing the fish sitting on the bottom so cold.
Then their are predators, frogs, birds, bugs all kinds of critters that interact with the pond. Aquariums are much more stable and controlled. A pond, especially a garden pond, is it's owne changing ecosystem.
Glad to hear your fish herd is happy. It Is fun to watch them explore a new space. Mine are used to me tinkering with the pond now. I put in a new water lily in the pond today. I was built repoting it and looked over at one of my other pots. My big female is a digger and she was rooting around in one of the other pots. I said, what do you think you are doing and moved closer and she took off. I couldn't figure why their was so much gravel on the bottom until I cot her digging, little varment. Oh well guiss she thinks she is gardener like me.
As it stands today. Couple of hiccups here and there. Getting a different pump. Planned on that all along. Filter working well. Just got my algae bloom and WOW! Going to have to install a foghorn. Just going to let it starve out but would be nice to see the kids!
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So, I get the concept. Water is burst with UV is it B? Isn’t it’s exposure like tenth of a second or something? It just kills the algae? I know nothing of these contraptions. Could I build one? Guess I should look. Really works though huh? Folks use them in the high end tanks I know.
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"The particular wavelength of light that the bulb emits is harmful when it comes in contact with things around it. So when organisms such as bacteria, parasitic protozoa, and algae cells come in contact with the light from the bulb, their DNA is altered, ultimately causing harm and death to the organism. In essence, they are 'nuked.'"
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/water-gardening/maintenance-and-care/uv-clarifiers-vs-uv-sterilizers
After they are nuked they clump together and get filtered out by your mechanical filtration, but if you don't clean your filter pads regularly it will just add more decaying biological material to the system. Mine helped a lot in the beginning but now that my pond is established I could most likely turn it off and I wouldn't notice a difference.
https://www.aquascapeinc.com/water-gardening/maintenance-and-care/uv-clarifiers-vs-uv-sterilizers
After they are nuked they clump together and get filtered out by your mechanical filtration, but if you don't clean your filter pads regularly it will just add more decaying biological material to the system. Mine helped a lot in the beginning but now that my pond is established I could most likely turn it off and I wouldn't notice a difference.