The pond dig has begun!

[fishin4cars]

Wow, looking good! I am not sure what kind of frogs you have, from the pics I thought at first they were northern pickerel frogs and may be but not 100% sure, They are cool looking though! I like them! The plant that the frog is in, What is that? I don't know if I have seen that before, The one in the last pic is a form of Ludwiga, Good news, Clip off some new growth place it in a glass of pond water and start new plants for the pond, this will keep you from introducing unwanteds to the pond and still let you get a start no problem, they can grow quite large so you may have to cut them back some each year, They bloom, (at least here) a very pretty shiny yellow flower. They just die back so bad here in the heat.
On the tubing, Clear tubing for a pond sucks! It does break down, but a bigger issue is it grows algae on the inside, then the algae catches dirt and gunk and before long the whole line clogs. It will work for the time being but I would plan on swapping out with either black tubing or PVC.
Now on the UV, You can leave it outside even when it's not being run, BUT, drain all the water out if your going to leave it out for the winetr, Myself, I would bring it in for the winter, It will probably be needed the first of next spring and you don't want to find out then that ice cracked it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Sissy and Fishin, thanks for the info on the clear tubing. I wondered about it when "we" bought it, thought that everyone said the PVC, but we were only finding really stiff PVC, is that what you all use? This tubing is sooo easy to work with, so that's what we decided, but I will watch it and probably swap it out before winter time. I sure don't want to have to worry about algae growing in it and clogging up the lines. I'm learning as I go ... sometimes the hard way. Good news is that I know how everything works now, so it will be easy to change things.
Fishin, so you're saying that my farm pond plants are a good one to put in my koi/goldfish pond, just take a new start and get it going. Cool! And, if I don't like it after a year, I can get rid of it, but if it flowers, and it's free, that's my kind of thing.
The frog was sitting on parrots feather. The tag said red stemmed, but it's the regular green stem variety. However, I did get a couple of "hitchhiker" pieces of red stemmed in another plant I bought at the same place. The frogs are in it all the time.

 

[addy1]

Once you settle on where your lines are running, then install something more permanent. At least now you can move stuff around with less work than pvc. We use the rubber couplings in our lines to be able to change as we get more of our piping work done. Makes it real easy to pull a pump.

 

[fishin4cars]

Yea, I would try some, I would start it seperate and don't use any that is much submerged in the pond but getting a Free start shouldn't be a issue if you'll take the pre-cautions. That plant the frog is in doesn't look like any parrots feather I've seen. I thought I remebered you had green and red stem, It's smaller. But that is more prickly looking. Be intrested in seeing what that does. You may have gotten another freebie, and I'm thinking (maybe??) that I have seen something that looks somewhat like that plants that bloomed.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, it's the parrots feather, just laying over as it's really long where he's sitting, so maybe looks more gangly than it should. Plus, my bog is not getting the nutrition it wants, I'm sure, since I just introduced fish. If you look at the rest of the plant he's on, you will see the ends that probably look more like the parrots feather.
The farm pond plant that you identified as a type of ludwigia I'm really happy that someone had an idea of what it might be. I have some ludwigia in my aquarium, and it's the maroon and green varigated colored leaves. If it's a type like that, I will be happy. I tend to like multi-colored things. Bought a dark maroon taro plant this past weekend.

 

[sissy]

I use the hose they sell for ponds it is flexible and holds up well .The sell it at lowes and homedepot or you can order it from places like big als e-bay or pondepot so far are the cheapest places .It comes in a lot of sizes and it's black

 

[addy1]

I used the flexible to make my diy vacuum. It does work well.

 

[CountryEscape]

They have the black flexible tubing in the pond area at Menards, and I should have bought that instead of the clear, but thought boyfriend knew what was best. That's probably what I will exchange the clear for later this summer, before I have any problems with it! Maybe look and price it in the meantime on Ebay and BigAl's. Thanks, Sissy for the info!

 

[sissy]

your very welcome and hope you can get a great buy on it at all the end of season sales .That's when I buy things up .I bought my pond heater 750 watts for 29 dollars at pet mountains end of season sale .

 

[Luke]

checked my local garden and hardware store and they want £400 for a 3m squared bit of that Firestone EPDM stuff is it usually that price? seems a bit excessive

 

[stroppy]

checked my local garden and hardware store and they want £400 for a 3m squared bit of that Firestone EPDM stuff :yikesu: is it usually that price? seems a bit excessive

you could try looking on line luke i bought mine from this place http://www.swelluk.com/pond/pond-liners-54/firestone-pond-liners-1658.html

 

[CountryEscape]

UV 36 watt light got installed yesterday morning. All goldies I've put in look to be doing very well! Put in 2 more from my aquarium today, my shubunkin and a goldfish with red dot on it's head. Still holding off on putting my fantail Oranda and the 2 Comets (pure white and white with orange spot on head) until maybe Wed. Put large pleco in today, too.
I'm so glad I have not added any water lately, when the level was down some. Last weekend I had over 6" of rain in 3 days, this weekend 3 1/2". Close to the top again, but not overflowing.
Saw a frog today that might be a young bullfrog. About twice the size of the other "peeper", and heard a different frog this evening. Loving sitting on the deck, waiting and watching for the little goldies in the mornings and any other time I find free to sit and watch.
Question: I thought the pleco could stay in the pond all winter, but now have been told no, has to come back inside. Is this right?

 

[fishin4cars]

Yea, Pleco needs to come in before the water goes below 50, a warm day as the temps starts getting close is the best time, due to the fact that even in a non heated tank inside the temp will be close to 70 in most homes. So the warmer the water it's coming from the easier on it for the transfer.

 

[CountryEscape]

DARN! LOL I thought they could stay outside, so that's the only reason I took him off my boyfriend's hands. I do not want him in my inside tanks, so I guess he will need to find a new home at the end of the summer. He's too big (about 8" now so who knows how big by the end of the summer) for my aquariums, and they sure poop a lot! They say goldfish are dirty .... not as dirty and messy as plecos.

 

[fishin4cars]

LOL, I agree, I have one that is in the 22"+ range! Five years old. My 75 gallon tank is just small for another overwinter.