The pond dig has begun!

[addy1]

My little one barks at me and dances when it is time to play chase, tug, missy time.

 

[j.w]

He's a tough little bugger but his mom got the best of him in the end :biggrin: That was fun to watch!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Your pond lily's still look quite good for this time of the year CE. Must be nice to have such nice weather to enjoy this time of the year. I see you are hard at work fixing your pond edges, something we must do every now and then.
It must be hard to let go of such cute little puppies!

 

[CountryEscape]

It's always hard to sell the puppies, but I've never had the feeling that I needed to keep them either. I raise them because I love puppies, and I try to raise good quality, and then sell them and use the money toward things I need to buy, or WANT to buy!
The puppy that is left is a card. He comes out fighting at times, and other times he wants to climb into my lap and cuddle. I don't encourage the fighting and feistiness that he and his mother do, but I don't keep her out of his pen either, and I'm sure she goes in there to "discipline" him during the day. I'll start crate training him tomorrow, wear him out in the evening, then put him to "bed" in Denali's crate for a couple of hours. That way he will figure out the crate is a good place to be, and learn crying will not get him let out of it! His new owners will approve of that!
I have projects that never got done this spring, and then when I got time to do them (raise the edges of the stream, for instance) the plants grew over the edge, so it was hard to even see what I was going to be doing! So, will wait until plants die back and then pull the liner back, change the bottom of the stream, and raise the edges, so when the ice forms in winter, I won't worry so much about it overflowing.
Just now, with sliding glass door open, and it's getting chilly out there, probably below 60, heard a bullfrog croak! There are some big ones on the ponds, but yesterday I spotted one that is HUGE, and I mean HUGE! Taking a pic would not prove his size, but suffice to say it was larger than my open hand, just his body. He dwarfed the ones I was calling large! He must have shown up from the ditch (which is pretty dried up) or my farm pond.
And, I find it strange that everyone I've seen comment has said they saw no babies from their spawns this year. Wonder if all the people I'm thinking of that are on the threads I follow also have ponds that are more than 2 years old, and therefore the babies were eaten by parents and other pond dwellers (frogs, turtles, dragonflies, etc.) whereas the first couple of years they survived in the newer environment. Can't think of any other reason no babies!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, that is the way it is, the first couple years over 20 years ago I had way too many babies. Then came the dragonflies... have you seen how quick the dragonfly nymph can catch and eat a small fish! In a blink of an eye!! It is just that fast, seen a few slow motion video of it when I Google it. I don't know how to link the page.... got to get my nefew to show me how, then you will be horrifed at how quick they can eat all the baby fish!!!!

 

[rebelangel_3733]

I still have babies in my lil pond at my daughters, since finding them there after I moved my big fish here to the new place/pond. Should prove a challenge getting the lil bogers out of that small pond before winter so I can put them in the 70 gal tank for the winter on her porch. Not sure even how many are in there, at first she thought like 5 or so then she thinks like 20...um I dont want to kill any off when I drain the small pond and attempt to get em out for the winter. The lil stinkers are very fast so an accurate count is next to impossible until I drain it for the winter I guess, since it is only 15" deep. My adults here will be able to stay out all winter now with the big/deep pond...my intentions exactly when digging it as the deepest part is about 4'. I still have to get an air stone and heater for mine though. Not looking forward to shutting either pond down for the winter cuz my plants are growing greatly now!

 

[j.w]

I have very few babies each year and pond has been in for many years. I see the way some of them survive is that floating plant ring I have w/ the fiberglass screen door material sewed on the bottom so big fish can't get in and eat the plants provides a safe place for those tiny little just hatched babies to hide. They are able to fit through that tiny screen at first but then they get too big and can't get out so I have to rescue them before winter arrives so they can head for the depths when it gets cold. There are 3 in there right now, all still black and growing.

 

[CountryEscape]

Last year, and granted it wasn't a very cold winter at all, I kept everything running all winter, except for maybe a total of 2.5 weeks. Waterfall, stream, skimmers, and bogs. The only thing that froze and caused me problems was the line to the waterfall, but I've relocated it, so hoping that won't be a problem with freezing this year. We shall see. Colleen that lives in Canada says she never turns her ponds off totally. She sure has it figured out with the bubbler action and a heater and moving water. My stream did really well, and that was from water coming from one of the skimmers. The trick is to keep an eye on the water level, not let it get too low, as if it does freeze, and your skimmer has say a 4" up and down opening, you have to keep the moving open water in that opening! And, once the water freezes, you can't move the ice up, by putting water under it, nor put a bubbler under ice and turn it on. Also not a good idea I found out! It created a huge air bubble, and the whole sheet of ice was raising up! I figured it out before it cracked and caused a huge earthquake sound for the fish. Best to melt a hole above where you have your air or water bubbler if water freezes solid, and then turn the air bubbler or water fountain on. Last year I had the large air pump in the koi pond with one big bubbler. If I EVER remember to get the connections, I'll hook it up and have 2 or 3 air stones in the water. However, I think the more action the bubbler makes, the more likely it won't freeze over. In the goldfish pond I had a pump set up to turn on when the water got to freezing temps, to keep an area open. I wasn't trying to keep either pond from freezing, just from freezing solid. I kept the openings near the skimmer on each pond, which worked a dual purpose, keeping the water free flowing into the skimmers, too.

 

[callingcolleen1]

CE, I don't use a bubble, just pumps that keep the three connecting ponds flowing. I also use a big 1500 watt cattle trough heater when the temperature gets to minus 10c, which is around 18 degrees farhenight. My pumps sit just off the bottom of pond and they have the big pre pump filter, no skimmer or anything fancy, very simple. I also don't have a water fall, just connecting water flow drops, nothing splashing in winter if possible. The water flows gently from pond to pond, and in the winter there are alway's natural holes in the ice that form, because I use the heater. I also do NOT have the Heater on a GFI circuit breaker, cause that heater draws lots of energy, and that circuit breaker would be alway's tripping in the middle of the night. I keep the plug in a very heavy cinder block and secure it tight. After years of trial and error, I find this method works good for me. Have not be Zapped yet!

The Skimmer can be difficult to winter I would guess, cause with a big freeze up the water in the Skimmer box would get displaced as ice, and the Skimmer could run dry. It sounds like you are getting things figured out, you will have it all down to a science soon, as you discover what works best for you.

 

[CountryEscape]

You know, Colleen, I wonder if the whole issue by using the waterfall, water pumping out of the water up the edge (but now under the dirt) to the top of the Skippy filter, down to the bottom of the filter, up through filter media and out the waterfall weir, is where my problem was, not necessarily in the water line itself. I guess that would make the water flowing colder than the water going from the skimmer to the bogs or streams. I'll have to think on that! I wanted to keep the Skippy running if possible, to keep the water from going stagnant in there, but maybe that's just not a good idea, since the water going down the waterfall maybe makes it colder in the long run.
I agree, keeping the skimmers running does cause possible problems, if the water level gets low or the ice gets thick next to the skimmer. I figured out to have the air bubbler or the water fountain bubbler close to the front of the skimmer, to keep that area open and the skimmers running. Yep, figuring things out as I go.
I didn't know about the not using the GFI outlet for the heater! If I ran both heaters at the same time, it threw the breaker, which ticked me off, as that was something I thought I told the electrician when he added the outlets for me. Evidently not, since there is only one GFI outlet set for the ones he added. But, I usually only need the heaters for a short while then the bubblers do the rest of the work keeping the area open.

 

[callingcolleen1]

You have to be very careful when using the heater that is not on a safe GFI circuit, you have to be extra careful and I close the gates tight to the pond so even the dogs don't get to go there when the heater is plugged in. It is risky, but at least I can sleep at night knowing the heater won't quit when it is minus 40!

 

[CountryEscape]

When I put a heater in, it's only for a long enough period to get a hole opened up, then use the water or air movement to keep the opening. Never leave it plugged in for extended periods of time. I guess if it got really cold, I would have to put it on one pond, then the other. It's a horse/cattle trough heater, probably same size as yours, but I can't run 2 at the same time, the circuit will blow. So, that keeps me from running two of them, unless I run an extension cord to another plug on the side of the house.
And, the heater is usually put on top of the ice, melts a hole, and keeps the heater out from the sides of the pond. There are rocks protecting the liner on the edge, just in case it gets too close, though. :blueflower:

 

[sissy]

I wonder what this winter will bring since we are colder here than we should be .This is way to early to be this chilly .I even brought firewood in last night and lit a fire because of the damp chill .It is damp and chilly out again this morning .

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm not sure what the normal temp is for this time of year, but it's beautiful here. Getting up to low 80's today and next couple of days, then Sunday they are saying only up to 72. I wish it was cooler at night, only got down to about 65 last night, and I like it cool at night. Bullfrog croaking again tonight. He always "clicks" either before or after he croaks, sometimes does it before AND after. Fish are so active, son sure enjoyed how beautiful they looked last weekend when he was here working on my well housing. The sun was shining on them, all their scales were glistening in the sunlight. It was beautiful! Wish a picture would capture all that brightness and color!

 

[sissy]

It got warmer here than yesterday as the sun came out