Wisconsin Pond Build

[taherrmann4]

Herz it is looking good. I have tons of branches/ wood all oer in and around my pond, I don't worry about anything leaching in the pond. How are you keeping your whiskey barrel water from turning green with algae? I have one for my lotus and the water is pea soup green.

 

[j.w]

Hey tmann would it hurt if you put a little kitty litter in there? Might just help or is kitty litter what you planted it in already?

 

[taherrmann4]

JW I planted my lotus in an oil pan of kitty litter then dropped it in the barrel.

 

[j.w]

Hmmmmmmmmmm, is it string algae? Is so wonder if a little Hydrogen Peroxide would help that some use on here in their ponds?

 

[taherrmann4]

No it's like pea soup not the consistency of pea soup but the color. Can maybe see about 2" down. I even have a solar pump to keep the water circulating. Now I do have it sitting in full sun and I put in a tomato fertilizer stake for it.

 

[j.w]

Well you could put in a little mini quilt batting set up w/ a little hose running over it till it clears. This was a mini one that I first made and it was way too small for my pond!

 

[taherrmann4]

Herz not trying to highjack your thread......

JW my pump is only a bubbler and does not work unless the sun is beating down on it. I could just empty it and start over...

 

[j.w]

Go for it!


And yes back to Herz and his pond build............sorry

 

[herzausstahl]

Herz it is looking good. I have tons of branches/ wood all oer in and around my pond, I don't worry about anything leaching in the pond. How are you keeping your whiskey barrel water from turning green with algae? I have one for my lotus and the water is pea soup green.

actually i don't do anything, I just have the one water lily planted in pea gravel, the horstail in pea gravel, about 6 rosy red minnows, and then added the water lettuce and water hyacinth. Can't see too far down, but thats because the inside is still black and charred. the water level does drop about an inch a day or so, and I just top it off, and it is in full sun. I did add about a total of 8 jobes plant spikes to it, but thats it

Herz not trying to highjack your thread......

JW my pump is only a bubbler and does not work unless the sun is beating down on it. I could just empty it and start over...

hey guys no worries, thats the point of my thread, that way people can comment on what i've done and also explore their own problems and situations as they arise, just like you guys are doing, plus gives me a chance to ask questions and get quick answers. thats why i do it here and not on the showcase, but at some point I do plan to start a showcase thread to make it easier for people to follow my build

 

[herzausstahl]

So here is a picture of where I moved the red stemmed parrots feather, its on top of the cave and has 2 watrer lilies from Menards on each side of it.



the water lilies also went on sale, so I picked up 2 more and placed them on the shelf where I had the parrots feather previously, will get a pic and post in the next day or so.

I think I have seen the baby robins in the yard a few times, that or other young robins. they have the reddish/brown color on their chests now and still have some black with white spots in the area too. have seen them a few times, here is a pic of one from the kitchen, didn't want to open the door and scare them away



today i also added some more rocks to the stream to decrease the visual depth and take up space to keep more water in the pond when the stream is running. will take a pic tomorrow. I also cut up the old stream outlet I had with the one way flow valves and screwed the remaining "T" into the stream opening. i am leaving it overnight to see if it doesn't drain water through the pipe threads and if it works I will cover it with rocks and leave it. tested it this way and it only drained the pond about an inch with the stream running, previously it was a couple, plus I figure the extra river rock should help with filtration. will take pics and post when i can

 

[CometKeith]

herz, your pond is looking great. I like the plants. When I put Menard's lilies in my pond I got hit with a ton of string algae. I don't know if was coincidence or something they put with the lilies. I'm still fighting the algae and wish it would go away. I'm hoping as the pond gets covered with more plants the algae will subside. Last year we had a robins nest on one of our window ledges. it was fun the watch the babies.Here is a pic.

 

[herzausstahl]

Now that is a cool place for a nest, gives you a "window" into their lives and can see everything without scaring the mom away.

 

[addy1]

What cute little birds, how neat!

Hertz, one thing I found with running my steam on a timer, and when it rains. A bunch of trap door snails go out into stream and need to be rescued when the water is not flowing. I put only one snail in the bottom stream pond, have rescued over 14 trapdoors from the stream now, the one must of had babies that grew nicely. I have tossed them into the big pond. Now have that on my list, check the stream for trapdoors.

That one part of the stream does not hold water, I may need to modify it to hold some water, so the snails can live if I don't see them quick enough.

 

[sissy]

If that is your pump there watch it as you don't want it getting stuck in it and burning your pump up plus as fish nibble it they will break off pieces .I had a pump burn out and it was from pieces of the creeping jenny the fish broke off.Lucky it was still under warranty until the 8th month

 

[herzausstahl]

If that is your pump there watch it as you don't want it getting stuck in it and burning your pump up plus as fish nibble it they will break off pieces .I had a pump burn out and it was from pieces of the creeping jenny the fish broke off.Lucky it was still under warranty until the 8th month

the pumps are there, but they both have guards on them and they are both solids handling up to 6mm I believe, so in other words both are dirty water pumps, but i could see it being a problem if a strand got sucked in there. so far fish have left the parrots feather alone, but will keep an eye out for it tho

What cute little birds, how neat!

Hertz, one thing I found with running my steam on a timer, and when it rains. A bunch of trap door snails go out into stream and need to be rescued when the water is not flowing. I put only one snail in the bottom stream pond, have rescued over 14 trapdoors from the stream now, the one must of had babies that grew nicely. I have tossed them into the big pond. Now have that on my list, check the stream for trapdoors.

That one part of the stream does not hold water, I may need to modify it to hold some water, so the snails can live if I don't see them quick enough.

i don't have any trapdoors yet, but if I get some will have to keep an eye on that as about a 1/3 of the stream holds water.