Pond project

[deeda]

Beautiful job!

 

[MrsE88]

Beautiful job!

Thanks! ?




Today I’m going to pull my winter pond out of the basement and set it up outside. I just haven’t picked where I’ll put it yet. I need to get it up and running for a shipment I’ll be getting next week?

 

[MrsE88]

I got the pond setup yesterday. Filter is running but I need to get a bubbler out there. I forgot the way I set this filter up I don’t get any surface agitation. I’ll be covering it with a net too once I move a couple koi into it.

My new uv light came yesterday too. My old one was all plastic. This one is a lot heavier and the connectors are huge. Lol


The pond actually hasn’t been that bad for not having a uv running. I can see clearly down 3’ and just a bit murky the last foot and a half.

I’m wondering if my use of rid-x this year is what’s making the difference?

 

[MrsE88]

Yesterday wasn’t much fun. I had to move a lot of rock and relocate my power outlet because my new uv light cord was too short?‍ How neither of us checked that before buying it I don’t know.
I will say this was the easiest uv to attach my hose to. My last one was a hellish nightmare. You could soak the hose in hot water all you want and it would never fit completely on the connector. Even my husband couldn’t get it on!
This one I only had to soak the ends for a few seconds and then slip it right on! One side I had to soak for 30 seconds because the plastic coil was bent inward. But after that it gave me no trouble. The worst part was plugging the dang thing in?
(The hose clamp isn’t needed, it was used with the previous light to keep the hose from leaking.)


The water before turning the light on. You can see to the bottom. The water wasn’t murky like I thought. Just hard to see with all the ripples from the water fall.
I have a lot of hose in there. I may cut it down, but for now the koi like it. When they feel startled they hid under it. And with so many new babies being added this year I want them to feel safe. I’ll worry about making it look “prettier” next year.
Final picture after fixing the rock, hiding the hose coming from the pond, and hiding all cords.

 

[tlindsey]

Yesterday wasn’t much fun. I had to move a lot of rock and relocate my power outlet because my new uv light cord was too short?‍ How neither of us checked that before buying it I don’t know.
I will say this was the easiest uv to attach my hose to. My last one was a hellish nightmare. You could soak the hose in hot water all you want and it would never fit completely on the connector. Even my husband couldn’t get it on!
This one I only had to soak the ends for a few seconds and then slip it right on! One side I had to soak for 30 seconds because the plastic coil was bent inward. But after that it gave me no trouble. The worst part was plugging the dang thing in?
(The hose clamp isn’t needed, it was used with the previous light to keep the hose from leaking.)
View attachment 1420008

The water before turning the light on. You can see to the bottom. The water wasn’t murky like I thought. Just hard to see with all the ripples from the water fall.
View attachment 1420007I have a lot of hose in there. I may cut it down, but for now the koi like it. When they feel startled they hid under it. And with so many new babies being added this year I want them to feel safe. I’ll worry about making it look “prettier” next year.
Final picture after fixing the rock, hiding the hose coming from the pond, and hiding all cords. View attachment 1420009

That's a nice looking UV light. I would personally keep using the Rid-X especially if it made a improved difference. I always wanted to build a pond but unfortunately my property is too small and I have too many critters to deal with lol.

 

[MrsE88]

That's a nice looking UV light. I would personally keep using the Rid-X especially if it made a improved difference. I always wanted to build a pond but unfortunately my property is too small and I have too many critters to deal with lol.

I will for sure keep using it!
Last year even with the uv light and a lot of filter floss I had murky brown water with clumps of nasty grit floating in the water. I couldn’t figure it out.
This past month the pond has been running its already way better then it was all last summer! I wouldn’t even bother with the uv light if it wasn’t for the fact that it supposedly also kills nasties in the water. I figure with new fish going in I need all the back up help I can get. I don’t quarantine as long as some might just because my qt isn’t all that big. Though, this time I’m putting them in a 145g pond form instead of a 65g tank. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t do that with my last round of babies. I’m still ticked off that I lost the black and white koi(panda) He would have been amazing ?

 

[tlindsey]

I will for sure keep using it!
Last year even with the uv light and a lot of filter floss I had murky brown water with clumps of nasty grit floating in the water. I couldn’t figure it out.
This past month the pond has been running its already way better then it was all last summer! I wouldn’t even bother with the uv light if it wasn’t for the fact that it supposedly also kills nasties in the water. I figure with new fish going in I need all the back up help I can get. I don’t quarantine as long as some might just because my qt isn’t all that big. Though, this time I’m putting them in a 145g pond form instead of a 65g tank. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t do that with my last round of babies. I’m still ticked off that I lost the black and white koi(panda) He would have been amazing ?

Sorry for your loss

 

[jjohnwm]

Honestly, this pond blows me away. Absolutely beautiful!

By comparison, my little backyard puddle is just a wet spot surrounded by weeds. I get around that obstacle be claiming that's what I was going for.

Mine is low-tech; no filter, no UV, no power at all. It's about 3 feet deep in centre, about 11 x 14 feet. I like it...but every time I look at yours, and then at mine...sigh... I will mention that even without UV, my pond...which had several episodes per year of green water in its earlier life...stays clear now all summer. I think it's because of the plant life, which has grown luxuriant enough to out-compete the algae for nutrients? Just guessing. I also don't have koi, just small fish like fatheads, Medakas, Flagfish, etc. which all come indoors during the winter when the water freezes solid. I'm sure all my fish together don't equal the biomass of just one of your larger ones.

I especially admire the effort you have put into making the pond a comfortable place to relax and watch the fish. Congrats, beautiful work.

 

[MrsE88]

Sorry for your loss

Thank you. It was completely my fault. Too late now to change it, but I can at least not repeat it. I am really nervous and scared about the new koi coming this week. I don’t know if I can handle more loss if things don’t go well.

Honestly, this pond blows me away. Absolutely beautiful!

By comparison, my little backyard puddle is just a wet spot surrounded by weeds. I get around that obstacle be claiming that's what I was going for.

Mine is low-tech; no filter, no UV, no power at all. It's about 3 feet deep in centre, about 11 x 14 feet. I like it...but every time I look at yours, and then at mine...sigh... I will mention that even without UV, my pond...which had several episodes per year of green water in its earlier life...stays clear now all summer. I think it's because of the plant life, which has grown luxuriant enough to out-compete the algae for nutrients? Just guessing. I also don't have koi, just small fish like fatheads, Medakas, Flagfish, etc. which all come indoors during the winter when the water freezes solid. I'm sure all my fish together don't equal the biomass of just one of your larger ones.

I especially admire the effort you have put into making the pond a comfortable place to relax and watch the fish. Congrats, beautiful work.

Thank you! That is very kind of you to say.
It’s taken me years to get to this point. I started my first small pond in May 2015 and now I finally have it landscaped. Lol

I would love to see pictures of your pond! Low tech would be the way to go if I wasn’t so hooked on koi. Haha. Yours sounds like you could lose yourself for hours watching all the action going on. That’s a big draw with diverse small fish. Always something to see and watch.?

 

[jjohnwm]

I'll work on getting some pics, although it's not much to look at. I hadn't even planned on having fish, just wanted a quiet place to sit and observe the tadpoles, aquatic insects and other interesting little critters that naturally find their way into a small body of water. My wife snuck a dozen bait-shop minnows (fatheads) into the pond its second year and I kind of liked having them so I put some out each spring. The fatheads breed like mice, and it is amazing to watch the males guarding their nests along the bottom like little cichlids or bass.

Koi are beautiful, but I think of them more or less the same way I look at boats: I love having friends and neighbours who own them so I can enjoy them occasionally, but I sure don't want to maintain them myself.