Yup, for sure! Not that I ever have any tank issues.. :lol: :lol: :rofl: :pound: :pound: :lol: :rofl:

Thanks! Speaking of your pond, where is that build thread Mr. Fancy Sump.

Kien I wanna visit Calgary just for your Koi zen pond!

~Tony

Awesome. Where did you get your water lettuce. I need some of that. :)

Sure thing bro! We can sit out back by the pond and totally ignore the fact that there are perfectly good mountain biking trails all around us.

I got them from the Big P up north on McKnight. Every spring they bring in tonnes of the stuff. I've also seen them at Sunny Side garden centre though, but they are pricier there.

By around now the water lettuce and water hyacinth overgrows my pond and I end up harvesting bucket loads every weekend to give away, so if you want a few heads come on by.

Only if you are one of those southern reefers. :)

That actually made me cry a little bit.

Although with that pond I guess I could see the temptation! :razz:

Riverbend. That suth'n 'nuff for y'all ?

I did cringe a little bit when I hit the post button on that one.. :neutral:

speaking of crying, it's probably a bit wet for the trails today ? I'm good with pathway if you're still interested. I also brought my running clothes though so I'm also OK with aborting the ride altogether. Although, with the new rules I think you have to ask permission before you can go ? Let me know if you get permission to go K ?

:pop2:

It's still a work in progress, nothing but a small hole in the ground ATM. Build thread will come as soon as I get a chance to work on it some more.


Stay clear..... this Bear bites off limbs!!

Hey, awesome garden! Wish that was mine lol.... Just wondering what you do with the plants during winter? And the lillies?

Thanks! All my plants, including the water plants, are perennials. I simply cut back their foliage and leave then in the pond over the winter. They come back every spring.

damn i just looked through this the next reef meet (when its warm outside) should be at ur place that backyard is beautiful

Thanks! :biggrin:

niiiiiiiice Koi!!! my parents are now on their 2nd pond (they upgraded to a bigger dug in one awhile ago) and they too overwinter theirs. Its waaaaaaaaaaay to much work for me (3 jobs, a soon to be 3 year old, and 3 dogs). lol my marine aquarium is all I am willing to deal with.
Where did you get your Koi from? They too after a few years of bringing them in for the winter just kept them outside and have a small wooden cover to help decrease snow buildup, use an deicer and a pretty strong pump to help with flow seems to work well for them. Interesting to see your set up (as always) since we do not see too many people with ponds and fish.
:)

Pond Season 2014
 

Well, I think spring has finally sprung here in cowtown ! Of course it's only April which means there's still plenty of snow left to fall, but at least the sun is out and the temperature is above zero !

First order of business, water change! After a long and harsher than normal winter I could tell that the fish needed a good old fashioned water change.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psct3klttx.jpg

Signs of life! Looks like my lilies are ready for spring too.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pstqxc1kdm.jpg

There's still another month and a bit left of over-wintering before I can feed the fish since the water is still quite cold. They're mostly huddled at the bottom keeping warm and conserving energy. Some of them have started to wake up and swim about more.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psr9cduiog.jpg

The last of the ice over the pond. It shows what the water looked liked under the ice covered pond. The pond definitely freezes over but there is a giant bubble of water inside the ice that constantly moves to stay liquid.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pssxcwodas.jpg

Very cool!

Nice Kien. My pond finally defrosted again after re-freezing.

So you successfully winter your kip in the pond, how deep is it? Do u keep a heater or just water circulation? How often are you doing water changes through out the summer? After reading through your and Dez pond thread has me itching to build one.

Very easy to overwinter them, mine have survived several winters. Be careful if you build one...just as addictive as SW tanks. I think it's time to move my build thread over from the competitors site.

I saw yours as well on aa :)

Ya I've over wintered the fish outside for as long as I've had the pond. So far so good. I won't lie though, it is unnerving knowing your fish are out back when it's minus thirty outside!

I have no heater, just a circulating pump and de-icer (keeps a hole in the ice for gas to escape). In the summer I'll do weekly water changes cuz they eat a lot more (equals more poop). As well, there tends to be more algae. Outside of august I will do a water change every two to three weeks. It is addictive, especially once you start adding water plants!

All-in-all it is fairly easy to maintain. Water chnages are quick and simple!

Any problems with raccoons?

Oh and my pond is 24" deep at it's deepest. There's a ledge that's shallower at 12" deep where I keep my water plants. There are bylaw store consider when digging water features, specifically, you if you have one deeper than 24" it must be enclosed by a 6' locked fence (excluding your property fence).

I don't do water changes on my pond all season. Just a 100% water change at the beginning of the season.

I've actually never seen a raccoon in the wild here. I'm sure we have them but I've never seen them. Maybe the coyotes, wolves and foxes keep them away? The porcupines are more adventurous. I had one of those living under my deck.

What I do have concerns with are heron! Every year I find one or two in my back yard. I live near lakes and a river so my back yard is on their way to feeding grounds :-/

I lost a couple if fish to heron one year. Other years if see them in the back yard during (my) breakfast and chase them away. I put a decoy heron in my back yard that helps I think. Heron are territorial apparently, so they won't land if they see a heron on the ground already.

I wish! I think the amount of feeding will affect your water chnage schedule. In July and august I will feed my fish 3 times a day on an auto feeder.

My biggest challenge is algae. I get A LOT if it because my pond is exposed to full sun for most of the day. We don't have any houses or trees near us that will shade the pond. I've tried just about everything for algae control except hydrogen peroxide which I'm going to start trying this summer.

We have a lot of raccoons here. My neighbour lost his fish last year, so I am reluctant to build a pond. So I just enjoy pictures of everyone else's.
I have seen herons here as well.

Seriously, h202 is the ticket. I had algae the first season and crystal clear water for the next 2 seasons. The first season I wasn't using hydrogen peroxide. The key is a super good pond clean out at the beginning of the season. That's why I do 100% water change. H202 combined with occasional flocculent after heavy rains has kept my water Crystal clear. And I feed 3-5 times a day during hot season.

Oh, and I get full sun for most of the day too.

I never change my water either. Usually get enough turn over with all the rain we get here, esp in the winter. I turn on my UV to keep the water clear from algae in the summer.

We have racoons and herons here. But have a little electric fence wire that I have a timer on overnight, and keeps the racoons out. Actually, don't even turn it on most of the time now (not at all in the winter), as I think the racoons know what that wire is, and stay away.

The heron has come and landed a few times, but probably doesn't like that wire around the pond rim, either, and has never tried to get into the pond.

So I have never lost any fish yet to predators,... or that I know of. And of course here in Vancouver don't have to worry about freezing.

Can you PM me where you get your H2o2 from ? And what's your dose per volume ? I'm going to try H2O2 for sure this season.

I just FB'd you.

Awesome thanks!

Ya I saw the depth bylaw that's why I asked about success wintering them.

So I will have to wait for the snow to melt in my yard but I wan thinking falls/ river to a pond. Most of my yard is a hill tho so I don't know how well a pond would work without major changes.

I mentioned h202 to the pond people at the home and garden show and they almost blew a gasket. They were not fond of me even mentioning it for use in a pond with livestock.

I've read similar reactions online about the use of H2o2 which is why I never bothered to try it in the past. However, now having seen Dez successfully use it for two seasons now I'm sold! Sure it can cause problems if you over dose but we of all people know the importance of not blinding dosing something right ? :-). I'm sure it's fine if you you use it properly, and I'm sure tonnes of people have nuked their ponds by not using it properly. Par for the course for aquatic hobbyists :-)

If you wouldn't mind, could you send that info my way as well?

Pm me your email so I can send pics easily :)

My "pond" is a 180g Tuff tote and even with a cedar and chicken wire cover, I've gone outside in the morning to find a whole family of raccoons bouncing on top of the cover trying to get at the fish. They succeeded a few times in the past but now I have all sorts of ugly netting over top.

So you're lucky you don't have coons.

My parents had a big cube tank outside under their porch cover and woke up one day to a Blue Heron sitting on the edge gobbling up all their koi. That was in SE Vancouver, under an aluminum awning.

Anthony