Pond season!
 

Spring is here! (ish..) So who's ready to start their outdoor tank project (aka the Pond).

that's why I said "ish" :lol: But come on, let's be honest, we live in Alberta. Snow in the spring is like death and taxes. You know it's going to happen.

My pond has been running for over a week now. But as it was filling, the pond was freezing over. I'm not joking. By the next morning, the whole pond surface was frozen. (That's Edmonton for you).

Wife want to ponds built this yr. and I told her that you are coming up to dig them out Kien cause your just so damn nice and good at it. :twised:

Been unable to touch my big project in the past few yrs, but now that I have some help laying around the house a shovel actually hit the ground the other day. All the big boys/girls (fish) have been staying in the house for the past few yrs :sad:.

Pond is doing great (knock on wood). Original 16' x 8' x 11' tall greenhouse is filled to overflowing. Third raised garden box (8' x 3' x 3') built and second 16' x 9' x 10' greenhouse is framed and ready for double paned glass sheets. Already had three helpings of brocolini from the greenhouse this spring and going to do a third harvest for our lunch on the deck today.

Man, I love living in Burnaby. Got dozens of apricots already growing and all my fruit trees and berry bushes are in bloom or already have baby fruit on them.

Anthony

My "Koi Pond" will have to wait till I re-stain the deck first.

The "pond" if you will is a 3' tall by Ø24" ceramic flower pot that we fill up and place on our front veranda.

Sadly it's still susceptible to the occasional wild animals pulling out the fish.
Usually they hunt in a bit of a pack.
Of coarse I'm talking about neighborhood kids trying to touch the fish.

My pond
 

Finally the ice has melted in my shaded pond and despite a total freeze over for a couple of weeks, all my guinea pigs survived, and no I didn't throw actual guinea pigs in my pond. I normally bring in all of my fish, I winter them in my cold storage room in a horse trough. This year I left a few in my smaller pond which holds about 1500 gallons an iis only 3 feet deep with just a pump bubbling up, all the goldfish survived. May long weekend is when the koi go out and they can hardly wait as it has been a long winter.

Well, after the blast of snow we had yesterday I was sure that Pond season had come to an end (already) :lol: But the sun is out again so I guess Pond season is back on!

So jealous! You must be able to grow some ridiculously large koi with such a long season! I am actually amazed at what can grow in our harsh tundra/prairie environment here in Calgary. Or maybe it is because they have genetically engineered them or maybe it's because my backyard is a micro climate that is warmer than it should be. I successfully grow cherries, plums, and have a mini vineyard with yummy grapes every year (i don't drink wine so I eat the grapes).

I've been pretty lucky with the wildlife. Over 7 years I have spotted Blue Heron in my backyard a handful of times but have not notice any loss of fish due to them. I live in a pretty crowded community that's fairly busy with various traffic so that may have something to do with it.

I have successfully over wintered my fish for 7 years now! I have lost a couple over 7 years but they were small and didn't eat well over the summer now that I think back. My pond is only 24" deep! If you can get basics down it's not that hard actually. I keep a pond pump running which moves the surface of the water continuously throughout the winter. This reduces the amount of ice formation to about 2" only. On a sunny, chinooky winter day the pond will even melt completely. Keep a hole in the ice with a de-icer so that gas can escape and Bob's your uncle.

I suppose it also helps that my pond is exposed to sun pretty much year round. It's not shaded by my house, even in the winter.

I have also done the hoop-house thing where I'll throw a hoop house over my pond. Both with hoop house and without hoop house works fine but i do prefer using the hoop house because it actually shortens the winter season by about a month on either end. That is, with the hoop house I can typically feed my fish right into November and start feeding them as early as March/April. It is a little bit more maintenances to put up and take down the hoop house but I think it's worth it. But again, I've over wintered without the hoop house too though.

ANYWAY, all of you people with ponds and outdoor fish, where are your PICTURES?!?!

I wish I had a pond. My husband is "anti-pond". I was thinking about doing a small version in a half barrel or something but I don't think I'd have the time and likely want to go bigger. I figure I'll skip the pond thing and save my breath for a new scratchless 180/220 :razz:

Is it because he knows that he will likely be doing mostly all of the work? :lol:

.. I don't blame him. Digging sucks.

No, I would likely be doing some of the work. And yes digging does suck. However, I would not be doing an overly monstrous pond, just something big enough and deep enough to overwinter fish (not like we have "real" winters here anyways). His argument used to be that we had a dog that liked water and likely he'd be in the pond at any given time that he was outside. Now the dog is gone and his argument will likely be that we have kids and we'd have to watch them (because we don't right now? :rolleyes:) or fence the pond and bla bla bla. It goes on and on. I like to argue for things I can win and I don't see winning that one so I just pick my battles.

well, those are definitely valid arguments. More or less the same considerations that I had to take before proceeding. Well, minus the dog.

well thanks Kien, now I'm never gonna get a pond. Sheesh :razz:

I said I took them into consideration. I didn't say that I lost that argument :P

The only true issue was the kids. In the end we both decided that we would never, ever leave the kids in the backyard alone, ever. In fact, even if we didn't have the pond I doubt that i would ever let them play in the backyard alone until they are much older, like double digits old. Even without the pond there are so many things that could get them into trouble. If we are in the back yard and have to go inside the house for whatever reason, even to go potty we will bring the kids back inside. We have also taught them to be more careful when playing around the pond. Grant, telling a toddler to 'be careful' is like telling a tree to stop standing. Funny thing is, our oldest son who is 6 now did fall into the pond once, but only because I sat there and watched and waited for him to fall in. Ya, I'm cruel like that but I wanted him to learn the lesson :lol: He was leaning too close to the edge trying to grab a fish. I repeatedly told him that if he wasn't careful he would fall in. And as I sat there watching him, sure enough, he rolled into the pond. The pond isn't that deep (another safety precaution) so he could stand up but still, the water is cold and he learned his lesson. :twised:

Hey kien if you wanta keep the kids out of the pond you can babysit my pike for the summer haha, unfortunatly im stuck renting again so no pond for the pike again unless i can get something built in the basement

That reminds me. A few years back I built my first with a friend at his house and we first stocked it with simple pond comets. Then we thought it would be cool to stock it with lake fish like catfish and threw in a bass. Apparently bass like to eat pond comets. Oops! :redface:

Still too early here for new ponds. I spent last weekend digging through frozen ground for a deck, that was hard enough but would have been impossible for a pond. Anyone thinking of digging soon would be wise to wait for the ground to thaw.

Here you go. This pic was taken last weekend.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps060a5697.jpg

And some lily buds that are already coming out!
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps356dd151.jpg

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps90a5b87a.jpg

And this is a baby that I found. He must have hatched from the egg last year and survived not getting eaten and survived the winter.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...psf823258e.jpg

With the winter we've had it's nice to see lilies growing out of the rocks. Dez, the pond looks great even at this time of the year!

Very nice Dez! Lillie's are shooting up now! Mine have currently been re-located to Tupperware containers for the duration of the renos :-(

Did you start the lotuses inside this year again Kien? I was really excited when I was cleaning out the pond to see the lily shoots. Last year my front pond lilies came super late. These lilies in the back we just planted last year, so it's good to know they survived their first winter. We had tons of blooms last year.

I did bring my 1 remaining lotus inside this season and it went into hibernation. It has not come back yet but I think it is still alive. I had 6 seeds germinate for me last year and they did quite well. That is up until the point where I thought It would be a great idea to provide them with more nutrients and decided to plunk them into the pond. The Koi really appreciated the snack I added for them.. :doh: I have more seeds so I'm going to germinate more this season and try to remember NOT to put them in the pond :redface:. Or at least shelter them better if I decide to put them in the pond.

Ya, lilies hibernate just fine in the cold water so long as it doesn't freeze solid on them. They are quite hardy.

duos a swim pond count as well? --no fish --

there are tonnes of fishless ponds out there! :-D

Damn Kien, 3 pages and not a single comment on this post?

Just spell his name wrong and he will be all over it.

After all that "Kein" guy is always so nice.

ok than.

tomorrow I will put some pic's up of our build.

we made a 20 x 40 swim pond.

it is all not finished yet, but we go as the budget, but at least we ar dipping sinds eastern weekend (minus 1 week of rain)

the pond has on both left and right a strip 40 feet length wise that is 4 feet wide and only 10 inches deep,

leaving a 12 feet wide trench in the middle that is about 50 inches, maybe 54

the shallow sides are to chill out, and have the little one run back and forward.

I gust dug a L shape filter 24 feet x 7 and than the L would be another 10 x 5

the filter is 3 feet deep, and tomorrow I will put the liner in, and 3 inch piping on the bottom. after that I fill the entire filter with fine drain rock, so that there is only 4 to 5 inches of water depth. this entire bed will be fully planted with about 2 plants/scf.

what I'm going to do is pump water into the filter (as it is 4 inches higher than the pond) and let it go threw the 3 feet of gravel and plant roots, to the pipes on the bottom.

the pipes than lead the water back up and flow into the pond.

in total I will be pushing about 5000 gal/h threw the plant filter (2 laguna maxflow 2400 and a 2900

as a backup a Oase 55 watt UV will be on plumbed in line, but on standby untill needed

wow, you guys make me jealous.. All I have is a 100 gallon pond will a few koi and a small waterfall.. Yours look huge in comparison...


http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdf889d0.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/13/9u9emy6a.jpg

Finished the front pond reno. I widened the stream from 1' to 2'. I moved the stream to the far left to get better circulation to the pond. I added a filter/waterfall unit at the top and raised the top waterfall by about 10". After this pond was running for 7 seasons, it was time for a spruce up. I have away most of the pond plants as their root system had spread to almost the entire pond. We are starting of with plant frags again. The fun part is watching everything grow like a reef tank.

I wish I had a pond! Three ginormous Goldfish need a new home
 

Hello all,
we were referred to this great forum in hopes of finding a home for our three remaining, rather large goldfish. They have outgrown their tank and as we, rather reluctantly, inherited them, we are eager to find them a forever-home/pond where they can keep growing. :)
We are in the North Vancouver area.
Thanks!!!
:) Azy

guess i will toss mine up here too.

I cannot take any credit for this pond .My wife dug the hole and basically did the whole damn thing .. But here she is .
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...G_00000217.jpg
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...G_00000247.jpg

Has about 10 really small gold fish . and a resident frog living in it .
Lots of pond plants .
In the last 4 days the water has gone from being green to being crystal clear . So we are really happy about that.

running one 1200 gph pump to power the waterfall and the center current.
No filtration or uv at this time
approx 200 gallon pond.
She used pond liner

Your wife did a good job. I love all the green in it. I'm still waiting for all the leaves of my lilies to reach the surface of the water. It takes a while cause my fish like to eat the leaves, so only half of the leaves make it up. At least they don't eat the blooms.