pics of my new pond

[steelhumm]

Nothing big and fancy, but it's a nice addition to the cemented pool area, gives the pool a less boring feel now. I don't have any closeups of the water yet, these were takn from my second floor deck so it's the best I could do!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/v10power/pondinpool.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/v10power/pondcloseup.jpg

[Sploke]

Cool, is it one of the preformed ones? Any idea how much water it holds?

[steelhumm]

it's a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank. I had to drive like 2 hours to get to a tractor supply company store to get it...lol.

[Sploke]

Nice, I had one of those for my turtles a while back, they make great small ponds.

[steelhumm]

I do have a question. I have been talking to a guy about getting floating plant to help with algae growth... because the pond is in direct sunight... he recommended these:

12 water hyaicnth
12 Parrot Feather

said that with those and my filter I will be ok, and in time I may not need a filter at all.

does that sound like a good plan?

Also, I have a few pleco in my inside tank that are outgrowing it...they are not aggresive at all and I have had them from the time they were 2" long...they are now 10" or so. Could I add one or two to the pond if algae does start to grow? the water temps here in the summer will hardly ever drop below 70.

thanks for the help!

[Sploke]

Never tried parrot feather so can't tell you anything about that. Hyacinth is a good one, as is water lettuce. Anacharis and hornwort will grow free-floating but don't float on the surface like hyacinth, but are both very fast growers. The plecos could probably go in the pond for the summer, Depending on your location I would be worried more about the water getting too hot. Then there's the question of, what happens to them when the summer is over?

[steelhumm]

never thought of the water getting too hot...hmmm...thats a good one! I'll buy a thermometer and keep track of temps for a few days and see how hot it does get. I'm hoping that bieng the pond is about 3 foot deep and I made some tunnels and a shelf in the bottom out of shale that that should give a good place for them to hide in the heat.

[steelhumm]

oh, I forgot... once the summer months are over I can take the plecos out and put them into another inside tank that I have in storage right now. It's a 30 gallon so should be big enough for two plecos, or if they don't get too much bigger I can put them back into my main tank in my living room

[dixienut]

a sponge filter or just a water fountian feature keep the water cool, i use this in my stock tanks where my commets are, and floating plants like frog bit etc will soak up the sun and let it stay cooler and the water movement keep the oxygen levels good in there

[Sploke]

You said the plecos are 10" now? A 30gal would not be big enough for them space-wise, not to mention you'd be doing water changes every day to keep the crap from piling up.

[steelhumm]

cool, I have the waterfall working already and a solar powered fountain comng in a few days (wife is biching about the electric...lol)

I was looking for a floating plant that would grow and maybe cascade down the wall that I built in front of the tank....that would look really nice I think, so far I haven't found anything though.

BTW...Dixie...you phot album is awesome!! how many tanks do you have?

[Sploke]

Look at watercress..you can buy it in bunches at the grocery store. It will grow emersed and kind of hang over the wall in front of the tank as long as the ends of hte stems are in water.

[steelhumm]

sorry sploke we posted at the same time

the plecos are about that big now. They are in a 30 gal tank with two bala sharks and a few other small fish (don't know names) for the last two years now without one problem.

here is a crappy picture of one of the plecos...don't know how you guys take good pictures of your fish, I have a $1200 camera and can't figure it out...lol

just realized you can see the head of the other pleco in the back of the pleco I took the picture of.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/v10power/pleco.jpg

[dixienut]

BTW...Dixie...you phot album is awesome!! how many tanks do you have?

i have 11 indoor tanks and the commets outside, hopefully i can get a real pond built some day, lack of energy and ambition and lack of help... ha ha :grinyes:

[steelhumm]

i have 11 indoor tanks and the commets outside, hopefully i can get a real pond built some day, lack of energy and ambition and lack of help... ha ha :grinyes:


holy crap!! That's a lot of tanks! I have one and it's drving me nuts...lol.

Where are you in PA? I was born and raised in Latrobe before moving to NJ

[dixienut]

actually in beaver county on the river near shippingport, its 20 min outside pittsburgh airport..

[Reddog80p]

Parrot's feather is just like ancharis, it's an submerged oxygenator. It's pretty nice looking I perfer the "red stemmed" variety its a little more stiff and compact than the regular parrots feather. It will grow up through the surface and stand straight up, with pine tree shaped needles. Parrots feather can be left to float or be planted. Parrots feather is on the left next to the lily bloom.

[DLV082]

I have a gibbiceps pleco when I last measured him he was 16" he lives in my outside pond as he kept fighting with my BGK and I didn't want to get rid of him as I have had him since he was 1". I just put a heater in the pond over winter and cover the pond during the night to keep the water temp stable. He loves it in there, heaps more room and no one other than the Shibunkins and they just ignore him.

[Rbishop]

Looks like a nice start. A bit of potted plants and dress up, it will be a nice focal point. Maybe a tall potted palm to help with shading?

[steelhumm]

good idea!! I have some room to right and left of the waterfall that I could add a potted tree of some sort. I stil think some kind of a cascading plant crawling down the wall would make it look a lot better too...but so far haven't found any. I may just take some ivy off the side of my shed and see if I can transplant it there.

[steelhumm]

reddog...thanks for the pic! When you say that they can be floated or planted....I can just take the plant and float it on top of th pond? or should I plant it at first?

[Reddog80p]

How ever you want. It can be potted or grown floating in the water. It is also a great plant to tuck in the rock crevices where it will root and grow out across the pond. If the plant becomes “leggy” simply pinch off the tips and throw it in the water. It may look wilted for a few days but it will quickly grow new roots. It can also be used with much success in aquarium.

[steelhumm]

thank you for the help! I have found no place locally so I will have to order online. Going to order tomorrow, cheapest I found was an ebay guy with a really high feedback rating, he wants $25 for the plants I listed earlier and $20 shipping.
thanks again!

[Reddog80p]

try calling some local nurseries, sometimes they carry pond plants or know of local people. Lowes carrys them too, but they are usually picked over and dont have a very good variety. They do have hardy lilies, Iris ,pickerel plant, mere's and lizards tail, and a few other oxygenators.

[eroomlorac]

I have some water hyacinths and water lettuce in my little tub outside. Don't start with too many as they rapidly spread. It won't take long to have a pondful if you start with just a couple. I'm not kidding.

[Reddog80p]

yup, they do multiply rather quickly. If your fish dont eat the roots! :lipssealedsmilie:

[Desertponder]

I like your setup there. It looks really good.
I would get something setup around it to shade it part of the day.
I've had watergardens in the poly stock tanks for years and I can tell you that the water gets pretty warm during the high heat of the summer days. Then you have the retaining blocks around it which also absorb heat and will radiate that to the tank. You can get one of those inexpensive free-standing patio umbrellas to help shade it some or you could stretch a shade-sail or two over the top of it from the top of the fence. I really would do something to shade it some.:)

[steelhumm]

Thanks for the compliment and the advise.

Ya know those red lanscape trees that look like umbrellas? I don;t know the name of them but almost everyhouse in my neighborhood has them. They are a dwarf tree I believe cause I've never seen one real big....anyway, I was thinking of getting one and putting it in a big pot behind the pond, right in front of the corner fence post, that way that could provide shade and still look nice. I am always in that area so any leaves that make their way into the pond wouldn't be a problem to remove.

thoughts?

also...I got my plants today...they were all just inside plastic bags, how do I plant them? The water Hyacinth I just floated on the top and my goldfish actually pulled them under the water as they ate the roots, but that stopped after a few minutes.

The parrot feather I have no clue what to do with, I put some gravel in a little basket pot and put 5 stems in each one and sunk them to the bottom, but they are mostly al floating now as the fish I guess didn't like them down there. Is that ok to just let them float? I also stuck a few in the cracks of the shale where the waterfall will flow over them, hopefully they will start to spead on the shale.

He also sent me water primrose for free. There is just no room for all them so I put the root end in the water and hung the rest of the plant over the edge of the wall hoping that they will grow and sort of cascade down the wall....does this sound ok? or does the entire plant need to be in water?

One more question (sorry if I am annoying you) Do I still need to feed the fish now, or will they just eat the plants? feeding will be tough as most of the water surface is now covered by plants.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I'm starting to really enjoy this hobby...my wife says I'm getting addicted...lol

[finsNfur]

Very nice! My pond is 5 x 7, and 29" at it's deepest, and it gets really warm in the sun. I have floating plants to help cool it down. Where I live in Ct., it takes a while for the water hyacinths to really get growing, though. But once they do, they really do spread quickly! I really like your idea of a potted plant nearby.

And you definitely need to feed the fish a little bit every day, the plants wouldn't be enough for them.

Have any new pics to share?

[Desertponder]

The potted tree would probably work just fine. Then you can move it when the leaves turn.
I tie parrots feather around a brick and that keeps it anchored for me. I've also anchored it in a pot of pea gravel but I don't have fish so it will stay put.
It sounds like your fish are pretty hungry, personally I would feed them.