Is it a "BUILD" if there is no actual building involved?

[Jennie Beth]

After 8 weeks waiting for it to arrive, I finally have the beginning of my pond! I ordered an 8' round, 2' deep galvanized stock tank from the feed store the beginning of MARCH, and it finally came in this weekend. We just came back from dropping it at the spray-on bedliner dealer...I am supposed to have it back by Friday...and then I can get to the good stuff!!! Yea!!
Can't say the rest of the family is all that excited, but I have been running around rubbing my hands together like a mad scientist all day.

It's all experimental, but I am really excited about seeing how the bedliner works as a sealer/liner for the tank. I can't have the big pond I want just yet...(funny, we could afford the '67 Firebird, but not a big hole in the ground...maybe I could seal it up and grow fishies and lilies in THAT!) so this is my baby to keep me out of trouble for a little while at least. Ordered a few lilies, and they should be here within a week or so, too.

This weekend I am going to see if I can figure out how to run the bubbler from the pump up through a pot to make a bubbling fountain for my tub. Got no idea what I'm doing, but at least I get to play in the water again!! :clap::clap::clap:

Sorry to ramble on...the family is tired of listening to pond plans already, and I haven't even turned on the hose yet. Just wait...it'll only get worse!:evil_lol:
Jen

[BadFishPa]

Its great to hear someone enjoying the hobby,alot of times it about sick fish or aggression issues..have fun and feel free to tell all..

[Jennie Beth]

Got the tank back from the liner folk, and now I have to wait 24 hours for it to cure fully before I can add water....wait...wait...wait...

wait...
wait...
sigh...

Jen

[rocker92]

good luck!!!

[serissime]

wow, that is going to look awesome!!!

[scootrnerd]

nice start!

[Flaringshutter]

Looks great Jen! I would be sure to fill completely and let it sit for a few days, drain and repeat at least twice to clear out any chemicals that the bedliner may leach into the water.

[Jennie Beth]

According to the person who applied it, it is completely fish safe when cured...(?) He raises koi and tells me it will be exactly like a rubber liner. Maybe, or maybe not...I am going to fill and drain it a few times anyway, and it won't get any fishies until the middle of June, when the plants have had a chance to get big enough to provide some protection, and any nasties are done leaching into the water.

Fountain plumbing 101 today!!!!

Jen

[BettaFishMommy]

oooohhhhh, this is gonna look so good! lots of update pics please!

[ChrisK]

looking good

[Catpicklesdog]

Can't wait to see the progress of this one:)

[JoeLaX28]

That is a really neat garden too. This is going to look great when it's done!

[Jennie Beth]

Pix of my test fountain this afternoon...have to get off the computer as the kids are standing in line behind me asking nicely for a turn (as in whining and complaining!!!)

Oh, and I probably should go to work to support my habit...
Sigh...

Jen

[dirtydawg10]

Looks great! Nice landscaping.

[Jennie Beth]

Hi all,
Pix of the test run on the fountain. I raised the rocks in the pot almost to the brim before I did the test run. Only a foam filter on the pump for the test. I will have a better one in the final installation. I haven't sealed a thing yet, so it leaks all over the place, just testing to see if it made a good sound, and would provide enough aeration/water movement. Sounds great so far...I may turn down the bubbler just a bit, it is almost pushing the rocks out of the pot.

Now I need to find a better stand. That poor milk crate is all bowed out already, and I want to add another layer of flat stones underneath.

Here are my three plans...so far.
1. Find a plant stand that will hold 100 lbs and is 18" high. I confess, I did
sit on a few at the store this afternoon to see if they were sturdy enough. Most of them are sturdy enough, but too tall. Still looking..

2. Cinder blocks. I hear they leach stuff into the water, though. Can I soak them in a tub for awhile, or treat them with something to cure the concrete so it won't leach anymore?

3. Have the husband fabricate me something...probably the best idea, but he isn't likely to get it done as quickly as I want ( as in yesterday!!)

Meanwhile, the pond is full and 'soaking' to get rid of any nastiness in the liner, and my order of plants shipped today and is supposed to be here in 3-5 days!!!

I am playing with the idea of planting some creeping jenny in the fountain pot, to trail down the side. There's room there to put a small pot, and bury the surface with the rocks. It might work if I turn down the force of the bubbler...still thinking on it. Too many ideas, not enough time.

Thanks all, for the comments. My kids say I'm half mole because I spend so much time digging holes in the yard :).

Jen

[BettaFishMommy]

that looks so good! now i want a yard and a pond.

[Jennie Beth]

Ahhh, tired, sore and a bit sunburned. Is there any better way to end a Saturday? Maybe relaxing next to the pond!!! Took all day and then some, but I finally got it up and running late Saturday. It is still a little cloudy from moving the plants around and dumping in all the bottom rock, but that will clear in the next day or two. And then I can see where I still need to add more rock. Got all the lilies potted up and placed, too. Can't wait for blooms!!!

And now for that promise I made the kids..."as soon as I finish the pond I will drag out the blowup pool for you.." Though technically, it will NEVER be done ...chuckling evilly :evil_lol:

Now to hurry up and wait until mid June-ish for fishies and a few tadpoles!! I hate waiting, but I hate hurting the fish more, and they need good water and a little more shelter first...waiting..waiting..waiting...

[erinw621]

That looks so nice! I also like the green fountain pot as opposed to the black one you had a pic of before. I hope you don't get temped to go for a little swim!

[Jaykit]

Very nice set-up, never even thought of getting the spray liner but it would make sense that it would work quite well. I really like your backyard too trying to get mine all cleaned-up this year too and put a nice pond in beside the new patio.

[rutter59]

wow thats looks really good NICE SET UP

[PallasAthena]

Wow! That is beautiful! I love that the pot is raised up out of the pond so the water can flow over it. So pretty! Makes me excited to work on mine! Thanks for the inspiration!

[jnb1985]

Makes me wish I had a yard. :(

[rainbowcharmer]

Well gee. That is beautiful!

And here I thought I'd never have a pond at my place because the property lines and permit regulations are not in my favor. But I never thought of something like this! Above ground like that I believe does not require a permit... I may just be cooking up a pond in the next year after all!! Yay! :) Thanks for the idea! And I can't wait to see how it looks in a few months when the plants grow in and fishies arrive!!

[Jennie Beth]

rainbowcharmer,
Those stock tanks come in all kinds of sizes, and both oval and round, at least in the galvanized metal. They also make a whole line of them in plastic. The smaller ones come in grey and green, I think, and the bigger ones in swimming pool blue, and are available at feed and farm supply stores out here. If I hadn't spent all my play money on this one, I'd be tempted to make another one just for fun. It'd be pretty easy to make a frame to hide the tub, too. Retaining wall block makes a fast cover, and you could lay flagstone on top to disguise the edge. We talked about running chicken wire around this one and planting ivy to cover it. Only take a season and it'd be invisible. See? Now you've got me thinking again...not good!! Thinking always costs me money :)
Jen

[PallasAthena]

Oh, Ivy over it would be really pretty, but you know, it's really gorgeous as you have it. I love the landscaping around it. So beatiful.

[Jennie Beth]

Thank you so much, you just salvaged my day. I took a bunch of pix to work to show a friend, and she laughed at me and called me very "country", not a compliment from a brand new mercedes convertible driving, lake house living kind of person. Burst my bubble but good...

Jen

[PallasAthena]

Thank you so much, you just salvaged my day. I took a bunch of pix to work to show a friend, and she laughed at me and called me very "country", not a compliment from a brand new mercedes convertible driving, lake house living kind of person. Burst my bubble but good...

Jen

Well that was incredibly rude of her! :mad2: Some "friend". It has a country beauty to it, and in a really good way. The circular path around it and everything remind me of something you'd find in a park or something. It's really nice.

And that's coming from a confirmed city-dweller! So there! ;)

[rainbowcharmer]

I'm at a loss as to how that is "country"?

I think it's gorgeous!

Country is a "real" big in-ground pond full of carp and no real decor to speak of. At least that's what I grew up with in the boon-docks of northern Ohio.

Anyhow, I think your pond is gorgeous, and it's giving me all sorts of ideas for our new house! :)

That 3/4 acre isn't looking so small anymore! hehe

[thesixis]

Hey that is really cool. Could you tell us how much it cost and how many gallons it holds. Thanks and good luck. Keep the pics coming.

[Dangerdoll]

I really like it!

[Jennie Beth]

Cost was a little painful, I'm afraid. If I did it again I might do it differently, have to wait and see how this wears...

Stock tank-- 330.00
Speedliner -- 500.00 Gasp!!! I think if I did it again I'd try the rattle can or brush version instead of having it applied, but the husband talked me in to having it done professionally--probably didn't want to listen to me cry when I messed it up :)

Pump, filter, fountain, a zillion fittings and electrical stuff (had to run power and a GFI out from the house, which was a pain!) -- roughly 400.00

Plants-- roughly 100.00, but I keep dragging things home from the pond store, so that will probably change.

Probably another few bucks in rocks, plant pots, Prime, that kind of stuff. And I still have fishies to buy...I gave myself a 1500.00 budget, and I am down to pennies and lint, but my birthday is coming....(hope, hope) ;)

Filled to the top, it is 8' round, 2' deep and holds roughly 700 gallons. I figure with displacement from rock and plants, and leaving it down 3-4", it holds around 600 gallons. I haven't figured the new gallonage, so that is a barely-educated guess!

So, that'd be...1330.00 + 100.00 misc = 1430.00
Ouch! To quote Schultz from 'Hogan's Heroes' "I see nothing! Nothing!!"

Jen

[rainbowcharmer]

Jen,

I meant to ask - what do you plan to do for the winter time with the pond? Since it is completely above ground, I am assuming it will freeze solid unless you heat it somehow?

Just curious.

As I get to thinking about how I could make something like this work for my yard, it makes me wonder what I would do for winter. It does not get *as* cold here in Georgia, but we do still get sub-freezing temps in Jan - March, so I would be worried about freezing.

Also - would a frozen pond of water harm the bedliner that is sprayed on?

[Jennie Beth]

Not sure how the liner will react to the cold. I am told it will have no problems, that it is essentially the same as a rubber liner, just attached to the tub instead of resting in it. Have to wait and see. We do get cold here in the winter, and have had three or four days of teen temps the last winter or so, but not enough to freeze it solid, I think. Even the dog's little dish rarely freezes solid, and it is about a gallon. I will run the pump year round, not sure about the fountain as it is set up now. I am going see how the pot does in the cold (fingers crossed), but my backup plan is to remove the pot for the winter, and just run the bubbler at water level while there are freezing temps. Keeping the water moving will keep at least some of the surface from freezing, which will allow gases to escape from under the ice, and keep the fishies in oxygen.

Never had an above ground pond before, so this is all guesswork and experimentation. I could wrap the outside of the tub in waterheater insulation...THAT'D be attractive, wouldn't it? But I'll do it if it looks like I'll need to. Or look in to a trough deicer like they use on farms for the horses. I have a spare outlet in the GFI setup in case I need it...

Check back in March '10 and see if I am blubbering in my beer about my fishy-sicles, or doing the happy dance 'cause they all made it :)

You know, if freezing solid was a problem for you, if your tub was set in wall block or covered in ivy, or whatever, that might be enough insulation to keep the cold from the sides. With my plants at least, just keeping something between them and the night sky will often be enough to keep them from freezing. Not near as much water in a plant, but it's a thought. The pond is pretty protected from open air by some large old firs, which might help, too.

How's that for a whole lotta "I really don't know" ?

Hope it helps a little anyway ;)
Jen

[rainbowcharmer]

LOL

I've only been in Georgia for just shy of a year, so I am not overly familiar with weather patterns here. I know this winter, we had below-freezing temps (teens-20s) at night for about 2-3 months (though probably not *every* night), but never (or rarely??) during the day - usually warmed up to 30's-40's by noontime. So I wonder if it would be enough that it got above freezing during the day to prevent a pond like that from freezing solid?

Hmmm... more things to ponder.

Granted, this is all a pipe dream right now. No real solid plans for building (or buying) a pond setup, since for the time being our $$ is going to repairs and updates for the house that we just bought... apparently such mundane things as paint, carpet and appliances take precedence over my fish habit.

Figures. :)

But I will keep checking back on this progress (keep posting pics!!), and I really am curious how the winter will go. I'm hoping by next summer a pond (or heck, maybe just new tanks) will be in the budget. :P

[Jennie Beth]

I was supposed to get a pond this year, as last year was 'fix the place we just bought' year for us, a genuine in-the-ground big pond, but then we decided the kitchen needed help, which it does, so pond got moved to next year's list. And then hubby dragged home a Firebird..'it's a classic, Honey', which is husbandeese for a rusty old piece of poo that will suck money like a bathtub drain for the next million years. SO, I have my tub...keeps me out of trouble, and feeds my habit :) at least for now...

Who needs paint, carpet and appliances when you can have FISH???? Apparently a lot of us, darn it :)
Jen

[SMinNC]

Hmmmm?
Kind of a toss up here?

Either This...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/simplemaninnc/68bird.jpg

Or This...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/simplemaninnc/IMG_0456.jpg

Might need to take a poll on this one?

:thud: :laugh:

[rainbowcharmer]

LOL - well, if we are judging on which costs more to fix/maintain... It would be a toss up. If we're talking about which is prettier - it's the pond, hands down. :)

And I have big plans for a salt-water setup sooner since we finally will have room for it. :) Between that and my dream of a pond... well, I can see myself pouring some serious cash into my habit. Dunno if my honey will be OK with it..... but since I am the one working these days, I guess it's my call. :D

[Jennie Beth]

Hey!! At least my 'tub' isn't rusty...yet!!!! And I pulled the weeds around mine!

Oh My Goodness!!!! Is that the back end of a Camaro I see? (My son says yes, I haven't a clue) There just happens to be one of THOSE in the man house, too, snuggled up to the Firebird, and I KNOW how much money it sucks!! Of all the pics on the planet :>...next the husband will be on here asking if you want to sell it. TELL HIM NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Please! I'll bake you cookies, clean your bathroom, anything!!!

Too Funny!
Jen

[SMinNC]

I think it said '68 firebird. Looks like it to me.
I just put rusty firebird in yahoo (pic) search. : P

Dangit though! cookies n cleanin sounds good! : )

[thesixis]

The Firebird is 'nice', but the pond is 'sweet'!!!
Good luck.

[Chondropython]

This is a great idea and looks very nice.

Why did you decide to do the spray-in liner? Aren't those tanks designed to hold water?

[Jennie Beth]

Yes, they are designed to be water-tight. I went with a spray-on liner for two reasons...first, to add some additional waterproofing, as galvanized metal will eventually rust; and second, because I had heard that galvanizing is bad for fish. When it begins to come off, the fish eat it, and it can kill them (or so I hear). All a big experiment, so I don't know how successful it will be. I have heard that the plastic rubbermaid tubs are treated with things that hurt fish, too, but people use them successfully all the time, so who knows? Maybe the galvanized metal is fine, too...

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

So, the tub is up and running, planted, Primed, and waiting for fish. Got a cool visitor yesterday (can't figure out how to write between my pix, though..?)on one of the maples, but what are these cocoon-looking things? They are hanging in the roots of my water hyacinths. baby mosquitoes before they are wigglers? FISH?! That'd be kinda funny, to get fishies free with my plants..Took a pic of one out of the water, sitting on my hand, too...

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Mosquito eggs it is...time for fishies to eat them before they get wings! I am off to see if the comets at the LFS are out of quarantine this week. I don't get into too many fish stores, but this is the only one I have been in where they quarantine the newbies to make sure they are healthy before they send them home. They had some very pretty sarassas and shubunkin when I was there last. Never had shubunkin, but from what I read, they play well with others and have similar requirements to the comets, so I may give them a try.

I hear 20-50 gallons per fish, or x inches per sq ft of water surface, but I think I will stick with 6-8 fish for now. That way if they have little fish, I won't be frantically trying to find them good homes, at least for a few years.

Oh, I seem to have a crop of tiny snails cruising the sides of my tub...will I be sorry if I just let them do their thing? Got a diving beetle, too, from who-knows-where...must have had populated pond plants :)


Will you all laugh if I say I am getting the beginnings of green water and I am so excited?! It means things are getting going! And if I had no pond, I'd have no water to get green...ok, so I'm a little wierd, what can I say?

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Yay!!!
We now have 6 little fishies in the pond!
4 Sarassa comets and 2 shubunkin. And a volunteer diving beetle and a backswimmer (funky looking bug that swims on it's back). I wanted to get two pond comets, the plain carrot orange ones, but I took a look at the tank and changed my mind. It looked like a battle field! Fish missing pieces of fins and tails, several with (healing, but still...) wounds...it was horrible. I asked if they had had a hard trip getting to the pet store, and the girl helping me looked at me blankly until I showed her some of the damage. She didn't seem concerned, so maybe that happens regularly, which is pretty sad. All the other tanks looked great, and the sarassas and shubunkin were lively and not missing any body parts, so I went with them. We have named the one with the orange nose Bozo, as in the clown.

Will post pics when they are more comfortable and stay out in the open long enough to snap pics!

Jen

[chefjamesscott]

Hmmmm?
Kind of a toss up here?

Either This...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/simplemaninnc/68bird.jpg

Or This...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/simplemaninnc/IMG_0456.jpg

Might need to take a poll on this one?

:thud: :laugh:

most definitely the car

[tidioute06]

Nice build thread. Keep up the good work and MORE PICS!!

[PallasAthena]

Yeah, I keep hoping for more pictures, too!

[Jennie Beth]

Water is still green, probably will be for a few more weeks till everything settles...not as green as in the pix, the flash makes it look VERY green. Had a big windstorm just before I took these pix, so there is alot of pollen and fir blossom floating around in there, too. Discovered a mesh kitchen strainer makes a great skimmer...and the fish think all the blossoms are food, so they've been pushing them around the pond trying to eat them:).
95242

Here's the new family! My favorite baby, It's the one with a damaged fin, looks to be healing nicely, though. It's name is Indigo.
95247
The red shubunkin. My daughter calls it Gash, because in the pix the red spot looks like an axe wound. Ewwww!
95246
Most of them together
95245
The three orange comets... Bozo is the one with the orange nose, haven't named the other two yet..tho the kids want Orangey and Half-n-Half.

95248
Pearl--the kids voted for 'Spot'
95244
Funny faces!! Pearl and Gash went for the same bit of food, and Pearl was just a hair late!
95243


Jen

[serissime]

wowww everything and everyone looks amazing!

[Desertponder]

I like your tank and the way you set it up and landscaped around it.

I have two tanks that size for all of my lilies.
But.........I got mine free.:grinyes: (Ducking......LOL!)
I ran an ad in a local classified paper wanting to buy used large stock tanks. A lady called me and she had three of them that size that I just could have so husband went and got them. One was in pretty bad shape so husband has to do some work to it.

I wish mine were landscaped as nice as yours.:)

I do the stock tanks because I have to rent so I can't have an inground pond. Makes for a portable setup if I have to move.

[Jennie Beth]

Thank you! Digging in the dirt is one of my favorite things to do...

" But.........I got mine free.:grinyes: (Ducking......LOL!)"

Yeah, but you're in cattle country (guessing, as I am sure not ALL of Colorado is cattle country:) )...I live at the edge of the toolies, but on the wrong side of the mountains from cattle country. Out here the largest I could get ahold of without special ordering was maybe 6' across, and even then they looked at me funny when I asked about them. I did find a listing online for a lady in the UK with a couple for cheap, but the shipping would have killed me !!LOL!! Do you have fish in yours? Any trouble with leakage or funk coming off the tubs? I am seriously thinking of getting a few smaller ones to scatter around with just lilies and other water plants,(don't tell my husband!!) but I don't want to pay to have them lined. Do you have power to any of your lily tanks? Like aeration, pumps, any of that...

Come to think of it, Colorado is where my waterlilies came from...getting lots of pads, most of them still way low in the water, but no buds yet :( waiting...waiting...waiting...

Jen

[Desertponder]

Yeah, I'm in sort of a cattle/farming area. Not anything like it used to be but still some.
My husband usually solders any pinholes in the tanks and then he sprays undercoating on the outside bottoms of the tanks before we set them up. I don't do much of anything to the insides if they are in good shape. I have one lone koi in the one big tank.
I have some other smaller tanks too but have not set them up this year since I got the two big ones last fall.
Your lilies are probably slow because they are spending their energy establishing their root system rather than on pads and buds but they should come around soon.

This is one of the tanks from earlier in the spring.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/SASHABEAR/Ponds/2009/Tank2_05-10.jpg

These are some of the smaller tanks from last year.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/SASHABEAR/Ponds/Ponds%202008/Stocktanks_06-13.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/SASHABEAR/Ponds/Ponds%202008/414c05ed.jpg

A couple from two years ago.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/SASHABEAR/Ponds/tank208-10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/SASHABEAR/Ponds/tank08-10.jpg

[Jennie Beth]

My husband would KILL me....hmmm, wonder if I could fit one in the car and sneak it home without him seeing it...

They are beautiful! Can't wait til my plants get big enough to be that pretty!

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Well, that SUCKS!!! Just had a huge hail/rain/lightning and thunder storm blow thru, and all my waterlily pads are shredded :(

Fish are tasting everything in sight, though, all the tree bits that blew in...
Sigh...

Jen

[erinw621]

That is a bummer! Hope everything gets back to normal soon, everything looks great in the pics.

[PallasAthena]

Oh, no! I'm so sorry the storms damaged your plants!

Your fish are adorable though. How big are they? They look to be a pretty decent size.

[Jennie Beth]

The lilies will grow back, it's just frustrating to finally see the pads spreading out, and then in 1/2 hour to be set back two weeks...

The largest, the shubunkins, are about 4" long without tails, the others are maybe 1/2-3/4" smaller. Bigger than I had planned on, actually, but the smaller pond comets were all beat on, missing body parts, with open wounds, and I wasn't prepared to nurse them back to health. Ironic, as Indigo is living in a tub in the rec room, getting fungus medication because she had an injured fin when I brought her home, and it got infected. Spent a hectic evening getting her an inside home for the next few days, but things are looking better, thanks to some good graveyard shift fish docs here on AC :)

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Short update on my little puddle...plants growing like weeds, lovely green algae starting to drape my fountain, lotta pads on the lilies, but no flowers yet...Indy still in the hospital tank for another week. I am watching her gill cover to see if it is growing back or healed as far as it can go before I ship she and Pearl back outside.

AND...

Is this a fish fry I spy? Doesn't wiggle like a mosquito, but about the same size as when they are wigglers.
98394
Jen

[Tastey]

YAY! you have babies!!!

I have hundreds of these guys... been taking care of them.

[Jennie Beth]

Someone out there asked about a video of the pond, and told me how to do it, but as the last few posts have mysteriously disappeared, I can't find my directions...I did manage to make two small videos and (thank goodness for kids) get them on youtube, but now I can't get them HERE! Help? Please!
Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Amazing what happens when you read thru the tutorials...thanks Reefscape!

Here's the pond this morning...
VzDteRcd-WA&next

And here they are sucking up for more treats...you'd think I never feed 'em!
As you can see, Indy (blue and black spotted shubunkin) seems to be doing fine back in the pond, even with missing half a gill cover and part of a fin :)
1c51TMUi_uU&next

Jen

[roscoe70]

Unable to play your videos, message says private video. Good looking project though.

[Jennie Beth]

OOPS!! Had the video on the wrong setting. I fixed it on youtube...will it be fixed here, or do I have to start over?
Jen

[Moesmom]

It is fixed, I just watched them. Great tank!! Love it.

[roscoe70]

:clap:Thanks for fixing the vids, very nice and I'm sure you spend way too much time out there. I did when I had a pond, enjoy and good luck.

[thesixis]

very nice

[corrieberry]

Sooo jealous! It's beautiful. Well done for working out the tech stuff too! :D

[Navyscuba]

Everything looks awesome. Hope your babies get better soon.

[Muske]

Great job Jen...

The spray liner is a nice touch. It is impossible to stratch it off. If you do decide to add some others, look into tractor paint. It can be rolled or brushed on and is thick as tar.

I'm so jealous of the Pacfic Northwest. Your Japanese and Korean Maples look awesome. I'm sure you have some nice Rhodies and Azaleas on your property to boot.

Are the lillies blooming yet? They don't like to have water splashed on their leaves. This could be the set back. Also, how big where the tubers when youu got them? The first year I planted mine they had a couple of blooms. The second year after a full season of growth, they produced a couple of blooms per plant each week. As they grow (root system, not foliar growth) so do the number of blooms. Do you fertilize them? I use a tablet form that gets buried right in the gravel close to the tuber/rhizome. I only use it in early spring to give them a little boost.

[Jennie Beth]

Thanks, everyone for the kind words!
Muske,
Funny you should ask about the lilies, as just in the last day or two I have had one white Tetragona, one red James Brydon(which is pink) and one yellow-to-red (Sioux)bud all break the surface. The white is fully open, the red about half way, and the changing one is just showing color at the tip so far. My yellow Chromatella, which was the first to send up new pads, still has not a bud in sight :( We just came off a week of 95-110 degree weather, which is 10-25 degrees hotter than normal out here, and the lilies LOVED it!! They are well on the way to taking over the planet!

This is their first year in my pond, and three of the four were little pinkie-thick, two inch long rhizomes when I got them this spring. I ordered some of the fertilizer tabs with them, and gave them each one at planting time.

I too love the Japanese maples...have almost as bad an addiction problem with them as I do with the pond! We have been here two years in December, and I have four in the ground and two in pots waiting for me to get more planting areas ready! Good thing I work for a living or I'd be feeding the kids maple leaves and lily pads for dinner every night :) Planted three rhodies around the back side of the pond, but they are babies yet, just a foot or so tall, and have a few azaleas scattered here and there, too. THEY were not so happy with the heat wave, and I have a few that are looking pretty crispy at the moment. Have to wait and see...

Jen

[Muske]

Were the Azaleas contain grown or B&B?

All the Azaleas if every planted from containers struggled for a few years. The combination of high summer heat and a soil less mix in the containers made for serious watering schedule since they seemed to dry out everyday.

[Jennie Beth]

Some of each...and some that were b&b in a container...I think mine struggled because the root system is so shallow that even with a daily soaking, the heat was baking all the mositure out of the ground. It's been raining the last two days, so fingers crossed...
Jen

PS I think I have 'jacked my own thread...LOL

[PallasAthena]

Hey Jennie Beth! Are you my long lost twin! ;) I ADORE Japanese maple trees. They are so pretty!

I am suffering from some serious pond envy over here! Yours if just beautiful! :bowing:

[Jennie Beth]

Was reading back thru this thread today, and I can't believe how everything has grown! I mean, I see it everyday and I know things get bigger, but check out the difference a few months can make!:jaw-dropping:

1. Just a week or two after setup in May...
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2...and the middle of July...
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3...and today, after a week of 100+ degree weather.
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Pretty amazing how fast the plants can change the look of a pond...

And, my new lily bloom, with a pig fish trying to suck it up!:grinno:
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Jen

[Tastey]

I love the color of that Lily!

[Jennie Beth]

It's a 'James Brydon' which is supposed to tolerate more shade than others, and has an appley scent when the sun is out. For being a teeny rhizome this spring, it is going gangbusters...has three more buds, two on the surface and one halfway up.

Funny, it is advertised (all over, books, websites etc,) as a red that is dark pink. Why it lives in the red department and not the pink, I have no idea...
Jen

[Muske]

Hyacinths like the warmer temps. too...

[PallasAthena]

Any recent pics? Your pond is so, so pretty! :)

[Jennie Beth]

You asked for it!!!!!

First three are the original 6 fish (the big ones) and some of the new babies. Pic 1 has 2 1/2 of the white ones, Pic 2 shows a couple of the dark babies...there are about 10 of them, some of which are lightening up by the day! They are so hard to photograph, being almost the same color as the rocks. Pic 3 is all of the original crowd, and Spooky, the only baby with a name yet.
4 and 5 are pics of the pond this afternoon. I just had to take out a 5 gallon bucket worth of water hyacinth (too bad you don't live closer, Pallas Athena, I could have sent them your way :) ) because they were so thick you couldn't see water anymore!

What do you think?

Jen
Here is a pic with a bunch of the babies...have to blow it up to see them as they are so dark...
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205924

[Muske]

Babies look great...

They bronze ones will change over time. Hershey, got that name because he was the same brown color as a juvie. and is now almost solid red. Seems like once they hit around the 2" mark they change pretty fast. If they have Shub. linage they will color up at a smaller size.

[Jennie Beth]

Well, I ended up with three boys and three girls, by accident, when I picked out the original crowd, and both shubs are boys, so odds are pretty good there are some shubbush babies, tho no purebreds! The kids are calling them shubunchkins :)

Jen

[Tastey]

Look at your babies!! YAY! What kind of plant was in the top pic that looked like a clover leaf?

I'll have to take more pics of my babies soon... thinking about getting a male Shub at the pet store today that they have incorrectly marked as koi.

[Jennie Beth]

Tastey,
It's called a water clover...go figure LOL!! Marsilea mutica if you are after the botanical name :) Mine has kinda fizzled out in the pot, but sent runners all over the place, with leaves coming up from 2 feet down in the pond. Those leaves in the pic are a good three feet away from the original pot. The thin green line you can see running along the bottom in a couple of the pics is one of it's runners, with the leaves coming up from it...

Jen

[PallasAthena]

Oh, wow! Yeah, wish I lived closer, too! I'm heading out to pick up some hyacinths tomorrow to toss in there.

What's the plant growing out of the fountain? That's a neat effect with the cascading water and the cascading plant!

I love your shubs. You know, they are a big part of the reason I want some shubs in my pond! Gah! I wish there was an instant cycle switch! :)

Your pond is so, so pretty!

[Jennie Beth]

Pallas Athena,
Sorry, can't talk to you yet...no good pond pics!!! :nono:

The plant in the fountain is a creeping jenny, lysimachia munnularia. The kind they sell in the regular garden store is exactly the same kind they sell in the pond shops, for about half the money. It was in a 2" pot, and maybe 4" long when I got it, and now it is trailing down into the water, and coming back up again! It is a perennial when out in the dirt, and does a GREAT job planted next to a pond, where it trails down into the water and hides odd edges or plumbing. I don't know if this one will make it, since it is barely in the water, and may freeze solid this winter, but I will take some cuttings and keep them in a jar on the window sill til spring, and have new ones for next year just in case.

I may get shot for this by other pond people, but when I first joined this forum, I had just left a healthy happy pond, with no special filtration, never added chemicals, never tested water, fish plopped in about thirty seconds after the pond was full...and everything did just fine. That pond was up and running for 4 years before we moved, fishies had babies, plants flourished, never had a problem, except with racoons, and a test kit won't help there :). I asked if I needed all that stuff, and water changes, gravel vaccing, etc that I had been reading about here, and was pretty much told you don't really do all that stuff in a pond. That being said, and being only from my own experience, I think your fishies will be fine. They have alot more water to trash now, and if you get plants in there pronto they will do an amazing job of helping to keep your water in good shape, too.

I love my shubbies, too! I had actually planned on plain pond comets and sarassas, but fell in love with them when I went to the LFS! And now I have a whole herd of little polka dotted fishies!

Jen

Sheesh!! What would this post look like if I WAS talking to you?!

[Jennie Beth]

Spent some time out with the fish yesterday, picking out dead leaves and such, and got to see just about everyone out playing in the sunshine! Here are some of the newbies...I think we counted 16 or 17 in that shot!:jaw-dropping:
(The bricks are keeping my cattails from tipping over in the wind!)
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Check out these next two...
"Who's your daddy?" That'd be Indigo, one of my shubs, in the lower shot, and Indy Jr.,(?) in the upper one.;)
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And one last shot, with a teeny baby( Indy Jr.,) and one of the Moms.
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Love those fishies:woot:!!!
Jen

[PallasAthena]

Oh, they are so pretty! Love the creeping jenny, too. That's a great effect. Ok. Back to gushing about the babies.

I LOVE the little shub! He's so cute with his little spots! And how big is the mama fish with the white and orange coloring? She's really gorgeous!

[Jennie Beth]

Momma's name is Bozo, courtesy of the big red spot on her nose, and she is probably 4-5 inches long now. They are just about life-size, at least on my screen :)

Jen

[herewebe]

Wow! Your pond is beautiful. Your landscaping is beautiful. Your fish are beautiful and your babies are adorable!! I would never be able to drag myself away to go into the house!

[thesixis]

Your pond is very nice, you should be proud. Thanks for the pics.

[ciaobella7122]

lllooovvveeee your pond! so jealous lol. those babies are beautiful too! you'll have to keep us updated as they get bigger! congrats

[Jennie Beth]

Thanks all! I DO have a hard time staying out of the pond :) Much more fun to go do cleaning in the pond than in the house. Good thing the weather gets bad in the winter and the pond activity slows down, or my home would NEVER get cleaned.

It's cold enough here now that I am no longer feeding for the winter, but the babies still seem to get bigger every time I see them. Still waiting for the black babies to start coloring up, but the more shubby-looking ones have all kinds of spots and speckles going on already.

The pond is netted for the winter now...very sad and plain with all the plants dying back.

Jen

[Muske]

All the die back is a shame, but it makes the ponds look so much bigger:headbang2: I say this every fall when things start dying off and the whole pond is revealed. I was cleaning out my gutters this weekend and got a good birdseye view of my pond. I will take a few pics. this week and start a thread for seasonal prgression pics. starting from winter into spring and so on. I hope others do the same as the view is awesome from above.

[thesixis]

keep up the good work

[Open Water Predator]

Will the fish be able to winter over without being below the frost line?

[Jennie Beth]

That is the million dollar question. This will be the first winter the pond has been around, so it is all experimental at this point. I plan to have a pond heater handy in case I do have freeze issues, as I am not sure if it will freeze from the sides in as well as from the top down. We have had some coldish spells the last few years, and my pond at the old house used to freeze on top, except where the falls kept it open...

...and, the babies are young yet, so I'll have to see how they do, as well.

Jen

[Jennie Beth]

Hi all,
Thought I'd give you a little update on my pond :)
This is the beginning of the third season in my pond, and it gets better every year! So far, the speedliner is holding up perfectly. No holes, leaks, bad effects on the fish or plants, nothing. It grows a nice fur of algae just like a black rubber liner, cleans up with a toilet bowl brush run around the edges.

I do take the fountain out each winter. Don't want the pot to freeze and crack. So far, the pond has frozen maybe 3-5 inches down, but with the bubbler running all winter, a space stays open, and the fish have done just fine.

I did lose 4 of my original 6 fish to a heron the first fall, so I keep it netted now. Last year I draped the netting over the fountain, and had a huge problem with algae growing in the net and choking the water flow. This year I have raised the net out of the water, so shouldn't have that problem again.

The two fish from the original batch, and a whole slew of babies have made it thru two winters so far, with no deaths :) I have 4 white/spotted babies, around 7 "carrots" (little orange babies look like baby carrots :) ) and 10 or so dark gold/brown babies. The dark ones are really hard to count.
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Water stays really clear, though I do get some algae on the bottom and sides. Once a season or so, I vacuum it out, just to keep the buildup down. Haven't vacc'ed yet this season. As far as the plant go, everything is growing great. Matter of fact, the earliest of my lilies has a pad just about to break the surface :) My favorite time of year!
Happy ponding!
Jen

[rainbowcharmer]

Very pretty! I hope to be able to see my fish clearly one of these days! The initial algae bloom in my pond is beginning to clear, so maybe sooner rather than later. :)

Your fishes are gorgeous! Love the whole thing! :) Tempts me to start an above-ground pond... :D

[myswtsins]

Very nice! I always enjoy seeing updates of this pond, shame you have to have the net though but it's better than losing your fishies. Fish look great especially those baby carrots!