Arapaima Pond Build

Just imagine when you get everything done and arent working on it.

That's great if it's also making money...lol...

But yes...it's great to see those bacteria going for it.
There must be a ton of them on all the stones in the bog..
What a life they have, eat and get fat all day.....

Almost feel sorry for them that most of the food will be finished soon.
 
Measured Mr. T. He is 100cm .
Given his 6 weeks ordeal in the storm drain, I think he lost quite some weight in there and took months to get back to his normal self. Will never be 100% sure how much that will account for in his adult size, but for sure he is looking very very good nowadays, big, strong body.

Hitting the shower and off to work. CCTV looks like some improvement in the water again.

Cheers,
Luc


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Done a lot today. Bog is ready for planting.
Next week still need to finish the grow out and the return to the pond, then ready to go online.
Surrounding area is finished, looks great.

No video or pictures of mr. T. today, that will be next week again.
Pictures later, no time anymore after we finished work. Maybe tonight.

Cheers,
Luc


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Pictures....enjoy.
Of course first the progress on the first bog.
Growing in nicely, all plants doing great.

For the 2nd bog, you can see the cleanout pipe and the pump-connection sticking out.
When all is filled up, you will only see a little bit of the inlet hose and maybe a small part of the cleanout pipe.
The lower L-shape water-level will hold guppies, platy's, lotus and water-lilies.
Then the dry area of course filled up with potted plants similar to the first bog.

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Very happy how the 2nd bog is shaping up. The granite is perfect in color and size.
Finally getting a nice clean garden around the factory that's easy to maintain.

Friend of mine asked how much time it costs to clean and maintain the pond, given his time consuming cleaning of some 80 Gallon tanks. Had a big grin on my face when I told him 5 minutes a week at best. Just some 10 seconds a day for the valves to open and that's it for now. He looked at me with big eyes asking if I was serious? Then just said, wow, if that continuos to be the case then you have a very well designed system.
Sure there will be some gardening for the bogs, collecting dead leaves and keeping growth in check, but the rest is pretty much no work at all. Just watch and enjoy.

3 weeks to celebration, won't be 100% finished, but all working, planted and stocked.
The front will still get some detailed work to it, for looks and support. More on that later.

Cheers,
Luc



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Heavy rain yesterday night. Had at least 50mm judging from how much the water went up.
Still 5cm below the overflow pipe, but nice to get free clean water added.
Mr. T. doing good, he's going in a frenzy on pellet-food, rushing around like a speedboat with his mouth open at the surface, just skimming those pellets. Need to try and make a video of that, quite funny to see.

Water is clear as it can be. No camera with me, but sure this week another video to compare it with last week.
Seems from top to bottom there's no difference anymore, so I will need to rely on underwater distance views to see improvements.
I hope one of these days to see the backside of the pond, 5 meters away, clearly again. If that can be done, I'm satisfied with the water...anything more than that is just added bonus.

Overall, the second bog looks to be good for planting. Initially I still wanted to pull back the liner in the grow-out pond for some extra Nylon-Bag protection. Now just wondering if I can leave it as is... If I leave it, then it's a matter of straightening the liner at the overflow to the pond and we can run it.
Saturday planting day for sure. Fill up the bog, put in the plants, switch it on and get fish for the growout.
Will be Koi and other Carp for now. Want to try and find some Juliens and then lots of baby koi and see what gets big enough.
Other than that, clean out the remaining gravel and fill it into the surrounding area.

Might just order some beers for the sake of celebrating the finish.

Cheers,
Luc
 
I think there will be better water quality after the second bog gets up and running. Cant wait to see a vid (hopefully of mr t skimming for pellets). :)
 
That would make it 4-5 weeks from now to see it kicking in. Maybe shorter because the 1st bog has seeded enough bacteria in the water to get it going faster.

After that, I'll be looking for a lab that can test my water. Will be very curious to see the quality. Any report from that I'll of course scan and post here together with online monthly report from our local water company for comparison.

Wouldn't that be a kicker if tap water goes in, cycles and gets cleaner in there...!
Of course, with the raining season, there's a fair amount of water not directly from the tap, but still.
Later for that one...cheers,
Luc
 
Got my second RTC. My first one clearly didn't like company, straight away attacked the tail of the new one. Boy can they be aggressive. So separated them for now. No. 2 is going into the grow out next week if we finish it on Saturday, no. 1 not sure yet. Maybe keep at home for another couple of weeks to let No. 2 establish himself in the grow out.

Oscars, 3 left, doing good. They just eat and try to establish themselves in my pond at home.
Will be great to see them getting bigger in the pond soon. Pretty sure they will make a great bunch.

The 4 tilapia are absolute fun to watch. 2 of them are chasing each other like mad, fighting and racing around.
Mr. T mostly leaves them alone except if they look like too easy too catch but still didn't manage.
Lots of 1-3 inch fish now, but even those are hardly of interest to him. So given that he gets enough food, fish stand a reasonable chance against him.

Might at one point get daring and put a 5 inch Arowana in and see if he survives.
That's for later..first get it all finished and done on Saturday..

Cheers,
Luc



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