Mike's pond

[mikebike]

Well the end is in sight.
the hole is deep enough now.
This is a shot of the 4 ft. diameter rubber-maid tub in the bottom of the future pond.
The plan is that if the liner get a leak I will always have at least that amount of water.
It will be about 1500 gallons.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1401.jpg

The Blue Box (400 gallons) is in place now and I resealed the glass again today so tomorrow I can water test it again.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1402.jpg

[mikebike]

by the way the hole in the dirt in the top left hand side is from a large rock.
I will be filling it with Styrofoam before putting in the liner.

[Laura]

That will be lovely, I'm envious. What's the blue box for?

[Ursus sapien]

That's a big hole! And a lot of clay to pull out by hand. Senior citizen, my foot!

[CACAdmin]

Wow! That's an amazing amount of digging you've done. Who needs to go to a gym for a workout?!? :swoon:

That's going to be a fabulous pond.

[mikebike]

Yes it is a big hole.
I started digging seriously in March between the rains.

But I cheated this weekend and hired 2 guys to take it from 5 ft diameter at 50" deep and they expended it to the 7 ft plus square.
Filled up the box of their pick-up.

I took out about 400 buckets:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/fish/Enlarging-the-pond.html

The Blue box is another pond in a box.
It is an insulated shipping box that I can use as a pond or water reservoir.
my original plan was a winter holding tank for my pond fish that would be easier to heat.

But I buried 50 feet of 3/4 Polly pipe around the rubber-maid tub in the bottom of the hole to use as a ground source heat exchanger to cool the water in the summer and warm it in the winter.
I will be circulating water through it with a 250 GPH pump to allow the water to reach the same temperature as the ground at 4 1/2 feet.

I hope to eventually have the large pond the Blue box, my 150 Rubber-maid agricultural tub, an 88 gallon kidney shaped pond and a 4 X 6 ft pre formed pond all working together in it's own ecosystem.
I have another 175 gallon fiberglass tub the will be 1/2 filled with bio balls & or lava/pumice rock and floating plants to use as a bio filter to circulate a portion of the water through.

[CACAdmin]

Is that a "window" you've created in the blue box? If so, I'd be interested in how you did it.

[mikebike]

I cut a 32 tall X 34 long opening in the Polly cooler
the ordered a piece of 1/2 tempered glass 34 X 36"
I laid the box on its side and glued in wood fillers so I would have solid backing to bolt to

I laid 2 beads of silicone one near the edge of the opening and another near the outside edge of the glass.

I has 1/8 Stainless steel Z bars made up to clamp the gas to the plastic (Polly)
Then bolted it through with 5/16 bolts.

I have water tested it 2 times this week I had a water leak on the right up about 4 inches.
I pumped it out and removed the SS bar and old caulking and doubled you the amount of caulking .
Re clamped it

That side no longer leaks but now Yesterday the Left had side leaked when it was full.

Pumped it down again and repeated the caulking again.

Tomorrow will tell me if I have to buy the good caulking Orka Reef Glue at $36 a tube 4 required.

[CACAdmin]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate the details and what works and what doesn't. Best of luck... sure hope you don't have to cough up the money for the other glue.

[mikebike]

Like so many od my simple projects they end up costing big bucks<G>

[Dan_G_Calgary]

Wow! What an awesome project. I am so envious! (As anyone in Alberta would be. I'd guess we have about a 3 month max pond season...)

Have you decided what species you will put in your pond? Wiill you also have species in the bio filter set up? Like white clouds or something like that?

[Ursus sapien]

Like so many od my simple projects they end up costing big bucks<G>
it a cosmic rule, I think.

[mikebike]

I will be putting koi, goldfish, comets, subunkins, white clouds and turtles in the ponds.
the turtles will be seperated by a plastic latice with 1" square opening anything that can go through it is fair game if the turtles can catch it<G>

In my experience they can't catch a healty fish that has room to out manuver them.

this is one of the koi going into the pond:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/fish/BigKoi.jpg

[CACAdmin]

What a beauty... they'll really enjoy the pond.

[mollybawn]

wow! That's a lot of work but I know it will pay off in the end. It's going to be beautiful when it's all finished!

[Namor]

^^^ :yes: Great job Mike! :notworthy:

[mikebike]

I did it!
I filled up the pond and fastened the liner to the 2 X ^ frame surrounding it.
I had partially filled it yesterday and topped it up today.

Today I added all the pond plants I rescued from a pond take down in May.
I recycled the liner for my pond and added a liter of Aqua Plus to dechlorinate the water.
I have an 5,000 GPH pump circulating the wanter and falling back into the pond from 3 ft to aerate the water.
It was too dark when I came in for photos.

[Ursus sapien]

congrats!

[CACAdmin]

Congrats on getting the job done! Looking forward to pics once you get a chance to take some... that's if you can actually drag yourself out there after all that physical labor to get the pond up and running.

[Pamelajo]

Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[mikebike]

Hi folks,
it has been a long project but I finally go some water and the plants I had rescued from another pond into my pond.
Here is the links to several photos:
http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/

This is a photo looking into the pond from the South side:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1407.jpg

The pond is about 6 ft square in the bottom with a 4 ft diameter deep section ( 12" ) made by putting a 4 ft rubbemade pond into the hole fist to provide a refuge if the liner were to leak.

The round section is 5 ft to the bottom with the main bottom being 4 ft deep.
the top is about 7 ft 6" square except for the corner where the banana tree is.

I have a 500 GPH mag pump circulating the water trough a 50 ft length of 3/4" black PVC which is wrapped around the sides of the Rubbermade pond to provide cooling in the summer and warming in the winter.

The ground 4 ft down stays about 50 F year around so I'm using geothermal <G> heating.

I will be partitioning off part of the pond later for the turtles and as time goes on adding an 80 gallon kidney shaped pond and a rectangular 4' X 6'
preformed pond to the area.

But I have had enough digging for a while.

Once the Turtles are moved I will use the 175 fiberglass tub as a Vegi bio filter for all the ponds.

The pond/s are an ongoing project to say the least.

[CACAdmin]

That looks absolutely amazing. Fantastic job! Buddy (my red-eared slider) wants to come and live at your house.:wink:

[mikebike]

at long last I have started adding fish to my pond.
It is not pretty, that will come later I hope:
trying to get a shot of the fish at night;
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1423.jpg
It is no easy to take photos of fish in a pond at night. You can see the water cascading into the pond:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1421.jpg
The fish like it in the corner with the plants, I hope they eat the duckweed<G>:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1417.jpg
You can see all the photos here:
http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/

I will be dividing part of it off for my 12 turtles (availible to good homes), more digging to do!

[CACAdmin]

12 turtles? :swoon:

[mikebike]

Yes a rescue in Vancouver had to shutdown and I volunteered to find good homes for them.

[CACAdmin]

What a wonderful thing for you to do. It's not easy re-homing turtles as often people aren't aware of how big they get, the amount of care they require and how long they live. Best of luck with the venture.

BTW, you've done a fabulous job with the pond. It looks fantastic!

[mikebike]

well the pond is well stocked now.
about 25 koi from 3" to 14"
10 Comets over 6 inch
4 Subunkins about 6"
50 or 60 assorted goldfish 2" to 5"
1 large brown Comet/carp about 6"
a scool of 5 Mounta white clouds thanks to Storm
1 3" Red Eared Slider (Junior)


I still have a small tank with an unknown number of MWC's probably 10 or 15 had to see with all the moss in the tank.

My 80 gallon pond tank inside still has another 10 fish to be moved.

Today I added about 100 fish, and moved my Laguna 2100 UV filter to the pond.
It now has 3 pumps running in it and I'm reworking a Howard Pool filter to make it into a pond filter which will have 3 layers of 1" pond filter material, 10 gallons of bio balls and about a foot of lava rock in the bottom.

I'm going to plug off the 2 - 2" lines and use the drain plug on the bottom for a return line and remove the pressure gage and drill it out to 1" and put a Tee in the top so I can put the gage back and use the tee for the supply.

I'm going to mount a spray bar inside to disperse the water over the filter mats.

This is a photo of my 10" one eyed koi:


It is black and white with a single gold scale:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1438.jpg

This koi is Bronze, gold, and black:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1444.jpg

This is a feeding ring I put in to keep the plants from spoiling my view:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1460.jpg

The turtles are not in the pond yet but the red eared slider and yellow eared slider like to have tug of wars over food:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1283.jpg

It was nice to sit around the pond this afternoon and drink a beer and toss kibbles into the feeding ring.

[Ursus sapien]

That's amazing, Mike. Good on you. I can't imagine the filtration involved.

[Laura]

It's looking good!
Nice find on the rescue plants - so many pond plants are ridiculously expensive.

[CACAdmin]

Beautiful koi... that's interesting that your "one-eyed" one has just a single gold scale. He/she likes to stand out in the crowd.

That picture of the turtles having a tug-of-war over food is priceless. :laugh:

[mikebike]

Yes the turtles normal don't get fresh fish.
I bought 25 feeders to fed the 5 at a time and when I changed the water 3 days later there were still 12 left.
The have grown accustomed to handfuls of duckweed and turtle pellets and any fish that die in the tanks.
That was a 4 inch yellow lab <sad>

I just took some more photos and got a couple of the little turtle to post later.

Cheers

[mikebike]

I took a few more photos.
This one is a purple fower on top of a 6 ft. long skinny stem:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1477.jpg
This one is my large koi crusing the feeding ring:
http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/?action=view&current=IMG_1469.jpg
Can you spot the small turtle?
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1472.jpg
This is the banana tree in the corner of the pond:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/IMG_1461.jpg
this is a night shot of Junior:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm311/mbikes/Pond/Juniornight.jpg
Cheers
Mike

[CACAdmin]

Junior is so cute... and yes, I spotted him in the earlier photo too. He must be in his glory out there. Do the turtles have a place to bask in the pond or do they simply get up on the egge of the liner (ie. next to the banana plant)?

[mikebike]

Junior is the only turtle in the pond so far.
He is small enough to climb out onto the lily pads to bask.
I also nave a boomerang shaped log floating in the pond for him to lounge on.

Yesterday I saw my fist dragonfly only 8 hours after putting in the last potted plants

Cheers

[CACAdmin]

You'll have to get a picture of Junior on a lily pad. That would be quite something to see.

I can't believe how great the pond looks already. It looks like it has been set up for ages.

[mikebike]

I had the head start by having all the plants from the pond I helped take down.

I have as many more still in containers for my plant filter tub..

[fan4guppy]

Great looking pond...

[Pamelajo]

Those turtles are so cute, I have always liked them if only they would stay that small.

[Catahoula Ranch]

awesome pond Mike, great job. Enjoyed checking out all the pictures, nice Koi too. Is your pond protected from predators? Looks like a smorgasbord.
:Smile:

[Diztrbd1]

You'll have to get a picture of Junior on a lily pad. That would be quite something to see.

I can't believe how great the pond looks already. It looks like it has been set up for ages.
I think Mike may have overlooked your request. He had this pic posted this on another thread elsewhere...such a great shot! Hopefully he don't mind me putting it up here for ya :)
The pond looks great Mike. Hows the new filter working out?

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l491/Misc67/IMG_1522-1.jpg

[Pamelajo]

I love this shot!!

[mikebike]

the new filter is working great.

But sadly my racoon proofing had a flaw, the racoon got in and tore up the plants and got a 6" brown carp and Junior has not been seen since.
:mad:

[CACAdmin]

But sadly my racoon proofing had a flaw, the racoon got in and tore up the plants and got a 6" brown carp and Junior has not been seen since.
:mad:
Sorry to hear that Mike. Will keep fingers crossed for Junior who might have survived and might just be spending almost all his time hiding after a such a scare. I sure hope so. He's such a cute little guy.

[Pamelajo]

I hope Junior is just hiding. Sorry to hear about the raccoon.

[mikebike]

I have a Racoon live trap but he prefers to harass the tanks.

[Diztrbd1]

Glad to hear the filter is working out, Sorry to hear Junior is nowhere to be found, hopefully he is just hiding out as others have mentioned. Friggin cats and raccoon are such a PITA when it comes to ponds. I lost several of my fav goldfish in my last pond, till I designed up a makeshift electric fence/wire. They stayed far away after that lol

[CACAdmin]

What preparations do you have to make, if any, for the pond for the winter?

[mikebike]

Hi Jay,
my preparations were made during the construction of the pond.
I buried 50ft of 3/4 inch Polly pipe under the pond 4ft 8inches below the pond surface.

I am pumping the water from the bottom of the pond through the pipe and back into the pond to allow the ground to warm the watter.
I also have another pump circulating the water in the pond and an air pump bubbling way in the pond.

It is still maintaining 60 F. water temp.

I cut the 7ft tall banana plant down a week or so ago that was in the corner.
It has pushed up new growth in the corner from the center, a new leaf over 16 inches tall

[CACAdmin]

That's ingenious to have thought of using ground temps to maintain water temps in the pond.

And, you have a very green thumb. I wouldn't have dared to cut down to banana plant for fear of killing it.

[mikebike]

I whack down the bananas every year.

I did wrap them up one year but the growth was no greater than the ones that I had cut to the ground in previous years.

I use them and the leaves from the boulevard trees to much the roots over the winter.

Cheers