New Pond In Progress

YES I DID. PLEASE CALL ME IMMEDIATELY IF THE MAN I SPOKE TO WAS WRONG.

Will do! I'm going to drive up there late morning! :) If it's still there, it needs to go to your pond! (If it's reasonably priced!)

Thanks Mary

Ok, so I drove there and saw it leaning against the wall on the outside of the building. I asked how much it was (because I was getting ready to call you and be the proxy payment person) but they said "oh it's not for sale"....I said then "why do you have it on the lot of things for sale?"...they said "oh it's the owners, and we get asked at least once a day about it, because everyone wants to buy it"....so I said "well if everyone want's to buy it, why doesn't he just sell it or get it off the 'for sale' lot?" ....they said "oh I know...I know..."

and that was that....it's there, just not for sale....

:/ I tried.....

What a shame!!!

You'd think someone would put a "Not for sale" sign on it!

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS MARY. Waited until noon and when I didn't get your call I figured we had better seek an alternative.
Right now we have a very pressing issue with the leak which I fully believe is around the simmer face plate. Charlie took it apart and put more silicone on it but I don't think enough. I am going to redo it myself and really gunk it up plus some Rockin Foam. Got to get it fixed as water thats in bottom will become very stagnant and I don't want that.
Went to Lowe's yesterday and immediately found what we can use for fishing shack. Cement board (hardy board). It is waterproof and should last till I croak. Paint it Cape Cod blue with light gray trim and a fake door and window. Wood shakes for the roof. I told Jeff he is responsible for the roof that opens up to which he said Dad I think I need your help.
Hope everyones fish are happy and healthy.
Bonnie

that sounds like a grand idea. Your pond will be such a sight when it is done. Wish I could come down and share a glass of something or other with you by your pond. So many nice people down there.

Oberon,
Charlie is out digging up today. Appears one of the corner 45 degree folds slippeddown inside so he has to take waterfalls out and 4X4 to get to it. Whatever it is we will get the leak problem solved. The water thats sitting in the bottom now is full of tadpoles by the ton.
You are certainly welcomed to come down for the celebration. Husb. said you really have guts to own a pond in Alaska. I told him we are a devoted bunch of people. We love our fish. It's additive and we sure could have worse additions.
Wtih all this rain we have had my plants look wonderful. Some places are flooded but not us. We really could use some more rain. Our chain of lakes which Lake County is famous for is still very low. Merry Mary in Ocoee is experiencing low lake levels also. She's about 12 miles from me. I've never seen her place but I'm sure she is littered with fish and plants also from her descriptions.
Temps here today are supposed to go up into high 90's. Ug! Got to get my swimming pool back in good shape. My grandsons want to swim with the fish. Maybe fish wouldn't mind but whats in the water I'm sure wouldn't be good for the kids.
Happy Ponding.
Bonnie
PS I'm a blueberry juice and ice tea drinker so come on down.

thanks for the (somewhat prompted lol) invite. Doubt I will ever get that far south. Glad you located your leak but sorry it is in such a miserable spot. I hope that will put an end to the water leaking and you can go forward with your creation. I planted some creeping jenny along one side of my pool. Hoping it will creep over about 12-15" of flat stones to drape into the pond. That will hide the 10" or so of lining that shows. Not that I care a lot. Just glad I have a pond that is easier to clean. speaking of which, I really need to haul out the vacuum and do a good job. Have to get on the waders I think to move pots and refertilize, vacuum, then put them back. I have nasturtiums getting ready to drape down over the big rock at the deeper end. Figure by July or so it will look pretty good.

Reading Oberon46's last message reminds me that I need to buy a new pair of waders. Does anyone have a suggestion of a good place to shop for them on the web?

Oberon,
Sounds like your pond will be really beautiful when all the plants get grown out. Don't forget pics come July.
Charlie thinks he has cured the leak. He took wterfall down took off 4X4 and pulled up droped part of liner which was hidden by the outside layer. We'll wait 24 hrs. and see if it doesn't drop again I'll do the Happy Dance.
Pond Love,
I've seen waders in DrsFosterSmith.com and also PonGuys catalogue. Never wore waders in my life and down here they would be awful hot. I wear old shorts & shirt and just jump in my pond to work on plants or lift out any debris.
I am looking forward someday to buying a pond vacuum. One I was looking at sucked deep enough to also be used on my pool which at times would be really handy.
PL: waders at Bass Pro Shop, Carbalas and Gander Mountain. All are sport shops.
Bonnie

Bonnie, I have jumped right in to the pond without waders, too. The fish like to nibble! Since I'm in the mid-Atlantic area, the water can be a little chilly in the spring and fall. That's when waders come in handy for me.

If above 70F I also go in with shorts sometimes.

Yahoo, not leaking so I put some plants in and good bacteria etc. July 5th I'll test water and if its OK I'll start moving larger fish. They will be so happy to have more room.
After I moved large cobblestones today for around edge I sat down and listened to both waterfalls and fell asleep right in the chair under the oak tree.
Next step is to get deck boards for walkway. Then hardy board for closing in falls. I'm going to attempt to make it look like a little house or fish shack. I'm brave.

Will take more pics when its really finished. (if thats possible).
Bonnie

Nice work. Do you have any pictures of the old pond anywhere or are you saving those for the end (before and after shots)?

I'm not very good at finding pics once I put them on PC. Please go to a post I think its called waterfalls and put on by Newtonsthird law. Hope that right. Some are of old pond and I think some of new pond waterfalls which are raised up higher. I'm ok there are some of waterfalls in new pond right on this thread. We have a few more things to build to finish area up. I'm anxious to get koi and larger fish to new pond but I'm being careful and waiting and checking water so I hope don't loose any.
Bonnie

Today Charlie is working on little fish shack roof. It is salt box style. Don't ask me why. He has to figure out all the angles to cut in order for it to open up right so I can get down inside and clean it out when needed. I usually rince out all filtration at least once a mo. Got front piece that will go under spillway painted and I'm waiting for him to cut other 3 pieces. Bought cedar shakes yesterday at Lowe's for shingling roof. Bought trim for corners and also PVC trim to outline faux door and window. I think that Hardy board we bought for whole house will hold up pretty good in the weather here. Wood is no good in Fl. for lasting. Rots too quickly.
It's very hot here so I am painting inside of Charlies workshop with 2 fans on. Pretty comfortable.
I'll be glad to stand in pond to screw front piece of shack up. When its tog. I'll put on some more pics.
Keep cool all.
Bonnie
PS Can't wait to transfer fish to their new home.

Hi all....
Bonnie, sounds like you're making great progress! I was stuck in Baltimore with 106 degree weather and the storm of the century that left so many without power and trees downed everywhere.
Trying to use today as a day to make some sort of progress in the back yard. But boy it's hot, taking breaks often. The mosquitos are also bad when I get in the shadey areas.
As I attempt to dig everything up and get it into pots, so I can demolish my backyard for the new pond, I've been putting my smaller fish into the premade type ponds (the kind you get at Lowe's, etc) The one smaller pond has marble mollies and guppies in it. They've been in there for a few months now. Interestingly, it seems they have cross bred. I googled it to see if that really could happen, and although rare, it said it occassionaly can. My one molly apparently has some yellow speckles on his forehead, and a blue tail! I'm going to try and get a picture of it, just because I think it's odd but pretty cool too! :)

Seems strange doesn't it that northern states have it hotter than we do. I feel very sorry for them.
Look forward to seeing pic of your new breed of fish. Sounds very interesting.
Bonnie

Hi All,
Got front of house put on today in front of falls. Just one piece but better than nothing.
Couldn'g wait any longer so drained old pond down cleaned up some plants and put in new pond. Also, transfered all fish that are going to new home. Have a hard time finding them in there. 20 fish in there seems like nothing.

Ok Merry Mary- ready for fish and any water plants you don't want.

Just give me a buz as to what day. Hopefully next Tues or Wed. Jeff and I are going to his friends place to get more hyacinths. I need a ton now. Fish just love them and theya re great water filters.

Bonnie

Yay! I'm ready to unload a few! I'm so happy you are screaming along with your pond!
:)

Jeff only has 2 in his little pond now so I'm sure he will welcome some too. We always share. He brought over 6 butterfly koi he had for me to make grow bigger in old pond and says he will take them back when they get larger. LOL
All fish seem to have settled into their surroundings. Water perameters are good.
Have a good week all.
Bonnie

Bonnie, sent you a dmail.

So.....went to see Bonnie's new pond yesterday....What a great pond! Congratulations Bonnie on a job well done! Having a hubby and son who want to get their hands dirty too, must have been a huge help. I'm sure there will be years of enjoyment ahead of you.

Have a large female matsuba that was SO overly filled with eggs she couldn't move. She didn't spawn for some reason, so I injected her the other day with "fish hormone" that makes them spawn within a few hours. All others were in the mood, but she still did nothing. I tried to manually express her, but only a small amount of eggs came out, so I put her back in the pond to not further stress her. She didn't look good when I got back from Bonnies, but was still hanging in there, but just barely.
This morning I checked on her and she was dead (which I expected actually) I did a necropsy on her, and it was amazing how many eggs were inside of her. She was about a 16-18 inch fish, and had probably a Folgers Coffee can full of eggs inside of her. Wow! No wonder she couldn't get them out! All other organs were healthy. Of course I took pics, but not everyone can see the inside of a fish, so decided to not post them, lol.
I'll miss that one, she would eat out of my hand and was very calm in nature. I guess it's just the circle of life (don't make me sing a Disney tune here)

:)

Here are pictures of her from about a month ago, and you can see how large she already was. She probably doubled in size after the pictures were taken.

Oh Mary,
I am very sorry. I had that feeling something was radically wrong. She must have been suffering.
Not many people know what to look for when cutting up a fish. I've cut up a few but that was to eat.
I'll change the subject.
I'm sure you got my D-mail thanking you for all the really beautiful fish. They have settled in real well and seem calm. Jeff is happy with the ones he took home.
Just want you to be aware of the joy you spread by sharing.
Look forward to when we can get tog. again. Will let you know if we get hyacinths today.
Bonnie

Mary

II am sorry - makes me think of the Mary (snapple) with Mama Koi. I am beginning to think egg impaction is more common than I originally thought.

Bonnie - Glad to hear that everything has come together for you. Can you post pictures of the final product?

MerryMary

So sorry to hear about your fish, I find it very fascinating that you know what to look for when you did the fish necropsy. I would love to see pictures of the necropsy if you wanted to send by regular email? just pm me and I'll send my email.

Now that I'm down here I have thought about a small pond but one deep enough to have a few koi, but don't know the first thing about them. So holding off for now, as I'm just going to live through yall.

Jan

Jan....We certainly can help talk you through your pond! That's what we're here for, and none of us are shy! :) Sending you a few pics on your dmail of the egg impaction.

Thanks MerryMary.

Jan

Mary,
Got 3 construction garbage bags full of hyacinths yesterday so have plenty to share with you. Wanted to see the mans fish but he keeps his ponds very natural and they were really too brown to see much of anything. It rained on us off and on all aftrernoo.
Carolyn,
We are working on the little fish shack and Charlie just has frame up and wants to wait until he gets that done before pics. Hope you don't mind.

The new pond is going thru exactly what others went thru. Brown water now that it has fish in it. I used to panic but not anymore. It will clear in time and if not then I'll buy a pressure or bead filter for it. We are running low on $$ to keep spending on the pond. I can see them some so I'm ok with that.
Jan,
As Mary said we can all help you with a pond. I'm sure I could write a book on what NOT to do.
Experience is always the best teacher and I'm still learning and have had a pond for going on 5 years.
Bonnie

Thanks Bonnie, however, we do live in a rental house and the owner is very particular what I have in the yard.... I've won to have grow bags for my veggie garden, so that is a breakthrough. I'm hoping that this time next year we will be a house of our own and then the fun will begin and the first item on that agenda is a POND!....

Jan

A bead filter!! Talk about creme de la creme of filters. I looked at one but it was sooo expensive. Perhaps I should have done it anyway considering the incremental cost of adding parts and pieces. lol

Jan, I understand. I sure wouldn't put a pond on rental property considering the cost and work.

Oberon,
Have no idea of the cost. I'm waiting for Mary Merry to install hers and get a report from her. She said she got a good deal at the fish show in Orlando. Usually when they are packing up to go home is the best time to approach a company, It was the same way at all the drapery conferences I attended over the years. I'll be patient and see if it clears up on its own. We have the waterfall with lots of filtration medium in it and also in skimmer. Old pond is doing fine with that same setup but thats much smaller. Time will tell.
I've learned over the years everytime I try to save on something I usually get taken in other ways regarding the purchase so I'm leary of cuting corners too close. What the heck go for the gold.
I won't look them up yet don't want to get scared off. LOL
Bonnie

I've learned over the years everytime I try to save on something I usually get taken in other ways regarding the purchase so I'm leary of cuting corners too close.

Bonnie this is so true isn't it.....

Jan

Bonnie

Of course I don't mind - but am looking forward to the pictures when you can post them.

Jan - While you are in a rental, you can put together a small watergarden with a waterlily in a whiskey tub with a liner. I have seen some really cute ones.

Thanks for your patience. Believe me I'm anxious to see it all put tog. also.

Great idea about the tub with liner for water garden. Thats something she can take along with her to new home.

Bonnie - you must be very excited! I would be.

I have a large water bowl with minature lilies in it....It's just like yet another "pond adventure" on my deck...it blooms and looks lovely!