Any ponders who are fed up?

It's a year since I made a pond, inspired by a friend of mine in my locality. Not many have ponds in our area. So I thouight of having one myself. And since then, it's been a lot of work. I did not know in the beginning that it takes some while to get settled. In addition to it, a lot of leaves that collected black dust from the tree that canopies the pond fell too frequently and made it really dirty. The fish too suffered and a lot of them died, making me uneasy - as if I brought them here to kill. Restless as I got to see plenty of fish excreta collect at the bottom, the more I got to clean it. I later came to know in the threads here that it is of no problem. But the smaller size could be a problem. After all the trouble, I'm contemplating on slightly reshaping my pond, making it a little more deeper and making sloping surfaces on a couple of sides. I have already begun the work of removing fish into a drum. My neighbour also has agreed to cut off the branch of the tree that canopies the pond this Sunday. I also noticed a hole in my liner on the side and water was seeping through up to that level. Have to repair that too. So, I have to start all over again! It is quite a lot of work. I noticed so many roots from the brugmansia and mussaenda plants 4 feet away. This evening I'm going to remove the water and put them to my plants and remove the remaining fish - there are a number of young ones that need to be saved. This past week, I have also collected about a hundred stones/rocks of small and medium sized, that someone had disposed off in front of their garden. To me, it is a good find! Please wish me luck in "re-ponding"!

Dinu

Good luck Dinu!
It's hard work but worth it in the end.

Thanks Crimson.

I agree, ponds are a lot of work. Every spring when mine thaws and has to be cleaned out and every fall when I have to catch the fish and take them inside, I think Why am I doing this!! But there is just something about sitting next to the pond on a warm day and watching the fish swim. It is so relaxing (until the filter breaks or the waterfall overflows or the dog falls in or the . . . ) It is a pain, but I think it is worth it. Good luck with your re-ponding!

Oh Gracious..... maybe we'll just stick with our Cheap & Easy no fuss, no muss little ponds. We totally enjoy it and it's no trouble to speak of

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/459321/

Judy

Dinu, I hope you feel more successful after fixing your pond problems! Let us know how it goes because I'm having my first pond dug tomorrow and figure I'll make plenty of mistakes getting it set up. Glad to hear that your neighbor will cut off the offending branch of the tree next door. That should make your life easier! Also, I do understand that larger ponds are actually easier to keep than small ones, just like a large aquarium is easier to keep than a small one. So maybe your idea of making the pond bigger will work for you. Best of luck and keep us up-to-date!
Melissa

I think one of the reasons ponding is so addictive is they are always in flux and no two are ever the same. There must be something in pond lovers that enjoys the challenge of constant change. When the conditions become too static, we just have to change something to start the process all over again. Jessamine

One thing is that sitting beside the pond is so relaxing, even in my case - having to live on a busy main road with plenty of traffic, the dust and all that. There is space for making a small pond. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/443969/ and this is perhaps what is keeping me going. At the expense of that much area where I could have grown a few more plants!

Today I sliced up the edges, after removing the liner and all the fish [put the fish in plastic drum and also the water lily plant]. There were so many snails. But I seem to have lost the fishlets while removing the water. :(

Increasing the area means for me is only by a few inches as I have chosen a rectangular area. Am just trying my best. I will also remove the inside shelf I made to keep pots and make it a slope. The bean-shape pond is not possible. Will have to think over it. The link I gave above has a few pictures to give an idea of my pond.

Dinu,
I have had a pond for about 4 1/2 years now. Brought it with me thru a move, and even though it has been alot of work, I can't hardly imagine not having one. Whenever we 1st started ponding I went thru tons of chemicals and it seemed like I would never get it right. But, since then I have learned a great deal. My husband and I bought a UV Sterilizer. That has been the BIGGEST HELP OF ALL!!!!! The only chemicals I have had to use since, is Prime. (Which Prime is the chemical to remove chlorine and ammonia) The UV Sterilizer keeps the algae (green and brown) under control and all of the other bad yucky things. This weekend we are getting ready to remove all of the leaves, and dead plant matter from the bottom of the pond from where I sink all of my plants to the bottom for the winter. And I am waiting for my UV bulbs to come in. The pet store orders them for ya. They need replacing every year whether they are blown or not, b'cause they will quit killing certain bad bacteria once the bulbs have been used all season. Since Koi and goldfish do not start to lay eggs until the water temp reaches 72 degrees, and remains that temp or higher-it is still safe for me to go ahead and remove all of the mushy slimey leaves and things. I hate having to do that, but I have to b'cause whenever we built this pond I wanted to try and keep it out of direct sunlight all day. Even though it gets plenty of sunlight, for me it has helped to keep down on the green algae by keeping it out of direct sunlight for the whole day.
I don't want to write a book or anything but I found this idea very helpful, I got the idea from Alhanks. I'm not sure if he's still a member of Dave's anymore, but this is the layout of it. At the top of my waterfall I have a black rubbermaid tub that is very durable, and I filled it with Lava rock like what would go in a gas grill. And some gravel. I washed it all real good to get rid of the residue. And it acts as a filter to go along w/my pump and UV sterilizer. And also the hose that comes out of my pump that is in the bottom of the pond I have a crate full of lava rock there where that is where the pump is located and that also works as a filter. If you'd like a more detail descrtion of that, I can ask my husband exactly how he has it fixed and I'd be glad to share that w/you as well. I take the lava rock from the crate and from the resovoir at the top of the waterfall out and clean it off w/the waterhose often. It is so much cheaper than all of the chemicals and it saves you ALOT OF LABOR!!!! And just so that you know, I paid about $140.00 for the UV Sterilizer and it has saved me lots of money on chemicals, time, and it is so much safer for the fish and cheaper.
Well, I hope this will help you and I apologize for being so long winded but I just wanted to share this w/ you so that you can start enjoying your pond instead of feeling like it is nothing but a huge pain!! And so that maybe you'll have much healthier and happy fish as well!

Good Luck and Happy Ponding!
Traci S

This message was edited Mar 18, 2005 10:40 AM

Thank you TraciS. Perhaps the good wishes of my dear friends has touched where they were meant for! It's just about two months now since I reshaped my pond as I had planned. For your information, I have not done too much work to keep it clean! Quite the opposite of my first attempt. I removed the damaged liner for repairs. Found as many as fifty little holes and one bigger one that was providing seepage. Repaired this one with a piece of the same liner cut from its edge and used a rubber adhesive to cover the hole. The rest of the tiny holes made by ants or may be termites were just covered with electric insulation tape. Removed more dirt from the pond bottom and sides to facilitate more quantity of water while I reshaped the sides into a shallow level - on both the long edges. Old used plastic covers and such other things were spread along the bottom for a cushioning and an extra lining. Then again, the liner was laid and filled with water. As I said, I got some lovely rounded rocks from the roadside someone had discarded. I have used them to my benefit and now my pond is a bit bigger in capacity, depth as well as in dimension. I had decided that I will not disturb the water at any cost come what may - a lesson learnt from my first attempt that it was not at all good for the pond. Now there are about just a hundred or so small fish. About 2 days back, the pond's bottom was visible, much to my exitement. I could see a dead fish sunk to the bottom, the first one to die since March, not for reasons for bad pond water, I suppose. Now the water has got crystal clear, a thing I had dreamed of! I have taken a couple of pictures but they are still in my film camera, the roll is yet to be completed.

I never use any chemicals, filter or pump! It has settled on its own, naturally. Now, I must observe how life goes on in it and how it stops troubling me by asking for constant attention. My dejection seems to have been improved with such good signs. Lesson: patience pays!

Dinu

What a lovely pond you have. It seems that your family also enjoys the tranquility that water brings.

Do post some pictures for us to see your progress! Patience is a virtue! Time does have a way of balancing out the ecosystem, so keep the faith!

mel

Thank you Mel. Will make sure of posting scanned pictures once my film roll is over. You speak of tranquility! Yes, I wish it was that way! There is a main road just outside, from where the noise from heavy traffic [esp. since 4 years] is becoming a nuisance, much to agonize a peace-loving person like me. Greenery and water makes me forget those at least for the moments I keep thinking of them and working there.

Dinu

Wow Dinu! That's not only a nice looking pond that was well designed with a plant ledge but that's a nice back yard. Yes, it would appear that patience does pay!

Also too, very pretty little girls you have!

Thanks Equilibrium. Last week I have observed that the water level is lowering quickly. Hope those holes are again not letting water go to the other side and it is only the summer heat - I really hope it is the latter as it was quite sweltering. Rains lashed last night and the level of the pond had gone up.

Dinu

For those with a choice, having a pond of an acre or so built for the water feature to dump into really makes it lower maintenance- we get a lot of leaves, pollen, walnuts, in our pools. but when the pumps come on everything in the waterfall/pool section gets blown into the big pond. Even large ponds have a life expectancy, but with good aeration, and about 10 grass carp, this can be very long, mine is 27 yrs. old, and is shallower then when it was built, but looks good with neither chemicals or a lot of effort, I felt like a slave to my backyard the first year or so, but now I want a bigger one!

That's nice Steve. I can't imagine an acre or water body! Even a square foot of land is so precious here in our city where space is getting smaller and smaller! :(

You seem to have a wonderful pond for 27 years! That is so very good. It also leads me to think that the larger the area, lesser the maintenance and effort. The smaller it is, more the maintenance. Yours seems to be 'with nature'.

Dinu