Small pond project

Pump and water fall working, I need more rocks for landscaping round the water fall.

 

Hi not much to report ive been busy with other things,

I've been using a Belfast sink as a bird bath other the last few months, anyhow some rocks I have was put in the sink so the birds could bath, I'm wanting to attract the birds to the pond and also needed the rocks, while removing them I have lots of little insects and some red things maybe blood worm ?, I'm guessing they will be ideal to transfer into the pond ?,

On the waterfall second and third pool ive filled with pea gravel to make it shallow for the birds, ive also put the fountain on the top of the pump, I will have to turn it down a little I'm getting too much splash,

Ive also put a CCTV camera over the pond, hopefully tomorrow I will make more progress, I'm very pleased with it, its a nice addition .

 

Looks really good, you are temping me into resurrecting our old filled in pond.

Will be interesting to view the pond via the cameras and watching the wildlife and the not so wild local cats, though I use one of those pir activated water sprayer that keeps them out of the back garden.

Just have to ask about your camera system, I have 4 wired cameras to a pci card and Swann software, but it does not work on W10, only up to W8.1
Wondered what software your was and if it does W10; though suspect you will be using the more modern wifi cameras ?

 

Thank you Ricky, get it dug back out, I cant believe how quick its gone in, I bet I haven't spent more than five hours work installing it,

Yes it will be nice to see what turns up on CCTV, a few weeks ago I noticed a frog/toad hopping along the lawn on one of the cameras,

I have a similar CCTV system maybe four years old now, its nothing special just cheap and cheerful I have it connected to a DVR in the loft, from the loft Ive run one separate cable to another TV in the living room,

You should be able to install remote viewing software to view yours on W10, or maybe run a cable from the card to tv ? I'm quite sure they will be a work around,

More work done today, I just need two/three more rocks to cover the wood on the water pump and a few plants to go round the rockery and its finished,

Bought a plant set i don't know what plants ive got but there was four in the basket, and I had to recue two goldfish , the chap in the shop said they will be ok without the pump been on,

I didn't realise the margin plants needed to be raised slightly out of the water so raised them up, one corner ive put rocks for birds to bath and wildlife to climb in and out,

And here's the more or less finished project .

 

Just a tip re. water lilies and fountains/moving water. They don't get on, so best to locate the lily as far away as possible from the pump and fountain.

 

Thank you I was told this when I bought the plant, the pump will only be on from time to time, I would have to take the lily out of the pond to get it way from fountain or waterfall its only a small pond as you can see, if it dies I will replace it with something else many thanks though .

 

Looks better and better, sure you don't have a spare afternoon to come up and do mine ...

See you have got a couple of goldfish , though they do eat some of the smaller pond life, with all those plants, which should soon grow into larger clumps, they will give the critters many places to hide and survive.

 

You are doing a grand job, was pleased though to see the stones as per pic as I still have sad memories from 50+ years ago as a child, I made a 2 x 2 foot `pond` from a sheet of polythene, got some fish from the local stream and some frog spawn. The fish all died after a week or so but the spawn went to tadpoles and then little frogs. On a lovely sunny day I noticed (or decided) they couldnt get out of the pond so I sat them on the edge of the `pond`and the sun fried the lot of them :-( A few days later a dead sparrow drowned in it as it couldnt get out.

Polythene in the bin and `pond` filled in. Sometimes we learn from our mistakes.

 

Thank you Ricky, if your not two far away I don't mind popping over and give you a hand just let me know

My grandkids will appreciate the fish first thing they wanted to look at today was the fish, ive not seen them from putting them in so they was a little disappointed , ive not seen them floating so guess there still in there somewhere ,

All the four shelves have rocks and ive put a few in the bottom so like you say some critters should survive .

Thank you Scudo, it was only from good advice here why the rocks are in ,

Yes we all make mistakes if we remember them like you have from a we nipper we should never make the same mistake twice, a person who has never made a mistake has never made nothing ,

Pond more/less finished a few little bits to do but this is about as good as it gets .

 

Think you will prizes for pond design at this rate !

Don't worry, thats quiet normal, all the moving around from the shop, the change of water and temperature and into a large pool they do not know, so they go straight to the bottom and hide.

I used to put a clay plant pot in the bottom so they have a 'safe' place to hide.

Once they realise its safe they will come out and up more, tempt them with a little flake food or even some live food if you bought some from the fish shop.
However, just pinch of food, the biggest problem is over feeding as they do not know when to stop and you end up polluting the water they are in.

If you tap the edge of the pond lightly or flick the water before you feed, they do get to know its you coming to feed them, even feeding direct from you hand in time.

enjoy

 

Thanks Ricky I will take on board your advice, I did get some small pellets for them, ive also noticed some small critters already in the pond so they will be able to help themselves to live food, also in the Belfast sink the little red things are blood worm I will transfer them into the pond tomorrow, thanks again for your help its made the project a walk in the park ,

The water was a lot clearer yesterday ive not put any cleaner in maybe the pebbles in the water fall is helping, I'm not concerned if it goes coloured, its in a spot with not too much sun but it does get some at various times of the day, from what ive read its in a good spot to keep clear naturally time will tell ,

Guess just leave it now and let nature take its course .

 

A few bits done, put stone shelves in the pond more rockery in place including covering the wood round the hand pump,

The lily's doing ok it must be happy its already put up a new leave and another two on the way, the water is remaining quite clear, I noticed a few sparrows having a drink out of it this morning,

I've repositioned the CCTV and see the fish every night, they like to hide near the bottom through the day, but I did see one of them under a lily this afternoon .

 

That's a fantastic job Martin , well done

 

Liking the pond Martin!

If you haven't already, you might want to buy a dechlorinator filter attachment for your hosepipe if you've got fish. That link is the first one I found and seems pricey but, assuming your pond is 10 cubic metres in volume and you do a 10% water change each week then this filter will last you 200 weeks (2 years). So the price of a healthy fish is about £1 per week.

People usually say that chlorine evaporates from the water so it's ok to fill the pond with tap water. But people forget about chloramines which do not evaporate. It's an irritant and effects fish's gills when they breath, eyes (it's like when you go to the swimming pool and your eyes go red, except the fish can't get away from it and don't have eyelids) and mucus layer (which protect the fish from bacteria/parasites/infections). Also, without the chlorine/chloramines, you'll get a better build up of nitrifying bacteria in the pond which will help convert the ammonia (fish waste) in the water to less toxic chemicals.

Worth considering

Keep us updated

Rad91

 

Thank you KFF

Thank you Rad ,

I've only put two goldfish in, I want to keep it as natural as possible, reading up plenty of rocks and plants help maintain a healthy pond so ive put plenty in,

On occasions when I do have to top up I will use rainwater, many thanks for the tip and information though .

2. The presence of rocks and gravel make it difficult to clean your pond.

You are susceptible to buying into this myth if, and only if, you've never experienced pondering with rocks and gravel in your pond. If you have a smooth-bottom pond, and each season you're amazed at the amount of muck and grime that collects on the bottom, you automatically rule out rocks as a solution. You keep visualizing that same amount of muck on top of the rocks and gravel and say, “NO!” to even considering them. It's understandable. It seems logical . . . until you learn the rest of the story.

Rocks and gravel offer a natural place for aerobic bacteria to colonize and set up housekeeping. This bacteria breaks down the fish waste and debris that would otherwise accumulate in the pond and turn into sludge. Regardless of your pond's location (i.e. close to trees and loads of leaves), or how many fish you have in it, you'll find that having rocks and gravel in your pond not only makes it look better, but it makes it healthier as well.

So contrary to the myth, having rocks and gravel on the bottom of your pond actually allow Mother Nature to clean up herself, saving you headaches and hours of work trying to keep the bottom of your pond muck-free.