The pond...

Great all time classic, love it also.


BTW Russ....what Dago's yard wouldn't be complete without some concrete blocks and water ? Should really just fill it with Piranha, for those unwanted guests who never know when to leave.

msg wrote: »

That's pretty nice, Tony. And really surprising.
I would have thought your backyard would be one of either

1. Sixty to seventy loosely overgrown "concrete flats" scattered about the yard, each about 6ft x 2ft
2. Bare patches and backing up to train tracks and a bunch of industrial smokestacks.
   Like the bad guy's house in Silence of the Lambs.

LOL....everything serves a purpose pal. I have woods in back too should I ever feel the urge to use a shovel. Even serial killers did some kind of hobby to balance things out.

scubalab wrote: »

Looking good Tony! But... where's the Bocce court??

Funny you should say that, thought about it for awhile. Until I saw the grandkids playing horseshoes and the thought quickly left the building.

Then the lawn darts quickly entered the trash bin too.

The little monsters want Grandpa to buy them a dirt bike. I figured something small to start out on like a 50cc or 70. Mom said no, Grandma said no....but I did get an ok for either a go kart or atv. Tried telling them ATV's can be even more dangerous than a dirt bike, but you know....women.

Once the water temps get below 50, your not suppose to feed them. Actually, there is 2 schools of thought on it. Feeding them twice a day in warmer temps, and not feeding them at all, period.

Reason being for not feeding them at all is....then they won't look for food in your pond. Instead they wait for you to come along with the food. Some prefer them just eating what the pond offers, less waste, less algae.

I've not found that to be entirely true. Though they do wait for me to feed them, they still look for food in between feedings. The whole idea of a pond is to create a balanced eco system. The right amount of water, plants, fish so the cycle takes care of itself much like you see in nature. If you want something appealing anyway, with clear water. Both my ponds you can see a small pebble the size of a raisin at the bottom. No UV, Unless your more the swimming pool type. The UV, while it kills the bad bacteria, also kills the good, which helps keep your pond clean. So I don't use them. Made my own home made filters as I've found over the years the store bought ones basically suck.

Having a balanced system, in an area like Chicago, works for about 5 months out of the year. Once late fall and winter set in, nothing you can do about it....'till spring.

I throw a heater in the there for the winter, turn off the pump, fish do just fine. Keeps a hole in the ice and the fish go dormant anyway. I've had some winters where the heater crapped out and some fish froze solid in the ice. Believe it or not, they didn't die when they thawed out. Like suspended animation or something....cryogenics ,lol.

The bigger pond is about 2500 gal., little one about 750.

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Like most any cold blooded animal they cannot digest food past a certain temperature. That food then causes death when it starts the rot process inside the fish. That is why there are different foods for different temperatures. Understand completely Tony i had had a fish room for most of my life understand the ammonia cycle 100%. While i do disagree on the UV side somewhat UV is not necessary at all in 99% of the time. Good bacteria will be attached to some substrate within the system and never go through the light.

This is true, but like I said, depends on your goals. UV is a must for aquarium keepers and tropicals. If your goal is to mimic mother nature though, I've never seen a UV light out there.

The thing with bigger bodies of water is substrate. Too much and bad bacteria forms, such as with too many rocks in your pond. Stuff gets trapped, rots, and the process begins. Plus having to remove all those rocks every few years to clean out the muck, makes you question the logic behind it. So I don't put rocks in my ponds aside from some pea gravel pockets that have formed from stuff falling out of planters.

You need a good flow of water to keep rocks in a pond, much like you see in a moving stream. Still ponds though is another animal, ever pick up a rock out of a lake/pond and smell it ? Like rotten eggs, you don't want that in a small still pond. A UV light kills only the stuff going through it, yes, but the bad bacteria that builds up on substrate won't go through it either. This is why many have algae problems, with or without a UV. Has to be a balance, a ying and yang thing, for mother nature to work as intended.

Water changes are a tool, but unrealistic on 2500 gallons. Once in a while I'll do a 30% change and only once a summer. Daily is unheard of with ponds, especially since the chlorine you just threw in there promotes algae, kills good bacteria, and burns fish gills.

Water changes also don't do anything for the bad stuff stuck under rocks if you have them in your pond. That muck builds up and becomes toxic to your water and fish. If your in a climate that's warm year 'round, then yeah, water changes are a necessity.

I can't tell you how many people I know with ponds who wanted rocks in the bottom for aesthetics. Looks great for awhile, maybe one season, but next season it will be a mess and they just throw chemicals after chemicals to clean it up. The dead algae then creates more and feeds the toxic cycle. After 3 or 4 seasons, they rip the rocks out and find a layer of muck on the bottom that smells like a sewer. YouTube is loaded with videos of it.

One has to remember a pond is a confined water feature usually with limited volume of water and easily transformed into a frickin' sludge mess. the reason you don't see a lot of it in nature is because of sheer volumes of water in comparison, and it's always moving. Take your aquarium outside, let the rain, dirt, leaves, seeds, sun all bear down on it and see how long it will last, even with UV. Even the best filter won't keep that aquarium clean.

Mother nature has the formula, best to copy it as well as we can anyway.

I have seen some actually cement the rocks on the bottom, so nothing can get trapped in between them. That's probably a more acceptable solution to having rocks alone, but also a choir if you ever have a leak.

Last thing we want, least I do anyway, is yet another thing that requires bucket loads of maintenance. Another thing that turns into a project when we want to clean it. The right water volume, filtering, plants and ratio to water surface, amount of fish all need to be considered for a low care water feature like a pond.

Yep, not trying to, just that tanks and ponds are 2 different animals, with different concerns and approaches. They both share some similar problems, but ponds have a size factor that exaggerates those problems, plus being outside in the elements doesn't help either.

Most tropicals require pristine water anyway. I had a thought of keeping game fish in the bigger pond...but they are just too dirty. Tilapia ? Go catch dinner lol. Once you keep things as pets, it's hard to eat 'em.

Maybe one of these days I'll dig a large mud bottom pond for game fish. Wouldn't mind some Catfish, bass, sunfish....maybe a Walleye. I got the room, just be a huge undertaking.