So its been a while....

[Groundbeef]

Wow, it's been quite some time since I've poked my head in here! Glad to see the usual suspects are still around.

I haven't had much change in my AV life, although I did get a snazzy new Logitech remote after my old 550 passed away.

This October 8th the wife and I celebrated 17 years together. As her gift to me I finally purchased a DSLR (Canon Rebel T3i). W/out any hesitiation I can assure you that the folks on the photography boards are even more opinionated that A/V folks!

I took a few shots with it at my local pond, as well as a few at the pond I have by my house (literally...5 feet from the foundation, for Koi mostly).

Enjoy, and thanks for having me back. The first two were at the city park pond.





These are from my pond:





This was building out the pond this spring. It was originally 500 gallons, it's now about 1800 gallons.

Original:



Construction begins!





Filled and landscaped:

[bobsticks]

Beefy!! Whattup?

Good to see you checking in. Clearly you're having a good time with the camera...and developing a talent for it as well. Nice work.

[ForeverAutumn]

Beautiful pictures. I particularly like the bee.

Congrats on 17 years!

So, tell me more about your pond. Hubby and I inherited two small ponds with the house we moved into three years ago. However, the previous owners did not leave any of the motors or equipment with the ponds, and we don't really know what to do with them. So far, all that we've done is try to keep the mosquito population under control so that we aren't housing two breeding grounds for West Nile infected insects. We had a couple of frogs last summer...that was cool, but this summer was much dryer so we were able to keep the ponds dry for the most part (no water = no mosquito eggs). We'd like to pretty them up and get them running next summer.

[Groundbeef]

Ponding is a lot of fun.

In your neck of the woods, I would consult with some local pond builders to see how deep you need it to be. I have mine 24" deep, and last year they froze to about 14".

Aside from that, if you can find a kit at walmart/target now would be the time. They usually clearance them around now.

If you want fish, you will also need a Bio-Filter. It filters our all the particulate matter, as well as keeps the chemical balance of the water. (filters out ammonia from the fish waste).

A UV filter, although not required will also help prevent unsightly alge outbreaks.



A lily from the pond:



FYI mosquito dunks will not harm frogs or other wildlife. If you have fish they eat the larve, so you don't have to worry about it then. And they are cheap. Shouldn't cost more than a few bucks a summer (mosquito dunks).

Lastly...ponding is a sickness. My wife thought it would be stupid when we started with our first 150 gallons 'hole in the ground'. 4 years later we have 1800 gallons and several fish/frogs/crayfish etc.

Can't keep her away from it in the summer. Something to be said about sipping an adult beverage, and listening to the waterfall.

[ForeverAutumn]

I've been using the mosquito dunks for the last two years. They work reasonably well and I made sure that they wouldn't hurt the frogs or birds who seem to enjoy our big green puddles.

I need to find a good pond place in our area, I guess. There's a gardening centre near us that sells all the equipment but I haven't found the people who work there to be very knowledgable for the most part. You pond is beautiful! Do you keep the fish in it all winter?

[Groundbeef]

Yes, fish stay in it all year, with the exception to the Pleco alge eaters. They won't tolerate water temps below 50F.

I would bet in your area the pond would need to be about 36"-40" deep to allow the fish to hibernate in the winter at the bottom. The frogs go there as well.

I also have a fish aquarium bubbler set up outside to continue to pump O2 into the water all winter.

Some folks use a deicer or tank heater to keep the water free of ice. That's entirely too expensive for me, and not necessary either. I do occasionally melt a hole in the ice with hot water. Mainly to give the winter birds an opportunity to have some water to drink.

A forum I frequent for ponding has excellent resources for questions.

Ponds and Aquatic Plants Forum - GardenWeb

I have the same username as here, so I'm not too difficult to find there.

[ForeverAutumn]

Thanks for the forum link. I'll definately check it out when I have some free time. It might be a good winter project to learn what I can and prepare to get the ponds up and running next spring.

I'm not sure yet that we want fish. Our ponds are really quite small and there are lots of raccoons in the neighbourhood who enjoy a good fish dinner when they can get it. But I'm definately interested in attracting whatever wild species care to call our yard home without fish.

[Groundbeef]

If you have wildlife...don't use any shelves in the pond. Have the sides at least 24" straight down. They won't go in the water to feed if they can't sit. They don't like to swim for their food!

They won't get your fishies if they don't have somewhere to sit.

A little trick ponders use is they put the plants etc on milk crates (black) turned upside down. No where for raccoons/oppossums to sit, but the lilly's like it.

It's a fun hobby.