Any pond people

They also have floating pond heaters that keep the surface water from freezing. Not too sure how much they are but that would help too.
 
Hey Grim,
Count me in as a donor if we can get together in the spring. I have the cat
tails that grow locally in my bogg area. I also have lillies and some others
that winter over. As long as you have a pump aerating over the winter via
waterfall there is no need to use a heater. Mine freezes over every winter
with no problems. I put catfish in mine about 3 years ago, and never saw
much of them until this year. It's pretty cool, now they come up to eat with
the koi. They don't eat out of my hand yet like the koi, maybe next year.
I would'nt add anything until the spring except possibly some items for the
koi to hide under. Watch out for Herrings. I saw one on my roof one day,
but have'nt lost any fis to them since my pond has trees all the way around.
 
Grim I would be careful about running the waterfall during winter. Sometimes it can circulate super cooled water to the bottom where the fish hibernate. From what I understand you just need a small pump to keep a hole in the ice to keep oxygen and gas exchange. You don't want the warmer water from the bottom flowing through the cold air for the fishes health. I ran mine for the last 2 years with a small pump close to the surface and everything lived and I had baby ryukins this spring
 
My setup is about 10 feet across and 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep in the center (Down to the rocks any way)

If has a Atlanic Biofalls 1900, Little Giant 5000 Skimmer with a 3700 GPH pump. The skimmer will prevent the warmer water from the bottom being circulated to the top. The falls has about a 3 foot pool maybe 8 inches deep. The stream is about 2 feet wide and maybe 12 feet long and enters the pond right at the surface maybe 3 inches over a large rock.

I was more concerned with the surface freezing up and blocking the water from entering the skimmer. I figure with a 340 watt pump it will add some heat. I was thinking I might add a floating heater right at the skimmer inlet. I may just wait and see. I did throw a few cheap fish in to hopefully get the thing balanced out over winter. We'll see if they survive. If not the bacteria will have something to eat over winter :D
 
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Hey Grim,
Count me in as a donor if we can get together in the spring. I have the cat
tails that grow locally in my bogg area. I also have lillies and some others
that winter over. As long as you have a pump aerating over the winter via
waterfall there is no need to use a heater. Mine freezes over every winter
with no problems. I put catfish in mine about 3 years ago, and never saw
much of them until this year. It's pretty cool, now they come up to eat with
the koi. They don't eat out of my hand yet like the koi, maybe next year.
I would'nt add anything until the spring except possibly some items for the
koi to hide under. Watch out for Herrings. I saw one on my roof one day,
but have'nt lost any fis to them since my pond has trees all the way around.

Cat tails, COOL!!! wanted to add some of those. This thing isn't big enough to do much in the pond but I want to get some tails and maybe some reeds going on the far bank.
 
Here are a couple pics:
pond1.jpg

This one is a bit out of focus:
pond2.jpg
 
Good Lord!!!

How much circulation do you ave going in that thing?

Those catfish you threw in should be eating size by now :D

Unfortunately the side of my yard that would ave been big enough to do something extravagant also has the buried telephone and electrical lines in it. At least power would have been easy to get to :D

If I really get into this I could see myself using what is here now as a bog and run a second stream over to a second pond more suited to Koi. Not sure I want to get THAT into it.

Still waiting for a little bridge but you get the idea of the size here. Just to the right of the pond is a big brick paver patio. We didn't want to dig out too close to that thing, it already has a large hot tub on it and I didn't want to take a chance of having anything destabilizing that thing.

pondday.jpg


pondnight.jpg
 
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