Northern Virginia Backyard Koi Pond

[Rabungalow]

It's amazing how much light their eyes reflect

yeah, this owl appears to be a decent size too. I’m changing some things up in regard to predator control this year. I shut my pond lights off at 10pm instead of letting them run all night to make it more difficult for herons, raccoons, etc… I’ve also ordered the heron stop kit from the pond guy to see how that works out. I’m thinking because my pond has such step walls and very little shelf space for standing it should be effective. It will essentially negate any side for a heron to approach and hunt from the sides.

 

[Rabungalow]

cozy winter morning.

 

[GBBUDD]

Looks beautiful

 

[Rabungalow]

Getting closer to the bog rebuild. The Aquascape Snorkel, Centipede, and aquablocks arrived today. I just need mother nature to grace me with some better weather.

 

[GBBUDD]

By the looks of the pile of aquablocks your doing a single row centered over the centipede?

 

[Rabungalow]

By the looks of the pile of aquablocks your doing a single row centered over the centipede?

Yes, a single layer across the centipede and entirety of the bog if that’s what you meant.

 

[GBBUDD]

Nope, but what your showing now is what I hoped for that will do the job .better be careful I know that you had just built this pond and here you are a couple years latter like my self ripping and tearing it out and starting over.

 

[Lisak1]

You two could start a support group.

 

[Rabungalow]

Bog rebuild has begun today. What a bear lol.

 

[Rabungalow]

End of day 1. Forgot how much rock I put in this thing. Probably about 60% of rock out. Big stones are left to pull out.

 

[GBBUDD]

I feel yeah, I had 18 ,000 pounds in my bog when I rebuilt it.... ONE SHOVEL ONE SHOP VAC AT A TIME.. Istarted using the shop vac when i got deeper into the bog and sucked the rocks up to the edge then once it got full i just dumped it out but the dang thing had to weigh 300 pounds

 

[Rabungalow]

Ok so I was terrible at taking pictures to show everyone what the bottom of the bog looked like, but it was as I expected. A solid foot of muck and my DIY bog plumbing was completely clogged. I removed all the rock and muck with a shop vac. I excavated the hole a bit bigger to comfortable fit the new snorkel and pitched the centipede trench back towards the snorkel. Placed all the aquablocks and filled back in the rock. I definitely have a lot of left over stone with the aquablocks in there, but that’s alright. I redid the plumbing and put in my breather pipe. The pond and bog is operational again. Just need the water to clear back up as I made a bit of a mess in the back. I’ll work on the boulder placement and edging tomorrow.