Adding Water, Plants And Fish To A Pond

[DutchMuch]

wait clarify that bar where they serve drinks or what

 

[qclabrat]

Husqvarna !

my Husky push just died this weekend, now I'm down two mowers and need to find a replacement fast. Grass waits for no one. Thinking of getting wide cut 33" type, as I'm hoping the Toro ZTR is repairable. I just put in a new engine this spring....

 

[qclabrat]

Nate - the first one day old baby to be able to push a lawn mower.

I don't mind pushing the lawn mower - it's good exercise. (Although talk to me in a few years...) I just don't like the fact that when the grass needs mowing it needs it now or else! Add a few weeks of lots of rain and it becomes a real chore.

me neither, nothing better than listening to a baseball game while mowing
But with the honey do and kids want list so long, I'm always pushing father time...

 

[sissy]

I like my 42 inch ones .But wish I had waited to buy the troy built as now they are giving the free cart with it and I need a new cart .Have to change the oil and filter

 

[addy1]

I love my Toro ztr We bought the triple deck one, it does a great job mulching the grass while mowing.

 

[qclabrat]

going to put in the pond liner in this weekend, any tips?
It's a fairly heavy EPDM liner, which weighs over 100 lbs
should I wet the liner? or heat it in the sun, etc?
how should I handle creases?

I will putting down roofing shingles on the sharp angles then moving blankets as a liner

also filling water, tips?

I don't plan or putting rocks on the bottom, or should I reconsider?
I've heard rocks are good bacteria growth and fish hideouts but can lead to leaks, so I have no idea now, help?

 

[sissy]

I put mine in the sun and folded it like it was a pie crust ,half and half to the middle and carried it in and folds on mine was easy since it is a rectangle it was like making a bed .Folds are something you can't get away from

 

[qclabrat]

my pond is angular especially the deep center, do i just put in the liner and while the water fills work out the creases?

 

[sissy]

I put in the liner and worked the bottom first and then the sides and then each corner once i was happy I started putting water in .I found it was easier to put socks on my feet with those rubber grip dots on them .You don't slip that way .

 

[qclabrat]

also need to buy some water conditioners in bulk for the initial fill,
Do I need anything special for just a dechlorinator?
I don't want to spend more for others

 

[sissy]

I have well water so don't use them .I should but don't .You can't even trust well water .Dechlor may or may not be needed since you have to wait to add fish .Any thing in the water should be broken down over time

 

[qclabrat]

I have well water so don't use them .I should but don't .You can't even trust well water .Dechlor may or may not be needed since you have to wait to add fish .Any thing in the water should be broken down over time

hmmm, i was told here I didn't need to wait, I'd like to add a few small fish this weekend
probably the small shubbies. I'm willing to add nitrifying bacteria and conditioners to get started. Digging took a lot longer than anticipated and now I'm short on time to get the fish out of the garage, I've only been feeding them a little every other day to keep the ammonia levels down. Also heading out of town for a few weeks in July.

 

[sissy]

I waited since I wanted to test my water often .My koi are over 2 feet long and I did not want to cause them harm .

 

[EricV]

I made a time-lapse video of my build process which you can see here:

At about 24 minutes is where the underlayment and water go in, at about 27 minutes I start to fill with water. What you can see is that I just roughly draped the liner in and then used the water pressure and some rocks I moved up from shelf to shelf to "mold" the liner into shape.

Fold the liner as you need it, probably in corners to get the overlaps.

For water, you just need de-chlor. Forget about bacteria, but I would let the water sit for 24-48 hours just to off gas anything else that might be in there. What I did was take a small amount of filter material out of my container pond that the fish were in and moved it over to the main filter when the fish went it. I added fish slowly and got a completely cycled pond without ever seeing a bit of ammonia, nitrite, or even nitrate.* Also keep in mind that water coming out of your hose is probably going to be 55 degrees and will take a day or two to come up to a temperature equalized with your holding tank. So take your time.

* Not quite true since my chlorine comes as chloramine, so I actually let the bacteria from the container pond filter take out that 0.5 ppm before transferring fish.

 

[EricV]

Oh, 100 lbs of liner isn't really a problem. You can just roll it out and unfold it next to the pond and then pull it over the pond a few feet at a time. Having someone help you would be good, but probably not strictly necessary.