And so it begins...

[beerfish]

That looks like it would be pretty easy to implement, and I had planned something similar for the pump anyway. I may try that method for now and start looking at skimmers. Thanks!

 

[Dave 54]

Dave, I don't really have another place in the yard that I can put the pond, and I appreciate the concern. I've relegated myself to the fact that this is going to be a high maintenance pond and the roots do scare me. I'm going to use a proper underlayment and I plan on draining the pond from time to time to check for any protrusions that could cause punctures. Maybe I'm out of my mind, maybe I'm an optimist, but I'm in the middle of a forest on a mountain, so if I want a pond, this is what I'll have to deal with.

My wife and I make a lot of soaps, balms, etc, and the propolis is great for those. I hadn't thought of it as an additive for fish food, but that's a great idea. Once the hive gets stronger, we're hoping to add a propolis trap to increase our collection of it, so I'll let everyone know how that goes.

Yes you can do two thing with propolis its great for finishing of the treatment of wounds say if you have to add malachite Green to a ssite of damaged scales or where a parasite like anchor worm has been attached or add it to your koi's pellets just soak them in it its a great health boost for them we have two types one in spray form the other in liquid .
You'd have to figure that one out for yourself to get it to spray.
We get ours from health food stores it costs less than at a koi dealership £5.45 as opposed to £9.99 + in some cases .
Weve been adding it to foods and using it on wounds for years now the liquid is high potency Propolis 50% and MPG Mono Propylene Glycol unfortunately I dont have the box for the spray but will go and get one within the next few months and get back to you with its ingrediants

Dave

 

[beerfish]

Looks like Glycerin or Propylene Glycol are the usual solvents. Both are easy to come by. I may have to give that a shot.

 

[Lisaebetten]

So after two days of digging over two weekends, with the help of my brother one day and a friend that skipped the gym on another, we've finally got most of the pond dug out. It's a uniform 18" right now, and I'm planning on going another 6" or so in the middle and possibly building up some of the shelf back to 12". I think one more day of digging should do it. The final size is about 14'x9'.

In between dig days, I've been busy researching flow and trying to figure out how I want to aquascape it. I'm looking at 5200 gph with around 4000 diverted to an 18" waterfall, and the rest T'd off to provide additional movement as a jet. I'll probably cut out an area in the shelf to hide the pump and plumbing.

My next challenge is going to be running electricity to the pond. I'm probably going to install a GFI outlet on the outside of the garage and run as much as possible underground through grey PVC. Last year we bought the bee hives, this year is the pond, and next year we'll hopefully do chickens, so I want to make sure that there's enough electric for that as well.

While I contemplate the electric, I'll slowly be buying everything. Liner, underlayment, pump, waterfall weir, lights, and rocks... LOTS OF ROCKS. I tend to be at Lowes or Home Depot at least 2x a week, so I'll just grab some each time I'm there so that I don't destroy my suspension.

Anyway, here's the pics, and any advice is more than welcome. This is my first pond, so please make suggestions!


View attachment 71158 View attachment 71159 View attachment 71160

Your work site is sooo tidy!!! Mine looks like a dirt bomb went off!

 

[Lisaebetten]

So after two days of digging over two weekends, with the help of my brother one day and a friend that skipped the gym on another, we've finally got most of the pond dug out. It's a uniform 18" right now, and I'm planning on going another 6" or so in the middle and possibly building up some of the shelf back to 12". I think one more day of digging should do it. The final size is about 14'x9'.

In between dig days, I've been busy researching flow and trying to figure out how I want to aquascape it. I'm looking at 5200 gph with around 4000 diverted to an 18" waterfall, and the rest T'd off to provide additional movement as a jet. I'll probably cut out an area in the shelf to hide the pump and plumbing.

My next challenge is going to be running electricity to the pond. I'm probably going to install a GFI outlet on the outside of the garage and run as much as possible underground through grey PVC. Last year we bought the bee hives, this year is the pond, and next year we'll hopefully do chickens, so I want to make sure that there's enough electric for that as well.

While I contemplate the electric, I'll slowly be buying everything. Liner, underlayment, pump, waterfall weir, lights, and rocks... LOTS OF ROCKS. I tend to be at Lowes or Home Depot at least 2x a week, so I'll just grab some each time I'm there so that I don't destroy my suspension.

Anyway, here's the pics, and any advice is more than welcome. This is my first pond, so please make suggestions!


View attachment 71158 View attachment 71159 View attachment 71160

Drive around some farm fields and find their rock piles and get rocks for free as most farmers just want them gone!!! Keep your eyes peeled and you will notice things that you've always missed.

 

[beerfish]

Your work site is sooo tidy!!! Mine looks like a dirt bomb went off!

Hahahaha! That's not by choice. That's what you call... "The wife let me have a pond, let's keep her happy!" LOL

 

[beerfish]

Drive around some farm fields and find their rock piles and get rocks for free as most farmers just want them gone!!! Keep your eyes peeled and you will notice things that you've always missed.

Not a lot of farms around here, but I will look! That's great advice, thanks!!!

 

[beerfish]

So it's been a rough couple of months, but I finally made some progress worth posting about! I'm hoping to get the waterfall and the aquaponics bed plumbed tomorrow, but I officially have a pond!!!

 

[Big Lou]

Congratulations!

 

[Fishylove]

Awesome! Looking good! I too am directly under three huge maple trees and surrounded by many more near by. I remedied it by netting the pond with deer netting, or you could use bird netting, just before the leaves start to fall. TIP: If you have a black walnut tree, they are the first to loose there leaves in the fall. When I see them turning yellow, it's time to cover. To keep the net out of the water you just need to find things you can use to tie and drape the net over, keep it a couple feet off the water. I also keep mine on all winter, because some of the trees around here hold on the their leaves.... So I leave the nets on till it's time to turn on the filters and start her up again.

 

[j.w]

Nice job!

 

[Lisaebetten]

Great you have water!!! Whats next on the to do list?

 

[beerfish]

Great you have water!!! Whats next on the to do list?

Next I get the plumbing finished and get some rock in place. Then more plants and some fish!

 

[addy1]

Good luck with your bees that close, this is our first year with them, they have been nice, testy, aggressive, chasing, back to nice. I had one chase me, get tangled in my hair and do a head sting................I was picking tomatoes.
We have them up on a hill away from the pond, they sure do love to drink from the stream and different ponds. Sure do love seeing them around the yard, love watching the hives and all of the activity.

 

[beerfish]

We've had pretty docile bees, and we'll re-queen if they start showing aggression. We basically built the pond so that they'd always have a fresh water source and not go to our neighbors pools, so I'm not too worried!

Neither of us have been stung yet, and we changed a feeder yesterday with no gear on while wearing flip-flops.