Anyone with 5,000 + gallon pond and larger then 16x20 ft?

[callingcolleen1]

My ponds have both lights, but there is lots of dark areas still, never noticed the fish swimming funny, but maybe my lights are soft and gentle, will look close again at night and see if anyone swims funny,

Sissy My ponds are only 3.5 feet deep and they don't freeze solid, have a 1500 watt cattle heater that I use when the temp falls below minis 12 or 15 degrees. A few inches of ice is good for pond.

 

[HARO]

Many, if not most, fish will orient themselves so that an equal amount of light strikes both eyes; this keeps them upright in normal circumstances. When a strong enough light shines from the side, the fish will lie on its side, with its back to the light. I've walked into my 'fish room' (long gone now) many a morning to find most of the fish lying on their sides as if dead; turning the tank lights on quickly brought them back to life!
John

 

[waynefrcan]

That's funny lying on the side like dead. Never saw that before. What kind of fish were they? TRopicals?

I did have one of those fat bellied goldfish, that relaxed upside down all day lol.

 

[HARO]

Oscars were the worst for doing that, as well as other large cichlids, smallmouth bass, and a small (8") gar. The oscars even reacted to different spectrums of fluorescent bulbs; I believe it was a Plant-Gro that caused them to lie on the bottom for a few days before I clued in!
John

 

[callingcolleen1]

Weird, never saw that before with the little underwater pond lights, maybe there not bright enough to do that, but the lights under the lillys at night look just awesome!

 

[addy1]

Weird, never saw that before with the little underwater pond lights, maybe there not bright enough to do that, but the lights under the lillys at night look just awesome!

agree!

 

[waynefrcan]

Very pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I see no bottom rocks lol Please for the fish just chuck in a few here and there, please!!!!!!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Very pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I see no bottom rocks lol Please for the fish just chuck in a few here and there, please!!!!!!

Oh jeez... I see from your gallery (if you still live in the same place) you dont have many trees in your yard. But if you have ever had large trees near your pond and had to scoop leaves from the botom of your pond with a net, you would HATE having rocks in the bottom of your pond, Bare bottoms for me!!! (and yes, im talking about my pond, I still have my pants on )

 

[HARO]

You related to Sissy??? :redface:
John

 

[ididntdoit99]

Me? or Wayne?

I think the rocks look cool, his pond pictures look great, but I cant stand when im trying to net the bottom of my pond and hit stuff. I have one big rock that fell down there and i havent gotten in there to get it out yet. Pretty annoying.

Very pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I see no bottom rocks lol Please for the fish just chuck in a few here and there, please!!!!!!

I thought that was kind of funny too... Please, for the fish! lol I dont think my fish care if they have rocks below them, in fact, if I filled the bottom of the pond with rock, that would proabbly displace a couple hundred gallons of water and give them less room to swim. So please, for the fish, remove the rocks Sorry, just giving you a hard tiem Wayne.

 

[addy1]

Very pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I see no bottom rocks lol Please for the fish just chuck in a few here and there, please!!!!!!

lol that is a depth of 5 plus feet, dark, you wouldn't see rocks even if they where there, which they aren't. The light is pointing up, the other is pointing across the pond towards the camera.

 

[waynefrcan]

If you have a pond skimmer with a collection basket and fine mesh, that will collect 95% of any floating and semi floating debris. Grass clippings, leafs, algae etc. The waterfall and skimmer box were Aquascape products. OK for that time.

My new pond I put in Savio waterfall & skimmer. Way better system with more mesh and bio filter media.

Yes I moved. I came back 3 years later and happy to say the new buyers are keeping up the pond. Even added a live duck, wow!

 

[callingcolleen1]

I do have some rocks here and there around the edges, but you can't see from that night shot cause the light sits close to the bottom and shines up under the Lilly's giving them a floresent color, and then you can see super cool fish shadows that reflect under the Lilly pads of the fish swiming around. Addy, that would be sooooo cooool under your lillys, you would just love it ! Get set of three at least, specially cause you got tons of pads!!!

Here's a picture of the rocks around the shelf edges, but at the bottom, it's useless, got to net the sludge in the spring, and they would just bug me for sure.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Are those the Skimmers that have to have a constant water level? They would be hard to run when it freese's in winter cause the water level drops as the surface ice grows. Then I would hate to have small fish stuck in there, let alone winter in there. Thought of that while ago, but I choose not to have one for those reasons. After 20 years of wintering the pond, you kind of find a system that works very good, plus I would hate to have the pipes freese up cause the water level dropped to low and the flow quit in the middle of minis 45 degree weather. Been there, done that, played with the hoses and tubing cause some pump quit flowing cause it froze when the flow of water slowed to much. Not fun digging out hoses and stuff when there's a pile of snow and it's so cold the tire's on the truck freeze "square"!!

 

[waynefrcan]

The 2 main pumps for waterfall & skimmer, are pulled for the winter. I have used a fountain pump and heater to keep a spot open in the winter. However last winter is first time wintering fish in new pond. Had some winter kill. So we must talk soon before winter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The skimmer does not need constant level. However if it is very hot for 2-3 weeks water level drops considerably and must be topped up or risk killing the pumps. Not a big deal really. Just have someone watch it if you gone for long periods.