Early Early Spring Feeding

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with the onset of global warming, we've been experiencing some warmer weather than usual
in michigan and antartica. regarding closer to home, the water temperature in my pond today
is 52 degrees. up 5 degrees in 2 days. in a couple days the temps are going back down into the 30's and 40's during
the day and below freezing at night. in the next 10 days we might have two 50 degree days.
i imagine the water temps will dip below 50 again, but i would be surprised if it goes below
45 for the remainder of the winter. a month ago the water was only 43 degrees. that was surprising.

for the pond i have slow filter running at the moment (about 3000 gallons a day) and started an aerator and fountain because the fish were taking
air at the surface. an ammonia test today showed a slightly elevated level of around .015 ppm i believe.

i'm wondering if i should feed or do i wait. i'm concerned because my filtration is inadequate because
the watercourse isn't running yet and the cooler temps won't help my minimal bacterial population.

a better pump for my filter would be a good idea, but i can only afford one pump at the moment and i need
a new one for the watercourse...my next post. grins.
 
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You already have Ammonia and "inadequate Filtration" I'm no expert but I'm sure those that are, will tell you to wait.
 
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You already have Ammonia and "inadequate Filtration" I'm no expert but I'm sure those that are, will tell you to wait.
thank you. i will wait. my well water is within 1-2 degrees centrigrade of the pond right now. i plan on some water exchange for the next few days to reduce ammonia levels, oxygenate the water, and just freshen things up. cleaned and rinsed most of the watercourse yesterday. anyone else getting pond fever? i know i'm ready...
 
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thank you. i will wait. my well water is within 1-2 degrees centrigrade of the pond right now. i plan on some water exchange for the next few days to reduce ammonia levels, oxygenate the water, and just freshen things up. cleaned and rinsed most of the watercourse yesterday. anyone else getting pond fever? i know i'm ready...

You are braver than I am, already working on your pond
lol today is a cold one! I can see my fish swimming around but I'm not going to touch the pond for another 2-3 weeks at least....they can eat algae;)

Do you have pics of your fish/pond?
 
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You are braver than I am, already working on your pond
lol today is a cold one! I can see my fish swimming around but I'm not going to touch the pond for another 2-3 weeks at least....they can eat algae;)

Do you have pics of your fish/pond?
i'm going to take a few pics today and vid maybe. i'll find something to post. yesterday we had a record high in se michigan of 68. since last night the temps
began a slow and consistant decline down to a forcasted 23 this evening. it's currently snowing...
 
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i'm going to take a few pics today and vid maybe. i'll find something to post. yesterday we had a record high in se michigan of 68. since last night the temps
began a slow and consistant decline down to a forcasted 23 this evening. it's currently snowing...
Yup! It is snowing! :)
I can't wait to see your pics!
 
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here's a few pics from today.

the area grows as a meadow if not mowed. it's the first spring with most of the course and the new pond and bog and i'm looking forward to shepherding the perimeter a lot.
pond019.jpg



yoolie and marva by the upper pool that the feed hose from the pond goes to. i love rocks. i wish people would stop by every day and give me rocks...pebbles too.
pond021.jpg



i was fortunate that we had over a 100 of those cement cylinders the last owner left. all of the rocks and bricks have been donated and i traded a few hours of landscaping for three 20x20 pieces of epdm going unused.
pond022.jpg



working it last summer

pond025.jpg



the lower pool to the bog was done 2 summers ago

pond024.jpg



last years pond that was originally put in as a play pond for duck housemates before the watercourse. i love them, but thank goodness they're gone or this watercourse and pond would unmanageably poopy..from now on it will be a bog. i need a new liner and i am going to make a little smaller by making it more oval from the feed to the outlet. it's 15 inches deep. the weir i put in by the pond to keep the level up during the winter failed (the bog should have little water). i think i will put another one of some type at the outlet from the bog this year

pond020.jpg


i put 8 goldfish i rescued last year into it the above pond along with 2 unknowns that came in on some duckweed the year before. i felt that spending a lot of resource to house them in a tank was less than optimum for the fish even though they would have to endure winters. one day i had 50 -60 more and i was like oh my goddess! what am i gonna do. i never planned on having fish in the watercorse...silly me. the second spawn one resulted in far fewer fish. i would imagine because they were eaten.
i see how if i keep my filtration up, the pond will find it's balance.

today's pond with a rather optimistic auto color correction filter. the original was too drab to post and the fish were barely visible.

pond023.jpg
 
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@urglik will you landscape someday? I bet it would look awesome if you added some plants :)
 

sissy

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love your lawn mowers .They use them here to take down overgrowth near bridges .Got to love the interesting shape of your pond .Neat that you gave yourself and place to sit between them .Did you buy those round cement things or make them
 
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@urglik will you landscape someday? I bet it would look awesome if you added some plant

this year i want to plant the 2 bogs and the bed behind the bog and the one in front of the pond. the round water kiva that the falls go into will be the second bog.

beyond that i'm going to watch what nature does. most of the course is new and it's perimeter grows like a dense meadow if not mowed.

i posted a pic in the photo section a few days ago of

the lower pool headed to the bog from last year that was done the year before. not speaking to the composition of the pic when i say it's just amazing and i didn't plant anything...

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/the-lower-pool.20723/












































@urglik will you landscape someday? I bet it would look awesome if you added some plants :)
@urglik will you landscape someday? I bet it would look awesome if you added some plants :)
 
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love your lawn mowers .They use them here to take down overgrowth near bridges .Got to love the interesting shape of your pond .Neat that you gave yourself and place to sit between them .Did you buy those round cement things or make them

i love them too. though they would rather be in on the sofa eating popcorn and watching nature movies. seriously. i've heard of the goat landscaping business. my only experience with the rumenati (the enlightened ones) are my two friends. goats are considered browsers as opposed to grazers and prefer to eat up. bushes, vines, trees. when it comes to grass, yoolie and marva only nip off the tops of the blades and move on and they are rather picky about the type of grass. it's good the lanscaping goats are getting fresh green nutrition, but i wonder how they can be so reliable. i hope they are not kept hungry.

i'm pumped (giggles) about the area between the bog and pond also. it will be a little larger with the bog size reduction and i think it's the
only part i'm going to completely "civilize" with brick and stone since everything else will be so lush. i've been thinking about
making some cement bricks to outline the perimeter and some for the floor. you know how you can place stained glass on the bottom
of a mold and fill with cement to make coloured walking stones or garden accents? one could do bricks, maybe 12in x 8in x 4in
and line the pond perimeter with them.
the fish and water motifs could be endless and i believe there are ways to colour the cement itself in a non toxic manner.

the cement cylinders where left by a previous owner.

- i love it when a plan comes together.
john "hannibal" smith
 

sissy

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The goats I see are smaller ones so not sure .I know on the farm we had one the previous owners left behind and he would eat anything and everything ,dad had to chain him up until we found him a new home .Not a good thing to have with veggie gardens .He went to a guy who owned an apple orchard .I have made a few things with cement including my elephant ear leaves and wagon wheel look from plant trays
 
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The goats I see are smaller ones so not sure .I know on the farm we had one the previous owners left behind and he would eat anything and everything ,dad had to chain him up until we found him a new home .Not a good thing to have with veggie gardens .He went to a guy who owned an apple orchard .I have made a few things with cement including my elephant ear leaves and wagon wheel look from plant trays
oh yes...goats are very skillful gardeners.

nice about the cement stuff. sounds fun. looking forward. any pics of these you've posted...or not?
 

sissy

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I posted some on my construction .I will try anything when it comes to building or making things .
100_8913.JPG
100_8919.JPG
100_8905.JPG
100_9060.JPG
pond second lily flower 7-31-15 046.JPG
 

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