Getting closer....

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I've got all my fish in their new home, my plants are planted in the bog, and all is well! Here are some pictures, the ones showing the pristine water are before I added the plants. The dirt from planting has to go through the filter now, its a little murky. The plants in my bog are: 3 yellow day lilies, horsetail rush, corkscrew rush, pickerel plant and chameleon plant. There is one corkscrew rush on the left of the waterfall in the pond, and once its warm enough I am going to add a papyrus and red leaf canna to the other side of the waterfall. I have one water lily in the pond too, but it isn't growing yet, so who knows what will come of that. I'm going to have russian sage planted in front of my fence as a backdrop, so I think it's going to look gorgeous as they all fill in with the purple sage then yellow day lilies and the purple pickerel rush flowers!! Since you guys all know what these mature plants look like and have any suggestions as whether or not I should rearrange them let me know!

I couldn't get any koi yet, apparently they are still being quarantined for one more week before the store will start selling them. But they had one there the was all white and metallic. I'm in love, he looks like a pearl. But I'll add a few pics of them when I get them.

What is it with water garden stores that get all discouraging when they find out you built your pond differently then they would? So this guy was going on and on today about all the trouble I'm going to have using a gravel bog filter. The plants' root masses are going to get so big that the water won't be able to flow through them so it will end up only pushing dirt and sludge into the pond and my pond will always look gross, it's going to get full of decaying matter and anaerobic bacteria and become a big sess-pool. I'm inevitably going to have to empty the whole thing and throw all the plants and gravel away and start over, it'll be impossible to divide and purge plants that are getting to big.... yada-yada-yada.....

Anyway, I keep adding pics to this thread as we get more done and things start to grow! I'm so excited at how this is turning out! Thanks everyone for all the help you have been!!
 

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Congratulations!! Everything looks great! Don't worry about what that guy said (I'm sure you're not!) They just want to sell you hundreds of dollars of products. I like the sounds of the metallic white Koi.....have you asked them to hold it for you?
 

addy1

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Jen
You might get some green hair algae growing on the pea gravel. I get some where the sun hits the gravel and it is covered with water. None where the gravel is above the water. I leave water above the gravel for the birds to bath in.
Just a lil heads up, or it will stay fine.
 
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Thanks Addy, I have a barley bale in there so maybe it will keep it from starting. Thanks for the heads up. I dont really mind what grows in the bog as long as the plants grow well and the pond is clear :) I just want to be able to see my fish!
 

pondlover

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Jen you have done a great job! We encountered the same reaction from our "pond nursery" when we told them we had installed ourselves. Really got a raised eyebrow when we described the skippy filter system we are using instead of their high dollar items. So far all is working well and we saved several thousand dollars by doing it ourselves. I enjoyed watching your pond come together and I'm sure you'll really get to enjoy it for a long time to come.
 

j.w

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Your pond is really turning out to be very pretty! It's neat watching you build it from start to finish.
 

addy1

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Jen told you wrong, it is the green slimy stuff, not the hair algae. I went out and mucked around in the bog yesterday. Need to pull a bunch of plants, they are blocking the flow back into the pond, which is really backing up the water in the bog. This year is explosive plant growth year. Some of it gets into the pond when I mess around, it just disappears. The pond water stays perfect, a little algae on the bog gravel is no biggy to me.
 
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I have that green slime algae on my bog right where the water pools before going back in to the pond. I also have it on the weir on my Bio filter.

Your pond is fabulous looking Jen !! Love it.
 

addy1

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I was working on the bog yesterday, most of the green slime is going away now as the plants have exploded in growth.
 
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Most of the slime in my bog is gone also, but my plants are still kind of yellowish looking. I have Iris in my bog and in my pond. The ones in the pond look good.
 
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Thanks guys!! Next is the mulch, but not sure when that will happen. It feels like winter is coming back here and I'm so not a fan of the cold, so I don't imagine I'll be doing much outside until it gets back to at least 60 and the winds aren't 15 mph! I am still planning to go get my koi on Saturday though. Hope they won't be too shocked going from a nice greenhouse to my cold pond. But I don't want to put it off, afraid all the cute ones I saw last weekend will be gone if I wait to long. Hopefully I can get a some good pic to show ya'all if I do get them. I haven't had much luck photographing my goldies.
 

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