Hello everyone

[Panzer13]

I have been reading posts from this sight for some time and have found them to be very helpful and informative. So thanks to everyone for giving me such great insight to the hobby.
I have kept tropical fish for most of my life, but have only just recently had a pond.
The pond is small by most standards, just about 200 gallons. It is above ground made of treated lumber with a liner. It has a good size biological filter and a smaller mechanical filter.
I have 4 comet goldfish and 1 shubumkin currently. They are doing well and just starting to eat as the water is still cold, about 40-45 degrees.
My current focus is plants. I would like to have a small water lily, bog plants as well as submerged plants. I have had to wait on the plants do to our cold winters in Washington state.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

welcome @Panzer13, we would love to see pictures of your pond whenever you get a chance to post some!

 

[Panzer13]

Will do.

 

[Tula]

Welcome It's fun to start thinking about what plants we'll have in our pond this season !

 

[Panzer13]

Welcome It's fun to start thinking about what plants we'll have in our pond this season !

Yes it is. I just had water haycinths and water lettuce last year. But they did not survive the winter. I would like to find some plants that will survive all year round.
I have a hardy dwarf lily, water hawthorn, and some Japanese iris in mind so far.
I have started the iris in a planter in my kitchen. I think I will attempt to start the lily the same way. Our growing season is short here so getting a jump on things is always a good plan. Not to mention it gives me something to do.

 

[Gordo33]

just had water haycinths and water lettuce last year.

Welcome. Water hyacinths and water lettuce don’t survive my winters either. But I do replace them each year because they are great for sucking up nitrates. I get just 4 of each and end up with 20x that at the end of the season. Your plant list looks good. Keep in mind how many hours of sun light will be provided when picking your plants.

 

[Dave 54]

@Panzer13 Welcome to the forum , I hope you find us a friendly bunch with loads of helpful advice to give , catch wait to see your pond any photo's ?
Interestingly we started indoors and after 22 years decided that oudoor's would give us more room for our koi (we had a Aquarium 6 x 2 x 2.5 that with filters etc help approximately one ton in weight of water imperial.
Which we sold after 22 years of owning it to another person who just wanted it for the glass for £600 UKP only £193 UKP than we paid for it all those years ago .
It now has a new life as a stunning reef talk with Marine fish in it .
You'll soon get used to the great outdoors

Dave 54

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Panzer13]

Welcome. Water hyacinths and water lettuce don’t survive my winters either. But I do replace them each year because they are great for sucking up nitrates. I get just 4 of each and end up with 20x that at the end of the season. Your plant list looks good. Keep in mind how many hours of sun light will be provided when picking your plants.

Partial shade for about half the day.

 

[Panzer13]

@Panzer13 Welcome to the forum , I hope you find us a friendly bunch with loads of helpful advice to give , catch wait to see your pond any photo's ?
Interestingly we started indoors and after 22 years decided that oudoor's would give us more room for our koi (we had a Aquarium 6 x 2 x 2.5 that with filters etc help approximately one ton in weight of water imperial.
Which we sold after 22 years of owning it to another person who just wanted it for the glass for £600 UKP only £193 UKP than we paid for it all those years ago .
It now has a new life as a stunning reef talk with Marine fish in it .
You'll soon get used to the great outdoors

Dave 54

Thank you for the welcome. I have been reading the forum for about a month and have found it to be very informative, much more so than any other sight I have found. The members all seem to be quit friendly which is also a very nice bonus.
I am from Washington state which has a climate that is very similar to the U.K. What is your water temp rite now? Do you have any plants in your pond, and if so how successful are they in the pond?

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

 

[Gemma]

@Panzer13

 

[Dave 54]

Thank you for the welcome. I have been reading the forum for about a month and have found it to be very informative, much more so than any other sight I have found. The members all seem to be quit friendly which is also a very nice bonus.
I am from Washington state which has a climate that is very similar to the U.K. What is your water temp rite now? Do you have any plants in your pond, and if so how successful are they in the pond?

No we don't have plants in our pond most hard core koi keepers in the UK don't believe in them allowing the fantastic colour's of the koi in our in our ponds using the black background to do the talking so to speak.

Dave 54

 

[Lisak1]

No we don't have plants in our pond most hard core koi keepers in the UK don't believe in them allowing the fantastic colour's of the koi in our in our ponds using the black background to do the talking so to speak.

@Panzer13 Dave just described for you the difference between a garden pond and a dedicated koi pond. As he said, some of us love our ponds to grow plants and fish while others are only interested in the koi. At 200 gallons, you definitely have a garden pond!

Since your pond is small, you may want to focus on plants that stay small. For example, there are a number of dwarf varieties of water lily that would do fine in a smaller pond. I have a small patio pond that I drop a dwarf variety lily every year and it does great. There are small varieties of many other types of plants as well - just do a search for "dwarf pond plants" and pay attention to the size the plant can attain. You can also plant things outside the edges of pond that will grow over the sides and hide the edges - things like creeping jenny or vinca. Lots of possibilities! Post some pictures and we can make more suggestions!

 

[Panzer13]

No we don't have plants in our pond most hard core koi keepers in the UK don't believe in them allowing the fantastic colour's of the koi in our in our ponds using the black background to do the talking so to speak.

Dave 54

You must have a very good filtration system.