Hello from a newbie from Florida!

[emmerton]

Hi, y'all! I have been reading this forum off and on for a few years, and am finally starting on my pond build. It's so hard to wait for the warmer weather to get here!

My plan is to turn my nasty old ~10,000 gallon swimming pool into a water garden with native plants. The water hasn't had chlorine added for several years (hurricane killed the pool pump).. so I think my first step is to get a good aerator, right? I'm thinking the Hakko Pro 4 Plus aerator kit.

Then as April comes around and my local pond store gets their plants in, I'll build up some of the shelves/steps and add plants like pickerel weed, blue flag iris, soft rush, canna, and swamp mallow. I'm also going to try to build a floating island or two.

Am I missing anything? (No doubt I am!) Do you always treat your plants before you add them to your pond? Any north/central Florida members have favorite shopping destinations for plants?

 

[j.w]

@emmerton
Nice idea but what, No fish? I would add some kind of fish to keep away skeeters. Are you gonna have a filter or just use plants?

 

[sissy]

I clean my plants and roots and soak them in buckets of peroxide and water .6 capfuls of peroxide to a gallon and a half of water .After a week or 2 I then treat them to miracle grow and water to make roots strong .Welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy all you learn here and find it helpful

 

[emmerton]

View attachment 126238@emmerton
Nice idea but what, No fish? I would add some kind of fish to keep away skeeters. Are you gonna have a filter or just use plants?

I do hope to have fish! Either mosquitofish or goldfish (perhaps Shubunkins). Do you have a favorite goldfish? But I'd like to try to get the plants established first.. the water is quite green at the moment.

My hope is that I can have a happy water garden with plant filtration. A bog 'if I have to' but want to try large floating plant islands first.

 

[emmerton]

I clean my plants and roots and soak them in buckets of peroxide and water .6 capfuls of peroxide to a gallon and a half of water .After a week or 2 I then treat them to miracle grow and water to make roots strong .Welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy all you learn here and find it helpful

Thank you! That's very helpful. How long do you soak them in the peroxide?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

I just toss the plants in. But I do not have koi like Sissy does.

My favorite gold fish is the shubunkin, great colors. I filter with only a bog, a in land big bog for my big ponds, a small pot bog for my hot tub pond. Keeps the water crystal clear and in good shape. Also a lot of plants in the pond itself.

 

[sissy]

I love my fat fantails or as I call them butt wigglers ,also fat fantails love to get and give attention .They use their tail to swim and are slow and come in pretty colors .I had shubbies but got rid of them as they were jumpers and would jump out of the pond .With plants it can be 2 or 3 weeks as it depends on what I find in the roots as I clean them .I have found the worst things ever in plant roots ,plus giving them a healthy start is worth it .

 

[j.w]

I love the Shubunkin type of goldfish and also the Butt Wiggler's as sissy calls them. The are the fat fantails that come in orange/white or even in the calico Shubunkin colors. Not sure how hardy the Fantails are in colder climates if you are in one of those.

Shubunkin's

Shubbie Fantails or Veiltails

 

[addy1]

My shubbies have never jumped out of any of the ponds they are in. They could easily do it if they wanted to.

I have fan tails in my hot tub pond. 350 or so gallons

 

[emmerton]

Thanks, @addy1! Your big ponds are just gorgeous, and your Shubunkin pictures are why I'm considering them when I'm finally ready for fish!

Is the hot tub pond really an old hot tub? That's awesome!

 

[emmerton]

Hehe, @sissy, "butt wigglers" really paints a picture of the fish! They sure sound like fun, and are pretty to boot. Would they be okay in a pond with Shubunkins, or are they best with only themselves, because they're slow moving?

Must be awful to find fish out of water!

Good to know that I won't overdo the peroxide. My attention span isn't great, and my memory's worse, ha! Timers are my friend.. until I forget why the alarm is going off.

 

[emmerton]

Thanks for the pics, @j.w! Those butt wigglers sure are cute, my goodness. I'm in north Florida, so may be okay? We haven't gotten a freeze yet this season (so still too many mosquitos!).

Now I'll be dreaming of goldfish! And bogs...

 

[addy1]

Is the hot tub pond really an old hot tub? That's awesome!

Our 10 year old one broke, so we replaced it. Rather than throw it away we converted it to a small pond.

This is a pic I took this summer, the red is a circle around a plant someone asked about. Mini cattails

 

[addy1]

Would they be okay in a pond with Shubunkins, or are they best with only themselves, because they're slow moving?

I had shubbies with fan tails. 4 fantails with around 20 shubbies, until the heron found them. I had a net over the pond, but it had a hole I didn't notice, the bird came while I was out of town for a bit. Took all the fan tails, took around 8 shubbies.

 

[GBBUDD]

With no water movement and no rock a old swiminmg pool with limited shallow areas for marginals or any type of plants. this leaves you with aquatics only and they can be easy or a battle . With no rock bacteria has limited surface area to grow on. yes airation is a good thing the lack of fish and or water movent. Thus MOSQUITOES. IT IS SO EASY TO BUILD A BOG AND THE BENEFITS ARE ENORMOUS.