Hello from Massachusetts

[KeroRocks]

Hello from Massachusetts,
I created my pond this summer. It's about 8 feet long by 6 feet wide and 18 inches deep. It has water hyacinth, curly rush, umbrella palm, dwarf cattail. I have a grass that I'm not sure of the exact name and a red leaf plant that I'm also not sure the name of. I have two comet gold fish and a some koi. There are 3 frogs. (that I've counted) The pond is filtered with a 500 gph pump running through a Tetra Biofilter that I added. Charcoal layer using mesh bags filled with media. It also has a bell fountain in the center and a fish spitter off to the side so there is no stagnant water. The water is clear and the frogs haven't left so things are looking good.

I plan to bring the fish and plants in this winter and next spring I'm going to dig down to 36" so I can winter the fish outside next year.

I'm an experienced fish keeper 15+ years.

I'm on an iPad so I can't upload photos but I posted them on my blog,


http://kerorocks.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-pond.html

 

[sissy]

Welcome but in Mass.you should have went a lot deeper or you may need to buy a pond heater or aerator to keep an opening in the ice .I went 4 1/2 feet here but most for heat and some of it for winter .I still have a lot to learn but getting there .I have not lost a fish in over 8 years ,so not bad and with the help of this forum and a lot of research on the net I am getting there . :razz:

 

[KeroRocks]

Yeah this winter I will bring them inside, I'll go deeper in the spring so I can winter them outside next year.

 

[sissy]

much easier that way ,they can be pain to catch .My first pond was preformed ,big mistake and second mistake buying koi and third mistake was pond was 3 feet deep and went to 2 feet deep .Then made lots of mistakes with filters but found that lava rock works good in my filters with plants growing in them to help clean them .I am learning as I go . :razz:










Guess I will never be done learning

 

[KeroRocks]

I actually already had to catch the fish. One of the stores sold me plants planted in dirt, they muddied my pond and the mud would not settle so I had to empty the entire pond, catch all the fish, clean the pond, remove the plants, repot them in a non-dirt medium then refill the pond. It was such a pain. Even filtering the water through fine media wouldn't get the mud out. It worked though, it's been clear since.

When the time comes I will empty the pond down to a few inches then catch the fish. Makes life easier.

 

[capewind]

Welcome Kero. Where in MA? I'm on the Cape

 

[sissy]

We use kitty litter but make sure after you plant them in kitty litter that you dip them or soak them to get rid of cloudy residue .I always clean the plants roots and all soak them and repot everything .I use quilt batting in baskets in my filters to clean out the fine stuff and just put a regular piece of filter stuff on top to pick up the heavy stuff and use crushed oyster shells to stabilize ph .Thats why I like down flow filters and the pipe in the middle picks the water up a couple of inches off the bottom of the filter and that is connected to a 3 inch tee which goes to 2 inches and sits over my tank adapter and goes back into my pond .The space on the bottom of the tank is for the settled muck and I just have a ball valve on the bottom to drain out the muck to a bucket and that goes on my flower beds

 

[KeroRocks]

Capewind I'm about 30 minutes north of Boston

 

[j.w]

KeroRocks

 

[KeroRocks]

http://kerorocks.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/mypond/

I logged in from my computer so I uploaded my images of my pond. I've also linked my blog.

 

[capewind]

Pond looks nice. Started to look at your blog. We need more rocks too. Free is getting harder and harder to come by, but have you checked out craigslist? I saw some available up your way a week or so ago. Closest I am finding any is Dartmouth, and not worth that drive with it being tourist season:-(

 

[KeroRocks]

Yeah, I go into craigslist every now and then looking for rocks, they never seem to have what I want when I want them LOL! I went to a place that sells them to see how much it would cost to buy leftovers, they sell them by the pound, it ended up being anout $6 per rock...ugggg. I just need to keep looking.

 

[capewind]

Cross the bridge onto the cape and everything gets pricey. They have been running $250-350 a pallet. Same items up your way were $50-100 per pallet less. If you get up to Plymouth, check out Balboni's. They are just off the offramp (Ex 5/Rt 3). Last time we were there, they didnt have enough on hand to make it worth us making another trip up there with the 10 wheeler (we need a lot still - low ball side of 20 ton). Those were at $45 per ton, loose. They had a few different styles/sizes to choose from.

 

[sissy]

lucky here farmers just throw them out by the road and put a free sign on them .We get alot of quartz here ,mostly white .

 

[capewind]

I get so jealous of areas where that is still happening. We used to get paid to take rocks away. We need rocks from 3 - 4 FEET, down to about 6 inches, and near everything in between. Because of where ground water is (we live basically on a sandbar AT sea level), we had to put the bottom of the foundation higher than preferred, so are building the ponds at 3+ levels on a more or less flat piece of land, so raising grades...