Hello... my name is Shell-fish and I have an addiction

[j.w]

Oh no, you can have it all and hope you someday find your dream pup. I'm sure they are out there but, oh it'll cost ya!

 

[poconojoe]

Really nice build! Can't wait to see the waterfall in action.

 

[Lisak1]

Nice to see you back and catch up on your pond progress! Let's hope the waterfall is an easy fix!

 

[Gemma]

Looking really good!

 

[Shell-Fish]

Well the pond builders turned up waiting for me to return from office and they can see where the issues are so ..tomorrows plan is to completely seal up the waterfall section and also redo some slabs. Schoolboy errors but as long as it's fixed for good, I'll be happy.

 

[MrB]

Welcome to GPF Shell-fish and good luck with your build!

 

[addy1]

Great looking pond!

 

[JamieB]

Coming along nicely. Be sure to seed the new pond with old pond water and decor and plants, etc. With you having reef tanks, I’m sure you know about nitrogen cycle. You could cover the pergola with a sheer mesh to keep the fish eaters out!

 

[Shell-Fish]

Hey all,

Firstly apologies for not updating as pond neglected for a while due to financial reasons as well as locating a pond builder who know what he/shes talking about.

Battled some pretty bad string algae end of 2019 and I mean the type that needs to be removed on a weekly basis from all around the pond liner, pump and rocks.

So the good news is, pond refitted top to bottom.

Step waterfall is no more due to the build quality and gone for the all natural look. Looks way better than before and I have a waterfall that doesn't seem to leak.

The original pond liner is now another layer of underlay so have 2 on top of each other and also have a proper thick rubbery main pond liner. Looks and feels much better than previous liner.

Some of my issues todo with poor water circulation with the pump due to where positioned so pond guy has managed to make pond waterfall circulate the surrounding waters to stir things up and hopefully move the small particles towards the pump to be siphoned out.

Already potted the lily in larger basket and pond soil with small stones on top. More plant to come in spring.

What you think?

Ideally planning to get some pond marginal plants I can use to cover some of the rock area with and hide as much as possible without overflowing the waterfall section.

 

[addy1]

that looks great!

Put plants in and just clean them out off and on so the roots do plug up the flow, great filters plant roots!

 

[poconojoe]

Nice!

 

[sissy]

love how it turned out and love the pergola

 

[j.w]

Looks great and plants will add a lot to it also!

 

[Shell-Fish]

Thanks all.

I know it's early but managed to grab a bargain on the bay and have following plants already in pond.

Blue iris
Umbrella plant
Creeping Jenny - my favourite that I hope grows and hangs over the waterfall section.

Spring/summer time I'll add some Dutch Rush plants but need to order my first ever waders as the pond depth is a little too wide for me to risk reaching over.

 

[Shell-Fish]

Hey all,

Firstly hope everyone is keeping safe during our current climate

I have a question regards adding a barrel DIY filter to an exiting filter.

I have a blue barrel that holds about 60 litres of water and would like to use this as a prefilter but not sure what the best way around to add it to existing filter.

Currently, I run a Oase Biosmart 18000 with Eco classic pond pump that runs about 5500 litres per hour going direct to the Oase filter but can I attach the hose to the barrel first filled with bio matter media and then connect outlet to the Oase filter? or should it be other way around?

Plan is I want to make my pond cleaner than current due to the sunlight hitting pond, algae seems to be an issue. Water parameters are stable and I only feed small amount once a day.

I understand plants can assist on filtering the water but I have a barrel not doing anything so would like to see if possible to use.

Ta.