Here we go -- FINALLY! A pond for wildlife...

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And now that I think about it - it probably is more like a half inch a day. Not an inch.
I would expect and be very happy at a half inch. In 100 degree days very happy think about how much water you use to water household plants. Indoors . Now add sun AND wind. YOUR GOLDEN
 

addy1

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I changed out my sprinkler control. Now I can look from anywhere and turn on more water if needed remotely.

My neighbor used to be my remote lol
 
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Today we got two pickup truck loads of dirt so I can work on the edges. Of course, as I was distributing my wheelbarrow loads around the edge, I was checking everything out. Today's discovery: FROG EGGS! I am so excited!!!! We had a Cope's gray tree frog hanging around the last few days. I bet they are tree frog eggs. We also saw a bird bathing on the waterfall rock and another just chilling in the bog. SO FUN!
 

addy1

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How neat! The birds love to bath on my waterfall rock, flat and not hard flowing.

The,1000 gallon pond waterfall
 
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Today we got two pickup truck loads of dirt so I can work on the edges. Of course, as I was distributing my wheelbarrow loads around the edge, I was checking everything out. Today's discovery: FROG EGGS! I am so excited!!!! We had a Cope's gray tree frog hanging around the last few days. I bet they are tree frog eggs. We also saw a bird bathing on the waterfall rock and another just chilling in the bog. SO FUN!
Elderly kid in the candy store !!!!!!
 

YShahar

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The water is looking more green but less thick. It is so interesting to see all the changes.
So - we have had near 100 degree days here for several days and more to come. The pond has a lot of surface area for evaporation.
I know that the far end of the pond and bog need building up. The overlay also needs to be trimmed back because it is very wet and hanging over. I am sure it is wicking moisture out.
It seems like I am losing 1/2 inch to 1 inch of water each day. Given the situation with the overlay AND the extreme heat and full sun, I would say this is to be expected.
(There is a nervous little part of me saying "Oh no - when you put in plants, you stepped on a rock and made a leak." I have underlay and overlay, so I highly doubt it. I think it is probably fine and will slow down once I get the edges all raised and finished.

Probably just normal evaporation, plus some underlay wicking action. But it's worth checking any folds to make sure they aren't siphoning water out.

I was having an issue with the pond losing about 5 cm per day (call it 2 inches) and then losing almost nothing once the water level dropped below a certain point. I went around finding little low areas where I'd folding the liner over; any place where the liner had been folded "vertically" and then folded over horizontally to hide it was suspect. Found a couple of places where water was siphoning up through the vertical folds, then dropping down due to the horizontal folds.

I still can't rule out a leak somewhere near the top of the liner, but I'm hoping fixing those siphon points will solve the problem. This morning, I put a stick with a mark on it in the intake bay, filled it up to the mark...and now, we wait.
 
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Probably just normal evaporation, plus some underlay wicking action. But it's worth checking any folds to make sure they aren't siphoning water out.

I was having an issue with the pond losing about 5 cm per day (call it 2 inches) and then losing almost nothing once the water level dropped below a certain point. I went around finding little low areas where I'd folding the liner over; any place where the liner had been folded "vertically" and then folded over horizontally to hide it was suspect. Found a couple of places where water was siphoning up through the vertical folds, then dropping down due to the horizontal folds.

I still can't rule out a leak somewhere near the top of the liner, but I'm hoping fixing those siphon points will solve the problem. This morning, I put a stick with a mark on it in the intake bay, filled it up to the mark...and now, we wait.
I definitely had a little siphoning going on - and wicking from the overlay. I haven't done my edges yet, so I am hoping that will make everything mostly water tight. Have you shared any pond pix lately? I'd love to see it!
 
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So - this is probably the beginning of a love/hate relationship with my critters. I built the pond for them. (Say it again - "I built the pond for THEM!"). This morning, I went out to see deer tracks all over in the new dirt I moved yesterday. (I moved two pickup truck loads and just dumped piles in strategic areas, for when I work on the edges.) This morning, as I was excitedly analyzing the tracks - and thinking they were probably from a Mom and baby - I saw that they had pulled up all the water celery in the bog. They ate a little, but mostly just pulled it out of the gravel and let it flop down. I need to try to plant more deer resistant plants around the pond! :LOL:
 
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I had deer chew up my hibiscus. No more hibiscus I don't want deer playing in the water. I see deer at work all the time. Deer . bear . fisher cats I'm good.
 

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I like deer, but not in my yard. I don't want them attacking my dogs.
The deer in my neighborhood are so brave, they walk towards you instead of away. And if you get in their way, they stair at you and start to paw at the ground. When walking the dogs one time, the deer came walking towards us on the sidewalk. It didn't care that my dogs were barking and lunging at them. I had to walk in the street to pass!
And don't get me started on the flowers and bushes that they have destroyed.
 

YShahar

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I definitely had a little siphoning going on - and wicking from the overlay. I haven't done my edges yet, so I am hoping that will make everything mostly water tight.

As of last night, I was still losing about 2 cm in a few hours, then almost nothing thereafter. That comes out to a pretty huge quantity of water calculated over the whole surface! Did another very close examination of the perimeter this morning, hoping to find some wet spots that might tell me where the trouble is. Sure enough, I found another of those places where a fold in the liner was angled such that when I folded it over to hide it, water was creeping up and out of the resulting "straw". I'm really hoping that's what was causing the water loss, and not an actual tear in the liner somewhere!

Going to take a picture of the water meter in a bit, then refill, this time with a plastic ruler stuffed into the gravel in the intake bay, just so I know how much water it takes to refill (and thus, how much I was losing). Not looking forward to seeing our water bill this month!

Have you shared any pond pix lately? I'd love to see it!

A few over the past few days (I think) on my thread. I'll post some new ones later today. Got some fun ones of the fish during the morning feeding frenzy.
 
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I like deer, but not in my yard. I don't want them attacking my dogs.
The deer in my neighborhood are so brave, they walk towards you instead of away. And if you get in their way, they stair at you and start to paw at the ground. When walking the dogs one time, the deer came walking towards us on the sidewalk. It didn't care that my dogs were barking and lunging at them. I had to walk in the street to pass!
And don't get me started on the flowers and bushes that they have destroyed.
That would scare me! I am backed up to a national park so we have tons of wildlife. My best bet is to try to plant stuff they don't like to eat. Interestingly enough, the deer here love mimosa and wild violets, which is good. They go through a bed of pretty jasmine and daintily snip out only the violet leaves!
If I could just train them to eat only the stuff I want them to -- it would be great! ;)
 

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