my first plants are in

[SE18]

I waded through a river for these; planted in pot with clay and granite grains from their native habitat. We used to call these arrowheads; don't know the name of the plant or other ones shown.

water is developing some brown algea which I need to reduce; maybe snails? I'm a newb, as you can tell; I have a lot more reading to do on the forum before I get good or even mediocre

won't introduce fish until water quality is high and plants are thriving; maybe in a year or 2; just by reading forum seems everyone who is new here is so eager to get fish first that there are mistakes; I'm gonna take things slow and do 1 at a time; just like God created plants before fish:bouncycig:

oh, another thing; hauled my last 80 lb bag of concrete to do this patio using a form from Lowe's and some concrete dye; has nothing to do with ponds except to take time away from aqua stuff

Dave

 

[addy1]

Very nice patio. Plants do add a lot to a pond. And since they are from your area they should do well.

 

[lotusfreak]

they look great!!!!!

 

[j.w]

Plants and patio both look fine. We went duckweed and azolla scooping a few days ago and got tons of it. Now I have all these huge containers w/ them floating. Only thing is they came w/ snails. Now I have to get the snails outta there

 

[SE18]

Thanks, all for comments. J.W. I was going to put snails in the water (native variety). What's the problem with snails? I'll wait to put them in until I hear from you or create a separate post.

Here's a few photos...

canals and aqueducts run hither and tither

sedum and low ground cover complement the water

by next year, this will all be greened

itty bitty plants are actually coming thru the concrete!!!! The concrete is sandwiched with liner between 2 layers of concrete. Hardy little devils these plants are, softening the harsh concrete

 

[j.w]

Wow that's really cool..........do you live in a castle, cuz the brick work reminds me of that :regular_waving_emot
Would like to see more pics and when all those plants fill in it will be even better.
As for the snails when picked from the wild I hear they can carry disease and parasites so I'm being careful when adding wild plants but then I wonder what if some were just to wander in on their own or on birds legs etc? Anyways I figure I'll just try my best to get the ones out that I see when I collect plants myself.

 

[SE18]

thanks; it's still work in progress. I'm going for all native plants and animals so I'll proceed accordingly; no zebra muscles, though

 

[addy1]

Very nice looking, some worry that when the snail die they can pollute the water. They can also be sucked up into the filter.

 

[SE18]

Thanks, Addy, j.w.

Guess what, last night I discovered some tiny black snails; they must have arrived with the arrowheads I picked up in a stream. So nice to have something living in the water besides amoebas and parabellums

j.w.\\

I dug up some photos showing my combined interest in my 2 beagles, plants, trains and water. In the last 4 years all my new trains I've built by hand out of scrap parts so no expense is involved practically

 

[addy1]

How so very nice, love your dog what a cutie.

You are very creative! it all looks great

 

[koidaddy]

WOW! Im impressed!!!!!:lol: I love scale trains and ponds and you have them both together.

 

[j.w]

That's incredible :lol: Talk about detail.......you've gone to the ultimate in that w/ your set up and that first pic of the adult beagle looks like he or she is guilty of maybe eating one of your display items

 

[fishin4cars]

very cool pics, Very nice detail. If you need to find a home for that little beagle pup, i have a fenced in yard and three dogs that love pup company. LOL very cute pup!

 

[Bruddaman]

I love the first pic of your dog! He's got that "Wadda you lookin' at?" face going!

 

[taherrmann4]

Looks great. What scale railroad are you running hard t tell if it is O?