My mini-pond pics and stories

[WolfStock]

We have a pet box turtle - named Zippy - for which I set up an enclosed area, including a way to get in and out of the pond, and a little covered house. We looked into winter habitat for them - I set it up so that it could hibernate, digging a hole and filling it with loose dirt, including a drainage ditch so it wouldn't drown if we got a lot of rain. We'll see - I'll have to play it by ear as to whether that works out or not. For now it seems happy in its new home (previously it had most a box and had its run of an enclosed patio, but it always looked longingly out to the more natural area).

 

[j.w]

Well I like the maple tree a lot right there. Just be prepared for all the leaves.
And neat that you got a box turtle. I didn't see him out there anywhere or did I miss him?

 

[islandclumbers]

I used spar urethane. To be honest I didn't look to see if it's fish or turtle safe.

It's actually not wearing that well - lots of it is now turning black as the water works its way into the wood. I'll post more recent pictures soon. I don't think there's anything wrong with that - there's really no hope of trying to completely protect it since it's in the water 100% of the time. It's definitely got more of a weathered look now.

As a side note - it's still not really turning that well now. After I apply some grease it goes OK for a day or two, but as the water gets into the greased area it starts to get "stuck" again. It doesn't make the annoying sounds that it did, just stops and goes, stops and goes, etc. Eventually I might have to bite the bullet and put in some kind of true bearings. Something tells me it'll be expensive to get something that'll be weatherproof though, and I'd probably have to replace the axle again. Probably next year since I'll be turning it off for the winter in a couple of months. What is your husband doing for the axle his water wheel? How big is the wheel?

I'm hoping to finally finish the rock work this weekend. I finished the rock work around the upper basin the other day, and will be doing the epoxy and turning it on.

Sorry, I am just seeing this. The wheel is 24" in diameter. It has a 1/2 threaded rod that is stationary, and two 1 1/4" by 1/2" sealed bearings. We have not had any issues with it spinning at all. It actually has to be slowed down. We ended up using Krylon Fusion paint. He caulked it very well and used several coats of the spray paint. It has been up for just over 3 weeks and the paint looks just fine. I have attached some pictures, the little building that it attaches to hides our pumps and filters.



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/album/176-water-wheel/

Album: Water Wheel
2 images
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Tracy

 

[WolfStock]

That's pretty sweet.

I may eventually end up doing something like that - painting the wheel, though I'm trying to keep the natural wood look as much as I can. Unfortunately one of the effects of my design (pieces placed flush together) is cracks as the pieces shrink. Which is odd - I would have expected them to expand with exposure to water and thus end up getting tighter, not looser. Oh well.

Unfortunately also the water spout outlet over the top of the wheel has been sagging some - not quite supported well enough, and as a result it's leaking some now. I'm going to have to add some support underneath it at some point, which won't be easy since it's all "set in concrete" at this point.