New pond-ish project..

brc

Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
67
Reaction score
29
Location
Cleveland
Hardiness Zone
6
So.. it's been a while since I posted! The original pond from back then (around 2013) is doing well - but that house is now a rental, and about a 90 minute drive away, so I don't get to see it all that often. Thankfully, the pond itself is not very high maintenance.

New house, new pond(s)! The first of which is this.. mini-pond?

The backstory is that the house was built in 1960, at a time when cut stone and large permanent planters were extremely popular, both inside and outside the house. I sometimes wonder if they were required by building codes at that time! As such, there was a huge stone planter built onto the front of the front porch, and a second smaller one inside the house (which will eventually become the base for a big aquarium).

Due to poor design, the gutter dripped into that planter and froze every winter, and by the time we got the house, it was falling apart. The stones were fine, but the mortar between them (and the concrete interior) were toast. Shortly after buying the house, I gave this thing a good kick, and down it came. It took maybe 2-3 weeks of evenings / weekends to rebuild it.

Instead of filling it back up with dirt, I've installed pond liner and started turning it into a water garden. So far, it has some water hyacinths and a few small shubunkins, along with some duckweed (which was mostly bought as fish food). There's also a filter / fountain thing at one end that pumps water through a chamber of crushed-up sandstone, to provide a home for bacteria. The idea is to have tropical lilies in there along with maybe a lotus, and a few taller plants either inside or in pots around the outside. It'll be about 65% covered by plants, with fish swimming around between them.

For winter, the lilies and water hyacinth can come inside. I will put a rigid cover on top, and keep the water heated (with an alarm to warn me if the temp control cuts out) to a little above freezing - maybe about 38F?

Next steps are to paint the wood, touch up the stone work a little, finish the fountain thing at the end (you can sort of see what I'm trying to do, although I don't think I'm there yet), and add more plants. I'm not 100% sure what to expect in the end, but I can't wait to see where it ends up!

IMG_0346.jpg


IMG_0348.jpg
 

brc

Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
67
Reaction score
29
Location
Cleveland
Hardiness Zone
6
It's roughly 200 gallons - about 1.5' wide and deep, with a slightly rounded bottom, and 17' long.
 
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Messages
2,602
Reaction score
3,155
Hardiness Zone
7b
Very neat!!!!!! It will be so fun to sit outside and watch the fish!
 

brc

Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
67
Reaction score
29
Location
Cleveland
Hardiness Zone
6
Couple new pics..

I went to Tricker's yesterday and picked up a few plants (it is very convenient being located 20 minutes from there!). I got two tropical lilies - one day bloomer (August Koch) and one night bloomer (Antares). I also picked up a taro, and a few giant Salvinias.

The salvinias are a really cool floater.. their fuzzy leaves repel water so aggressively, that if you push them under and they come up coated with water, you can hear the water "pop" as the surface tension breaks and it snaps off their leaves.

The little red coffee can thing on the side is a temporary filter, filled with quilt batting, to help clear the water (new pond and all that).

IMG_0384.jpg
IMG_0387.jpg
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
31,522
Messages
518,269
Members
13,742
Latest member
Noodlebrain

Latest Threads

Top