New to Ponds

[sandy433]

Hi,
I'm sandra from Texas and we just built our first pond!
I am wondering where everyone buys pond plants? and fish? I have a friend who said after deer season i could go get some fish from his pond. LOL
I would like to know if any of you have pond plants that you need to get rid of? and i have no idea about lillys..what i see for sale, need to be planted and again have no clue..is there not a place to buy them ready for me to stick in the pond? LOL
anyway any help you guys would be great. I'll get a picture and post tomorrow.
Thanks in advance,
Sandra

 

[Mrshkoiluver]

Hi Sandra,

Welcome to the forum! You will learn alot here. Just search or read all the posts. There is a wealth of information.

Teri

 

[koiguy1969]

welcome to our humble meeting of the minds....just sit back and read or get involved , either way you came to the right spot...most 'new ponder' questions have already been asked and answered so go thru the threads youll probably find what your lookig for. well i hope you enjoy the forum.

 

[DrDave]

Welcome Sandy! Texas has many climate zones. In order to help you better, we need to know your climate zone or city, since Texas is such a large state.

 

[sandy433]

Hi everyone,
Okay i'm going to try upload a couple of pictures. My husband and i built this our selves and neither one of us ever doing rock work or ever seen a water pond. These are all rocks that are on my place. We live in Centar Texas, were 70 miles north west of Austin.
I bought a firestone 15x20 45 mil liner, We put a pondmaster 950 gph supreme pond pump and a Man foam filter. the pond size is about 10x10 abd 3ft deep. I guess about 1200 gallons of water. Its built in my yard to the side of our deck. I have no plants yet really. I had dug up some elephant ears from a spring near by. as you can see they are in pots just sitting inside water. I have tried to do small landscaping around edge, but due to the time of year nothing is really growing, so havent gotten to carried away with that till spring. I have 2 dozen "Bait" gold fish...dont laugh!!! they are cheep 4.00 a dozen, and i figured since i knew nothing about all this I would kill them...well not so far! LOL
But you can see in picture my dog "Blueberry" loves to fish...but hates water. okay enough with me talking lets see if i can post a picture.

 

[sandy433]

here is one more when i filled the pond last month...The water has turned dark brown since. but i have not added any chemicals yet, i just order a starter pack. should be here tuesday. i have a ton of leaves i scoop out daily...dang tree..but in texas you love the shade!

 

[DrDave]

Those Elephant Ears appear to be Green Taro. I grow and sell those locally to pond owners.

 

[sandy433]

Thanks,
Now is there anything special i should know about Green Taro?
I dug them from Rebbeca Creek, In Spring texas. They were growing next to cypress trees completly in the shade. The owner of the creek dislike them and were going to thin them back. i took a dozen or so home. All were completly cover in water. put i planted some outside edges of pond in dirt. they seem to be doing fine. anyway any input would be good. and now i know what they are called i'll see if there is anything on the forum.
I'm going tomorrow to get some Lily's. and parrorts feather. from someone cleaning there pond.

 

[koiguy1969]

hey... no ones laughing at you for your cheap fish, myself i think it was wise...no sense loosing a $20.00 + fish or more learning the ropes.. the pond looks good i hope you can enjoy it fror years to come!!! and i believe taro spreads like a wild fire..not positive but think so.

 

[DrDave]

Taro can be invasive. I trim the shoots and sell them for $5 each. If you don't want to sell them, then just prune and toss away. it is one of the best plants you can have to accent your pond. They will only take over if you let them.

Parrots Feather are the same. Again, I sell them for $2 each and usually have to stop selling before I run out.

This is not an ad, I do not do shipping for any reason. Locals only... However, any Forum member will get free plants from me if they visit my ponds.

The only invasive plants that can be a problem are bamboo in the ground that are runners. Most all other runner plants can be easily managed. For that reason, I only sell bamboo clumpers.

 

[koikeepr]

I've got more than a handful of "cheap" fish! Let DoDad tell you about his $5 prize winners! They are beauties!

 

[sandy433]

Okay so you have all been at this way longer than me, am i off to the right start?
pond size and pump? I'm conserned with the water turning brown..but i live on well water and its a hard water with lots of rust. However i feel more like this looks like rotting leaves. should my pond be a clear as the day i filled it? Should i be able to see the shelf?
maybe i should have used chemicals first? LOl
I leave pump on 24/7 but temps are now in 60-70 days and close to freezing at night.. am i doing correct?
Now i also have a roof that water fills pond from. (when it rains). and we installed a simple pipe at edge of deck to create a "overflow" my pond is a bit low in pictures. waiting on rain that was supposed to happen today.LOL
Back to the Toro...will that freeze and die? i moved some of it in my house that was in pots...I guess it comes back in creek?

 

[sandy433]

And what about Snails?? do i need them want them? Oh so many questions!

 

[DrDave]

Do not use roof runnoff water to top off your pond!!!

The toxins on your roof may kill your fish.

 

[sandy433]

wow! had no idea. figured rain water was better than anything could put in there. Its a 5 yr old metal roof. its uv proteced metal.