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[Peggy]

they came up ok the water is getting pretty clear now but I still have alot of little stuff floating, guess it will take a while to get it all out. Should all of the green algea on the bottom be completely cleared , I have been kind of coasting along with these ponds for the last 3 years or so on my own and really had just pretty much let them do their thing, ended up with alot of string algea that i raked out by the clump fulls this year and then decided if I was going to do more then feed fish and see them looking terrible i better get to work. lol, so planted , pulled waded ,raked, bought green clean and microlift, and then made the trash can filter too. now i don't really know what else to do to be honest. The fish seem to be fine had babies last year and now have two that i see a little browngray one and the little orange and white. i am not really sure what they are as there are goldoies mkoi and the brown fish in th e pond , any ideas as to what they might be? and what i should do now? thanks!

 

[Peggy]

also tried to download to the gallery but when i hold control and try to get more then one pic at a time it just doesn't seem to work. so guess i will have to doi them when i have a lot of extral time.

 

[sissy]

The stuff on the bottom rocks will always be there but the less you feed your fish the more of that they will eat .I think most of us on here do not have rocks on the bottom ,just to hard to clean and they will always be covered in muck .good muck fish love it

 

[mtpond]

Welcome Peggy, nice pond. I had rocks on the bottom of my pond and I ended up taking them out this year. It really bothered me when I could see junk between the rocks and couldn't get it.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yea, I only have rocks in the pond in small spots in shallow areas, the bottom of pond has no rocks except one or two just for interest. I like to be able to scoop the bottom guck out when required. Peggy your pond looks gReAt!
I got a half koi/goldfish too, he is black as night and maybe 8 years old. Baby goldfish are black in color for the first year, it helps them hide from big mouths that might eat them!

 

[j.w]

Your pond is beautiful and lovely fish. Water looks clear and if that's algae on the rocks it's the good stuff that covers liners also and fish will nibble. I think it makes it look more el naturel then a spotless no carpet algae pond. But if it's gunk that is covering the rocks..........free floating poo, decomposed plant part and stuff etc. then you will want to try and get most of that out if there is a lot of it. If not then don't worry about it.

 

[Peggy]

Thanks y'all ...there isn't to much between the rocks right now, the last time it got really yucky, my son came and cleaned it out for us ...lol. But I will watch it because it has been several years now. I have been draining and replacing for about a month now, I also have been using a strong spray nozzle and getting in and getting right down among the rocks then placing the sump at these places. It has been a work in progress. Also been cleaning filters at least once sometimes twice a day. I really think it all finally got much better since I have had the trash filter at the deeper end. It has been a couple of days now tho so got to get back to it. Just so hot right now and mornings this week have been taken up with school preps for the little ones.. Lawton goes to kindergarten, Tristan starts pre-k, and Hannah is going to early play school, .. After a year and a half with no breaks , Grammy, seriously needs one lol. Hopefully , I can get back at it in a day or so. Anyway, thank you everyone for the kind welcome and all of the advice and words of wisdom.

 

[Peggy]

Hi ya'll,
Just an update lol, well killed another sump pump . Anyone have any sites for a good submersible one. I did order a muck thingy for the bottom that should be here in the next week. Will see how it does with the rocks...I can imagine I will be wading with it tho in order to be able to reach down and around enough. I want to get some more bigger slabs of rock for my falls instead of the small ones. They have done well but just thinking I might like the look of some wider drops. Found three babies now two dark little ones and one that is growing faster, I am hoping it is a koi, it is orange with white and seems to stay on the bottom feeding a lot. Have not tried to catch them and am not sure how big they need to be before barbs might show. It is about an inch and three quarters right now. The dark ones are more uniform shape length and width wise while the little colored baby is more torpedoe shaped. Well that is the only news for now, oh almost forgot ...the little pond is up and running again. Just trying to decide if I should leave it empty of fish and then use it for spawning later on or put a few fish in it. It really is too small for more then a couple fish I think. Also a question, is there a particular time the spawn in the year?

 

[addy1]

Sump pumps are not really meant to run full time, you might want to find a good submersible pond pump. I have heard laguna makes a good one. I only use externals, so can't help you a lot on that.

 

[j.w]

Laguna Maxflo's are supposed to be good. Was gonna get one and never got around to it. Still have my Pondmaster Supreme running well.
Check out this site below to see what they are like:
http://www.webbsonli...pond-pumps.html

 

[sissy]

thats a good price jw ,but wonder what you would do if you had to ship it somewhere to get it fixed or replace ,you would need a back up pump .My neighbor shipped hers fo repair and it took over 8 weeks before she got it back and had to borrow my extra pump

 

[j.w]

Guess you buy 2 at once and have one on hand. I sure have been happy w/ my pondmaster supreme. It has been going steady for 11yrs now w/o a hitch! Just thought the Laguna ones would save me some on electricity but think I'll wait a bit. I noticed they make a new 2012 model of the one I was looking at but its $100. more.

 

[Peggy]

I knew I shouldn't have left it running like I did addy but we were having some back storms every evening and just did not go get it out....and thanks jw am thinking I will get one soon. The I ground pump really does well with pushing the water though the filters but was trying to get some more of the yuck closer to the bottom out. Thinking about a trash sump next, but just ordered a muck mop thing and going to see how it does first for now. Lol a lot of buts in the above I know. . Hindsight is such a clear vision. It wasn't so bad when I couldn't actually see all the way to the bottom, now that I can, it is driving me nuts not to get it out !