Our StayCation

[Event Horizon]

We (Cityponder & Event Horizon) live in Toronto Ontario Canada. The back of our yard is 60 yards away from 14 lanes of highway. We built our pond to bring some country into the city. It is still very much a work in progress as we need to do more gardening to bring in more colour.

Here is a video showing our pond from above and below the waterline. (be sure to chage the quality to HD). We will use this thread to post our pictures and videos. We hope you will enjoy.

 

[j.w]

You have a gorgeous pond and lovely colored fish! Love all your waterfalls and beautiful plants and even your water hyacinth bloom so nice for you. Cool how you can go from dry land and down under just like that. You may have cold winters but looks like you have nice hot Summers.

 

[crsublette]

Very nice.

 

[Event Horizon]

You have a gorgeous pond and lovely colored fish! Love all your waterfalls and beautiful plants and even your water hyacinth bloom so nice for you. Cool how you can go from dry land and down under just like that. You may have cold winters but looks like you have nice hot Summers.

Thanks j.w. We were given most of the plants that are there unfortunately most are spring bloomers. Hopefully this year we can start adding some other plants to give us colour all season long. We did however plant some trumpet vine on the lattice and are hoping for it to bloom this year. We started with 9 hyacinth plants and they took over the pond. They look so cool from underneath the water. We do get some warm temps in the summer and we just love to watch all the birds come in to cool off in the falls and river.

 

[sissy]

I like that you have the stream and water fall .I know what you mean by highway as my house in NJ was near the NJ turnpike .We could not see it because they put up the concrete barrier walls .We were over 500 ft from it also .Can I ask does your pump get plugged by gunk like mine does .I have to pull it every 2 months to clean all the muck out of it and clean the cover .

 

[Event Horizon]

I have not had any issues with that pump on the bottom getting clogged. It is 8,500 GPH I believe, and would suck up most things that would get near it. The pump on the bottom is feeding the river. There is a 5,000GPH pump down at the other end in the skimmer. That feeds the waterfall. Most of the debris makes its way to the skimmer and gets caught in the basket.

 

[sissy]

I am going to pull my pump and add a leaf basket .My pump can be submerged or external .I will try it external and see how it works out .Mostly the plastic housing gets stuff stuck to it that slows it down .It is a 2150 gph pump and I have a 2400 gph pump that i only use during the summer months .Electric rates just keep going up and try to save where i can ,but seems the more i save the more they raise the rates .House was built in 2004 and super insulated and 2x6 studs and even basement floor and walls insulated ,but still goes up .Guess the only way i am going to get past that is wait for my wind sun indicator read out and get a wind sun turbine for my house .Solair does the audit and then tells you what you need but takes 6 months to a year to gain enough info from the device they install to monitor your house .I don't want batteries this switches on and off grid by itself .Been looking up info for a year before letting them check it all out .I live up on a hill out in the open so should be good for it .

 

[Event Horizon]

Does a leaf basket just sit over your pump so it won’t suck up debris? I would think it would be quieter if you could keep your motor in the water.
The hydro rates are getting really silly in Ontario. We have “smart meters”, so they can charge you more during peak times of the day, unfortunately the fish like to live 24/7. As you know I am new to this forum and I am surprised more people are not talking about the energy consumption of motors. My 8,5ooGPH motor uses half the energy of my 5,000gph, but I paid upfront for that.

 

[Event Horizon]

Bath time!

 

[sissy]

leaf basket is in line in front of your pump and debris goes in the basket and there is a plastic door on top and you open it and lift the basket out and clean it and put it back .Rates have gone up here and they installed the electronic meters last year and my bills have gone up since and used to be less than a hundred dollars a month but now closer to 200 hundred since and my lights are all LED and new fridge range and microhood and dishwasher .Same amount of electric but costs more .They keep saying it is because there are so many foreclosurers and people who skip out and don't pay so they raise the rates .I think my biggest energy hog is my well pump since it has to be a 1 horsepower since the well pump is 400 ft in the ground .All tv's and puters are LED monitors .We always talk about energy consumption of pumps when people ask about pumps .My 2400 gph one use 115 watts and the other one uses 165 watts .I should use the lower wattage one all year but when i hooked the 2150 one up I did not yet have the 2400 gph one and coming spring when I change the one filter I will change out the hoses and use the 2400 gph one more .I guess I can't really complain about the electric because this house is big and neighbors pay more and there house's are mostly 1500 sq. ft. and some are 1200 sq. ft.

 

[sissy]

crackle they look like black birds but darn they are really enjoying them selves .They are everywhere .Did you resolve the problem with the fence the put up over your pond .Love the last one with his own private cave there .Funny he ran up around and back down under ,how cute .

 

[Event Horizon]

I actually cut the video right there... he was having all kinds of fun, then realized everyone else had left and took off himself.

The fence will stay there for another week. Once the City says things are ok and we can apply for the building permit, it will be moved to the other end up near the deck. Its frozen solid so I am not too worried at this point. If we get a warm spell I will move it myself if necessary.

 

[sissy]

It could leech bad things into your pond and cause problems with you fish also .They need to understand that and that is the fishes natural habitat and poisons in the wood could kill them .

 

[j.w]

You sure do get tons of different kinds of birds visiting your lovely pond. Think I saw a Goldfinch flitter by in one shot. Are you ever bothered by the herons?

 

[Event Horizon]

Sissy, we have told the builder the hazards of that fence, and it will be gone.
j.w. The back of our yard is about 60 yards away from a major highway (at least 14 lanes), I am not sure the herons would like the noise. I think the trees and narrow yards would make landing difficult as well. I have seen them overhead (high) but never close to the yard. We get ducks and geese overhead as well but none have ever attempted to land in the pond. But the birds... wow we get so many, we just love it. Here is another video that show a variety of birds that visited in 2011. We actually had a Owl in the back one night, you will see him near the end of the video.