Okay, well, I haven't updated here in awhile, because I haven't done much since I'm busy with yet another round of exams. I'm done with exams for a few months after this Friday... But I'm leaving for two weeks for my annual summer training with the army national guard, so I won't be getting much done. We're doing our training only about 90 miles away though, so maybe I'll be able to pop back in a time or two and get some work done now that I won't have studying looming over me.
Anyhow, I FINALLY got the leaking problem under control. It turned out to be a combination of too much splashing from the waterfall and the line was pinched on one edge allowing some water to leak out. It leaked into the stones and mulch, so I didn't notice the wetness right away. I decided to do away with the waterfall and just have a creek, and it's been running for two days straight now with only about 1/2" drop in water level, which I'd say can be explained by evaporation alone in a pond with a creek and about 150 square feet of water area. So I'm happy about this!
I also put together a couple of pots out of rock and stones for some plants. Here is my post from another thread on here about potting options:
Today I finally got around to putting together some stone pots. The larger one is for my lily pads. This was my first attempt at it. It turned out okay. I think once it is in the water and the plant is in and covered with gravel, it'll look nice. But, it's going to be about 18" underwater anyhow, so the depth should hide the imperfections.
My second attempt turned out great, if I may say so myself! It is the smaller round one. This one will house my Yerba mansa, which will be in my shallow basking area, so I really wanted an attractive pot, since the top of the pot will be just about at the water level.
The first and larger one was done using a few extra flat rocks I had laying around. I roughly fit them together, glued them with 100% silicone caulking, and then filled in the crevices with some smaller stones that were caulked into place. I'll see if this is going to be a permanent fixture or just a temporary housing after I see how it looks in the water with the plant inside. I have a feeling it will be replaced though.
The second one was done by picking out a bunch of flat river stones out of the stone around the edge of the pone. These stones are in the 1-2" size range. They were then glued around the edge of a flat rock in a roughly circular pattern. They were glued in again with 100% silicone caulking. I didn't worry much about the caulking showing on the inside, but I tried to keep it clean on the outside that will be visible.
It really turned out pretty nice once I put the plant inside and topped it off with some pea gravel with some slightly larger flatter stones on top.
I'll update with pictures once the caulking dries completely and I get them in the pond.
