SouthernCross's Pond

[SouthernCross]

Before the fun starts. Wish I had a picture of all the bushes that were there before I took this picture.



Finished the DIY concrete planters and the GFI.



Now for the fun part, digging in early June. But I had no choice since I brought the house in March and had lots of more important things to attend to first. The pond measures 4" X 7". Depth is from 18" to 24". I made it slant away from the waterfall since I have read it helps with cleaning.





Lots of extra liner. Rolled up and tucked away for any future uses.




Finally got the waterfall working after using more foam than I thought it would take. I Plan on rebuilding the waterfall when it is cooler and will add a small filter in the waterfall. I do not plan on having many fish but lots of plants, so a big filter should not be needed.



I will add more pictures later.

 

[SouthernCross]

At the end of June, I added 28 bunches of anacharis(oxygenators), La Iris, water lettuce, and a lily from Petsmart. The lily is not visible yet since it is still small. Also built a small 5 gallon filter that will eventually go into the waterfall when I rebuild it this fall.




Here are my 5 Shumbunkins that I slowly added enjoying a swim in the green lagoon.

 

[SouthernCross]

I am glad that I found this forum. Because of joining here, last weekend I met Larkin(fishin4cars) who lives close by. I got the chance to visit him, and fell in love with his ponds. We spent the afternoon chatting and having a good time, and he gave me a wealth of helpful information. He also gave me a few plants to help out with my new pond. He gave me a lot of types of Taros, Lilies, parrot feathers, mosaic, water lettuce, and more that I cannot think of the name of right now. Also thanks to Sissy for suggesting Lemongrass which I hope will eventually keep away mosquitoes.

I planted everything Saturday morning(picture 1) and wanted to do more, but was short on time since my youngest son was having his birthday party that afternoon. Most who came by for the party did not know about the new pond and kept telling my wife how nice the pond was. That made her put me to work to build flowerbeds around it so we can plant more plants around it when we get time. :cheerful:





I still have a few things I want to do, so more pictures will follow at a later date.

 

[SouthernCross]

Saw this little guy this evening sitting on a lily pad while I was playing in the pond. I had to zoom in all the way with my camera to get a picture and he was smaller than the tadpoles in the pond.

 

[SouthernCross]

I took this picture this morning and I cannot believe how much the lilies have grown since I fertilized them. I occasionally see a goldfish nowadays since they are hidden under the plants.

 

[SouthernCross]

It finally cooled down enough and I had a free weekend to play(I mean work) on our waterfall. I used all of my existing rocks plus a cinder block that I painted black so it would be less noticeable. I also took crsublette's advice and went from 3/4" to 1" tubing and was shocked at how much more flow I got on the waterfall. I thought my 5 gallon skippy filter was going to overflow when I upgraded the hose size. I also added 3 LED lights that shine on the waterfall, and we are still figuring out our favorite colors since they sent 4 colored lenses and 1 clear. I also built a frame out of pvc pipe for my netting to keep out leaves. That should be all that I will do until springtime when I will have to concentrate on planting the flowerbed around the pond. Any suggestions??

I must have had a leak in my old waterfall since I was adding water every day and now I barely have to add any in a week.

Also, I never knew that having a garden involved so much fun. And now that it is cooler, we spend more time outside enjoying it sights and sounds. Thanks to everyone on this forum who has been helpful and have posted very useful information for others to learn from.

 

[SouthernCross]

Springtime and things are in bloom. Glad to finally be through winter. Here are some more recent pics of my little pond. Everything seems to be doing well, but the lilies are slow at coming up. Re potted them a few weeks ago and fertilized so hopefully they will start growing soon since the water is warmed up nicely.

Here is a picture of something coming out of my lotus that made me excited. And today, I saw another growth.

Here are some more pictures of the puddle(too small to call a pond) at evening time taken with my phone.

I think the picture below was taken a couple of weeks ago.

I got 3 more shubunkins last week, so hope to get a good picture of all 7 fish this weekend. The puddle(pond) is only 350 gallons with a 5 gallon bucket skippy filter so I don't want to overload it with too many fish.

 

[SouthernCross]

We woke up to a nice surprise on Mothers Day. Our Lotus plant finally decided to show us some flowers. They are very nice, but we are not sure what type they are. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

 

[j.w]

Very nice surprise they are and very pretty!

 

[addy1]

Very pretty, fantastic mothers day flower