UPDATE Thanks to all for advice

[SEKCOBRA]

Hi everyone
Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice and talking me off the ledge a couple of times earlier this spring. Thanks to Lisa especially because without her telling me it will get better and having a similar style pond I may have caved to the Koi people telling me to totally redesign my pond. For those of you that are newbies like myself your in good hands here. I had my pond built in October and it is my first spring summer with it. I had parasite problems, bacterial infections caused by the initial parasite problem, hair algae then green water, salt issues, etc. Now I'm happy to report its been about 6 weeks or so and things have settled down. I believe it has a lot to do with the removing of the salt that I was told to put in by the Koi people to help combat the parasite issue and the introduction of the plants. As soon as I got the salt levels down to 0.3% the plants started to do better and flower and grow. Salt is now 0.1%. I had my last flip of hair algae in stream and waterfall to green water six weeks ago. My parameters have always been very good. My ph is always on the high end.8.5 to 9.1. I took the advice given here and slowed my water changes down. I use to do 10% every week I have cut that back to every 2-3 weeks and will do less and monitor results going forward. Fish are doing fantastic and all seem very happy and healthy. Plants are exploding and have made the pond look more natural which was my goal. Water is a bit tea colored but crystal clear. I'm guessing that is caused from a piece of driftwood that is now in the water because I raised the level and we have been getting a lot of rain that raises the level also. Or it good be the small acorns that have been falling from a oak nearby. Doesn't bother me or the fish or frogs at all. Looks more natural than Poland spring water anyhow. Just been enjoying the pond which was the plan from the start. I'm sure I'll have other questions and occasional issues down the road and ill need to be talked down again from time to time but I think I may be over the hump. Thanks for all your help everyone.
Steve

 

[SEKCOBRA]

This is today. sorry posted older pics by mistake

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

@SEKCOBRA - Your pond and landscape are absolutely lovely! Your hard work, patience, efforts to do the research, and willingness to accept advice from the nice folks here, have really paid off.

I've seen folks pop up on the forum under the guise of seeking advice, when in reality they only want someone to confirm what they want to hear...and then they disappear, having ignored perfectly sound advice. So it is nice to see the valuable resource this forum offers get put to good use.

Now go relax by your beautiful pond!

 

[Telion]

What an excellent story to share thank you for sharing it and the pond looks great so glad you didn't give in to the anti-garden koi people.

 

[MitchM]

Wow, does that ever look great, SEK.
@Lisak1 certainly does provide excellent advice!

 

[Lisak1]

I was just thinking about you @SEKCOBRA and wondering how things were going!

I love a good success story! I learned it all here from people who are WAY smarter than me! And give yourself credit @SEKCOBRA - you've put in a LOT of work to make this pond beautiful!

I love two things about this post -
1. You were willing to listen and take advice. Many many before you have been unwilling to do so. Waiting and letting nature take it's course is the very hardest thing to do. You done good!
2. You came back to let us see the happy results! So often people post about their issues, get good advice and then we never hear from them again. So thanks for sharing!

EVERY new pond owner needs to read your posts, from beginning to end to see that IT WORKS! And think of all the money you'll save by not buying countless pond additives, fish treatments, and paying for water changes, not to mention NOT rebuilding your pond! I think you should throw a big "come and see my pond" party and invite the koi people!

 

[Tula]

Your pond looks beautiful and thank you for giving us an update

 

[sissy]

life as a ponder is confusing sometimes and having people that have gone through what you are going through really helps .It just takes time and tons of patience

 

[SEKCOBRA]

Thanks again everyone. It really helps when you listen to advice from people who have been there. It's hard sometimes to believe that things will change or improve especially if your not very patient like me. But I can usually tell the difference between people who care and are knowledgeable and those that have other motives. Again I thank all of you for helping me out with all your great advice. Fall will be here soon and I'll be asking a lot more questions and be looking for a lot more advice. Anyone making your way to Long Island look me up and stop by for a drink. I'm buying. Lol

 

[Tara]

Some fantastic results on your pond, I bet you're well pleased, thank you for showing us the update, and may the pond just keep on improving.

 

[GBBUDD]

Wow, does that ever look great, SEK.
@Lisak1 certainly does provide excellent advice!

OH Good grief there will be no living with her now . !!!!!!!!!!




J.K lisa

sek what a difference! your pond looks great did you add a bog to your pond or increase it? or was it just added lots of plants

 

[SEKCOBRA]

OH Good grief there will be no living with her now . !!!!!!!!!!

Bog was there. Not a traditional bog. It is a shallow area at one end of the pond. It has a vault buried under 2 tons of gravel. There is a 6000 gpm pump in the vault. I added some plants and put some rocks to keep the hayacinths from floating all over the pond. They have taken off.


J.K lisa

sek what a difference! your pond looks great did you add a bog to your pond or increase it? or was it just added lots of plants

 

[Lisak1]

J.K lisa

Haha! As my dad used to say "it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way."

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Sekcobra. Your pond looks great. I'm glad the advice you got here was helpful. I think most experienced ponders here think along the same lines as the advice you received from Lisa, but everyone's pond is slightly different so you need to learn over time how to look for signals that something needs to be adjusted or fine tuned for your own pond. For example if you are getting acorns now from a large tree now you may have to put a net over it in the fall so you don't get too much organic matter dumped into your pond. Two years ago I built a new pond at a new house and couldn't figure out why my water was so green and I had done everything the same as my old pond. It took months for me to learn that someone was making a regular habit of cutting through my yard and feeding bread to my fish without me knowing! Good luck with everything!

 

[addy1]

Thanks to Lisa especially because without her telling me it will get better and having a similar style pond I may have caved to the Koi people telling me to totally redesign my pond.

She gives wonderful thoughtful advice, we have a lot here that do. We want people to enjoy their ponds not suffer with them.