LL's Gardening Diary

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wildlifemad
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by wildlifemad »

Looking good LL!! We had a pond years ago with a pump & then a filter box.The filter box had ceramic tubes at the bottom to catch the big bits of debris then 3 sponges layered that gradually got finer.If memory serves me well (questionable??!!!!!) we used to just clean the sponges about once a month & the water was always clear. We had Koi & a few Goldfish all bought small but got huge in the end. When we decided to empty it a friend had the Koi that were left. Hope you get it finished & the fish in soon.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

How's the pond coming along LL? Looking forward to seeing some more photo's.
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lancashire lass
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Pond finished and More Goldfish

Post by lancashire lass »

Sorry I've not been online - long story short, my home laptop protection expired but won't accept the new one. However, seems the current one has been "extended" so I can spend lots more money renewing it than let me use the much cheaper new one }hairout{

I'm on my 3 weeks annual leave at the moment so been very busy getting the pond finished. Since Friday the 18th August, I have been working on the project and concentrating on the biofilter, trying to set up the gravel filter bed and making the pond look like a feature on the patio.

Despite promise of setting up the biofilter sooner than later, I only finally set it up last weekend. I inserted a piece of blue tubing through a drilled hole in one of the water butts from the allotment so that the tube inside was all the way down to the bottom - water filters down to the bottom, then as the water level rises, should overflow through the pipe sited over the pond. Then I packed the container with lots (and lots and lots) of old netting from the allotment - just when I thought I couldn't possibly add more netting, the water level inside suggested it needed more netting! I also needed a fine mesh on top to catch any solid material landing on top so I sacrificed the inner lining from my old tent as I'm unlikely to ever go camping again (and it was on its last legs anyway) Then I attached a piece of the hose pipe to the pump placed into the pond and directed it into the biofilter - then I switched it on ..... the water butt filled up, and water came streaming out of the outflow pipe )c( When I was happy with the flow, I seeded the biofilter with the nitrifying bacteria to speed things up a bit.

For the moment the plug to the pump has been threaded through the old cat flap on the back door .... it must be nearly 20 years old and my dog had a habit of ramming her head through the flap whenever I was outside .... with the combination of sun on the plastic and physical abuse, the whole thing began to crumble so now it is held together with sellotape until I figure out what to do next.

The outside walls were covered with feather board fencing, painted green to match the feather board fence round my patio. This took longest as each piece was hand sawn to size. I also built an extension frame for the gravel bed - basically the bed is just a series of crates linked by pipes to overflow into the biofilter. The crates sit on top of plastic shelving from one of the polytunnels and are boxed in with more feather board. Unfortunately, my plumbing skills are a little lacking - the flow of water from the pump was greater than flow out of the crates. Once I had figured out the problem by raising the crates and adding wider tubing, they all started to leak quite badly so I gave up. I do have a cunning plan and will give it another go in the next couple of weeks.

Next, a shelf (not sure what to call it - sits on top of the wall like a picture frame) I wanted to gloss paint it but I couldn't believe how much paint costs - the can size I wanted was £16 but just as I was passing the reduced basket, found a can (same brand and size) of Magnolia for £5. I was originally aiming for a soft light brown but beggars can't be choosers. It doesn't look that bad actually and certainly frames the pond quite nicely.

Finally, I washed and added another bag of 20 mm gravel and a bag of pea gravel to the pond. Definitely looks much more natural now. But despite the filter and plants, the water still had that slight milky (new tank) look about it. And worse, the blanket weed that was on the pond plants were growing. So I decided to put some of the blanket weed treatment I had bought online - they come in dissolvable sachets, each sachet treats nearly 5000 litres. As it is a natural product, I don't think I could possibly "overdose" the pond and put one of the sachets into the pond. The next day was miraculous - the clarity of the water was amazingly clear. Not sure what it did to the blanket weed but it certainly made a difference to the water.

This is still a work in progress photo but you can see the extra gravel in the pond and the painted magnolia boards on top of the wall. The gravel filter crate and biofilter in the top right hand corner:

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And here we are now - pond finished:

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I tested the water and everything was perfect - nitrates down to zero so that takes care of the algae though I'm not sure how well the pond plants will fare! On Saturday, the goldfish were moved to their new home ... sadly, they have got all shy and prefer living under the matt of elodea and pondweed so I rarely see them now, sigh. Even feeding time doesn't encourage them until I move away. Hopefully they will soon get used to their new home and swim around more in the open.

Meanwhile, I emptied and cleaned the gravel in the tank, used water from the pond to top up and left it filtering overnight (2 filter pumps for maximum cleaning). I tested the water and found it was good, so off I went to get some more goldfish. I was originally going to get another 6, then after quarantining, move them into the pond and get another 6 but with the delay in getting the pond up and running, I decided to get 12 in one go - although a warm August bank holiday weekend, temperatures outside will start to drop so made sense to get them acclimatised as soon as possible in the pond before autumn sets in proper. Here still in their bag in the tank while waiting for the water temperature to equalize:

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Mainly Sarasa Comets (although only 1 has a true "comet" tail but it's the mix of white and red which I was really interested in - as you look down into the pond, that's really all you see and not the side or tail that much) with a couple more Common goldfish, 4 more yellow Goldfish and 1 more Shubunkin (multi coloured with blue-grey, black, some red in a series of patches and spots - it's the one top centre in the photo above) When released from the bag into the tank, they really settled down very quickly. Today I started the White Spot treatment - when the others got it, the treatment suggested it could be used when new fish are introduced to kill off any parasites that may have hitched a ride in the water - so their quarantine time could be cut short. The treatment is for a week. Meanwhile, they have taken a liking to the elodea and duckweed I put in the tank .... I know I gave up the allotment to spend more time at home, but I might have to take up water gardening full time to keep up with the new residents diet!

So that's me up to date. I hope to get the gravel filter beds working next week, weather permitting, and get the pond edge plants (reeds and flag iris) planted up (or at least moved into the crates!)

[my internet protection may only be temporary so I might not be able to post piccies until I get it sorted / back to work but I will try to update any progress on the project using the tablet]
Last edited by lancashire lass on 28 Aug 2017, 17:12, edited 1 time in total.
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Cheshire Chick wrote:I agree with you about having a good filter system and pump, it makes all the difference keeping the water clear and flowing. We have Koi Carp in our pond and my husband is always cleaning the filters out and checking the pump.


wildlifemad wrote:We had a pond years ago with a pump & then a filter box.The filter box had ceramic tubes at the bottom to catch the big bits of debris then 3 sponges layered that gradually got finer.If memory serves me well (questionable??!!!!!) we used to just clean the sponges about once a month & the water was always clear.


)t' The research I had done on filters is to set it up so that you only clean the top filter which catches the solids pulled through the pump - the bacteria in the rest of the filter box break down the ammonia and nitrites produced from fish poo and plant decay into nitrate which is less toxic to fish and is plant fertiliser. The netting I used is just a surface for the bacteria to colonise on - the more surface area, the more bacteria will grow on it so you can use virtually anything. You can buy different things for the filter box (ceramic, gravel, bio balls, flocor which is basically pieces of plastic tubing chopped into small pieces which are used to pack the box - for an extortionate price when you consider what it is and you can improvise with much cheaper material) The old plastic netting (actually, pond net from Wilkos that I used to use to cover the cabbages to keep the butterflies off before I got debris netting) allows uninhibited free movement of water but lots of area for the bacteria to grow on. When the gravel bed is set up, it will almost be an extension of the biofilter - the gravel under the water surface will eventually be colonised by bacteria and the nitrate will feed the reeds and other pond edge plants that I will plant in the gravel.

The other thing I learned about is flow rate of water - too high and "dirty water" will not have time to be processed by the bacteria. The pump I have is actually a fountain with a flow rate of about 750-1000 litres per hour - at just £14 (and low wattage so running costs will be lower than (an eco) light bulb, it was a lot cheaper than some of the pond pumps of £100-£300 yike* . A lot of sites recommend entire pond capacity turnover in an hour but on comparing the flow rate to that I have seen at the shops, mine looks about right. The only downside I see is that my pump in the pond is only dragging water close to it so I will keep monitoring and see how it goes.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Well done LL - You have done yourself proud. Your finished pond is amazing - what a wonderful feature. I can see all the work and details (and research) you have put into it. Now you can sit besides your pond, glass in hand, and enjoy!!!!
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lancashire lass
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Gravel bed progress

Post by lancashire lass »

Thanks CC, it has turned out a lot better than I imagined - still much to do though but the change in the weather is frustrating .... just when I should be outside enjoying the pond feature and listening to the sound of trickling water, NOW it rains LOL

I do love to watch the rain drops hit the water surface - unfortunately you can see the pond netting too, but this is from this afternoon's heavy shower:

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Due to a couple of appointments in the city, I've not done much on the pond project since bank holiday Monday. When I bought the wood last week, I also got some sealant to use on the crates for the gravel bed. I've been pondering where I had put application gun (squeezes the sealant out of the tube) and decided to check the cupboard under the stairs .... and found 2 still with partially used tubes in them! I really don't remember when I last used them, surely nearly 16 years as I've done no bathroom sealing in this house, but I decided to cut the nozzle on one of them and blow me, the sealant was still usable. It was very much a finger job but I applied a liberal amount of sealant where the overflow tubing are fitted on the crates. I might do another application when it is dried just in case I missed the leaks.

The other part of my "cunning" plan to fix the gravel bed problem is to line the frame with pond liner (I had bought a small piece last year when I was considering a bog bed for the allotment pond but never got round to it ....), then sit the crates inside. Should the crates still leak despite using sealant, then water will just fill the lined area instead of gradually emptying the pond. That's the theory.

Meanwhile I have been patient with the goldfish in the pond and they are slowly showing themselves but still remain aloof when I approach. They now know where I put their fish food so in a morning when I go out to give the chickens their breakfast, I put some food in the pond and walk away .... they quickly swim from under the duckweed to feed by the time I've reached the garden and although they swim away when I go back to the house, it is a little more subtle rather than the panic dash for cover. So a good sign.

The new goldfish are fine - before the White Spot treatment, the Shubunkin was being pestered by some of the other goldfish. I have noticed this behaviour before when one of the earlier purchases died not long after - I wasn't sure if it was a form of bullying but now I think it is when the other fish sense there is an illness. Soon after starting the treatment, the other goldfish stopped chasing the Shubunkin almost immediately - I'm glad I decided to do the pre-treatment while in quarantine even though there were no other signs or symptoms of illness. The next dose will be tomorrow - I think this is meant to catch any of the parasites that hatch from spores that might be in the water rather than treat the fish themselves, so fingers crossed I'll be able to move the new fish into the pond next week.

Meanwhile, I still have the rest of the garden to do as well and I'm already half way through my holiday leave.
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lancashire lass
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Moved the new goldfish into the pond

Post by lancashire lass »

I gave the second treatment for White Spot yesterday morning so that should take care of any parasites that may have hatched since the first treatment. I left it a good 36 hours and decided it should be okay to put the goldfish into the pond. To be honest, I was more concerned that the tank conditions were starting to deteriorate - bits of blanketweed that had been brought into the tank with the elodea were breaking apart and blocking the submerged filter pump so the water was not being cleaned efficiently. The blanketweed was probably dying off as a result of the pond treatment last week, but it was getting very messy and difficult to sieve out without disturbing the already skittish fish. As the tank was only a quarantine stage and I had done the pre-treatment, I was sure the goldfish were not carrying White Spot which is the most common contagious disease, so I'm confident they will be fine. Here waiting in a bucket while being slowly acclimatised to doses of pond water added every 10 minutes:

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Meanwhile I put the macro lens on the camera and took some piccies of the flowering Water Hawthorn (it is a submerged pond plant much like a water lily but with tiny flowers hence the different lens)

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I also did my first weekly maintenance - I skimmed the water above the gravel to collect the bits of blanketweed and elodea that had sank, cleaned the grill on the pump and added some clean water. Then the goldfish were released.

As expected, they disappeared under the duckweed but while I went round fastening the net across the pond, they slowly came out in the open. I decided to do a test feed and the older fish came out straight away, followed by the new ones. Over the past couple of days the first batch had gradually been coming out to feed while I was still there, but this was straight away. Perhaps having greater numbers of fish really do give them more confidence. It was quite a moment seeing them all feeding together while I was still there - too precious to run back into the house for the camera in case I lost it. I'm sure their confidence will only grow and I will really start to enjoy having them.
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lancashire lass
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Next day ...

Post by lancashire lass »

What a transformation - all 18 goldfish came out to feed as soon as I appeared this morning. So glad they are settling in.

Shame the camera focused on the pond net, but here is a piccie of them (can you see them all?):

Image

Next task - to sort out the gravel beds. One set of tubing have been sealed, but still having problems with the other set. Grrr, this should have been the easiest part of the pond build but I WILL get it sorted one way or another. Then it's time to visit the wilderness, er, garden.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Looks great LL - I am sure the fish will be very happy indeed in their new environment. I love the picture of the Water Hawthorne, so delicate and pretty.
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lancashire lass
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Planter nearly finished + maintenance

Post by lancashire lass »

Well my 3 weeks annual leave has come to an end and it's back to work tomorrow. I would like to have had a completely finished pond but the weather has been a little unpredictable with rain every other day. As a result, the painting and sealing has had to be put off for more favourable weather.

The thing I really wanted to finish was the gravel filter. It was all part of the filtration system but I just could not stop the leaks from the tubing holes .... I tried using sealant and some of it worked but it was still a serious leak - enough to slowly empty the pond! In the end I opted for a planter instead.

I still used the crates but sat them on pond liner which I then stapled to the frame at the top. This should keep it dry underneath but I suspect there will still be a leak where the pond liner butts up to the overflow tubing into the biofilter - I found it difficult to get my fingers between the gap to be able to do anything to seal it properly so I held the liner taut when stapling and hopefully this should hold the water in to at least that level.

As water can be heavy and the pond liner wasn't supported on the sides, I used plastic balls to pack the gap between crates to reduce the amount of water that goes into it:

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The last crate before water flows into the biofilter:

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At this stage I realised that the 3 bags of gravel was not going to fill all 3 crates so had to come up with a plan. I decided to pack the bottom of the crates with old glass jars and put the gravel on top. Then I used remnants of pond liner to cover the top of the crates and between them - at a later stage I'll get some cobble stones and put these on top to completely fill the planter and hide the pond liner. I set about putting the plants in and topping up with the last of the gravel. From the back:

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Photo from the pond side:

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I just need to finish off and hide the stapled pond liner with wood on top and gloss paint so it matches the pond, and also stain the feather board with matching fence paint. Then the next task will be to box in the biofilter with a frame and feather boarding, and have a removable lid on top for general maintenance.

The goldfish have settled well into their new home and have got into the routine of coming out to see me when I go outside. However, the spread of duckweed has been on an almost daily basis to the point where I was struggling to find a hole to feed the fish! So today was maintenance day - I scooped out about half the duckweed (I'm so pleased with my skimming net that I had bought - it does exactly what you want) and also scooped out some blanket weed. I also cleared some blanket weed that had got trapped in the pump grille.

The water clarity however, is not brilliant. I can see the fish and even the gravel on the floor okay but there is a slight murkiness - it's a sort of brownish rather than green appearance. I checked the biofilter and the top filter sponge was dirty so it is working but perhaps I need a properly fine filter mat on top as some of the dirty water is most likely going straight back into the pond. Considering the biofilter has been totally constructed from whatever I had available in the house and retrieved from the allotment, I think it has done well so far. Shame the gravel filter bed hasn't worked out.

I checked the water quality for nitrites and nitrates and remarkably they are still at a very low level and perfect. All the other things were also okay but the pH had dropped from 7.2 to 6.8 which is fine but 7.2 is ideal. I'll have to keep my eye on that.

Finally, a quick tidy up of the patio (I should have taken photos AFTER I'd tidied up LOL) So far I think Project Pond has been a success and I'm pleased with the progress.
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lancashire lass
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imgbox

Post by lancashire lass »

for some reason the photos uploaded to imgbox today are not displaying in the post :? - if all you get is "image", click on it and it does take you to the photo on the photo sharing site
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Something clearly not right with Sunday's piccie upload to imgbox, so here's one that does work:

Image
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

That's an excellent photo of the pond. It looks so good as if you have had professionals in to do the job - I'm very impressed!! )like(
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Cheshire Chick wrote:That's an excellent photo of the pond. It looks so good as if you have had professionals in to do the job - I'm very impressed!! )like(


aw thank you CC {hug} A colleague at work commented that he would have thought twice before tackling a project like that .... which got me a little worried that I might have taken on something too complicated. I suppose it depends on how you go about it - if I had to follow a list of someone else's instructions, I would have probably made a mess of it but with thinking the problems through for myself (and being limited by the materials I had), it was just a case of moving from one stage to another:

1) do the research first to work out what is essential and needed to be done before formulating a plan (in my head) and allow for changes if new or problems not considered arise
2) lift up patio paving (and level off remaining paving)
3) dig hole (save the gravel and ballast to level off the other paving) Find a "digging" tool that works - ah, the pick axe and the hoe work best.
4) build walls (consider the force of water and ensure they do not bow out)
5) strengthen the corners (weakest part of the structure) and brace the whole structure
6) lay protective materials like underlay and old carpet down first to protect the pond liner
7) start filling with water, set up the pump and a biofilter
8) the rest is really just cosmetic - tidying up the pond liner, feather board, shelf, paint, plants and fish.

It probably helps that I enjoy working with wood and have just enough skill to do small building projects )t'
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manda
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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lancashire lass wrote:A colleague at work commented that he would have thought twice before tackling a project like that .... which got me a little worried that I might have taken on something too complicated.


Ignorance is bliss isn't it {rofwl} It just goes to show if you think about things too much you may end up limiting yourself...you looked at how to rather than how much (and that can be the thing that overwhelms people and prevents them from taking on something)... you've done an amazing job LL.
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda

Living our version of the Good Life with 4 dogs, 6 cats, a cow, a few sheep, Angora Goats and ???? chooks.
Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
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