Garden Pond

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Postby Malli » April 16th, 2006, 10:02 pm

I'd give a rough guess at your pond at about 50-120 gallons. How deep is it??

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Postby cheekymunkee » April 16th, 2006, 10:25 pm

Poor Dex just wants to help dig. I like the color of your door!
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Postby Purple » April 17th, 2006, 6:48 am

Malli wrote:I'd give a rough guess at your pond at about 50-120 gallons. How deep is it??

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About two feet....it's a baby!
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Postby Marinepits » April 17th, 2006, 8:58 am

Love the photo of Dexter, V! He's so handsome!

BTW, we have the same doormat, LOL.

And, the "puddle" looks great, too!
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Postby Malli » April 17th, 2006, 11:50 am

then probably more like 50-75 gallons.

I'd suggest you start off with about 6 inches of fish. So, 3 2" fish etc... I'd say you could do max 6 (then can get VERY large, 12 " isn't unusual!) once your bacterial cycle has been established (wich takes about 4-6 weeks), but 4 would be healthier. This is all assuming you have a filter in there, and the more maintenance you do (keeping the filter clean, changing portions of the water) the more fish you'll be able to have.

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Postby Purple » April 17th, 2006, 12:51 pm

So, Malli, goldfish or kois or something else?
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2006, 1:00 pm

Purple wrote:So, Malli, goldfish or kois or something else?


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Postby Purple » April 17th, 2006, 2:03 pm

cheekymunkee wrote:
Purple wrote:So, Malli, goldfish or kois or something else?


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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2006, 2:11 pm

Shut up or I will tell everybody what day it is. :thbbbbt:
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Postby Purple » April 17th, 2006, 2:26 pm

cheekymunkee wrote:Shut up or I will tell everybody what day it is. :thbbbbt:



:shutUp:
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Postby rockermom » April 17th, 2006, 5:10 pm

Here is the make your own filter website. http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm
This idea is for a much larger pond but you can use something smaller like a PVC flower pot or something like that. At the bottom of the website is the MINI ME version which is what I am using. I purchased the tub pictured at Lowes and For media currently I am using Lava rocks like the kind for grills in a mesh laundry bag under the bag of lava rocks are Rocks and the lava rock bag is covered and held down by more rocks. You will need to get a pump you can get them at lowes or home depot or some hardware stores garden centers and of course pond stores. When a pond is first filled it is recommended to use a product called microbe lift http://www.microbelift.com
helps get bacteria growing. Expensive but it helps get started. Some shade also helps to keep a clean pond. Mine is in full sun and it is tough to keep the alge from growing. Water Plants are a must.
Good Luck
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Postby Purple » April 17th, 2006, 8:28 pm

Hey, thanks, that's some really great info!!!! :)
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Postby msvette2u » April 17th, 2006, 11:48 pm

Purple I am so jealous of your pond! I want a pond!! LOL

Malli, can one make their own pond by digging a hole and lining it with plastic? Like a roll of plastic?
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Postby Malli » April 18th, 2006, 12:24 am

msvette : I'm sure they could, but it might leak easier... The best option would be to get some old carpeting, line the hole with that, then place the plastic then some conrete (wich needs time to cure or it could hurt your fish!)


I was thinking Goldfish, I think Koi are too big for your pond :| They can get VERY large-like 2 feet +... I'm not really aware of any other fish that can live outside, here in Canada, only Goldfish work for ponds

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Postby Purple » April 18th, 2006, 6:36 am

Whoa, I didn't realize Koi got THAT BIG!!!!! :o
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Postby SisMorphine » April 18th, 2006, 8:22 am

Purple wrote:Whoa, I didn't realize Koi got THAT BIG!!!!! :o

Koi are fun!! We had some at the butterfly conservatory and they would eat the butterflies that landed on the water. It used to make the little kids cry. Hehehehehe . . .
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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 18th, 2006, 10:11 am

You can buy pond liners which are heavy duty sheets of rubbery plastic. You need to either be really careful about rocks in the bottom, or put sand in the bottom of the hole before you put the liner in.

They are not that expensive, I will be building a pond this summer, and I am going to use a rubber liner. You can by them in sheets 30x40 feet and bigger, or you can buy small ones.

Goldfish and Koi only get as large as the space they can grow in. The massive ones you see are in very large ponds. We have some in Keuka Lake which are about 3 feet long, they are MASSIVE-the guy at the junk store feeds them, so you can look out the window to his shop and throw bread down and watch the fish.

If you have a small pond they will stay relatively small. If you buy baby ones (fingerlings) they are way cheaper. If you are worried about raccoons, you can cover the pond with hardware cloth, although that will prevent frogs and such from coming in, which is my favorite part of having a pond!
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Postby Malli » April 18th, 2006, 12:49 pm

Unfortunately, the idea that goldfish and koi only get as large as the space they can grow in is not correct; in actuality, as they grow they produce more and more waste, and if their environment is not large enough to dissapte the waste sufficiently or house enough bacteria to process it, they become stunted, wich is where that idea comes from. Fish waste is not visible to the naked eye and therefore it was thought that the fish were growing to the size of their environment, when in fact what was seen was simply a tough fish surviving nasty conditions. I've seen stunted Tropical fish as well. On the other end of the spectrum, I had a large pleco in a 20 gallon tank, that by the time I gave him away, could not turn around in the tank widthwise without bending his body, at that point it was him and a couple guppies in there and I was doing 30% water changes and weekly gravel vacuums to keep up with his waste.

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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 18th, 2006, 3:57 pm

I hadn't heard that before. None of mine have ever outgrown a tank, I do not overpopulate and keep them pretty clean, but I also usually pick fish that will stay comfortable in the size tank i put them in. No Oscars anymore for me, until I can afford a 500 gallon tank. But, you learn something new ever day.
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Postby msvette2u » April 18th, 2006, 4:07 pm

Purple wrote:Whoa, I didn't realize Koi got THAT BIG!!!!! :o

That's PAN-SIZE!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted:
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