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Journal Wild Pond gone Wilder 1 Year Later!

REDSTEVEO

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31 Mar 2008
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My old pond built in 2009 looked like this.

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As you might have guessed the planting was causing a problem for me because it was so deep with no ledges or shelves.

It holds around 3000 litres measuring 1m.85cm from front wall to back wall and 2m.85 from left corner to right corner. It doesn't have any shelves or ledges at varying heights or depths so I have always had a problem with my pond plants dying off. The water was too deep for the marginal plants and even the lillies struggled. I tried plastic crates, up turned pots, plastic shelving which sort of worked but it was all very temporary and never looked how I expected it to be.

For the last two years I have thought about half filling it in and turning it into a natural damp area with no filtration but everyone I spoke to said it would become anaerobic and start to smell. So after some long debate I went for the half way option.

I had already sold all my Koi Carp and all the large goldfish and only had about 20 odd goldfish fry from last year in various sizes. So I caught all the fry and put them in a temporary home then drained the pond, jet washed the whole of the inside and gave it a good clean out. I then laid a cross section of square drain pipe drilled with 10mm holes on all sides every two inches. I put a few right angles in and inserted two upright pieces as stand pipes.

I put a 3ft by 2ft paving slab in each corner to keep an area free for the pumps, then covered the remaining area with 1 ton of 20mm gravel - substrate. In the centre I placed a 25 gallon black plastic loft tank and reinforced the sides with flat slate tiles. I ordered a half ton of of Horticultural grit and bought 8 x 25 kg bags of aquatic pond soil. I divided the remaining area into sections using more flat slate tiles and sank them a few inches into the 20mm gravel.

I used the horticultural grit to various depths on top of the 20mm gravel then added about 5 inches of aquatic soil on top of the grit. I placed all the new plants I had bought at various depths around the pond straight on top of the soil and then added more horticultural grit to cover the roots up to the base of each plant.

The finished result is that I have got a pond divided into sections at various different depths. At the back of the wall I removed the old water blade and replaced it with a purpose built waterfall, connected up the pipework from the old water blade, and positioned the waterfall at the back of the pond which is connected to a separate pump.

The idea behind the drain pipes and the upright stand pipes is that every now and again I can stick the long hose of my pond vac down the stand pipes to the bottom of the pond and vacuum any silt or sludge straight out and into the garden while topping it up from the top, sort of like the undergravel filter system in an aquarium.

Well whether it will work in the long run, who knows? But it is finished now and the pumps are back up and running and the fish are back in the pond. Time will tell.

Here is what it looks like now. You can see the outline of the 25 gallon loft tank but I am hoping this will be covered in leaves from the lillies and other surface plants so you won't see it.

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To the right rear are plants that grow in planting zones 2 and 3
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To the left are plants that grow in planting zones 1 and 2. At the front centre are the marginal plants that grow in planting zone 1. These get more sun here and will hopefully reach the surface.

In the bottom of the 25 gallon loft tank are the oxygenating plants.
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The plants have only been in for about a week. No fertiliser added.

There is a 10,000 litre pump in each corner going into a large Pond One 10,000 filter both with UV lamps. UV is turned off at the moment.
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You can see some of the goldfish fry which are still black. The orange ones are fry from the year before.
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Three LED lights come on for a few hours at night.
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Any comments or suggestions welcome. Updates in a few weeks time when the plants have developed. Anyone think this won't work?

Cheers,

Steve.
 

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Its only my opinion, sorry but I think it looks too overcrowded with plants..............and they are only going to grow more.
 
Ive got no experience with ponds at all but i like how it looks must of been hard work to transition it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Looks realy wonderfull, lovely pond setup.. I don''t think you re over crowded with plants, can't have enough plants in the pond. That the same as in our aquariums, set 'm up with an abundancy of plants to make 'm cycle faster. I see you're in the UK and i so far i can see you it looks like you also got some tropical species of plants in there. They won't grow that fast in lower temperatures and wont survive the winter anyway if you don't take them inside. As all indigenous plants wont stay green as well and die off. As long as you can reach them to do some cutting if needed i don't see a problem. Also depends on the amount of firts you put in there, plant growth can be regulated with the same trimming and firt techniques you use in your aquarium. :)

Only the oxygenating plants can't realy see what you've done there but you seem to have put them in pots or in the gravel at a rather deep dificult to reach spot. :) Trimming that once rooted will be a challange. Most oxygenating plants are fastgrowers and can feed enough from the water colum, actualy they don't realy need to be rooted in the substrate. Tie them together and sink 'm down with a stone, so you can easily take 'm out and trim them accordingly. If they get rooted you got a hassle to trim them nicely. And they are the ones that can and will grow like weed and over crowed when the conditions are right.
 
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Its only my opinion, sorry but I think it looks too overcrowded with plants..............and they are only going to grow more.

I hope they grow more...that's the whole idea:) I don't mind a bit of pruning and trimming to keep it in order, might even get some cuttings to over winter for next year;)

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Ive got no experience with ponds at all but i like how it looks must of been hard work to transition it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it took me a Friday afternoon and a whole weekend to sort it, but I am glad its done now. I have already seen the odd frog in it which I have never seen before, so I am well happy with it.

Cheers,

Steve
 
I see you're in the UK and i so far i can see you it looks like you also got some tropical species of plants in there. They won't grow that fast in lower temperatures and wont survive the winter anyway if you don't take them inside.
Hi Zozo,

So errrr...which ones are the tropical species? I got these from a local garden centre and there was no mention of them being tropical. I might try and take some cuttings and over winter them in a tank in the garage?

Thanks for the tip about the oxygenating plants, I will sort that this weekend.

Cheers,

Steve
 
Hi all,
Like it. Same for me, you can never have too many plants.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrell,

Glad you like it. I think once this grows in it will be a real bit of natural fauna in an aquatic environment outside which is what I was trying to achieve all along.

What do you think on the theory of the stand pipes and the vacuuming from the bottom system to prevent any stagnation or nasty smells?

Cheers,

Steve.
 
There are many tropical species in the garden centres, most pond areas are removed for other products during the winter time. :) I was just a guess because i didn't realy recognize them and almost recognize all indigious spiecies, we don't have so many of them suitable for garden ponds, the collection would be rather small if they did.. :)

The water hyacinth is tropical, the other floater next to as well i believe.. I think a see a Hydrocotyl which is often offered in the garden centres and mostly it's the Brazilian penyworth you'll find there. The bigger ones surviving here are seen as invasive and i don't know bout the UK but here garden centres are prohibited to sell invasive exotes.

I believe i see a Rotala also very much ofered in garden centres very often it's the Indica as pond plant. I woudn't be surprised if the majority offered isn't indigious and not winter hardy. :) Also the cobomaba aquatica is tropical and always available and the Myriophyllum brasilensis also..

Check the tags that came with them.

Btw if you like an indigious winter green oxygenating water plant.. Take the horse tail.. Also looks nice, olive green emersed and only emersed winter green.. :) But that one needs to root in a basket.
 
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Sorry thet would be Mare's Tail.. We call it horse tail but it would be the wrong plant for you..
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Hi all,
Mare's Tail..
That is the one in the photo, Mare's-tail (Hippurus vulgaris), its a good plant for a pond. I've got a real Horse-tail (Equisetum fluviatile) in my pond, and lets just say it is a "good grower".
What do you think on the theory of the stand pipes and the vacuuming from the bottom system to prevent any stagnation or nasty smells?
I've just ignored mine, but I will have to have a clean up, as it is really now a marsh rather than a pond. I think if you want to keep fish it might be worth doing a bit more maintenance. Hopefully "Foxfish" will answer, because building ponds used to be his "day job".
So errrr...which ones are the tropical species?
Just the Pistia and Eichornia as far as I can see. The Frogbit could be either the hardy Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, or Amazon Frogbit, (Hydrocharis) would be my guess, and the plant near the bottom left of the 4th photo might be an Echinodorus sp.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi Darrell, Zozo,

Thanks for the input on the plants. I have definitely got some Mares Tail in the pond on both sides, it is just beginning to reach the surface now. When it has taken root properly will more shoots come up in different places? One of the problems I had keeping plants in containers was that they only stayed in the area the plant pot was positioned. I actually hope they spread a bit like the ones in your photo.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Oh the Mare's tail will once it get what it wants, acualy it is quite demanding it melts away very easily if doesn't get proper nutrients or to much of wrong nutrients. It has creeping roots and will definitely grow out the basket with side shoots. If it gets the right conditions, it can be a very invase plant with a brittle root system. So it brakes off easily and so it is easily spread around the pond if a root piece with a small side shooter falls off..

I always liked this one very much, but it's rather dificult sometimes, it doesn't take the transition realy well if you plant emersed growth to deep in the beginning. Never ealy got it to flourish in my bath tub it seems to hate warm temperatures when not fully astablished.. Also did put some in my aquarium and also there it is strugling somewhat.. I like the submersed growth which is very delicate and already brakes when the flow is to strong. Makes it difficult to handle and not damage it..

Actualy never looked it up what the real proper conditions are. The condition i offered it till now are not ideal so far i can tell. Make sure the fish don't get to the young plants.. My fish destroyed all i planted this year. Gold fish are like hooligans.. :)

Here it is submersed growth. The thin one all the way in the back.
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The short one next to it still is in transition and doesn't realy want..
 
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It's the first time I've ventured into this part of the forum, but I think the pond looks grand.
Look forward to seeing a bit of 'survival of the fittest' after a summer and winter, see who thrives and who dies off..
Good stuff.
 
Hi All,

I just thought I would share this little update with you as it has been a few weeks since I started the thread the second time around.

Firstly, the plan with the upright stand pipes (that you can't see in any of the photographs because they are so well disguised) has worked like a dream. I did a partial water change of about one third a week ago and the system of vacuuming the water out via the standpipes was a success. It also lowered the water level to a point where I was able to trim some leaves and do a general tidy up, I was also able to use a spray bottle with Easy Carbo added to apply to a few areas that needed it.

Below are some photographs of how it looks now three weeks on.

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I have had some brown algae issues, especially as I pruned a massive tree which was providing a lot of shade and then we had the brightest hottest three days of the year which didn't help, but overall I am very happy with how it turned out.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Hi Guys,

Well it has been almost a year since I made some significant changes to my garden pond. I thought I would post this update with a few photos so everyone can see how it has developed; and importantly what survived and what didn't from last year.

There are 16 Goldfish in total in the pond, all from different spawnings over the last year or two. I am thinking of taking these out and selling them for a few quid or giving them away if I can't sell them.

Then I thought about taking the pumps and the filters out altogether and filling in the two side pods where the pumps are now with more gravel and soil to plant a small Willow Tree or something similar. Then just rely on natural plant filtration, water evaporation and top ups to keep the water clean. Not sure if this would work though, and would be a lot of work to undo if it went wrong.

This is how it looked after I made the sectional changes last year.

The Waterfall at the back centre of the pond. There is an additional Eheim Pump at the back of this which comes on with a timer twice a day.
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The waterfall at the rear centre of the pond is virtually invisible as it is covered in a plant and moss etc. The water fall is full of bits of old bog wood and redmoor roots which the plant and mosses have grabbed on to. The Eheim pump at the back pumps water up the back of the waterfall and down through the roots, it makes a pleasant sound, but is not left on 24/7.

To the left of the pond is a plant that has survived from last year and has gone ballistic this year, it is actuall planted in one of the stand pipes without any soil but is feeding off the nutrients in the water.

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The only thing I am not happy with is still after being 5 years in the pond is that the Lillies have not flowered.

Thanks for looking,

Steve
 

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Hi all,
To the left of the pond is a plant that has survived from last year and has gone ballistic this year, it is actuall planted in one of the stand pipes without any soil but is feeding off the nutrients in the water.
The tall one growing by the decking is "Figwort", it could be either Scrophularia nodosa or S. auriculata. Scophularia auriculata (Water Figwort) has winged stems, and that would be my guess. When it flowers you will be amazed by how many wasps it attracts.

The plant with the filigree leaves and little pink flower, at the back is Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum).
The only thing I am not happy with is still after being 5 years in the pond is that the Lillies have not flowered.
Judging by how healthy the mosses and Herb Robert look, too shady would be my guess.

cheers Darrel
 
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