Nice :-) Speaking of the Ok, I just got the OK from the wife to renovate our pond next year! We are going to tear down our house and build an extension to the pond in its place. We are not sure yet where we are going to sleep but the pond will be kick a$$. Go big or go home! :biggrin:

What is your SECRET to make your wife say YES to anything?

yes Dez, please share... does she have a sister? Looking to trade my current "No way in HELL!" model in :mrgreen:

My secret is that both the reef and the pond were her ideas. I am just the executor of said projects. I prefer to do things once only.

Okay, the guts. It's quite simple. Here is the skimmer where the 2 pumps are housed. The net is there to catch leaves, so you just pull it out and dump. Then you see a set of brushes that catches fine media. Just pull it out and hose.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/photo2-5.jpg

Here is a picture of one of the waterfalls. Where you see all that gravel, you can plant stuff in there. There is a trough so that it's always wet at the bottom. You can plant stuff like creeping jenny etc so that it climbs and hides the plastic and the open portions. You can see the media in there. This falls unit holds about 100 gallons alone and it it packed with this media for surface area for the bacteria to colonize. Around the falls unit I will have to fill with topsoil and we'l l be planting shrubs and ground covers all around.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/photo1-4.jpg

Moved some fish and got some more :) That big one is 2 feet.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/photo-14.jpg

And a FTS with fish. For perspective, the biggest fish you see there is 24"
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/photo3-2.jpg

The pond company will be coming back today to add some feature boulders around the pond and make a cave in the pond for the fish and tidy up things a bit.

Cool pond Des, but I think you should have done a SPS pond...

that looks really good Dez!

Beautiful!! Can't wait to see with plants and shrubs.

I think you should be part of the upcoming tank tour again so we can drool over your tank and pond :mrgreen:

Will it be deep enough for the fish to survive through the winter or do you have a holding tank for them?

I think that we are away on the tank tour weekend. And besides, my tank looks like junk, still full of Cyano. We'll show off our pond once it's planted next year. :)

We are wintering them in the pond. We'll have a heater and an aerator in there.

Awesome! Definitely a dream backyard.

11" ok looked way bigger to me. makes sence.

Steve

I am in, even if means I gotta fly my butt up to Calgary.:wink:

Slight problem though, the pond isn't in Calgary, it's in Edmonton ;)

One of the nicest backyard ponds I have seen. Your hard work and dedication to this massive project definitely paid off. You should enter your pond in your local Horticultural Society competition.:biggrin:

Have you ever looked into an IonGen? There fairly new to the pond hobby and keep your pond 100% free of all algeas when set up properly. Its the same technology they use the keep the water features algea free on the las vegas strip without using chemicals

Haha, that would've been pretty crappy showing up in Calgary. :mrgreen: Edmonton is my home down anyways. I am due for a visit.

Very nice build, I have a small pond in my yard and will be updating it next year, have you calculated how many gallons of water in pond? What pump[s] are you using in it? Freezing not a big problem for me for the most part but I would imagine you must have some heavy duty heater set up for your one end of the pond. When it does freeze please post some pics as I would be very interested.

Thanks for the kind words. I can't wait to get planting in the spring to make it look more natural.

Have not looked into this. I will be pretty much leaving it natural for now. I have seen many of the ponds that this company has built and they are all algae free. It's a natural method with basically tons of surface area for natural biological filtration and tons of flow. We'll have to see from year to year though.

I'm not sure, maybe 2500 gallons? It's 17' x 33' x 24" deep but there is a ton of rock displacement and a few shelves. So it's very hard to guess or calculate the volume. They are japanese pumps I believe (1 HP, and 1/2 HP). I think about 11000 gallons/hr total flow.

My glass panels are in now - my son is testing it out as he wasn't quite sure at first. My mother in law came and she wouldn't walk on the glass (kinda funny). She is the type of person however that won't walk on the glass in the Calgary Tower and doesn't like riding in elevators that you can see out of that are made of glass.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/photo-15.jpg

BBQ!!!
 

Dez... I'm on shutdown until November, but I'm self inviting me and the family over for a BBQ! I'll bring the beer and steaks! All you need to do is cover your whole back yard so it doesn't freeze... and isn't cold. It looks amazing buddy... maybe we'll have to wait till next year??

Pretending your pond isn't awesome (and that I don't need to desperately move so I have a yard) is getting tougher bro. Again I'm in awe I just LOVE what you did here.

This pond puts my pond to shame. I just visited it yesterday. Wow, it's at the Maui Ocean Center.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3154.jpg

And a peek of a few of the fish in that pond.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3155.jpg

And yes, Johnny, we can certainly arrange a BBQ :). Maybe next year when we're all planted.

What does Koi taste like BBQ'd? :lol:

haha, I would be out in the back yard fishing all day :mrgreen:

Steve

Those fish look great! So does the glass. :D

Really? Wow, didn't think it would be that much...it isn't too bad to coat the front of the car and headlights.

Dez, if you go to wikiki, go to the aquarium there. it has some real nice ponds and outdoor tanks also.

Steve

A little update from our backyard pond build.

Here is a FTS from last month sometime.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1342308452

Some of the fishies
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1342308452

More fishies, they overwintered fine and a few new ones
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1342308532

And a baby. My fish spawned 2 1/2 weeks ago, this picture was from Canada Day, it was only about 1mm. Now the babies are about 3/4 - 1"
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1342308527

Looks gorgeous. Love what you've done with the backyard. I couldn't imagine living here without a good sized backyard to play with. Makes it worth having a smaller indoor living space. Love the koi with the red forehead spot.

Congrats. Dez your a new daddy btw I love the yellow koi

:thumb::thumb::thumb:

Oh wow!! The water so clear and clean compared to mine.

When I restarted the pond in the spring I went through about 1 1/2 weeks of "pea soup" while it cycled. Then it cleared up and has stayed clear since.

Looks great Dez!

How are you cycled your pond? Mine is barely see the fish, but they grow twice as big from last year.

I took the fish out in the Spring for a day while I drained the pond and cleaned it, then I put all fresh water in and the clean media back in as I took all the media out last fall, then put the fish back in the next day. The water was still cold so it took a while before the beneficial bacteria could grow as the temperature warmed up, then I got an algae bloom (which was expected) and then it cleared up. I couldn't see the fish during that algae bloom either. My pond sits in full sun for most of the day and it's still crystal clear now. I backwash the media every 2 weeks so that the fish waste and other garbage has less of a chance to decompose.