My pond

[kien]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! "reluctantly" ? "nothing to look at" ?? I think it looks cool! Definitely haven't seen a pond like that before. Pond in a retaining wall! I also like the idea of the upper pre-formed pond spilling into the lower pond. I want to do something like that so that I can grow water filtering plants in the auxiliary pond. This way the koi don't eat it up as they tend to do

Do you plan to keep the pond long term? I know of a few other people who inherited there pond and tried it out for a season before they decided to shut it down. Often times it was because the pond wasn't built the way they would have liked it and they couldn't get into the maintenance routine. It seems like yours is fairly low maintenance though.

I ended up giving away most of my baby koi from last year. My pond can't sustain that high a bio load and my koi are now old enough that they spawn every year! I did keep some of the nicer babies though.

[lastlight]

this is getting ridiculous i wish i had my old yard back! i actually love your pond it looks fantastic. what is the wire around the main pond for?

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by lastlight

what is the wire around the main pond for?

That's a little electric fence to keep the racoons out. Comes on at night with a timer. Also have a heron that keeps coming around (sets down right beside the fake one). But with that wire there, across the top of the rocks, he has no where to stand to try and get at the fish. So far, have not lost any fish to racoons or the heron.

[Reef Pilot]

Actually, have done nothing to the pond in 3 years, and everything is still working fine. Except, I did hook up a float in the sump, so that when we go away in the summer, I can hook up the garden hose and don't have to worry about it running dry due to evaporation. But it really is low (as in none) maintenance compared to my SW tanks.

The sump, is where the babies ended up surviving, as the adults couldn't eat them there. When they got bigger, I netted them and transferred them to the main pond (and after the adults were removed).

Have to say, though, that seeing your pond and Dez's is inspiring and maybe I should do something more with mine. Right now the water lines run underground to and from the filter box up by the house. For the return, I could build a little stream back to the pond (similar to what Dez did) with little falls and a bridge. But will have to find some time for that, and I guess the motivation to start another project.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by kien

I want to do something like that so that I can grow water filtering plants in the auxiliary pond. This way the koi don't eat it up as they tend to do

What water filtering plants would you use for that?

I do let some water lettuce and water hyacinths grow in the main pond. Are they water filtering? In the summer (I start with 1 plant each in the spring) I have to start culling them, and just throw them into the compost. I tried putting them in the top pond, too, but they would move to the outlet falls, and get jammed up there, and push overboard, so that didn't really work. I could probably rig something better to fix that.

Also, the racoons like to eat the water hyacinths, but the electric fence keeps them away from the main pond (but not the upper pond).

[kien]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

What water filtering plants would you use for .

Pretty much any water garden plant. Lillie's, marginals, floating plants. I have an assortment of all of the above. My koi like to dig up my Lillie's for fun :-/. My marginals (cat tails, marsh marigold, reeds, etc) are high enough that the koi can't dig those up though. If I had more room I'd grow more marginals. Water hyacinth is great too and grows like a weed. Although the fish do like to nibble on those roots too.