***The Pond Discussion Thread****

father-ted said:
No more otter attacks since.
Posts on Fb show they have hit a lot of ponds in the area :-(
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Not sure on the legality, but my Indian neighbour makes an awesome Tarka Masala - it's like a regular Tikka Masala, just a little 'otter.

/gets coat.
 
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Yep, a bit of nature I'm afraid. Hot draughts = lack of food, and even when it rains there's a lag (if any this year) of food for the otters. Then the rain comes washing all the mess and that finishes off the weakened fish. I suspect that even with the walls on mine, they'd find a way to scale them. If the local cats can, they can too.
 
Bit of a disaster on our wildlife pond.
Was using a liquid barley straw to deal with blanket weed, only needed 3.5ml each fortnight.
Something is wrong with the bottle and the measurement bit doesn't work, I was pouring it out and took much came out into the watering can....ahhhh well I thought.

Poured it over the pond and Voila, everything is starting to die!

Lilies all went yellow and shriveled up, don't know if they will be ok?
Marsh marogolds don't look good.
Ironically the blanket weed is fine!
Oxygenators seems to be ok, some have broken down a bit.
I put some Ramshorn snails in, found an empty shell today, other types of snails are ok, so maybe some of the Ramshorns have survived.

Done a few water changes, so hopefully things can get back to normal.

And now the lilies have no pads, the blanket weed will probably do a lot better now!
 
That’s a shame, @rodders. Do you have a sense of how many times too strong the solution was? Just considering how many water changes to bring back to a sensible level!

Hope it all gets back to normal soon.

I’ve had a dying frog in mine this weekend. Floating stationary on Friday, then it made a mad dart across the pond in Friday evening before stopping again. No movement at all on Saturday so I’ve fished out and disposed of it. No movement at all whilst doing that.
 
Coran said:
That’s a shame, @rodders. Do you have a sense of how many times too strong the solution was? Just considering how many water changes to bring back to a sensible level!

Hope it all gets back to normal soon.

I’ve had a dying frog in mine this weekend. Floating stationary on Friday, then it made a mad dart across the pond in Friday evening before stopping again. No movement at all on Saturday so I’ve fished out and disposed of it. No movement at all whilst doing that.
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Easily 5x the fortnightly dose, it was a good old glug came out.
It's been about a month now, have had some rain and the changes I've done, so hopefully it's diluted quite a bit now.
Added an oxygenator for the last week or so, just to help the wildlife, or what's left of it.

No idea where our frogs have gone, used to see them when they were around 1inch long, not seen them since.
 
I've tried a number of products to deal with blanket weed. Mine is a new pond so this was always a likely problem to sort out until the nitrate cycle has established properly.

IME the only product that appears to make any significant inroads is this one. It appears to be safe (including not affecting the small fry that are currently emerging).
Do read the label before use, as some must not be used in a wildlife pond as they are harmful to tadpoles etc.
 
easyrider said:
This is my first pond so go easy on me :)

I have posted pics in the main thread but this is really advice on the step by step process facing me next with my pond. TBH Now I have this massive hole in my garden I feel slightly overwhelmed :p

I finished the dig yesterday and will be lining it tomorrow. I'm just a bit unsure on what pump and filter to get. Its 7.8m x 6m measure straight and 9m x 7m when measure with a flexible table down the side and bottom.

Its 1M deep in the middle and from the pictures it has a number of shelves.

I also created a waterfall. I have been looking at the PondXpert EasyFilter 30000 + Pondpush 15000 Pump https://www.pondkeeper.co.uk/pondxpert-easyfilter-30000-pondpush-15000-pump/p1304

Do you think this is suitable? Thanks :)

EDIT: I now have been looking at the Oase Aquamax ECO Premium due to its variable speed and incredible power usage. And the option to add another placement filter somewhere else.



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I was speaking to pondguru on YouTube and he said go big if you can and there is space...so I did
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I hopefully want:

Fish- Roach
Plants- yes I'll be having some plants...Lily's...bull rushes...etc...I want to attract wildlife and other recommendations?

I would like cleanish water but not koi carp clear...I want a natural pond.if I can make it look natural with rocks and things I'll be happy.

It's In the Sun part of the day but there is some shading from nearby trees etc. See in the picture the shadow at around 2pm

Cheers
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I had a big pond with a mixture of Koi and goldfish in it. Within three years it was entirely occupied by natural goldish. Birds killed the Koi and everything that was "brightly coloured". My pond was four feet deep at the edges, but even so Herons ran amok, they have one heck of a reach! In a shallow pool like that, nothing could survive. But shallower is better for plants.
My pond went through several stages before it settled, taking several years and during those first years it needed a lot of maintenance. Algae. Lots of it. Eventually it stabilised and oddly all the algae disappeared but it took a long time.
 
Not a lack of minerals/sunlight, is in open sun all day.
I built a pergola over the top of half of it, with some light mesh over the top to reduce the sun slightly (doesnt shadow the pond, but reduces the strength of uv, as some fish were starting to bleach slightly).
Filer doing a great job, crystal clear to the bottom (6ft depth).
 
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