***The Pond Discussion Thread****

Meters are good if you're a in Home with more beds than you need. e.g. We are in a 4 bed place and only two of us. So meter we pay for 2 people, if were not on meter we would be paying for family of 5.
I saved £500 year at my old place when put in a meter.
You should also be able to get a discount on having a pond, even tho' UU make the form stupidly difficult to full in.
 
Nigel Kingdon said:
Meters are good if you're a in Home with more beds than you need. e.g. We are in a 4 bed place and only two of us. So meter we pay for 2 people, if were not on meter we would be paying for family of 5.
I saved £500 year at my old place when put in a meter.
You should also be able to get a discount on having a pond, even tho' UU make the form stupidly difficult to full in.
Click to expand...

Currently it's approx 1,000/year with a meter. Just fitted a new cistern flush valve that's fully configurable. So should see a reduction.. also reduced to 90m max and dropped pressure.. I'm tracking on a spreadsheet over the next couple of weeks.
 
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Hmmm interesting....the hot tub also adds to the demand....cautious as once a meter goes in, there is no taking it back out.
Think I need to do some homework....it is the water changes on the pond that will hurt the most.
 
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father-ted said:
I am staying away from water meters for as long as possible, we keep getting letters asking but just ignore them.....worked ok so far.
They keep putting the monthly standing charge up, costing around £150 a month at the moment - not sure how that compares tbh.
We have a hot tub as well.
Click to expand...

Don’t have a pond, but do have a hot tub and a wife. Even watering the garden every day for hours at a time for several months, it’s still only £60 a month.
 
father-ted said:
Hmmm interesting....the hot tub also adds to the demand....cautious as once a meter goes in, there is no taking it back out.
Think I need to do some homework....it is the water changes on the pond that will hurt the most.
Click to expand...

If it's on a hose pipe connection you can use a water meter like this https://www.bes.co.uk/single-jet-cold-water-meter-1-2in-11356/ and use hose connectors on each end to connect it up.

I did this for measuring the water volume in the pond on the initial fill. I'm tempted to add this into the pond line but I didn't originally to ensure there's no drop in pressure.
 
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The quasi-adopted next neighbours cat currently uses our pond window ledge as a heated seat. The temperature difference between the ground and the thermal mass of the pond means it's always a little warmer than the surrounding ground. Being off the ground also means that ground layer effect lifts her off the ground.

She has more interest in the birds than the fish.
 
Also did day 8 check of the water consumption after making the previously mentioned changes: a drop from 0.5/day to 0.322/day. Or approx 44% drop in the bill..

In part that's down to the change of the toilet etc but part due to switching the flush to a longer cycle. I could drop to 'when needed' but it can sometimes cause more problems.
 
Just got back from a week away and suprised at how clean the pond filter is.
Father-in-law checked the pond daily for me, small amount of occasional feed every couple of days as the koi are still active and water temps still around 10 degrees suprisingly.
Definitely getting colder now though...
 
yeah my fish are still coming up for their morning feed, but they are distinctly sluggish now. Pump needed de-clogging at the weekend, but that only time this years it's needed it as I've been quick to remove any leaves etc that fall in.
 
We are surrounded by trees, so I get the pond vac onto the pump every few weeks.
Has a net over for the last few weeks until the rest of the leaves fall.....not many left now.
 
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My fish have given up on the feeds.. I still will put some in if they're looking but if there's food still floating then they're not really hungry.

I need to winterise the UVC (remove the bulb and take the top off it so any ice gets pushed up.
 
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Gave the filter and pump a quick clean, pleased that I got the net over the pond before most of the leaves fell :-)
Fish still fairy active suprisingly.
The temps are holding at 10 degrees, so still giving a small amount each day.
 
dhkbeh.jpg


My fish are still feeding like crazy with these mild temps.
 
Can anyone recommend a netting for ponds, we have a small garden pond, currently use a wooden framed net cover that we place on top of a small wooden fence around the pond, but the wood is getting rotten, so thinking about ripping it up in Spring.

I don’t really like using any net to be honest, but without it we would have no fish left.

Thinking perhaps something I can shape to the pond and peg down.
 
My wildlife pond is full of leaves. Don’t know what to do best. If they stay in, it’ll go all stagnant in the spring. If I pull them out, there’s a load of stuff living in there that probably comes out with the leaves. Pull out and leave by the side?
 
I use a black netting with galvanised wire pegs. Makes maintenance easier.

Anything comes out of the pond should be left for a couple of hours by the side of the pond so critters can get back in. Leaf mulch is great for the garden, but seriously bad news for ponds.
 
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Nigel Kingdon said:
I use a black netting with galvanised wire pegs. Makes maintenance easier.

Anything comes out of the pond should be left for a couple of hours by the side of the pond so critters can get back in. Leaf mulch is great for the garden, but seriously bad news for ponds.
Click to expand...

I’ve started putting less in the garden waste bin and more around the borders. Rots down quickly, creates some great soil and also becomes a haven for hedgehog and bird foraging.

It doesn’t help that our small wildlife pond is under a tree, but I didn’t have many options and it was very much a dead corner of the garden that is at least now full of life. The biggest issue is the increase of flies that clearly breed in the pond, sit in the hedge and absolutely obliterate me as I try to cut it. Could do with one small fish in there!

At least being quite sheltered it never freezes.
 
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Where abouts are you? I had a load of small fry this year. You're welcome to a couple.
Once the dragonfly's and damselfly's have spawned, your mozzies will be much reduced.
Trees over a pond is actually a good thing, most things in it, especially fish, need shade in the summer. Cooler water holds more Oxygen and goldfish get sunburnt
 
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