Pond-ering Part 3

Well the pond has been sitting for several weeks now, and it seems that my engineering skills were apt. The water no longer gets muddied after a rainfall. The problem now is that of algae. Since it's been getting sunny and warm the water has turned into pea soup! I've learned that this may be a natural process, but I may also have contributed in my excitement to add fish and to feed said fish, as you can see Aiden and I doing in this picture.... you can see how green the water is too... I added some feeder goldfish before I put any plants in. The wastes produced by the fish are providing for a feeding frenzy for the algae. What I should have done was to put some water plants first, and let them and the pond water get established before I added any fish. Oh well, since I don't know too much about water plants I think I'm going to have to drain the whole thing and start over. I've also purchased some beneficial bacteria that I will add to the water. These bacteria will feed off the nitrogenous wastes produced by the fish and hence compete for nutrients with the algae.

TECHNORATI TAGS: backyard pond

Pond-ering Part 2

Well the ground has finally thawed and the snow and ice has melted away to reveal a big muddy mess in the backyard. No more just pondering the unfinished backyard pond, I've actually been spending a lot of my free time cleaning up that mess. The spring rain has revealed to me that I should make some adjustments with the soil levels around the pond. As too much of the soil ends up getting washed into the water, hence the big muddy mess. To solve this problem, I dug some trenches around the rigid pond liner and disguised the gaps with the stones. This way, when it rains, the water will wash the soil into the trenches and into the space between the rigid pond liner and the earth. I hope it works, I guess we'll find out the next time it rains. I've also completed the construction of the waterfall. It makes a pleasant sound, but I think it might be too loud. Or perhaps I'm just accustomed to the silence. Anyways, here is a picture of it..... It's not yet complete I'll be posting more pics after I do some more fine tuning.

TECHNORATI TAGS: backyard pond