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Our Outdoor Ponds (56k warning)

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:20 pm
by GunnerMan
Well here are my setups. The first one is our "main" pond. It is the one that houses my two new res. As you can see we are kind of working on it trying to get it looking good after last winter. The big open space in the water is where a lilly and lotus go. I think the lotus died(was unhealthy) and the lilly is barely alive but should pull through. The new turtles made a mess of the water, hmm anyway this pond is about 1550 Gals and almost 4' deep. Normaly we have some larger rocks there in the center but we took them out.
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This is our front yard pond, It gets a full days sun so gets very warm and stays very clear but the string algea loves it. This is more of a decorative pond we have, and I am sure nothing could live in it for any period of time as it is right now, we just dont take care of it. It is about 550 gals.
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This last one is a work in progress, it is planed to be a sort of reflection pond with a large rock for the fountain deal. You can see the rock on the dollie. This pond is calculated to be about 1200 gals. I don't know what we are going to do with it. We are going to put the rock in the center somewhere and a flagstone walkway right over it from where im standing to our door. Add some bushes it should be a great little place. We are thinking about chlorinating it so nothing can live in it so it stays nice lookin but some hyacinth may look good around the edges.
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Hope you enjoyed !

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:03 pm
by Tenodera
Wow...beautiful!

GREAT job!

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:11 pm
by SpotsMama
That is so lovely! My turtle wants to move in with your turtles!

I love the flowers around your ponds. What are the various kinds? They look like they're native to your area.

Are you doing all the work yourself?

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:44 pm
by DavidY
Wow those are beautiful ponds! :D The turtles must really love their new home. That reflection pond is going to be very nice too. What are you going to line it with?

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:34 pm
by GunnerMan
Well we have a lot of plants around there, some native some are not. We have lillies, spanish broom, sage, a lot of wildflowers, some grapes, and a variety of tall grass. I am not really the planter so i can't tell you much. All of the ponds were done myself, digging the holes in this NM clay is really tough but it paid off.

The reflection pond we are going to put a 1/2" layer of washed sand down and then we have some 45 mil EPDM pond liner measuring 15'x27'. Black river rocks will be put in like our large pond to keep it black but give it a better texture. I think we will cement the rocks in place with SAVIO black pond foam that way we dont need to remove and wash them all to clean them, instead we can take a brush amd scrub em. I am hopeing that the pond will get so much sun, paired with barley and algeafix that it will not grow much algea. Another thing I thought about since we are not planing on plants at this point is adding a lot of vinegar to make it very acidic or get something to make it alkaline. It seems like a better option instead of adding chlorine. Maybe I can figure something out that is safe so living things can enter it, because I am sure we will end up doing something. Maybe if my res decide to breed I can make it the females nesting site. I just hate to let 1200 gals of water go to just reflecting...I will find another use for it :P


Well today(monday) looks to be a very nice and warm day (in the 80's!) We are planning to Muckvac our pond today so maybe I can get some pics of em if I am lucky :D. I would wait to let them settle in some more but the pond is very very overdue and I think everything will enjoy the pond much more when the waster quality improves!

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:26 am
by xsavingsaturdayx
That pond is beautiful! :)

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:29 pm
by marisa
That is so nice! It looks like your surrounded by some nice land as well.