Hi everyone!

Hello everyone!

My wife and I have been lurking here for a month or two and I just
wanted to write a quick note... this group is awesome - we've picked
up a good amount of knowledge about ponds here.

I used to breed Discus when I was in college, but that's been a few
years. I've never had a pond, but things are pretty similar ...
except everything is on a larger scale!

Our house here in Raleigh, NC has a 1000 (or so) gallon concrete pond
which has been sitting full of leaves and tea colored water since we
bought the house in 1998. This spring we decided to pump it out and
remove the leaves.. and to try to turn the ugly hole in the ground to
something special.

The pond is operational, with a few 2" koi, a 60 gallon veggie filter
(which is getting a bunch of veggie thanks to Wendy in Chico - my
sister-in-law lives in Chico and the timing was fantastic ... she
already had a trip planned here!). We've also installed a 20 watt
halogen submersible light, edge lighting and a Tetra PF1
bio/mechanical filter. I finished up the 100' underground wiring run
last night and terminated into a green box like the cable companies
use in their rights-of-way (means on your lawn!).

The pond is partially shaded by heavy tree-cover and unfortunately
doesn't have a bottom drain. Since it's rebar and concrete, I'm
pretty much stuck without a drain. I've been using a net to scoop up
debris that settles.

I'm planning on picking up a cheap round pre-formed pond to use as a
place to age and oxygenate new pond water... Our only source of water
is an awesome (colorless, odorless, flavorless, ICE COLD 7.0 ph)
two-hundred foot well.. I'm assuming since it's so deep there is
little dissolved oxygen.. either way, the water is so cold out of the
hose that I'd want to let it warm up before introducing it to the
pond.

I've had the Koi for a few days and they don't seem very excited about
food. I've been feeding them Tetra variety sticks. I'll be out and
about this weekend and will try something else. Also, I'm hoping the
20 watt submersible will attract bugs to the water surface and give
them something to nibble on at night.

I seeded the biofilter some weeks ago with the help of some small
"unused" bait fish we had left over from a weekend boating trip.
They're still going strong and will likely provide a source of
nourishment for the Koi when their mouths get a little bigger...:-)
Ph is solid 7.2 and ammonia is zero. There is no algae, but there's
some beneficial moss growing on the edges of the concrete pond.

My sister-in-law will arrive with Wendy's pant donation this evening.

I'm assuming Koi (and probably other fish, too) swim sideways at night
due to the fact that the submersible light is sideways, ie not coming
from above. Pretty funny stuff. The koi seem much more active at
night with the light on than during the day. These little guys don't
have much personality (yet?) at all.

I had a little surprise last night... I opened the biofilter up to
check the foam and a bunch of little bugs flew out. Perhaps that's
mother nature's way of telling me to rinse out the pre-filter?? :-)

We have a few frogs calling the pond home already. There were some
salimander-like critters running about in there when we first cleaned
the pond out, but I haven't seen them since.

I haven't seen any mosquito larvae... I know Home Depot carries dunks
and will purchase some at the first sight of the little buggers.

I'll take and post some pictures ... if the sun manages to peek out
today.

Steve and Tiffany