On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:50:59 EDT, Gareee©
wrote:

Sorry I've been away so much.. just a busy assed year here.

I posted plan on an upper pondlet 2 years ago, and looks like that proje
c
ts
is almost done right.

We had used crap liner 2 years to test things. Tore all that out this ye
a
r,
cleared the downflow stream of the smooth pebbles.

I used a preformed kidney pond from lowe's for the upper pondlet/veggie
filter, and we were lucky enough to spot water lettuce and hyacynth a mo
n
th
or so ago. Both have flourished well in a small krylon painted kids deco

pond we also have.

Our pickerl are just growing like weeds, and we had to repot all of them

because they severly outgrew their planters. We've also got lizard's ton
g
ue,
and both purple and yello iris as well, also growing like weeds. I also
h
ad
to split out water lillies into 10 plants or so as well this year.

We're weekly seeing a floating mass on top of the pond, looks like someo
n
e
threw a handful or horse poop in th epond.. is that dead algae clumps? i
f

so, then we've finally gotten enough surface coverae to combat the algae.

I've got the pump in the main pond pumpin up to the kidney pondlet/veggi
e

filter, and put all the water lettuce and hyacynth in the pondlet.. most

of
it's surface it covered now.

In just a day, it's roots have gone from bare, to being debris covered,
s
o
the plant filtration is working.

We got some collapse on the edges of the kidney pond where the ground wa
s
n't
packed enough below it, and we needed it at a angle to make sure we had
enough downflow, but we didn't want a big gap at the upper edge of it
without water, so we used great stuff, built up the edges and then paint
e
d
it semi gloss black to match the kidney pond itself, and it actually loo
k
s
great. One side it already populated with strawberry plants that are gro
w
ing
like weeds, and the rest I watered down slightly, and then put a few whe
e
l
barrows of mulch on top of.

It doesn't appear that we have any water loss from the pondlet, stream a
n
d
small water fall down into the main pond, but I'll wait a week or so bef
o
re
calling it a success.

So are those floating clumps dead algae? I see them appear weekly, and j
u
st
fish them out with the net.

And yeah our pond is still way overstocked, but if things appear to be g
o
ing
well, I'm not messing with what appears to be working.
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us