On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:17:04 EDT, Jim Hurley
wrote:

Wow, Galen,

A major project!

Let me know how much power you can get from the sun. I suspect it
might be hard to run our pond pump on solar, but I sure would be
willing to try if we had a reasonable payback period.

I doubt a pond pump would be a good candidate for solar power.
Photovoltaic cells only put out power during the day, and while they
do put out some power on an overcast day, it isn't nearly as much as
bright sunshine. They put out no power at night. You would have to
have sufficient battery power to run your pump all night as well as
sufficient panels to not only run your pump during the day but to have
enough extra power to re-charge your batteries.

I think you will enjoy your hide out. Post a pic! What prompted your
"move"?

Duckweed is a favorite of various carp...koi, goldies, etc. They
clean our main pond. If your moving water pushes the surface in a
given direction, the duckweed will be pushed up there and will not
thrive. If the pond flowed over something to the pump return with
sufficient flow, it would clear the pond. Our berm pond grows a
covering of duckweed before the hyacinth or parrots feather start
their year. The flow is not enough to clear the surface. Then the
hyacinth loses to the more powerful cover plants. Enough survives for
the next year's cycle. In the main pond, it simply gets gobbled up.
It does thrive on our wet falls, so we never are in danger of losing
it all. Actually, there is plenty wild around here!

Will you put any fish in your pond? Walking catfish? Gators? Carp?
Mosquito fish? Will you BB the weeds? A million questions spring to
mind!

Have fun. Post pics.

I managed to get two pictures to photobucket, a "before" clearing and
an "after" clearing shot. It isn't nearly as nice as other ponds, but
this is a natural mud pond, with a spring in it somewhere, because the
water level never goes down and it overflows into a little stream
which eventually makes it down to the Suwannee River about 3 miles
away.
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x278/ghekhuis/
I don't know about putting fish in the pond. There used to be
mosquito fish, but I haven't seen them recently. Of course, I haven't
seen much underwater recently because of the duckweed. I have a time
lapse camera that takes pictures once every ten seconds. You can see
it in the "before" photo where it sits on a pole overlooking the pond.
It will run for about two days on batteries, then I review what it has
seen in the form of "movies," so I can watch the entire day in a
matter of minutes. Most of the time nothing happens, but I have
caught pictures of ducks, turtles and other critters in the pond even
with the duckweed. When I point the camera at the land right beside
the pond I've seen deer (natch), 3 hens and their 12 wild turkey
chicks, raccoons, a wild boar (actually probably a feral pig, but it
sounds more exciting if you say "wild boar," though), rabbits, and
various other critters that don't hang around long enough for me to
identify. I won't go looking for alligators, but a few years ago one
moved into the back pond. It isn't there any more but I don't exactly
know what to do if one moves in again. They are rather well protected
by law here in Florida.