I know, I know - once you start small you want to go bigger :-)

Right now I have a small bird splashing pool - roughly 5' long by 3' wide
(or so) and only 8" deep at the most. It was set up as a decorative piece
for birds to use as a bath. The "deep" end has a small pump w/a fountain
attachment. It's got a 45mil EPDM (or whatever it's called) lining for the
bottom. It's low maintenance.

One Q though: is there a way for me to get gunk off the bottom w/o
disturbing the little things that are moving about in there? There are
little wriggly things (how stagnant does water have to be for mosquitos?).

I'm thinking of upgrading to a preformed liner but don't know if they make
any that have a shallow end of only a few inches deep so the birds can still
splash around in there. If I had a deeper "pond" I could add more plants (I
have only a few now and it's tough for them since the water heats up) and
maybe even add a few rosies to make sure the mosquitos don't breed. And, if
it was deeper I probably wouldn't have to worry about frog loss over the
winter. I had two poor saps that climbed in w/out my knowledge and promptly
were frozen. I had my fingers crossed for a cryogenics type situation, but
sadly, they met their chilly end. It was frozen solid when I noticed one
suspended there - found the 2nd in the spring.

Would I have to do it w/a flexible liner again if I want to keep the shallow
end?

Thanks
LeeAnne

--
------
If you're an insomniac, agnostic, dyslexic do you lay
awake at night wondering if there is a dog?
-----

LeeAnne wrote: (how stagnant does water have to be for mosquitos?)

Still enough that the larva can hang out with their noses at the surface to
breathe. You can observe them all lined up, like at a bar, at the surface.
When you agitate the water they wriggle away.

k30a

PS...
Well, actually their noses are in their nether hind quarters so it is really
their tails that are at the surface and they are not really noses but
gills.....
Anyway, heck of a way to process oxygen.


k30a

how warm of water can a mosquito fish handle? When the sun is out this
little pond is in full sun most of the day. Probably gets to 80-90 degrees
easy.

I took out one of the little wriggly things yesterday to get a closer look -
maybe I should look w/a loop or magnifying glass because it didn't really
look like a mosquito larvae. I don't see anything hanging at the top, these
little dudes seem to land on the bottom and only appear when I stir stuff
up.

I also have these miniscule flesh colored things cruising around (insert
Jetsons car sound here), I'm going to examine one more closely today (well,
I'll try)

Thank you to both of you,
LeeAnne

"jammer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 15:52:23 -0400, "LeeAnne"
wrote:


One Q though: is there a way for me to get gunk off the bottom w/o
disturbing the little things that are moving about in there? There are
little wriggly things (how stagnant does water have to be for
mosquitos?).

Can you throw a mosquito fish in there? A little dab of bleach would
kill them without harming anything...

You have mosquito larva.

I would also like to add that, to the naked eye, they don't appear hairy or
segmented like the mosq. pix I'm seeing on the 'net.


"jammer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 15:52:23 -0400, "LeeAnne"
wrote:


One Q though: is there a way for me to get gunk off the bottom w/o
disturbing the little things that are moving about in there? There are
little wriggly things (how stagnant does water have to be for
mosquitos?).

Can you throw a mosquito fish in there? A little dab of bleach would
kill them without harming anything...

You have mosquito larva.

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 15:52:23 -0400, "LeeAnne"
wrote:


One Q though: is there a way for me to get gunk off the bottom w/o
disturbing the little things that are moving about in there? There are
little wriggly things (how stagnant does water have to be for mosquitos?).

Can you throw a mosquito fish in there? A little dab of bleach would
kill them without harming anything...

You have mosquito larva.