Looking over your last post -
I would forget the pump all together.
Use dunks and fish.
But downsize your fish to
rosie red minnows or mosquito fish
(call your mosquito control agency). Smaller, tougher fish (for some reason I
automatically think goldfish).

Use plants to filter the water. Keep your fish
to about four and combined with the dunks you will have no mosquitoes in the
water.

Mosquitoes mate in the air... the eggs are deposited in the water by the female
in rafts.
They hatch into larva which live for a time in water and then crawl out of
their skin at the water's surface and fly away. Kewl if you can watch it and
then catch the resulting mosquito
;-)

If you want to add a pump
Solar pump with fountain costs
$119.95
www.plowandhearth.com
125 gph pump


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

PS - for what class/project is this
barrel pond for?


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

On 09 Apr 2004 18:47:32 GMT, EROSPAM (Ka30P) wrote:


PS - for what class/project is this
barrel pond for?


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

College Environmental Science forextra credit: report and actual
project as a study of ecosystems (as opposed to starting my own
biodome/terrarium/vivarium since the only starter I saw was for kids).
The interest in doing the project began in a lecture about plant
succession (in the wild, from grass to shrub to trees to bigger
trees).

In just a few days upon filling the barrel and stocking with plants
and dechlorinating, I was able to observe first visitors, and I have
read that algae will come first before it's cleared out--perhaps one
example of a succession of course. Today I even saw a Blue Jay
drinking from its depths.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Xref: kermit rec.ponds:142215

wrote:

there must be a MACHINE out there can control the mosquitoes in teh pond... right
MEN?

Hmmm, some directional microphones ... some servo's ... an old
computer ... the right program to compare incoming phase of the audio
signal ... a Ruger 10/22 loaded with birdshot ...

Of course, the neighbors might complain.

So, one of those battle-bots armed with a fly-swatter...

http://www.battlebot.com/

There's some _real_neat-o_ stuff availible:

www.robotcombat.com

Fun project and it'll get you hooked
on pond keeping!




kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Hmmm - I wonder what Tim Allen's up to these days - might be a silver lining
in them there skeeter clouds :~
Gale :~)

Yup - I read about it on a webpage somewhere - called a Binford 2000 Skeeter
Eater - Ruff, Ruff, Ruff :~
Gale :~)

A skimmer with teeth? Gale, I think you could market it with a name like
that! ) ~ jan

wrote in message
there must be a MACHINE out there can control the mosquitoes in the pond...
right MEN?

Pretty much the cost of the pump itself
I did see some small pumps for 19.99, although tubes and I think a
filter if it even can have one are seperate.

Beckett sells a bell fountain pump (with all the connections) for that
price. Stick the pump in a small bucket, vinyl screening wadded up inside
and a piece rubber-banded around the top, fountain pipe out the top and you
have a filter for your pump (DIY). Actually the latest Beckett fountain
pumps in that price range come with a foam filter around them, that works
fairly well for my ponsai with low stocking rate. 2 large goldfish would
clog it up quickly.

A solar powered one would really be excellent for me, I believe, but
the price of the pump itself is pretty steep.

Actually the pumps are cheap, under $10, but the panel is what is pricey, I
wasn't impressed with mine, replaced the pump twice as it died before the
season was out.

(Mosquito Magnent):
http://www.rittenhouse.ca/tech_cente...ge.asp?LID=144

These would be okay, if you could talk your neighbor into putting it in his
yard, drawing them away from yours, imo. ;o) ~ jan
~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

I would hope what they're doing (hiding so to speak!) is just normal.
Not sure what I should look out for.

Finally, to suppliment the food they won't get from bugs, how often do
I need to feed them and do I need to feed right away? And will the
barrel flooding be a problem?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 19:20:53 GMT, Daniel Phillips
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

hmm....And now I can't find neither. There is a large over turned
plastic pot in the water that's serving as leverage for one of the
plants, where they could be hiding. Will they hunt/scavenge around
the barrel, or do I have to put food in the container within a
container to make sure they get it?

To tell you what I did....

1) let the bag with fish in it stay put in the water for 15 minutes.
I covered the bag with two pots levered just out of the water so it
wouldn't get direct sunlight and fried fish.
2) Cut the bag open, then slowly level the bag horizontally on the
water, letting container water garden water and bag water mix a little
bit, allowing the fish to swim out instead of dumping them out.
3) Removed the shade pots (of course)

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-)

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-) Daniel Phillips

Well, if you want really good results, you match the pH of your barrel to
what they were in at the store.... or if they were in the bag longer than
one hour, you lower the pH in your barrel to about 7.0. Fish suffer not
only from temperature shock, but pH changes. Something fish stores rarely
clue their customers in about.

So right now they're suffering from a little transfer shock, if they
haven't died right away they'll come out of it. Don't feed for 1 week or
until you see them swimming freely. Feed them sparingly. I keep baby
goldfish in tubs that I have plant divides in and they live off the
mosquito eggs/larvae and whatever else falls in there. Do a test bucket of
water with no fish and you'll be surprised how many bugs drown themselves
in a day. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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