A New Garden Pond in the Pocono Mountains

[frustratedearthmother]

Way cool! You did great and it looks fantastic!

 

[waretrop]

I must do a bldg inspection soon....lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I can't remember if you said you were going to put fish or plants or anything in it?

 

[MoonShadows]

Thanks all. It went up so much faster than I anticipated. The hardest part was the ground preparation, and despite taking great pains to get it as level as possible, it is about 1" off...not that you notice unless you get right up close and start comparing the different sides. We hand tamped with one of those 10" square hand tampers and sprayed with water to settle the rock dust, but it's hard to get it perfect. The level said it was right on, but 3500lbs of water exerts a lot of pressure.

We sat on our deck overlooking the pond last night, and the sound of fountain and the water was so relaxing.

The next thing to do is to remove the screenings between the frame and the border and replace with river rock. It will take some time for the pond to "cycle" to where we can safely start adding fish. I have 4 sarassa comet goldfish in our indoor aquarium which we will introduce to the pond. While they range from about 2.5 inches to 3.5 inches, but they can grow up to 10-12 inches in this larger pond. Plants can go in earlier. I have been growing Anacharis which is a good oxygenating plant, and I want to buy a dwarf water lily as well, but I am going to wait on that for now.

 

[sumi]

It looks amazing! Can't wait to see it filled with plants and fish. How long would you have to wait before you can add those?

 

[MoonShadows]

Normally, cycling a pond...going through the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle can take anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks. And, while people do, you should not add fish during this time. A lot of people do...to ponds and aquariums...but if the ammonia is more than 1ppm (part per million) their gills can become irreversibly damaged, and this weakens the their entire immune system. You can jump start it by adding a percentage of household ammonia upon setup, and then the nitrite and nitrate appear sooner. I am going to use Fritzyme, a liquid bacteria. It was supposed to arrive Friday, but it got caught up somewhere and will not arrive until Tuesday. Once I add that, the bacteria action will multiply faster, and since I only have 4 small comets to start with, I'll probably add them once the water hits 60-65 which is what their aquarium temperature is right now. The well water I pumped into the pond yesterday afternoon was so cold I could only keep my hands and arms in for a short time before they began to hurt. I expect to add my fish sometime next week. I have already added some plants.

 

[Mini Horses]

Nice job!! Water can be a soothing sound (or NOT)....we had an indoor rock waterfall in the entrance at our log cabin, under a stairwell. It was very calming to listen to the gentle flow. One of our mini poodles loves to play in one of the ponding areas, however. At first I thought a leak -- then, I caught him playing in it with his paw and slopping water around. Sure better than a leak!

Enjoy the pond! I'm sure the goldfish will be happy.

Soon we should have some "I'm done" pics, rocks, flowers, plants and all the trim.

 

[MoonShadows]

I am mesmerized by the sound of the water.

Oh yes, I ordered a resin statue of a boy fishing that will fit very nicely on one of those 3 benches...and, I have some other ideas as well.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Cool!!

 

[waretrop]

I think the goldfish may eat your Anacharis...YUM.....