Shade is the Secret to a Nice Pond

I love sitting by my pond and was not a happy when it turned totally green this summer.   I have other ponds around the property that require a cleaning now and then but this one requires continual maintenance.  The difference is  direct sunlight. 

 Last spring we had a freak snow storm and lost a huge oak tree. You can see it on our house.  When the summer rolled around the pond was getting hit with direct sunlight during the heat of the day.  After a month or so of this the water was a nice green color.  You could only see the fish when they were on the surface. Time to get on line and see what was happening with my pond. Here's what I learned:

The secret to a nice pond is shade plants.   Here's the same view of the pond now that I have added shade plants.  I dropped one in the pond and added some around the edge to give it more shade.  I like water lilies because they give you shade in the summer when you need it and die back during the winter months.

However, the plants alone did not clear up the water.  I purchased some enzymes to help maintain the water quality.  While the product said it would take a month, my water cleared up in two weeks. 

In addition, I cut back on the feeding of my fish.  I probably have too many fish for the size of my pond. Thanks to the blue heron last year I only have half as many goldfish as I started with, but they are growing which means they are taking up more space in the pond.  If you have expensive koi and don't want a  heron in your pond, the statue does work.  

In a nutshell, the secret to a good clean pond is shade, a working biofilter, probiotics, and limiting the amount of fish.  By clicking on the links I have provided you can learn more about all of this for yourself. 

Pond Building Adventures

Waterfall covers up the bio filter

My husband and I decided we could be a reality TV show called Pond Stars.  Maybe people would mistake us for Pawn Stars and tune in.  They could hear us bicker about how to build a water feature and a bio filter.  But that is the short version and the story starts way before that.

My husband refuses to buy rock so instead we made numerous trips to the Cascades to pick up boulders.  A mineral permit can be obtained from the Forest Service for ten dollars which is a value.  Gas on the other hand is not a value.

We drove into the Cascades by Westfir and took logging roads into the Fall Creek area.  Dodging mountain bikers (who ride downhill way too fast by the way), we stopped along the road to pick up rocks.  Not just any rock, it had to be the right shape, color, and size.  In total four trips were made to the mountain, but I only participated in two of those. A girl has her limits after all.

MD built a rock retaining wall and I proceeded to dig the pond.  This is my fourth pond so I was ready to make it big.  I dug a hole about four feet deep and 8 by 10.  The dirt was used to back fill against the retaining wall so I didn't have to haul it off which was a plus.  The downside was that there is a dish for the TV in the middle of the landscaping, but hopefully the ferns will grow up and it won't be so noticeable.  I got the pond liner and filled the pond with water and spent another day shoving dirt in low spots and adding those flat rocks around the edge.  I become obsessed with projects so I spent way too much time on the getting just the perfect rock for around the edge.  Luckily we had lots of them from those four trips.

After looking at bio filters for a couple of hundred bucks, I decided we could build our own for next to nothing.   On line it looked like a couple holes in a bucket and some filter media was all you needed.  Of course we had no idea what size to make the hole and we were trying to use materials we already had.  Oh did I mention that MD also kept insisting we didn't need a filter, the filter material wasn't right and that this bucket thing was ridiculous and he didn't care what the people at the pond store said. 

After an afternoon of drilling holes in buckets we thought we had it.  We hooked it up and overnight the pond dropped four inches.  Back to the drawing board.  Your outlet has to be large enough so it flows out at a steady rate and doesn't air lock and the bucket overflow.  Luckily we had a bigger outlet so I went searching for another bucket.  Now more bickering.   I had rewired MD's drill because you had to jiggle the cord.  Well, I blew that one and now it doesn't work so he went off searching for his hole saw.  The hole saw hadn't been used for a while so the chuck was rusty and needed WD.  Now we are looking for WD, decided olive oil would work, back in business. But wait there is more.

In just a few days the pond had filled with mosquito larva. MD noticed this while drilling holes in the new bucket and insisted ( more like demanded) I drive to town (20 miles away) and buy fish immediately.  Since we were snapping at each other this seemed like a great idea.  I said, "You can do the waterfall while I am gone."  When I came home an hour and a half later,  it was finished and looked wonderful.  We dropped 30 feeder goldfish in the pond and they began scarfing up larva.  All was good.  We were Pond Stars.