pond question

[Ram_Puppy]

I know it's not a saltwater question...

but any of you guys have ponds? I have a jack daniels half whiskeybarrel pond going on my deck, and I just cleaned it up for spring.

Last year was my first attempt and I didn't do very well. I think my problems were:

1) inadequate circulation
2) nutrient overload (had no idea the lilly pot was supposed to have sand on top)
3) low oxygen
4) inadequate light

About the only thing I did right was have a UV sterilizer on it.

The steps I have taken for fixing it this year are:

1) put a HOT Magnum canister filter on it.
2) put pea gravel over the tops of the potted plants (only 2, a black elephant ear and a tropical lilly "william Mclane".
3) Have a Mag 7 pumping water from the pond, into the UV sterilizer, and into a per-formed water fall tier (from lowes) which falls back in near the far edge of the poind. (Hopefully this takes care of oxygenation and inadequate circulation.

so, anyhow. What I am wondering:

1) above sound good?
2) anyone around here have mosquito fish? I talked to richard abotu getting them but apparently the suppliers want to sell thousands, not little numbers like a LFS can handle.
2) advice on planting.

I would like to put a grass or something in the background, water mint, and maybe creeping jenny in the water fall, but I don't know a lot about any of these plants.

Any feedback would be incredibly welcome.

Oh, I am going out to water garden gems this weekend to get some plant baskets and potting media, and maybe a goldfish to put in there as well.

[blueboy]

the above looks far more than adequate IMO. i have had container ponds from 20-150G, and never had any filtration, just circulation, and plants. what do you mean by "nutrient overload", did your water turn green? that's just too much suspended nurients that cause the algae bloom, but if you just stick it out for a week or two, the algae will use up all the nutrients and die off(this won't happen if there is a continuing source of nurient rich water, like possibly your tap). after the algae bloom dies off, and begins to decay you will have very low oxygen(it's used up in the decomposition process of the algae i believe), but shotly thereafter you can add some fish. i perform water changes very rarely( maybe a couple times a year to remove the several inches of sludge in the bottom). the only equipment i ever use is a pump, most of my small ponds have been run with old PH's. also , i have tried the thing with putting the gravel on top, but what i do now is just plant in straight gravel( i use a pretty fine grade, like special grade reef sand)and just let the plants get their nutrients from the water, which will in turn prevent algae blooms. kinda like mangroves in a reef tank, just use the plants to remove the nutrients that are causing the problems.

[Ram_Puppy]

thanks for the feedback abe!

I think what happened last year is I tried to much to fast.

I put in 2 lillies from home depot, and the william mclane one from watergarden gems and the william mclane lilly was just out'leafing the others, one of them died and I dindn't notice, it rotted in the tank, and then a film algae grew over everything. also, later when I was trying to clean it a lot of the soil of the william mclane orchid got loose in the water. I just didn't have time to work on it at that point so I said screw it I'll work on it next year.

now it's next year.

don't seem to be having any problems now, I have to top off about 3 gallons a day, and I am doing that with RODI water to avoid nutrient buildup. haven't fertilized anything yet.

I like the idea of potting in straght gravel, is there a brand name you use?

[Ram_Puppy]

wondering if the sandblasting gravel they cell at CB for cichlid tanks would work.

[blueboy]

i actually was just using gravel collected from the wild(my driveway). i would think any gravel would do, i've even heard of some people potting in old used filter charcoal, the porosity is good, but it seems like it would always want to float to the surface. i've got a couple of different water irises i could "frag" off for you, if you want them, and have space. i can't believe what they get for pond plants at the nurseries. as easily as most of them grow, i've considered trying to open a commercial pond nursery myself.oh, also, i just use regular old black plastic nursery pots, the roots do grow out the drain holes, but i just cut the pot off when it's time to divide.

[loans_n_fishes]

I have (had...the dog put a hole in it and I have to do the whole thing again :angry ) a 9ftx11ft pond that I put in myself. I dug out a raised flowerbed, lined it with some old carpet scraps, lay the liner on top, and weighted the sides with rocks. I added an underwater pump that led to a small waterfall. I put anacharis to float on top (will spread quickly, but easy to remove excess). It keeps the water crystal clear. I also have some iris, elephant ear and waterlily. To jumpstart the pond, I added a couple of gallons of water from a low water crossing. I was able to net about 4 mosquito fish at the time too. Those 4 fish turned into THOUSANDS (really!) within a year. My turtle had plenty to eat! My pond was not set up to be a "show" pond....more of a natural wildlife pond. I never did water changes and topped off with tap water (in a smaller pond though, probably best to use better quality water). I let the mud build up to a degree to give the turtle something to dig/hibernate in. You would not believe all of the creatures I had! There were garter snakes, frogs, toads, dragonflies, butterflies, birds, racoons, possums, squirrels, lizards, newts, etc etc. My mosquito population actually DECREASED because of the fish. I loved my pond and was devestated when the whole thing drained overnight! I am not sure whether I still have the turtle or not. I have been keeping the mud wet just in case. Guess I will dig the pond all over again in a month or so. <_<

[Ram_Puppy]

to bad the skeeter fish probably bit it there too. :(

blueboy, Thanks for the offer on the irisis but I don't think I want to grow them. not tha tI don't like them, I do, but I have always been into the foliage more than the flowers... strange...

Thanks for the info guys... I found some local pond societies that are good sources of info, when I get a house I hope to actually build a nice pond in the back yard, for now though I won't be joining a pond society. lol, I don't think buckets count, and I just don't have the time.