You would think they would build in chemicals to the roof liners to discourage moss growth. Just thinking.
Have I mentioned how much I love the barley treatment. The light film that has always been on my pond surface is gone. It was harmless but just really detracted from the pond's clarity. I ordered some organic stuff to further eat sludge and the dead algae from AquaMeds but haven't tried it yet. The algae would normally be going nuts by now but is pretty much dead with the regular treatments. Thrilled about that too as it has been an annual pain, especially around the pots of lilies and water plants that get all season fertilizer stakes.
Ponds 2014 - Spring is here!
I did a bit of research and here is what I found. Many people agree about the chemical,,, however everyone agrees that you can pressure wash the chemical off as it is just Talc Powder.
Apparently many people agree it is exactly the same product, just one has the powder and the other doesn't.
So here is what I am going to do, I will make 3 medium sized ponds with the piece I am getting.
One will have water plants only, one will have minnows. For my DH to fish with. The last one will have the $0.19 gold fish from pets mart. That way if they live 2 to 3 years I will know if they are going to be ok for other types of fish. I have had no luck at all with Koi, but goldfish are my favorites, and I have had great luck with them.
I will post pictures on a new thread as I build these. That way I will be able to track my progress!
Oh how exciting. I love to see new ponds or redo in process. Glad the liner will work for you. Good to research rather than accept 'guesses' from others.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
I knew a gal that cut open a large construction grade garbage bag and made that into a pond liner and she said she had it for years before she replaced it with another. So anything goes.
Good luck Elfie.
Has all that water dried up that was in your backyard. Is that just a wet weather pond. We have lots of them here.
Bonnie
Okay. I may be overdoing the pond additive stuff.
PondZyme
AquaMeds
Microe-Lift PL both liquid and packet
Hmmm. I think that is all. Water is clear, pond walls and floor only has the short dead stuff that needs a vacuuming or scrubbing. Fish are happy.
I am out of PondZyme - should I reorder and continue through summer? Are any of these duplicates? Should I discontinue AquaMeds as have dosed pond three times?
UV's are off while the above is going on plus algae is all but non-existent which is a miracle considering the gorgeous days (today being an exception with rain, though most welcome).
Oberon so glad your pond is clear. That's wonderful. I use Pondzyme all summer. On larger pond I've been using something called Summer Blend. I'm watching both to see which does better.
Well today Charlie has been digging under concrete walkway around pool near skimmer and he found the leak. Can you imagine 2" copper pipe. Pray we find a threaded fitting or else he doesn't know how he's going to replace it. Just digging under all that concrete gives me the willies. Say a little prayer. Copper has been in contact with dirt since 1952 so nothing lasts forever. Sure hope we can fix it. Would save us a lot of water being drawn from our well every day.
Bonnie
Holy cow. Under concrete. How far beneath it is he while digging? Hope he has someone watching his back while he is working. Can't you just sauder the leak or is it too big. Or perhaps the entire pipe has to be replaced if it is entirely in contact with the dirt. 1952?? Well, it lasted a long time.
Bonnie,
Will it be easier to cut and abandon that line all together and reroute a new one out of PVC? I know when our old copper pipes started leaking, the repairs were good, but never ending. Another hairline crack would develop elsewhere. We finally replumbed and eliminated the problems and the headaches. Let me know if you need anything. I have some time tomorrow and Friday.
Hang in there...
I am really sold on the PondZyme with Barley. I just ordered more from Pet Mountain. Got 3 1# containers for $51.50 with 10% off that. Postage an amazing $8.63. Dirt cheap. I will finish up the load of Algaway I got from MicrobeLift if I need it for summer bloom but it doesn't look like I will need it at this point. Drat. Also need to order more AquaMeds. Haven't used them before but I am taking no chances.
Elfie I am removing my lilies, I might have different colors to offer for your new ponds. Let me know if you are interested. Leaving for a visit with family in KY then on home for the summer.
Elfie - what is PEX? I have never heard of it? When do you plan on starting your pond? I am looking forward to photos.
Mary - Hubs and I swear by the Pondzyme. I did luck out on Amazon this past year for mine. I haven't started adding it yet, but soon. My water temps keep going from about 52- 56 degrees. We are supposed to warm up at the end of this week. Water is crystal clear though.
Bonnie - wish I was there to help. Under concrete? Is that safe? Keep us posted.
More company this week and then next week my sister is coming in for my son's college graduation. He is graduating with honors and has already been accepted into grad school. (I am so proud of him - can you tell?).
Anyway - I am not awol - just so busy already. ^_^
Congratulations. I would be busting my buttons if one of my children had accomplished what you son has, despite obstacles.
http://www.pexinfo.com
Here is all the info on Pex. You can get it at Lowes and Home Depot.
Oberon his body isn't under the concrete. I dug some out with long handled shovel. When he cuts pipe he will have to have his arms under but that's about all. I'm no good in close places.
M Mary that's what we are doing. cutting it off and putting in whole new line to filter.
I can't tell him anything about fixing anything so after 56 years I no longer try.
Elfie I am trying to get him to read about Pex. I will surely use it in the future for anything I do. Will also tell my youngest son. Will go by a piece just to have on hand.
Thanks all for your suggestions. Do appreciate
Okay. Should have known better. You guys have been building stuff for years and years and know how to do it safely.
Quote from BonnieGardens :
I dug some out with long handled shovel.
Funny thing is, I read that as 'I dug him out with a long handled shovel'.
Thank you Mary, he has had a lot of obstacles. I will probably bawl like an idiot.
Started feeding the fish today - I think they were surprised.
Carolyn I laughed so hard when I read your post. Son stopped by on his way home from work. Cut off pipe and put on new one so we are testing it now. Hopefully pool will be back up for this weekend as we have some of our kids coming over. Their kids love the pool.
Elfie glad your replacing your plumbing. Didn't know Al got that cold enough to break pipes. I know what that is from when we lived in RI. and Conn. Ug!!!
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TOO ALL OF YOU MOTHERS
bONNIE
Oh yes. For sure. Happy Mother's Day to all... we growers are mothers to our plants after all. :)
VERY happy to report pool is up and running. Jeff is coming over to grill some ribs so I will swim with his kids while he cooks tomorrow. He said he will bring some sides. Good deal.
No mother should have to cook on Mothers Day in my humble opinion. I did when they were little but not any more. HeHeHe
Oh thank goodness Bonnie! It would have been horrible to go through all of the draining and sanding and recoating, only to not be able to use it! I'm so glad it worked out! Happy Mother's Day timing, too!
Spent all morning injecting my remaining fish, they hadn't spawned yet and the weather is getting very hot, so often times they won't if they missed the first window of opportunity. Wanted to keep my remaining females healthy, and have them drop their eggs. There are eggs everywhere, but I doubt any of them are fertile. I don't have that many mature males left.
Still have a few to do, but will probably have to hold off until later in the week. The backyard smells like a tidepool on a hot day, but at least I got something accomplished. My hubbie just looooooves this time of year (Not!) but he's a trooper. Some fish are too large for me to anesthetise and hold while manually spawning them. He's my muscle. :)
MM,
I don't understand , please explain
"Some fish are too large for me to anesthetise and hold while manually spawning them. He's my muscle. :)
Bonnie,
Enjoy your cook out
Happy Mothers day to all!!!
Belle
Belle -
It is rather like the business of artificially inseminating race horses - but on a koi level. ^_^
Happy Mothers' Day everyone.
Carolyn....correct. First you anesthetize them, then you inject them with a spawning hormone, that makes them spawn about 6 hours later. Breeders use this method to not get a flock spawning, like we usually get in our ponds, but to be able to mix a select male with a select female. Here in Florida, if the water gets too hot, too fast, the koi won't spawn. Although I've only had several koi in all these years, get egg impacted, after losing my whole one pond to toad sperm (who knew!) I wanted to make sure to keep the others healthy and have them drop their eggs, even if I don't have any babies this year.
After they are in sleepy land, you gently massage their stomach to release the eggs. (you do this to the males as well, if you want to mix the 2 and fertilize the eggs) Some of my fish are very heavy, so that's where my hubbie comes in....he holds them in the wet towel, while I massage.
That's really cool!
I have 1 of Jeffs here that looks like she is still carrying eggs. Large belly. I know they spawned because I saw all the commotion going on in the larger pond.
Going to keep eye on her cause I don't want her to get egg bound. Guess it is a common happening. M. Mary do you know the shelf life of the anesthetic? I know it is available from Aquatic Eco in Apopka.
Bonnie
Bonnie, it's a dry powder, so it lasts a looooong time. Let me know if you need help, I can help you one afternoon. :) I only use about half a teaspon, with a teaspoon of baking soda, to about 5-6 inches of water in a large rubbermaid tubby. If you only have one fish, I think I have enough Ovaprim left. Let me know if you think it's neccessary and I can help inject her.
Your pond is shadier than mine, so the water may be cooler, and she'll get going by herself? My temporary pool is only 2 feet deep, and in direct sun. If you manually spawn her, pick a male that would blend well with her, and we can attempt fertilizing eggs to see what you get!
Boy wouldn't a 2 foot pond in direct sun get awfully warm down there? I do understand that it is temporary. Do you sell your babies, Mary? You must get a gazillion of them with your huge fish. I mentioned that for the first time our pond has a fair number of babies (from 1/2" to about 2"). Some that nondescript orange and white plus lots of the strange blackish ones with flashes of 14k type gold. Not orange. I am hoping I saw some with a flash of deeper orange or red. They would have to be offspring of the black koi I have. How neat that would be.
I sometimes sell the nicer ones, but just give a lot away. Unless I really want to deal with tons of babies, I usually don't worry TOO much about it, and they just eat the eggs as they lay them.
Remember, with koi, about 75% are non-colored brown babies that are useless to the commercial market. The koi breeders just throw them up on the birm of the ponds and let the seagulls have lunch. But you really have to want to deal with all of that if you get into the koi business. I'm more of a "they're my pets" person.
As a side note, after all the years of trying to find better spawning matter (and it's usually expensive as well!) I decided to cut leaves off my banana tree, bundle 4 together with a large rubber band, and throw them in. I had several bundles floating around. Worked like a charm! And it was FREE. Yay! :)
Banana Leaf Koi eggs
No, I didn't think you were into it commercially. Just couldn't figure out what you did with all the 'rejects.' Guess seagulls have to eat too. I guess. :)
Rejects I give away!~ The breeders feed the birds. :)
Ja vohl..... got it
Got a neighbor with plenty of banana trees. I'll get some. Still have the new mop heads I bought for that purpose. Think I'll throw them in now.
Jeff put her back into old smaller pond yesterday so we could see her more easily. I'll keep an eye on her. I thought she would expel the eggs during spawning but maybe not. If she doesn't get any larger in the stomach I'll not worry about her.
Got to take some pics of what Jeff snuck over to our house yesterday while we were on the way to his house and put out around the pond for Mothers Day for me. Boy was I surprised.
Bonnie
Think it's time for a new thread?
Um, probably.