# Pond owners?



## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

This is my 4th year with a backyard pond and am in the process of redoing my waterfall. I am creating a "pool" at the top for the water to build up before flowing down. Sealed my rocks with waterfall foam to keep the water back. Do I need to paint it after?


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

UPDATE hooked up the pumps and filter and the waterfall looks pretty good. Pics to follow


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Yes pics please!!! Id love to see how it looks!


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

Here she is, stock 1 common, 1 fantail, 1 red cap oranda, 3 koi. Pics of fish once they settle down and are easier to snap shots of.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Looks good! How deep is it?


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

2ft on deep end maybe 1ft 8


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Hrm, hard to winter in the pond then.


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

I know I get rid of my fish in the fall, previous house owners put concrete over chain link fence so didn't want to smash it up so just worked with what I had.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Shrug, you have to work with what you have! I think you have done a great job. Ponds are awesome =D


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## jon021 (May 19, 2009)

great looking pond  You should get a nice water lily, should be fine in the 2ft of depth, don't know how well it would winter, although i've heard some people who have had no problems as long as the water doesn't fully freeze.


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

That looks awesome! Must be so nice to sit by and watch your fish, with the sound of the water and beauty of the plants.... looks so peaceful!!


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

A little vid I shot to show the sound of the waterfall.


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

Added a water lilly today, they were $20 off couldn't pass it up. The fish settling in well becoming more active in direct sunlight day by day. Will ad pics of them later.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Sounds like you have everything coming together and I can't wait to see how they look. I think it's pretty cool when you can get them to feed from you hand. what precautions are you taking against potential predator's?


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

Had raccoon evidence from my hycainth's having there bulbs bitten. No looses to date from ***** but I have a tubes at the bottom for fish to take refuge in. No heron sightings ever so no problems there. They are currently way to skittish, usually when I get near the pond they take off so ****'s can't lure them out by tapping the water.


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## Merman (Nov 23, 2009)

...hope I'm not coming across as a site naysayer here: hand-feeding is a bad idea (you seem to realize raccoons tapping water mimics feeding), at your depth I don't think you'll have trouble with the ***** actually 'getting into' your pond but remember they can wreak havoc from the sides/so no placing of marginal plants or plants in general close to the sides, looks good so far.

It seems from the pics that you might have a shady spot, wondering what your sun exposure is? If it is shady you can try some mosses and natural wood around/in your stonework and if sunny you could plant some really mossy looking ground covers such as sedums.

Gardening is just very much a matter of personal taste so no offense intended. Just another idea: your placement of rocks especially at the top of the waterfall with rocks placed on top of other rocks looks a little contrived which is where the forest wood and moss thing would help you and I realize you're trying to probably hide liner, then again you may be slowly heading in the direction of a style you like maybe you like the idea of innuit stone stacking.

Ponds - they can be a pain in the ass what with losing favorite fish, plants sometimes failing, raccoons, neighbours angry about the arrival of calling toads, etc. but as you know that's dealing with living things - these pitfalls can and will happen but in my experience it's all well worth the reward. 

Put my pond in about two years ago - and am dedicated to it so...the hard work is a labour of love - I don't believe I'll ever be without one - 

Good Luck


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

I've never tried to train my fish to eat from my hand the best I get is noticing it's me walking in the sun. The whole pond gets full sun for most of the day I just took the pictures and video in the afternoon after working on it earlier. 

The extra rocks on the left corner of the falls aren't placed there permanently. Had a pile behind the falls and was moving them out. It will no doubt change over time here and there but for now I'm happy how the new falls turned out.


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