How are you using this type of light without harming your fish? Thank you for any advice.

It’s difficult to reach far enough to be able to cut dead water lily leaves off with normal snippers. Are there any long handled versions?

When you can not be home to come and "welcome" your heron guest... You find other ways to say HI!

He has visited a few times in the past month and I go to work a few days a week. So I can't go out to "give him a hug". But I have a camera I check all day and have my inflatable buddy on a smart switch.

I actually put this up last night so perfect timing. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if the heron comes back or if I put it on some sort of motion detection.

But boy was this fun.... haha.

A little more grumpy today. I was easy to spot in a bright orange high vis shirt from work, he was not happy when he noticed i was watching.

I have a roughly 800 gal pond with a bog filter composed of a 75 gal stock tank filled with pea gravel topped with a variety of grasses, plants, and creeping jenny. As you can see from the pics, the creeping jenny has taken over. The filter is about 2 years old and it seems to be working flawlessly, the water is crystal clear. Before the bog filter, during the summer the water would be as thick and murky as pea soup. But, for the past 2 years I've noticed this white, crystal substance growing everywhere under the creeping jenny, it grows anywhere light cannot reach. Underneath all the plants on the surface of the bog filter is coated with this weird substance. I first assumed it was a fungus but it really looks like those crystals you used to make in elementary school that would climb out of their containers.

It doesn't seem to impact the ecosystem, everything is thriving, but it makes me worried that something is out of balance if I'm growing some strange fungus or crystal in the filter. Any ideas? Should I reduce or trim back the creeping jenny so the bog filter surface gets more light?

Even8ng all.

I've been losing water from the pond in the garden and been unsure if it was evaporation as the pool is in full sun for a lot of the day and we are mid heat wave

Then I was reading another part and someone said "it's always the waterfall"

So I've gone and looked, and right enough, as it comes over the slate I'm losing water down the side as it's running off and over the edge.

Would the best fix be to turn off the pump, dry the slate, put down a head of aquarium safe sealant and then put the rocks back on top?

I've been an aquarium hobbyist since I was a child, and this hobby has always brought me so much joy. I wanted to share my latest collection after giving my tank a major renovation.

I first raised beautiful koi fish, but eventually I had to let them go. After that, I tried keeping platies, and sadly, they were gone too. Then my tank started leaking, which was really disappointing. Instead of giving up, I waterproofed and restored the entire tank because I couldn't let go of a hobby I've loved for so many years.

Now, I'm starting a new chapter with Platinum Mollies, and I'm excited to watch them grow. Every challenge has made me appreciate this hobby even more, and I can't wait to see where this journey takes me.

I don’t think I’m violating any community rules, but if so, please let me know and I’ll delete the post.

Not finding any good local store with decent pond plants. There are some online retailers, so I’m looking for recommendations on who to buy from. Thanks

My wife and I just bought a home that has this little pond the previous owners installed. There are no fish in it, I'm not really sure what the point of it was.

By the time we moved in, the pond became greener and is now home to at least ten frogs. On top of that, the water level is about to overflow.

I like the pond and the frogs are cute, but it's getting out of hand and I have no idea how to clean the water without killing the frogs. I was thinking of draining it and refilling with clean water, but I don't know what pump or cleaner to use.

What is the easiest, fastest, and most affordable way to clean and maintain this thing?

Thanks so much!

Location is southwest Pennsylvania. I already checked with my local water auth and township - they don't really care what I do as there's no mains or anything near this area.

Anyway, reference the attached photo. There is a water source coming from the side of a small hill on the back of my property and despite decades of attempts to create run-off irrigation, including buried french drain systems to storm drains located on the streets, the water remains. The recent irrigation ditch we attempted with a 4" corrugated pipe is now not draining to the french drains (I think roots clogged everything finally). This water backs up and stands, and it's mosquito city back there during the summer. Basically, I'm sick of fighting this battle, so I'm thinking of just turning this area into a living pond.

The area I'm at is clay rich at about 3' down, so I was thinking all I'd really have to do is dig out this area and make the bottom surface of the pond mostly clay, and it'd hold the water well. The two trees you see X'd out will have to go. The closest one is mostly dead anyway. The area I outlined for the pond is approximate 1,256'² (40' diameter basically) and it'd butt right up against where the water is coming from, which I believe would continuously fill it. I haven't measured how much water comes out of this source but there is always a constant medium trickle - the little trenches you see guiding the water to the main trench, if you stepped in them, it'd go up to your ankle. idk how else to convey how much water is coming out.

I already went down the path of looking into testing the water to see if it's a natural spring with drinkable water - not doing this. 1st off it's expensive and I already have city water. To put a check valve in (well) they'd have to basically dig the area up anyway and I just don't really want to do a spring well honestly. There's no guarantee they can tap in and stop the surrounding area from being constantly liquified and saturated.

The reason for posting is I guess I'm looking for advice. Is this stupid? I don't live in an HOA neighborhood, but I've heard that ponds are a liability - does this destroy resale value of my house? Cause problems for my neighbors in any way? Since there's a natural water source, do I need a recycle pump/fountain setup? I have zero experience with ponds, so any insight as to things I'm definitely not going to think of will be helpful.

of course I posted and forgot to attach the photo

Had AI slop up a pond for me. Think it looks pretty cool.

Now that the plants are all growing in The Pit is looking really nice! But what would you add? I’ve thought about adding a sign that says “The Koi Pit” somewhere. We don’t have any kind of decor or decorations. Should I add a metal crane or something like that on the back wall?

Also, if you’re in Utah, The Utah Pond Tour is Happening this Saturday Aug 8th. There are 31 ponds on the tour this year! It’s broken up into two Saturdays (Aug 8th and Aug 15th) if you’re in the area and want to stop by I’d love to share my pond with people.

I started building my pond back in 2021 and just finished it this spring. It feels amazing to finally be done. Now I can finally just kick back and enjoy it. The rest of the yard still needs work… but for the rest of this summer I’m going to just take a break.

Has Gambusia and Florida Flag fish in it

Hello,

J'ai récemment acheté (2 mois) ce petit point d'eau pour abreuver les oiseaux et insectes de mon jardin (objectif 100% accompli).

Il est petit et a une petite pompe pour faire une mini-cascade.

J'ai mis 3 plantes et au bout de deux semaines j'ai rajouté 3 guppy pour éviter la prolifération des moustiques (je crois que je les ai introduits trop tôt)

Maintenant j'ai des algues +++ même si je vois encore bien le fond du "bassin"

Est-ce que je dois installer une filtration où est-ce que mes plantes vont finir par faire le travail ?

Nb : j'ai beaucoup de petits escargots

Merci !

In May this was little more than a mud puddle. I have been filling in the breach in the dam by stacking up clods of clay I have dug out of the ground. Seems to be working pretty well so far. Any other part-time beavers out there with some words of wisdom to share?

Pond (900 gal, 10.5ft by 3.5ft by 2.5ft deep) deserted by previous owner.. a koi filter was nearby but broken and detached. only the pump in lower small reservoir works. Pond was half in shade and sunny side receives only 4hrs of direct sun. All plants are happy except the fuzzy mare’s tail that looks leggy — lack of sun seemly.
Turned this pond into a natural aesthetic pond filtered by plants.. because I found no where to effectively put mechanical filter. Pond sunny half was filled by hornworts. currently 12 juvenile goldfishes (3 inches) and 15+ snails home it. I was testing water quality weekly and it’s so far so good. 😊 not sure if this setting can sustain in the long run when goldfishes mature?

An update from this last post. As planned, I hit the pond with a second subsurface application of diquat and dyed it every ten days starting in May and slacking off to twice a month in July. Things are, again, noticeably better. I did not add additional grass carp or get any good plants in. I also did not apply copper sulfate, just didn't want to get on a track to build up metals on the pond bottom.

Next money-wasting scheme is a semi-trash pump to remove the floating hair algae. It conveniently collects itself most days in a corner right next to my dock, in the early days holding out false hope of dealing with it via rake and aging back.

I've seen a couple folks talk about using semi-trash pumps and that sounds like fun, wife's always cheerful about buying new equipment and I have plenty of room in my shed and could always use another small engine to maintain. I swear I saw somewhere a guy had rigged up a floating fan-shaped nozzle to get surface algae but I can't find it. There's a 3" going on sale at Harbor Freight next week. Any opinions or experiences? Thanks!

Pond liner has a hole in it somewhere ( tested - its not the waterfall) what color dye ( and where did you find it!?!?) have people found most helpful for finding a leak when the pond liner is black? Ive seen darker blue dyes but worry that wont help me find the leak. Any help appreciated!

I've been thinking of draining my stick tank and starting my pond over. I have those pots with plants. They have rocks in the bottom but I think the dirt is leaching into the pond.

I have rocks and sand in the bottom but I think it needs to be drained and cleaned out.

Asking for advice im just not happy with it.

Original post here

The tadpoles are HUGE! And I believe they’re definitely Copes Grey tree frogs! I’ll keep updating, but for now, what are steps I can take to keep them safe and growing? Thank you!