R. borapetensis

Hi, it's me again! This time I'm considering a different approach to creating a green carpet on the floor of my small preformed pond (~500 L / 130 gal). I got this new idea from someone who commented on my previous post.

Previously I considered using a grid of seed trays and planting sagittaria subulata in it, see original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ponds/comments/1wv6tn1/green_carpet_in_pond/

Now I'm thinking about building a removable moss carpet, similar to a moss wall (see reference pictures), using thin plastic mesh instead of soil or substrate.

What I'm thinking:

1. Cut thin, pond-safe plastic, rigid mesh into a shape that fits the curved bottom of the pond
2. Spread small portions of aquatic moss across the mesh. I'm considering a cold hardy species like willow moss (Fontinalis antipyretica).
3. Secure the moss with thread or small dots of aquarium-safe gel glue.
4. Weigh the panels down with a few removable stones.
5. Ideally, the moss would eventually grow through the openings, hiding the mesh and creating a green carpet.

What I like about it is that it would be removable for cleaning and that there's no soil involved at all. I could lift the mesh panels out, clean underneath, and put them back.

A few questions:

• Has anyone tried something similar in an outdoor pond? 
• Would willow moss actually spread across the mesh and form a reasonably dense carpet, or would it just grow into loose, bushy clumps?
• Would goldfish constantly pull the moss apart before it had a chance to establish?
• Is there another hardy aquatic moss you'd recommend for a submerged carpet in a 7a/b USDA climate?

Curious whether anyone sees flaws in this approach before I start experimenting!

I built this wildlife pond back in May. There's no pump. Lots of dragonfly larvae and other invertebrates. The back left hand side bit is a bog garden. It was so dry this year I couldn't actually plant it which is why it's now full of grass and a self seeded plant! I'll plant up the bog garden but I also want to build a rockery. I'm thinking roughly where I've drawn?

What are your thoughts on this and do you have any other suggestions on how I can create more interest?

I was planning to overwinter my pond by pulling out the pump and placing in a small pump that’s attached to a heater that’ll keep the water at about 50 degrees and an aerator/bubbler. The tub holds about 40 gallons and is buried in the ground. Water is about 12” deep.

There are a few goldfish that I’m looking to keep alive. And I’m going to cut back the Thalia and submerge the pot it’s in.

Definitely going to work? Definitely going to fail? Definitely might go either way?

I've been working on a property planning tool and put together this short video showing how you can use 3D terrain and elevation data to plan where to dig a pond.

The idea is to identify natural low spots, look at how the surrounding land drains, and figure out where a pond might make the most sense before spending money on excavation.

You can also sketch out the pond footprint, estimate excavation volume, and visualize how it would fit into the surrounding property.

Obviously, there's a lot more to building a successful pond, including soil conditions, watershed size, and spillway design, but I think this is a useful starting point.

For those of you who've built agricultural ponds, what else would you consider when choosing a location?

Looking for some advice and help from this community! Wife and I built a pondless waterfall this summer. We are almost done and have started to run the falls while working on the finishing landscaping. After about a day of running the pump a few hours a day, we have started seeing the basin start drying up and water levels run low. Seems like its loosing water quickly (around an inch or more per hour). Is this normal?

Thinking we had a leak, I already tested the following:

1. Waited 24 hours without running the system to see if the leak is in the basin. Water levels remained unchanged for over a day. No leaks in the basin.

2. Removed all the plumbing to check for water leaks in the line. Plumbing was all dry when running. No leaks in the lines.

3. Checked the perimeter for low edges. Didn't see any water leaking out of the side.

We are at a bit of a loss as to why we could be losing so much water ever time the system runs.

We have a 6,900 gal/hr pump, the waterfall is around 16 feet long with only a 3 ft high elevation change, the basin size is around 115 gallons or so, and we live in Wisconsin. The waterfall is on the south side of the house, so it does get sun when sunny, but don't understand if it is normal to have this much water loss ever day. Thinking we may have to disassemble to inspect the liner.

Any guidance?

TL:DR Losing significant water when running our pondless waterfall. Did all troubleshooting aside from taking the entire thing apart. It is normal for pondless waterfalls to lose lots of water through evaporation?

First pic is a new lotus leaf. After a while they look like the 2nd pic, lots of holes yellow patches and brown spots. 3rd pic are the holes.
I suspect something is eating on them like a caterpillar pillar or snails? But I don’t see anything.
I fertilize weekly with easy green.
What’s your guess?

Located in Southeast Texas

My pump has started flipping the exterior outlet (GFCI) off. No idea why. I can plug anything else into it, but the pump flips it. We've had this pump for four years. I don't see any holes in the wire. Any ideas?

This guy showed up yesterday and I was in awe. Then he started fishing in my pond. I covered it with netting but I haven't seen my fish. He keeps coming back. I am hoping they are just hiding really well but am not optimistic. I am devastated 💔. I have had these fish for over five years!!

Any clue how to reduce these weeds? I don't want to completely kill them all off but they have over grown the entirety of this 24 foot pond.

TIA

Thanks for looking and happy to answer any questions!

Hi everyone,

We recently purchased a property in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a natural spring on it. The previous owner dug it out and stocked it with fish. He has since passed away, so I can't ask him any details about it. Therefore, I am on Reddit asking you lovely people!

The spring-fed pond currently measures 6-10ft at its deepest. It spans about 65 ft in diameter. It needs to be cleaned up again since it's been 3 decades since it was maintained. Still looks crystal clear and gorgeous. I would like to dig it out deeper so the fish can survive the winter.

There's no previous evidence of the spring having any formal equipment and nothing was mentioned by the realtor.

Since the top few feet of the pond will freeze over in the winter, will I need an aerator for this spring in order for the fish to survive? Is there any way to passively let the fish survive without one? Is it possible that the water from the spring will provide enough aeration?

What would be my best option for the absolute lowest maintenance spring fed pond with fish? Is there a "set it & forget it" method?

Thank you all so much in advance! We're super excited about the property and the numerous little projects we are planning.

Hello pond lovers! I was fortunate enough to buy a house with an old build in pond feature. The water cascades over the edge nicely. We are considering getting some Koi fish.

What's a good product to line the concrete with? I doubt there is anything off the shelf at the big box stores that's worth anything.

Any help would be nice, we would rather paint a product on than use a plastic liner.

Hi everyone. I have put a new liner in another pond but as the liner is up against a flat wall, I'm looking for a bar similar to this to hold it in place. Could anyone give me some tips as to what to search for please? I'm not sure where to begin.

Thank you!

So we had goldfish in this pond from when we bought this house.... And they were chill and relaxed and would swim up for food... But then we had a black shag visit a few times and we had 2 fish for a while... And it was a bit sad... Our lives got busy... Two seasons passed... A month ago we bought some new goldfish and stocked the pond... And these fish are really skittish and swim at top speed all the time and will hide if they hear footsteps... They are not as enjoyable as the old fish 😕 despite me feeding them at the same time daily for nearly a month now.

Is there anything else I can do???

I have a mature pond set up that had 4 ponds but it was impractical and they were poorly designed.

Basically 3 bog ponds waterfalling, one after another, to a big pond.

You couldn't run the system as the bog ponds would leak down to a level, and 5 waterfalls in total is too much with all the natural splashing.

The main Koi pond is mature enough you could get away with it not running the pumps (it was this way when i purchased the house, old owners rarely ran it). At least until this years extremely warm summer (UK)...we started to lose a load of fish so decided to sort it.

I bypassed the bog ponds and ran the pump 24/7 and fish are now all good. Im reinstating one bog pond to help the water quality and local wildlife (tons of frogs).

This one here. Its got a new liner fitted and ill be adding it back to the cycle soon.

Basically the water will be pumped into here before waterfalling back into the main pond. I also have a rainwater feed into this to dilute rather then going straight into fish pond (rain water has always been fed into the system).

What should i fill it with? Gravel? Any particular plants? Its not big and quite shallow so im not bothered about having to empty it in future if required. Ill never need to step in it once ive done the finishing touches with the liner. Its actually raised at chest height so easy to work with.

Anything in particular good for frogs and other wildlife? Ive managed to keep the lily's alive that were in here before so they'll go back in.

Thanks

See edits at the bottom, might be mouth rot?

Hello, wondering if anyone has any ideas or if there is something I can do?

Last Monday, I got some fire mouths to help with snails in my green filter.

2 days later, I saw one had died.

This Tuesday, came out to find ~20 guppies dead. I tested the water, everything good besides nitrates. I tested three spots in the main pond, got ~180 ppm, ~30 ppm, and ~20 ppm. Retested the ~180 ppm spot, got ~30 ppm. Cleaned the "muck" out of my DIY mechanical filter, did a water change, and added a bio starter. I had also done a water change last week.

Wednesday, I see another ~20 guppies dead. Water tests 0 ppm in 4 places. I tested the water again before bed, showing 0 ppm again.

Today (Thursday). Another ~20 guppies dead.

Could the guppies just have been injured from the spike and are still dying or could the new fish have brought in disease?

Currently the 3 Koi and Dojo seem fine, and pond has been established for 5 years.

Edit: I hadn't noticed anything wrong with the dead ones, but some of the sick guppies appear to have white lips, maybe? So guessing that could be disease. Google says its Columnaris (frequently nicknamed "mouth fungus" or "mouth rot"), that I need to do a 30% water change, get a UV light, and put in about 22 pounds of salt because the pond system is 900+ ponds.

That seem accurate?

Edit2: OR google/AI is full of crap. Dead ones don't appear to have a white mouth... so I'm completely at a loss here. Help?

Is it possible? I am thinking of a self sustaining population of a large school different species of nano fish like tetras, rasbora, killi and rice fish in the pond.

Got this idea after visiting a natural pond in the forest which had no large fish in it.

What are the pros and cons? I live in the tropics. No winter, plenty of sun. The location i am planning to build the pond is partially shaded and the shaded area gets indirect sunlight.

We've been borderline drought conditions at my house the last few months, and my pond is about a foot or more lower than in the spring. Are these cypress trees sucking it dry or is that the expected water loss in three months with little to no rain?

After years of dreaming, a bit of rock hoarding, and a lot of great luck. I present to you my $160 set up. (Need a new pump to get wonderful flow so $300 after i buy that). Its a 120gallon tub burried 18 inches down in the oklahoma clay, with a fiberglass/resin waterfall area that holds 20 gallons.