Care And Treatment Of Small Ponds - Starting Up A New Small Pond

I am a small pond enthusiast and have been doing it for going on my third year now.

If you are just starting out with ponds and especially if you are doing small ponds, then perhaps I can help you bypass a lot of guesswork and get what you need right from the get-go.

First off, I live in the Sonoran desert in southern Arizona.  It simply means during the summer, the temperatures in my ponds go up substantially, especially my pond out front of my house that can hit 95 or even high degree water temperature.

Amazing how Koi and Goldfish can withstand such temperatures.  I do throw in ice during the summer, but it's not like it's a cool swim for those fish in there after I throw it in there, just brings the overall temperature of the pond down a couple of degrees.

Well, let's get started.  First off, the filtration system.  If you are going to have fish in your pond, you are going to need filtration.  I spent quite a while reading all kinds of information about this particular subject before I just threw my hands up in the air and started looking for a waterfall filter.  Basically, it's a plastic container maybe a foot and a half tall and a foot or so wide.  It has an inlet at the bottom for water to be pumped into it and then the water "falls" off a large lip at the top of it.  I have 2 of them.  They both have  bio balls in them - you will need those - and they both have the thick filter media.  I also buy much thinner filter media on eBay to help further filter the water.  

This and the pump that supplies the water to the filter are the most important parts of your pond.  Without them, your fish are probably not going to do very well.  BTW, you can be hard-plastic liner pre-formed ponds or you can buy a liner and dig a hole in the ground.  I have the preformed liner WITH a liner in it.  I also turned a 400 gallon galvanized metal horse trough into a pond as well.  

The waterfall filters are the best, IMO, but there is also a much smaller, compact filtering system you can buy on eBay or wherever that will also do the trick.  The point of the waterfall filters is that the water is streaming off the top of the filter into your pond and yes, you get the nice sound of water falling into a pond with them.  

The pump is the other half of the equation.  Smaller is not better, especially with fish.  More Gallons Per Hour (GPH) is always better.  In all 3 of my ponds, I have pumps that are sized large enough to cycle the entire contents of the ponds twice per hour.  That's my equation after fooling with this for quite a while.  So, if you have a 400 gallon pond, I will buy an 800 gallon per hour pump for it.  Sounds excessive, right?  Not at all.  It is, as far as I'm concerned, the perfect sized pump for the amount of water in your pond.  You can go ahead and buy, say a 150 gph pump for a 400 gallon pond and you are going to have a small trickle of water.  If that's what you want, then go for it, but it probably won't work with your filtration system too well and if you want that pleasant sound of falling water, you are not going to get much of that with such a small pump.  I WENT that route.  I started out at 75gph, then 125, 150, 200, 350, all the way up until I got to 800gph and then? I was definitely happy with the results.

That was the hardest part of this setup that I had to deal with.  How big of a pump. Well I just give you some good advice.  A larger pump will pick up all the junk that floats to the bottom of the pond as well.  There IS no buildup down there to have to fool with.  If you have enough fish, they stir up the stuff on the bottom and that pump sitting down there sucks the junk - fish poop to be precise- right out of the water.  

Next?  UV sterilizer.  Not all ponds need them. I have one pond that doesn't have an algae problem, my other 2? The water turned pea green.  You couldn't see an inch down into the water.  I bought the smallest UV sterilizer I could find and they both work great!  I don't WANT green ponds, is the point. I want to be able to see my fishies in there.

You can get new pumps and UV sterilizers at great prices on eBay.  That and sometimes Craigslist.  I bought both my waterfall filters from 2 different people who were shutting down their ponds and were practically giving the filters away.  I will never buy a used pump, though, all of them I have bought new on eBay and haven't had a problem, same with the UV sterilizer.  

Fish?  Took me quite a long time.  I wanted Koi.  I acquired a lot of pond sized goldfish for free, the Koi were a bit more elusive.  But, I kept going to Craigslist, day after day after day, looking for the deals on Koi, all of them were deals made from individuals that were shutting their ponds down permanently.  They wanted to get rid of them but wanted them to go to good homes.  Your small pond can accommodate a large number of fish.  The more fish you have, the more fish food you are going to go through and you will also find you will have to clean out that filter more frequently.  

Fish food.  I buy large bottles of Goldfish flakes at Walmart, I buy 20 pounds of Koi pellets at a time off of a supplier on eBay. 

Additives.  Well, if you have just filled your pond up with fresh city tap water and then are going to put fish in right away, I would suggest you get some liquid that is sold at Walmart amongst other places that helps remove chlorine from the water and also reduces stress in fish. I mention Walmart cause' I did my ponds on a budget. I didn't skimp, but I did buy some used stuff.  

Plants.  You don't need a green thumb to grow water plants and they do amazingly well with out ever doing anything to them.  My Taros in one pond have grown incredibly large (elephant ear plant).  My Umbrella plants are growing in all 3 ponds.  I have Yerba Mensa in one pond that grew from a tiny plant into a behemoth!! Water lillies are also good for keeping your pond a bit cooler if you have direct sunlight hitting it and the water is heating up in summer.  I have all of those and also parrot feather in one pond.  With my ponds, it was hit and miss.  Some plants grow better under shade, others grow better in direct sunlight.  I got all of my plants off of Craigslist locally from people either selling them or giving them away.  

When an owner of a large pond decides it's time to clean up the plants, many of them will write up an ad on Craigslist.  They almost always give the plants away.  90% of my plants were free, only the water lillies did I have to pay for.  You really WANT plants in your pond. Natural beauty and helps keep your pond clear.  Actually, I don't have large ponds but I occasionally have to prune back some plants, just posted an ad for freebies today and have had several inquiries.  

Once you get your pond or ponds going, they aren't much maintenance.  Clean out the filtering system once in a while and sometimes the pump gets clogged up with junk that it has accumulated.  Feed the fish and make sure the water level is good in the pond.  Fish are fun to watch and it's cool to see your plants grow over time. 

Also, one last thing about the plants.  Whatever kind of container you have, that's what you can use.  Cut a milk jug in half and there you have a pond planter.  Put the plant in it, fill it with dirt and cover the dirt with rocks.  It's as easy as that. This is not complicated stuff, but there is a bit thrown at you at the very beginning, I do hope this article will help.

Edited:  Aeration.  I found that my small ponds with lots of fish in them were not sufficiently aerated in the summer months by the act of the waterfall filters alone.  I ended up buying small air pumps either off of Craigslist or yes, at Walmart, the same you would use in an aquarium. How did I know that the ponds weren't sufficiently aerated?  The fish were up at the surface, gulping at air.  It was pretty easy to determine the problem and even easier to address it. A pump with at least 2 outlets, the air tubing and yes, air stones.  As soon as I did that, the fish were no longer sitting at the surface.

Water changing. Well there's a lot on the net about it, some say to do it once a month and some say to do it twice per month. They all vary on what percentage of water to change out.  I haven't needed to change out any water in my small ponds.  Evaporation makes the water go down enough that I have to refill it periodically with fresh water.  I do think it good to have to put in fresh water here and there, I have no scientific reasoning behind it, I just think that the fish do better if they get fresh water infused here and there.  Well, my ponds will go down a couple of inches per month in the winter and a lot more in the summer due to evaporation alone.  So, that's all I do. Just refill the ponds.  

Saturday 3/31/2012

Last day of March.
Temps are just starting to move up here.
Nothing horrendous yet, but it's definitely getting a bit warm out there.
Just spent quite a bit of time on the east side of the house pruning more trees and putting poles into the ground to help keep them standing straight up.  Rosemary was out of control, pruned those 2 bushes back quite a lot as well.
Front yard looking good.  Front yard pond doing very well.  The water lily plant I have in it is sending lots of new leaves - good thing because that is the only thing the fish have to hide under in that little pond.  I have it directly in the middle of it and it provides good coverage for them, will get even better as more leaves pop up out of the water.
Next pond needing attention is on the east side of the house.  Umbrella plant has also sprouted out of control and am going to need to cut out a lot of it.  I might run a Craigslist ad and see if anyone is interested in them.

Besides outdoor activities in working on my property, I have little interest in doing anything else this weekend.  I am still pretty much under a bit of a weight with this situation going on at work.  The conclusion? I may not know for some time. Or, I could find out Monday, who knows?  When you don't know what's going to happen with something that could dramatically up-end your little world, well, sit down, breath, relax. At the same time, brace.  Think of what I will do if the worst possible scenario happens.

If the worst happens, it won't be the end of the world but it will certainly have a dramatic effect on my life.

But, whatever.  Tough it out.

Ready made family.
My manager got a call from a lady while at work yesterday: she was bored and was coming to visit.  She brought one of her kids, a 6 or so something year old girl. My manager is like: she's pretty good looking, why don't you date her? Before she comes over.  Yeah. 6 kids?  This lady has 6 kids.

Well they show up and the lady goes into his office while the little girl is out at the counter - asking me 50 questions - at least.  Mostly it was about whether I was married, do I want to get married and finally: "Well you can marry my mom if you want to.  You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you want to, you can marry her".  Talk about a girl desperate for some fatherly/male type of attention.  This little girl sat out there for 30 minutes going on and on like this.

No, I am not going on a date with the lady.  We never got that far.  I might actually be interested, but - no kids on a date, thanks.

Next door neighbor.  You know, the one that is sort of building a house?  Well, he finally got the slab poured and started putting up the walls.  Used lumber.  All of it.  Whatever makes him happy, I guess.  It's going to be a very small house.  He already has a sign up out front: house for sale.  He's selling a house that hasn't been built yet.  Nice.

I haven't seen 350 man in over a week. Not that I want to nor do I care.  In fact, very nice. The house going up next door is now starting to block out the view of 350 man's house.  Very nice again.

I'm about to go out front again and water my plants.  I am taking Sophie out there, but, this time, she will be leashed.

Later.

ben

Friday 3/30/2012

Well, that was fun.
I had Sophie out front - have had her out there several times now - but this time? She took off.  Fast.  Fast little doggy.
She's gone, too.  I chased her in the car, caught up to her several times and got out, only to have her look at me as if I were a complete stranger and take off running (which I will admit here pretty much pissed me off that she wouldn't even give a hint of recognition).  She finally got into an area where my car wouldn't go and I can't catch that dog on foot, she is far too fast for me.  I tried driving around the area for a good hour, but, she's gone.

Good thing I don't have any great attachment to that dog yet.  She has a collar and it has a number to call if she is caught, so, maybe I will see her again some day, who knows.  She was running right out in front of cars on a busy street, not so sure she is going to last too long running around doing that.

Situation at work is in limbo.  No idea, really.  I am going to try to get my mind off of it cause' it isn't going to do me any good to worry about it perpetually.

Back to the dog, the neighborhood kid comes walking in here 15 minutes ago saying he had seen Sophie back in this neighborhood and tried to catch her.  Yeah, good luck.  She isn't listening to anyone.  I got in my car again and drove around this entire area several times, didn't find her.  Even if I did, though, I have doubts that I would have been able to get close enough to her to grab her collar.

Another extremely long interlude.  I gave up on the dog, the dog apparently did not on me.  She came back - an amazing feat in itself, a dog that can actually find it's way home. She was next door, the neighborhood kid lured her with a piece of meat and then grabbed her collar and brought her back in my gate.  I gave him a $5 reward. That kid smells to high heaven. He comes in here smelling so foul, I can hardly stand it, I have to cover my nose the smell is so strong, as if he never takes a bath.  The dog is laying there with this pathetic look.  If that isn't a dog that knows she has done something wrong, I dunno what it is.

Whatever.  I'm done with this.

ben

A Problem

It is interesting to watch people who take pleasure in other people's nightmares.  I'm not talking politics here, that's a whole different story.  To "take pleasure in another man's calamity" is something I have never quite understood. You know, a person hates another person.  The hated person has something horrific or very bad happen to them and then the hater laughs and mocks the person either behind their back, to their face or both.

I mean, okay, Osama bin Laden.  There's a guy you can say good riddance to.  Well, whatever.

All plans are on indeterminate length of time hold right now.  Situation at work and the potential to - not be employed anymore.  Can't and won't go into it on my blog.  I can only say that I still love my job at my company, there are a good share of problems but, you find that at any place of employment.  I would have liked to have been promoted by now, but, I do like the responsibilities that determine my job description.

So, if it happens, it happens.  I will remember the good things, such as all the employees that helped me out when my house burned down. Gift cards and furniture and all kinds of stuff were given to me.  The company itself helped me out with a fund they have designated for emergencies.  I have received the highest level of bonus money that my "tier" can receive every year I have been there.  I have received the Safe Driver Award 4 years out of 6.  But, I do potentially face a new reality: becoming one of the millions of Americans that are unemployed.  

I have a couple of co-workers, referencing the beginning of this entry, that talk smack about me behind my back.  I'm not the only one they talk smack about, but I recently heard from one of our VENDORS about their malicious speech.  The guy at the vendor is totally cool and I actually get emails forwarded from him here and there with comedic things he has gleaned from wherever on the internet.  It's funny how you can uplift your fellow employee - which I have done with both of these individuals numerous times in the past - and the find out they have been trash talking you.

I dunno, but I work at 2-man branch.  That's my manager and I.  We are going to hit somewhere near or maybe even over 600k - $600,000 for this month.  That will be more than the main branch's warehouse will have put out in terms of truck deliveries, where they have 2 full time drivers plus several individuals that work down there that they use to send out product as well.  I am the ONLY driver.  I take pride in my work; I strive for excellence and I try to keep a good attitude. It is, actually, the 2 full-time drivers over there that talk the crap about me behind my back and then talk a sweet and nice to me face-to-face. Don't you just despise people like that?

I am not going to go into the details that have led to this point, I am not terminated yet and it may not happen, but, I am preparing for the "worst".  I can probably find another job, but, who knows what, how much it will pay, the working conditions, etc.  I'm one of those people that will stick around for a long, long time.  I probably get too comfortable in my working conditions, but when I have an expertise of what I am doing, I tend to enjoy it as well.

It IS even more interesting, however and getting back to the main point of this entry, to find out who IS on  your side.  Quite a few people, I find out.  This includes members of management, I might add, which is refreshing to say the least.

Well, anyway, I put in a 10-1/2 hour day today and was totally burned out at the end of it.  A LOT of driving.  When I  got back to the yard, done with the truck and all paperwork in hand, I walked into the building to hear my name being mentioned. They didn't know I had pulled in with the semi.  We have a "dinger" that sounds of when anything passes through the gate on the side of the building, but they had a lunch for contractors today and they blinded the dinger so it wouldn't keep going off repeatedly, incessantly, forever.

I had no idea what was going on, but it came to light quickly: the lottery.  It's over half a billion dollars now.  22 people in our company had pitched in $5 a piece to create a pool.  A salesman came out of the kitchen - totally cool dude- after hearing, oh, Ben's here, he just came back! and asked if I wanted to be included in the pool.  Of course I do.  How would you like to be the sorry sap in your company that didn't pitch in 5 bucks and then find out everyone else has their part in 540 million dollars?  Even spread out 22 ways, that's still a LOT of money per person!  27 million? Minus taxes and in my case, 20% up front to the Lord's work. At least 20%.  What are you going to do with that much money anyway?  Buy a house and set up a fund to pay for property taxes for the rest of your life and after that, who cares.

Others would care, of course, I don't.  If I owned a property flat out, that would be the end all for me.

You know, I haven't been terminated from a job since I was 16 years old.  It would be a blow to me, frankly, to get that kind of thing handed to me now just because of that if nothing else.

Oh well.

ben

Thursday 3/29/2012

Ouch.  Large mortgage payment went through - 2 month's worth.  Coco situation sort of aggravated my financial position, but I had to pay that down to zero.  I haven't made my mind up about short selling the house and until I do, the mortgage obviously must be paid.

I got off work late yesterday - didn't get home until after 5:00.  Long days equal getting much of nothing done around the house, especially on that trailer.  My manager didn't bring in his grinder because, he stated, he couldn't find it.  I am just going to go buy another one from Harbor Freight - though this time I will buy one with a bigger motor and hopefully last a bit longer.

Regardless, I got caught up in reading the news this morning and just realized that..........it's time to be off to work.  Another full day, perhaps, dunno, but this morning is definitely going to be quite busy with all kinds of orders in there to pull, load and take out to jobsites.

Later.

ben

Wednesday 3/28/2012

Church: small groups.

Last night.

Took my chicken sticks, big hit, which was nice.

We all sat down at tables, had some conversation.

After about 30 minutes of eating and talking, the group leader brings up a subject for everyone to share their stories on.

He shared one of his and then the lady-that-never-shuts-up shared hers.  

Then someone else.  Then the lady-that-never-shuts-up. 

Then another person.  Then the lady-that-never-shuts-up.

I shared one and then the group leader hijacked my story - I could tell stories of my missionary days for hours, but I wasn't about to do any such thing.  Instead, I went on for about a minute before the leader took my conversation out of my mouth and started making it his own.

Which irritated me - well that's an understatement but since it's church I let it go.

Then this lady-that-never-shuts up started telling story, after story, after story.

I was ready to get up and walk out to be honest.  If the leader of the group can't find it within himself to take control of the situation and do whatever needs to be done to - get that woman to shut her freaking mouth - well I am questioning whether I will be going back.  I don't know WHY - ANYONE - thinks that anyone else wants to hear them speaking ALL the time. 

It was so bad in the end that she actually interrupted someone else that was trying to speak and started talking over the TOP of that person!  Unbelievably rude and selfish - MY opinion and thoughts are more important than anyone else's.  

Whatever.  

It's time to go to work.  

I am going to write the pastor about this situation at small group and find out his thoughts on it, though, it may put him in an unenviable position, so beit.

G'day.

ben

The Chinese Buffet

Their chick sticks are of heavenly origins, I am sure of it.
I had never seen chicken sticks like this before, much less tasted anything that was that good.
I am going to small group at church tonight and it's a pot luck type of thing.  Instead of cooking something, I figured I would take about 20 of them in there and everyone would get at least one of them.

Regardless, they had all of 3 left when I went in there and a lady came up and snatched them before I could get my hands on them.  So, I just stood there and waited.  The owner finally came up and asked what I was waiting for.  I pointed at a slew of empty pans, but most notable the chicken stick pan.

He was, apparently, not exactly happy that the food trays were near empty and rushed into the kitchen to take care of business.  A few minutes later, trays full of food started appearing.  A few minutes after that, they came up with the chicken sticks, but there was only twelve of them.  I took all of them and just waited some more.  Honey chicken finally came out - Mark and Lynnette love this stuff so I buy them a container full every time I come in here - Lynnette being in love with the Honey Chicken.

Done with that, they came out with more chicken sticks.  But again, only 12 or maybe 14 of them.  A lady took a couple.  I looked at the owner: "well is it okay to take more?".  He's all over that, yes yes, take as many as you want, we cook more.  I took all of the rest of those as well and decided that was enough waiting and probably enough money.  There's 10 or 12 in the group, sometimes more.  Everyone is bringing something, so if they get one of the chicken sticks each at least, then that should be good.  I can just about guarantee that someone or many someones are going to ask about where I got those chicken sticks.

"Ancient Chinese Secret, located at McClintock and Baseline" I will respond.

Long interlude.  I took an almost hour-long nap.  If I have to stay up later than my bedtime, gotta make it up somewhere.  Time to leave for church.

Tuesday 3/27/2012

Message to atheists: get over yourselves.
I don't cafe if you are offended by my Christianity or my belief in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  I don't care if you hate the Bible.  I don't care if you hate church, Easter, Christmas and a whole variety of other holidays, seasons and things that Christians like to do.

If you don't like any of that stuff, don't participate in it!  In fact, since you hate all of it so much, why not go find an island somewhere that is large enough to accommodate all of you and start a Godless society?  God is at the roots of this nation of ours - the belief in Him that is and that is all there is to it. You can sue and sue and sue all you want, but you are wasting your time- and your money.  Even if you get a few wins here and there, you aren't going to erase God from this entire society!  There are too many of us here that believe in Him!  Akin to Obama's desire to remove guns out of the hands of responsible, law-abiding citizens: It's NEVER going to happen!

Enough.  I am sick of seeing lawsuit after lawsuit being filed by atheists against all kinds of governments, churches, groups, whatever.  Frivolous at best.  Are these people really so thin-skinned that they can't stand that others are enjoying their religious freedoms to express themselves in a public forum?  Apparently.  One wonders how they make it in life if they get offended so incredibly easy.

No idea.  Onto other things.  Still looking for a mattress.  Ended the ordeal with "The Craigslister", who, I had already guessed, isn't really into Craigslist at all and had no clue how to deal with it.  I'll find a mattress eventually, but I am going to start looking on a daily basis, time is running out.  I have seen a couple of places in phoenix selling mattress on the side of the road - well they're actual shops selling new mattresses to clarify that, but the mattresses are always stacked up right next to the street.

I dunno, but I want to get PAST this particular sticking point of finding a mattress for that trailer.  It's gone on long enough.  Then it will be to find a microwave that fits into the cabinet that is made for it.  Or not.  And the carpet.  These are the three, big things left to do besides the work on the roof.  I have the major part of the roof done, it's just removing old sealant and putting on fresh is what I wanted to do with it at this point.  Hopefully by this weekend I will have this mattress ordeal done and over with - HOPEFULLY.

I also have a lot of minutia to buy for it. Some of it dollar store stuff, other stuff a bit more expensive, but just things you want to have around.  Toiletries and silverware and this and that.  Pots, pans, you know.  I have enough time to finish all of it, but man, some sticking points here that I didn't think would take this long to get past.

Whatever the case, it's time to go off to work and, undoubtedly, the Intel plant.

G'day.

ben

More of 'The Craigslister'

So, this guy writes me back after I tell him all of that - that I know his line of work, where he works, the name of his wife, his home city of Philadelphia and the idea that I would just forward this email of his to his superiors, as I put it, and see how they feel about one of their employees in such a high level job making such unbelievable statements as he did to me.

His tones were WAY down.  The cussing was gone, the only threat he had left was his lawyer.  Lol.  That he would sue me for slander and defamation of character.  First off, threats from lawyers no longer have the effect on me they once had 25 years ago.  This is because lawyers intentionally throw all kinds of legaleze at people and threats of this and that and what would happen to you if they follow through with their threats.  In most cases, it's at LEAST 90% hot air and probably more than that.  They are trying to scare you to get you to back down and not do anything at all - or stop whatever it is that is "offending" another person or entity.

Well, I wrote him back.  Sick your lawyer on me: you have defamed yourself by your own words.  It's not here-say, it's your own email.  You wrote that email after I demanded that you not write back to me.  You are the one that acted like a 5 year old getting cocky on an elementary school playground.

I was not backing down, was the point, I had no reason to back down - after he had demanded payment up front for something that I wasn't going to get for 2 weeks, I just said not.  Not happening and where you ever got the idea that anyone is going to give another person money for nothing is unknown, but in my world, it doesn't happen.

He writes me back again.  This time, the threats were entirely void of the conversation.  No lawyers, nothing. A man in his position with a person like me having enough of his personal information that I can tarnish his image at the very least?  Yeah.  I'll bet he doesn't pull that crap with people online ever again, or if he does, at least the thought of potential consequences will come back off the dusty shelves of his mind to give him thought to possibly not go that route.  He ended his much humbled tones with an apology.

That's all I was looking for.  My issue with him is over with that apology.  Let's get real, folks: whatever we say online can be found by just about anyone.  Facebook. Twitter. Blogs.  I say alot on this blog, but there are certain things I won't say or lines of thought I won't go into.  I may have in the past, but no more.  My Facebook account?  I only have it to play that Zynga game, otherwise I wouldn't even use the thing.  I have found a lot of interesting and even wonderful people that I communicate with through that game, which is the only reason I still play it.  I had thought of deleting my Facebook account until I started with that game and then started talking with people - normal people I might add - from all over the world. Well, there are the crazies, too, but I have "gelled" with a couple of dozen people at least which makes me not want to get rid of FB at this point or delete that game.

Well, got home early 2:00 pm.  That's definitely early for me currently.  There was only one delivery - which turned into 2 - in the system.  I got those done and put stuff away, cleaned up a bit and left half an hour early.  I figure that sometime this week, I will go over hours again and I will still end up with OT regardless.

Caleb called me this morning - I don't get calls from Caleb while I'm at work unless something is wrong, I was hoping that car hadn't broken down again.  Well, it WAS the car, but not a breakdown: he had locked himself out of it.  He was extremely lucky that I had JUST happened to pass by where he was at only a few minutes earlier.  Otherwise, I would not have been able to help him since I was on a run to pick up material and deliver it to a job site.

Enough.