CanadaquaBetween Pond and Tanks

First planting

We added some dwarf cattails and zebra reeds.

Fish

We seeded with starter bacteria, bought three comets from the feeder bin: Curly (white), Larry (orange) and Moe (black). Unfortunately Larry didn’t survive the day and Curly followed him within 72 hours. We learned that feeder bin fish aren’t necessarily the healthiest ones around.

I hid the liner on the other side and re-located the ousted daylilies.

 

Time for some prettyfication

The main work is done. Remaining tasks included cutting excess liner (conservatively!)  and hiding the rest ( left side is done), and camouflaging the waterfall tub.

If you look at theright rim, you’ll see a gravelly gap between some rocks, where we made a ‘beach’ to break up the sheer sides. Frogs and insects love the sun spot, birds take their baths there, and it’s a potential escape route for any unwary furries that might fall in the pond.

 

We proudly bought our first pond plant, a water hyacinth, and it seems the froggies approve that decision.

 

Must not forget to actually add the overflow pit:

The day the water flowed

We connected the pump, installed the net and brushes in the skimmer (lower right) and mats and bio balls in the filter (upper left), filled’er up and sat back to enjoy the show.

I think we still tweaked the position of the rocks a few times after this picture, but at the end of the day, we were pretty darn proud of ourselves:

We set to work on the waterfall

… with expanding foam and silicone. It’s a bit tricky and takes some experimenting and rearranging to get the flow just right. It’s worth taking your time.

Ready for a trial run tomorrow.

It rained hard last night

 

… and our emerging pond is filling up a little precipitously.

 

The first tennant is already looking at apartments

… even though the builders haven’t left the building yet and there’s no running water.

So we’d better finish this thing fast. Housing seems to be at a premium. I hope this fellow takes care of mosquitoes in lieu of rent.

All rocked

We cleverly hid a sturdy 3-way PVC pipe connector under the rocks to give our fish some escape route from potential predators (they love their hidey-hole).

Rocking the pond

We squared our shoulders, put a couple of bottles in the fridge and did some heavy lifting.

 

Slates for the waterfall and edge:

 

Adding the gravel:

(You can see how you might want to invite some friends and neighbors for the digging and rock-hauling part. Try to entice them with the promise of a pond party later, or maybe some help with the building of their own pond.)

The quest continues

Underlayment and liner are in.