We turned over the stocktanks yesterday and filled them with water. Then we pulled the waterlilies out of the ground (where I keep them over winter) and put them in. They were already starting to make leaves.

I am putting off cleaning out my in-ground stocktank for another week or so..........soooooo much algae in it this winter. Very strange. I'm seeing a frog peeking out.

think all of my marginals will need thinning, after I pull them out of the pond.
Some of the iris in pots in the in-ground stocktank are really taking off. The lotus in the bog are still asleep. They should be beautiful this year.
I'm getting excited.

If the weather would just cooperate! I am very anxious to see if everyone made it and how many frogs I have. The main pond is nearly thawed under the tent but the top 2 are still covered with snow, the hose still frozen in spots. I woke up to....SNOW aaaacccckkkkk however it has turned to rain and now some thunder YEA!

So, so ready to get going! Still some ice on the pond but very big open water spots in both ponds. I see the koi swimming around nibbling on algae but still begging me to feed them. Water temp yesterday was 40 degrees. Really considering pulling on my boyfriends insulated chest waders, pulling up the lilies from the bottom and putting the pumps in and get the one falls that is clear of snow and ice running. He, on the other hand, is telling me to calm down and at least wait for all the ice to thaw. He probably is right but I am so excited to hear some running water again! Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!! :-)

OMG I'm so ready too!!! But still have a couple of feet of snow on the pond, so I don't know if my fish survived or not. I will have to replace the hose from the pump to the super, wonderful skippy filter that I love, but that should be the only big expense I'll have.

I agree with Jenny. I want to hear the water running again and watch the insects and critters come to drink in the stream.

We dodged the bullet on the snow storm Friday and got just a dusting so I am going to declare that Spring had better be here now!!
Anne

Been working in mine for several weeks. Thawed out a couple months ago, which is saying something this far south. This winter was a very cold, snowy one for our area, setting a few new record lows, no doubt and I hadn't seen that much snow since I was a kid.

I worried and worried about my fish but they all made it. They are now running around chasing each other stupid. I have spotted a few of my frogs sitting pondside. I hopped into the pond (yes, it was cool) today and pulled my waterlily out today, and it is a tangled mess of roots. Alot of my plants are sprouting leaves, but nothing on the lotus yet. May have lost it, but we will see.

Replacing alot of the rock, though. Quite a few of the rocks were sandstone, and after all the freeze/thaw cycles, they have busted apart. It has been a pain trying to lift them out of the pond without them falling apart. Rockwork is alot like a jigsaw puzzle, only one certain shape will work. My biggest project for this year is I am hoping to replace the tubing with PVC between the pump and the waterfall. Also wanting to drop the waterfall box lower so that I can diguise it easier, but ground is as hard as a brick and cannot dig. Hoping for rain. Let the ponding season begin.

My pond has been thawed for about a month and a half now, but the water temperature finally hit 50 a couple of weeks ago. I pull my pumps and stuff every winter, so I hooked everything back up and got it running. The water was pea soup green and it took about 4 days of running to get it clear. Of course after I hook everything back up, the temp drops and we have more snow, but nothing significant. Air temps in the daytime in the 40's with night temps in the low 30's. Water temps fluctuate between 40 and 50, so I really haven't done much of anything. I didn't lose any goldfish, but lifted 6 dead frogs out of the bottom of the pond, but I have already had masses of bullfrog eggs to try and make up for that loss. I don't have much in the way of hardy plants. Some hardy lilies and cattails, all of which are starting to grow. I need to pull them and do a bit of spring cleaning and fertilizing, and I need to order some hyacinths. I don't drain and clean the pond. I use the shop vac and clean her up that way. I have blanket algae (and I'm fine with that), but have been lucky so far ( fingers crossed) to not have had string algae yet. I'm doing a lotus this year, god willing, but it is going in a pot on the deck. I aspire to do a bog one day and would love to have a larger pond, since mine is small at approx. 8 x 8 x 3. I have some rock work I want to work on to make things easier on me when it comes to regular maintenance on the pond. That issue comes from bad planning on the initial build. My advice for first time pond builders...read, read, plan, plan, and read and plan some more! But, don't be surprised when you have to change things all over again...lol Happy ponding to everyone!

We've been thawed out here for at least two months. Even with the snow that we had, it was a mild Winter for us. I have plants coming back that should only be coming back in zone 9. Hardy water lilies have all got pads to the surface. Spatterdock and Sweetflag are about to bloom. Water Irises, dwarf cattails, and cattails are all reaching up for the sky. I didn't get much done with my pond this weekend since I had to work almost all day yesterday.

SOO glad that we don't live where the majority of you all apparently do- water temps have been in the 70s for a month now.

Here's a pic taken last week...

{{gwi:191456}}

I've been messing around with my pond for about 2 weeks now. It's been in the 70's here so I couldn't wait any longer to get out there. My fish are spawning like crazy! My lotus has about 8 or 9 sprigs popping up so I hope it does well this year. My water lily is looking great also. My pond isn't very big and I only have 2 plants in it right now, but I went Saturday and bought 4 more for it.
bwalters, your pond is so pretty!

bwalters...Your pond is lovely!

I hooked my waterfall up two to three weeks ago because my watercress was starting to grow on the rocks and I didn't want the sun to bake it like last year. I bypassed the settlement pond so the water is taken from the pond surface not the bottom. I was so afraid the temperature change would harm my fish. Well Mother Nature had her own plans. My fish have been spawning ever since I hooked up the waterfall. Every morning the pond is covered in milt and foam. When the sun hits the surface I see fry already swimming around. I blame this on the homemade fish food. It has turned them into superfish. I now have two pet stores wanting to take the fry, but I have to drain the pond to get them out.

For the first time ever, ever, ever one of the fish stores by my house is selling farm raised genetically altered hybrid sunfish that are not able to reproduce. I have six of them in an aquarium in my basement. I bought six because I planned on having fatalities. They were housed in a huge well lit aquarium at the pet store and I did observe some flashing, so they are in quarantine right now. I keep the lights off in the basement so it seems like a pond environment. I felt bad with them being on display because it's not their natural habitat, but then again they are farm raised hybrids so they are probably used to it. My plan is to put three in my settlement pond and three in the top pond so I don't have any surprises like last fall. I already have three that I went fishing for last year in the large pond. If they are good at what they do I may just have the fattest bluegills in Ohio. My water lilies are almost to the surface already in the top pond. My cat tails are sprouting. I even had some duckweed make it through the winter. This is a first for me. I still have a lot of my plants sunk in the bottom that I haven't pulled up yet.

I am now (once again) able to use the all purpose trail in the Metroparks. The destruction due to the flooding is unbelievable. Some the the all purpose trail was just lifted up and broke in pieces and is laying 5-10 feet away from the trail. Huge trees with 2-3 feet in diameter trunks were laying on the ground. Their roots not able to hold them when the ground washed away. Rocks had to be trucked in to fill in the ground at the side of the trail where the trees fell and took the earth with their roots. The park was closed for two weeks until they could assess and clean up some of the damage. Now there are piles of dead trees everywhere. Some of them are still laying where they fell until the park services can cut them up. The ones that fell across the trail just had the trunk that was blocking the trail cut out until they can get to the rest it. While on my hike yestersday I found the perfect log for my top pond. It is about 6 ft long and is hollowed out at the thick end. It twists and curves, and has a few open knots for frogs to hide in. It fit perfectly across my top pond. Although I did look like a fool carrying this thing down the trail for about a mile. Got my car all muddy, but it fit perfectly and looks great. I know my frogs are going to love it. Oh the sacrifices we make for our pond critters.

Oh well, it's going to be 70+ degrees today and I have to work :( Come on Mother Nature, we want to pond.

Jenny

I have been putting off working on my pond, but 2 of my neighbors have already cleaned out thier ponds, so I better get in there! I have been feeding my fish small amounts, and they are in a frenzy to eat! Pond looks really clear, so maybe the depth helps?(42")Also I left my water running all winter and maybe the uv light is actually working on the cyprio filter I bought 2nd hand. I really should go buy some bulbs for it, as they don't even sell cyprio anymore around thse parts. As I only have a milk crate planting shelf in the middle of the pond(no other built in planting shelves, due to raccon/herons), I actually am thinking of just waterlilies and a oxygenator for plants this yr. Will be hauling out the whole shebang today and planting the waterlilies in the biggest round tubs I can find.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:191455}}

It snowed again yesterday. We just get it all melted away and then we get more. This time it is going fast. Pond has been ice free for about a week.
I ordered 1 water lily (Arc-En-Ciel) and 1 native lotus.
The pond cover is still up but not airtight anymore. The frogs still prefer staying under the cover. There is one little pump running under there.
Lots of frogs. Have not seen any dead ones yet. Did see the fantail that refused to be caught last fall. He seems fine. Fished 3 dead fish out - none that had names.
I was planning on a total cleanout this spring but I just realized that the ground water will be high and well.... I don't want the liner floating and shifting so I guess it will wait until summer. On to plan B!
I have to work on the filter for the waterfall end of the pond. And it will get a new cover - for sitting on.
sam

bwalters........you big showoff!! lolol! I'm envious!!

calamity.......if you have fish, I'm wondering if you should use some milk crates that have bigger holes in them? It would give them more places to hide. Maybe I just can't see the picture well, but it looks like the sides of your crates are pretty solid. But the shelf is a great idea!

I hadn't planned to do any work on the pond until mid summer so I could concentrate on some other yard work but Murphy has taken over. I have been checking the skippy regularly to make sure the squirrels hadn't blocked the outlet with their old nests and thought I had solved the problem with some netting. The other day I looked at the pond as I went to take a shower and it was doing fine. When I came back twenty or thirty minutes later I was stunned to see the pond was almost empty again. The water from the squirrel damage must have thawed and softened the hardpan clay soil under the skippy. The whole thing had tipped forward and the water had poured over the top edge and gone UNDER the liner. The water had swirled around and scoured the sides and shelves to the point where there were hollows in the sides and the shelves were deeper and no where near as wide as they had been. The mud had accumulated in three huge mounds on the bottom. Only a narrow trough is left of the original bottom. DH refilled the pond while I franticly drove to the pet store for some water treatment. The fish survived but I think there is only about two thirds of the original volume left, maybe less.

Can you say "Total rebuild"? I think I am going to hire some help. I just don't have the heart or the muscle to do it all myself this time. The only good thing is that I did want to enlarge it this summer. I just hadn't planned it to happen this soon.

Too cold to play with the pond yet :(
Maybe by Easter?

Thanks so much for the compliments, mazsdps, clarabelle63, and catherinet :-)

Can't wait to get home to enjoy a cold adult beverage and be mesmerized by the koi...

I'm ready!!! I moved so I'm building a new pond, around 1200 gallons. I've been digging some but trying to figure out plumbing before I dig more. I'm hatching some watonai/wakin eggs inside till they get bigger. Will fire up my stock tank in the next week or two and transfer babies there. Will have to make due with that till I get my new pond dug.

I got an early start on my ponds, emptied and scrubbed the plant pond, did a 1/3 water change on the fish pond and netted out some leaves. I fed the fish too early and had to rush them inside to my fish tank to let them get over their indigestion. 2 frogs look fine in the fish pond but still resting.

Since I have no fish to play with I put my filter (a drop-in pondmaster) into the plant pond and added some fish tank filter squeezings plus some ammonia. So far it seems the bacteria held on and the ammonia levels go right down when I add some more. But this way I can get my filter cycled and ready when I put the fishies back.

I hate the look of a pond without fish, though I look at it every day still.

ernie-
will you tell me more about the drop-in pondmaster filter?
how many gallons is your pond?
thanks, min

Hello Everyone,
I am so so ready, it's so cold here in Wisconsin, freeze thaw freeze thaw, I got the pond drained out and cleaned out, while I was wearing my snowpants and coat, I trying to build a filter bog but my hands get so cold.
Found 1 large dead froggie, It broke my heart to see him as he was with me for 3 years..

My fish are ready to come out of the basement, bought a new
1250 gph pump for the shallow end with a fountain head, should look nice. I also bought a new water lily, come on spring !!!!! Let the season begin (LOL)

Sheri

Put on my hip waders and got the pumps installed and running. Both water features are splashing away. I've so missed my pond.

Happy spring everyone!

min3: I have a little pre-formed pond, it is perhaps 180-200 gallons. I'm not exactly sure which pump/filter I have, it is something like this:

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=pondmaster+pond+filters&aq=3&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=pondmaster

Initially there was a problem with it but my dealer replaced the impeller then gave me a whole replacement pump, and I remember him saying something to the effect that it is now a stronger pump then I started with.

I modified it somewhat by adding a plate on the bottom so the pump stays attached to the filter. Otherwise the pump tends to fall over and looks ugly. I also striped the screws that hold the filter together so I added some longer screws and big washers to hold it together.

Inside I stuck some rocks and some bio balls from another filter I had, this helps it hold the bottom when I change the filter.

For the filter I keep year round a thick carbon filter from PM, change it once a year otherwise do not touch it. On top of that I have two pre-filters to grab the pond muck. These filters I made out of craft store 1 inch pads. I've used batting in the past but these get me thru the whole season without falling apart.

When the fountain slows (once or twice a week) I pull the whole pump/filter out, replace the pre-filter with the other, put it back together and drop it back into the pond. Then I hose off the dirty filter and let it sit out till next change. This way I never put chlorine into the filter.

That's a quick job, 10 minutes tops.

This filter does a great job of keeping the muck out of my pond. Additionally, I grow a 50% cover of water lettuce. Mid summer the WL keeps the floating algae away, though I do sometimes run a UV filter when I'm in a hurry for crystal clear water.

One of the many pleasures of living up here in Canada is that spring is maybe coming this year in May????? We had so much snow this winter that my daughter's boyfriend got up on my roof to shovel the 3 ft deep snow of the stack and roof. It has only just started to thaw and can actually see the waterfall and shallow end of the pond...the rest is still under 4 ft of snow. The river is just breaking up and looks like it'll flood for sure this year. So looks like the fish will stay in the basement for at least another month at this rate.
Gorgeous pond bwalters. Gotta love those Texans!