My memory is going

Drew Watson

Member
Messages
2,070
Location
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada
What can I say but it is happeneing. It was a couple of days ago and I was just topping up the fish pond out side and I put the tap in and went inside to deal with the new 90 gallon aquarium, then my son showed up and dinner was ready and i forgot all about the pond and the water ran all night. Wife discovered the next morning that all but 6 of our 10 yr old gold fish were all dead. Figured that there must have been 50 fish and 2 koi all 6-7 inches . The clorine in the water did it and now I am taking the pond apart to clean it right out. All other projects are on hold for the time being. God i couldn't have felt more rotten for it as we saved all the fish 4 yrs ago from another neglected pond.
 
sometimes our priorities change drew,, look at the other side you could have watched the fish and something bad could have happened to your son and you would look back at the fish pond with disgust because you should have been with your son... there is always another point of view.. fish can be replaced and they had a good time while here..just as the next batch will too:)
 
I can't tell you how many times I have overflowed the pool in the back. I blame it on the meds though, and the LOML doesn't give me too much garbage about it.....until the water bill comes!!!....Ouch. :rofl:
 
Drew all i can say you in good company. I have the problem too.:eek: I am always in trouble for something or other related to the problem and being distracted.:D

Sorry about the fish. Is it worth replacing them with only a few months to go before winter.?:dunno:
 
I overfilled my pond so many time, I can't remember. Fortunately, I've not killed the fish, though.

To (hopefully) prevent recurrence, I put a sprinkler valve timer on the pond fill, so that when I turn the water on, it turns itself off after thirty minutes. So far, that's working well.
 
I use timers all the time for that kind of thing. I also always carry a pad and pen with me, if I can find them....
 
Well I am turning the disapointment into something positive. I went to our local Koi farm and had a talk with the owner Oh you should see his big inside pond. Koi that are 2 -3 ft long and priced in the 5000 range. Pond is 8-9 ft deep and just as wide and around 30 ft long. Anyways I am installing a skimmer to the pond and enlarging the entire pond as i had to drain it and clean it anyways. Doing away with the shelf for plants. I still found another 10 fish jambed into the rocks as they tried to escape. I did learn that the gravel I had in the bottom is a no no as it allows sediment ( dirt) to develope and that in turn can produce some nasty chemicals that can hurt the fish. It also hinders the circulation of the water. So I pulled all the gravel out and will use it in the flower pots ( keeps the cats from depositing gifts in the dirt). I also learned that Cement is ok to use but morter is not as the lime in the morter is too much. I am going to remove all the rocks now and just cement the top cap stones in around the pond as well as give it a bit more of a burm to keep the dirt from getting in while watering the plants. Oh also on another note HD is selling the 1 1/2 inch hose x 25 ft for 10.00. regular was 48.00. So grabbed two lengths. Here is a pic of where I spent my day. :doh:

Oh and thanks for letting me know that I am not alone with the memory thing. been woundering more about ... something these days, just can't seem to remember what it was? Oh well it will come to me I am sure. most likely in the middle of the night.
 

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Does your pond freeze over in the winter?

We've got the remnants of some sort of water feature here that's really just an eyesore. Really close to some trees so it's just a 'leaf' pond at this point. Been thinking about doing something with it someday, but that'll require a lot of jackhammer work and hauling. Not one of my favorite activities....
 
Yea Tell me about hearing loss. I am looking at hearing aids. God i am feeling old just reading that. :rofl:

Well I have called it for the night. The pond liner is out and the under lay and I have started digging out the dirt to make the pond deeper and a bit bigger. lots of work ahead of me, but the end will be the reward. A nice clean pond for the remaining fish with a 5000 Gallon per hr skimmer and less maintinence for me. Oh joys, just in time for all the leaves from the japanese maple to dump into the pond. :bang::bang: :rofl:
 
Like I said it was time to turn the negetive into a positive and i dug out and expanded the rest of the old pond and pulled all the plants and insatalled the skimmer and replaced the hose between the pump and the water fall. Late last night I installed the liner padding and hopefully the liner will fit. This has been an eye opener in regards to ponds. I have hauled all the rocks out and will not be putting them back as no matter how attractive they may look there is no place for rocks in a pond. I have found out more as to why the fish died. The nitrogen levels were really high in the pond as the rocks trap all the sediment and waste products producing a toxic mix. the clorine in the tap water ( that is increased this time of year) was just the last straw.

I will be glad to get this project done and out of the way as the canoe was almost finished and I have to nuild the top for the indoor aquarium still as well as a million other projects that I have on the go. Oh and just to keep with the forum discussion the retaining wall is made of pressure treated fence posts That I turned on the lathe ( not really but it did sound good, lol) with every third one driven into the ground and deck screws holding everything together. I will also be building a wooden lid to the skimmer and hing it to the fence to keep the racoons out as well as making something attrective to put plants on to. The LOML has suggested that we put all the pee gravel around the entire pond now to reduce the maintinence of the area and will be putting all the plants into pots like the bamboo is in. The rest of the pee gravel will go into the other pots as it keeps the cats from digging in the pots. Anywaysa here are some pics of how I spent my day. ( only 11 wheel barrows full of dirt and rock removed, not including the bolders )
 

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Well it has been awhile since I updated this post. Been a long week and finally have everything together to get the pond set back up ( almost) I dug ity down deeper and made the walls more vertical and filled it up enough to work out the folds in the liner. I got into my Dry suit and hopped into the pond to work on it form the inside ( water was a bit cold mid sept). I looked at the water fall and went to clean it out when I found it infested with leeches. So I tore it apart and was working on that when the wife came home and surprised me with the camera. Anyways It rained heavy last night and today So I had to put an over flow in the skimmer and am still not happy with the water fall. Did get the front wall rebuilt and capped and some of the mess cleaned up. Water is ready any time to put the fish back in. Just have to get the time to put the slate back on and fill all the voids in gravel ( no weeds). Anyways here are some pics of the progress.
 

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