Our pond will get regular maintenance X 2, since it didn't get much this summer. I want to do the stone edge over. Budget and time management permitting, I would like to pour concrete mix under the liner where the edging stones are, the pond edge... but, you know. Probably wishful thinking. Also the plants need a lot of attention.

Considering it didn't get much attention, it was gratifying to see how well the double settling chamber worked. The pipe to the pump needs a ventura-type structure over it, but otherwise we can leave it as is.

:) Mary

PS Thanks, Sandy, for making me look to next year! We're still in chaos here after Thursday/Friday's ice storm. We ourselves only lost power for about 24 hours - just long enough to make me really worry about the indoor and outdoor fish. But the rest of town (and the state) is still a mess. So much destruction. *sigh*

Ah, winter, a good time to putter about digging a new pond, look through snapshots and wonder what to try next season...

Get dibbs in on the good stuff and put them through disinfection and isolation early

A pond is one of those features which can cope with benign neglect while other matters are more urgent.

The plants will cope with a bit of a drought, or freeze, you don't have to weed or trim it fanatically, the critters look after themselves come rain or shine

With a sensible ratio of plants and fish it can look after itself most of the time

Unless some nasty opportunist predator or ghastly infection is introduced from some iffy source

Hi
Have been pondering what to do with the 150 aquarium i keep in the shadehouse. It has developed a slow leak. Way too much work to reseal so was thinking of turning it into a terrarium. Problem with that is that's exposed to rainfall. Obviously I could put a lid on it but then it gets way too warm lol. have it all cleaned out and waiting for inspiration . I think i will convert it, maybe to a tropical bog or paludarium. But what if the leak continues to grow and how do i heat a dry container exposed to the weather.?? Also have to rethink the shadehouse as this aquarium and the lily pool were the heat source for it.
Right now I'm thinking lowland moist terrarium if I can come up with a way to keep it dry lol.
Certainly open to suggestions. Got any ideas ??? gary

Gary, how about putting a raised roof on it? It shouldn't be difficult to put a sheet of glass or plexiglas an inch or two above the top edge of the Aquarium. Sandy

Mebbe set a 6" deep tub of water with a small aquarium heater within the leaky aquarium, run some 1/2" capillary tuber filled with water around the aquarium floor with the pipe at one ends set in the water just over the heater, the other end on the furthest side of the heater to create a warm side and a cool side current... the warmth will circulate by convection from the warm to the cool areas

Bury the heat circulating pipes with sand, pebbles, rock, bark, topped with moss... mask the little pond to make it look natural

I moved my pond last spring and got discouraged trying to get the new location organized in a way I really liked, so the stream never got built. I recently bought a rock, yes, paid good money for a dumb rock, but it hopefully will make a good bubble out of a rock beginning for the stream or a very expensive dumb rock!!

So my plans for the coming spring are to get enthused about setting up my fish watching spot and building the stream. Right now the pond is under snow so I won't see it again until spring.
Anne

Sandy
Was thinking along that line but the tank is 18x73 so the necessary piece is very heavy,tends to collect debris and plexiglass discolors rather quickly. Have been using vinyl framed fiberglass screen but of course this lets water through. can easily gain 6 inches of water in a two inch rain. I'm thinking of an automatic siphon so the water can run into the garden. Wetter plants at the bottom .
sdavis have tried that idea before works fair until about 40 degrees. Below that the heat loss is too great. Three sides of the tank are insulated but the viewing area is still 12 square feet.lol. Even the full 1200 gallons couldn't keep up below 35. Have used insulation on the viewing side during temps below that but was unable to allow the heat to escape. Supplemented with a space heater. Another problem is that after a cold front passes it's full blazing sun so the tank quickly overheats. Or if you leave the insulation in place it blocks the light.
Thanks for the suggestions gary

Do you think a reptile heater would help in the colder weather? I think they come in different sizes. As for the raised top, nothing says it all must be in one piece or that the tank must support it. You might look up Wardian cases. We may have discussed those sometime in the past. Sandy

Anne, Where we live now there is not a native rock in sight. I am hoping for Xmas money to be able to afford some of the stone from one of the brick and stone companies here. We used to live in Wisconsin where the glaciers dropped rock everywhere you looked and we both grew up in the mountains so buying rock is not normal for us by any means. In my trips to the stone supplier I have fallen in love with a chunk of rock with a trace of turquoise in a quartz matrix, Red river rock, slate with red running through it and a dozen others. I'm going to cry when I have to go with the cheap stuff. Sandy

When I put my pond in last spring (and more of the summer than I had figured on LOL) I put a 1/4 whisky barrel on either side of the waterfall from the high to 'in ground' level. My project this coming spring will be to get rid of those barrels and go back to stone...just didn't 'fit' once it was going. We live in an area where there is a lot of smoothly tumbled glacial rock in the fields. A local farmer said sure when I stopped by to ask if I could pick ver his huge piles of stone. I got the pond shelves lined then thought I'd look over the 1 pile I didn't pick through. Boy oh Boy! There sat a piece of what I guess is white marble which must weigh 200 lb. I'll go get it in the spring and hope it'll be a hilight where one of the barrels currently sits.
I say its 'marble' and that's what it looks/feels like. Most of what I picked was varying shades of granite. Anyone have an idea what it would be if not marble?

I have seen some limestone that was very dense and resembled marble, at least on the outside. Another possibility would be quartz. Those glaciers really compressed what it didn't break up. You would have to break off a chunk to get past the surface to see exactly what it is. I think limestone and marble both react to the vinegar test but it might be useful to do the test to eliminate them. Sandy