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This is the east end of the jungle pond with a few plants identified.
The tomato and elephant ear are planted in the top of the 30 gallon bog filter
which is IN the pond. The gray colored wood to the right houses the electrical
connections and air pump. It actually looks like a short diving board.
This is the bog filter and elephant ear later in the season
This is one of the elephant ear leaves with a hand for comparison. The
plant was about 8 feet tall.
Fish attacking some tasty nuggets
Gunnera early in the season
This is where the thumbnails start
This is a picture of the small 600+ gallon pond taken from the
backyard fence.
All of our ponds have high berms around them so it's hard to
get a picture that shows water unless you are above the pond.
This pond has the 30 gallon bog filter which is filled with
3/4 inch pea gravel and has plants in the top. The filter is powered by an Oase
Aquarius 2000GPH pump. The inlet to the bog filter is on the bottom of the
shallow end of the pond. The pump is about 8 inches lower and two feet away so
ther is virtually no loss of flow. There is an uncoupler so the pump can be
disconnected from the filter and water can be drained into the yard. The pump
needs to be cleaned a couple times a year and the filter is drained at that
time.
The pond has three levels. About 6 to 8 inches. 18 inches and
a little over 3 feet.
There is a ditch/trough around the shallow end that is about 8
inches deep and 8 to 10 inches wide.
This is partially filled with sand and the marginals are
planted in the ditch. Contrasting plants are in and around the berm which was
first covered with sod that goes right into the water.
This is a view looking east. The green mass on the left is floating
plants. Parrots feather, watercress and pennywort. The fish spawn, hide and
graze under this mass. The water surface is pretty large but can't really be
seen unless you are right there.
This is a view taken farther to the right to show more of the
greenery. Irises and other stuff I forget the name of.
This
is a closeup of the bog filter. It's kind of like an island that has 2000GPH of
water rushing over the rim all the way around under the plants so the fish do a
lot of swimming around it.
Another
shot of the filter
In this one you can see the roots system of the ireses climbing out
of the ditch. The iris need to be cut back a couple times each season but in the
meantime the root systems provide a great place for water critters to grwo and
become food for the fish.
This is a shot of the pond from above with a glimpse of one of the
lily barrels in the background. But no hint of water.
A shot of the bog filter from a different angle and above. It takes
a lot of pictures just to show there is really some water.
A shot of the jungle pond from the rectangle pond.
Gunnera
Gunnera
View of the rectangular pond from small bog. The rectangular pond is
about 1600 gallons. It was an experiment in straight 90 degree vertical sides.
The hole was dug and a plywood box form built and slipped into the hole. The
pond is 6 feet by 9 feet and 3 1/2 feet deep. There are no shallows. It's
powered by a Laguna Flomax 2900 solids handling pump that delivers water to a 45
gallon barrel through a 6 inch pvc tube that sits in the center of the
barrel suspended 4 inches from the bottom by a pvc framework. The tube has inch
diameter holes drilled in it at four inch intervals down two sides of the tube.
The pump hose attaches to a nipple on the sealed cap of the tube. The tube is
wrapped with 15 feet on one inch thick bonded polyester filter media which was
compressed to fit snugly into the barrel. When the weather warms up tomatoes are
planted in the top of the barrel and they form a huge bush six feet across and
all over the ground.
Water leaves the barrel through a 4 inch diameter plastic flexible sewer
tubing which empties into a round 30 gallon container with a spillway that is
filled with water cress and later in the season elephant ear is added.
THis is a picture of the 30 gallon veggies filter/waterfall in
the rectangular pond delivering it's load to the fish.
Here is a view of the pond from the back porch. For some reason this
pond never collects any junk on the bottom. Except for the hundred or so river
rocks we have in there for the koi to push around. The water is always crystal
clear.
The floating plants and decorative grass (it gets green
later)
A
shot of edgingplants and the waterfall from nowhere.
More of the grass a glimpse of the small bog on the left of Tina Turners'
hair
A different shot of the pond
Bogie
a silver carp enjoying a splash from the falls.