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Re: Fish Pond
In a message dated 6/20/99 10:30:40 AM, snjstevens at juno_com writes:
<< was wondering if anyone had some
advise on some fish ponds. I got a 125 gal fish pond for fathers day and
I'm not sure what to do to set up >>
I have had fish ponds since 1945. (yes, I am that old) and my primary target
is to keep and display water lilies although I do keep some gold fish and
some killies (in the summer) in the polls to control the mosquitoes and grow
the killies. For my purposes (won't work for Koi), this is what I do:
The pond should be between 14 inches and 24 inches deep for the water lilies.
You may need deeper in Michigan to winter over, but they won't bloom as much
in deeper water. The lilies acan be planted in the bottom if about a six
inch layer of soil topped with aquarium gravel is put in. However, the
lillies do too well under those conditions and take over the pool so you
can't see any water. I now prefer to plant the lilies in a plastic utility
tub that hold about 5 gallons. Use soil and top with gravel to p[revent
stirring up by the goldfish. I use no aeration, circulation or filtration,
again this is what I prefer and so do the lilies. I have the same 3 original
varieties I got in 1945 plus an additional hardy and one tropical variety. I
have a 125 gallon patio pond that I have only two smaller lilies in - one
hardy (Marliac white) and one small blue tropical (Dauben). One would be
sufficient for that size pool. For pictures see pictures at
http://members.xoom.com/pikeminnow/nanfa/articles/leespond/leespond.htm
I winter the pools as follows: Those that are in the ground are
covered with a tent of coarse netting to keep leaves from blowing in and
depriving the fish of oxygen. The patio pool I drain for the winter and bring
in the tropical lily to a basement same size pool. It actually blooms in the
winter under a fluorescent shoplight.