Pond Upgrades

Yesterday saw me out in the back of the garden first thing in the morning. I had barely finished my first cup of tea when I was putting on boots and gloves to start work on my latest project.

The first thing I did was clear the pond of all the extra stones and whatnots. I also tied up the cordyline on the right with an old piece of tent guy line.

I also took a little time to clean out the medium in my filter because: A- I needed to move the filter. And: B- Damn but that water is BLACK! O.o

BTW. Don't forget that the crappy water from your filters makes for a really good general purpose fertiliser for your garden. Don't just throw it down the drain!

After moving the filter box I got rid of the stones that used to sit around it and cleared out the trash that was on the floor. I then did a quick check on the filter box that it would fit where I wanted to put it.
I then cleared out the mini-pond that I originally had, on the right, and moved the filter box, set it back up and got it running again so I didn't kill off any bacteria in my filters by having it dry out.

I then levelled off the soil and built up the bricks to be about the height I wanted. This took a LOT longer than I anticipated. Good job I got the filter going before I started doing that!

I then got the underlay and put that down and then got the liner and put that over the top. Took me ages to line it up and fit it in. The liner was thicker than I am used to and a royal pain to manipulate into the corners. In the end I wasn't actually sure I needed the underlay, the liner was that thick!... But it's down anyway and it won't hurt to have that extra layer of padding.

I spent a little time seeing where I could put my larger stones. I knew I wanted taller stones at the back and smaller ones at the front. I also wanted the moss covered rocks to the front because they help make the pond look... erm... Lived in?

It was at this point that the frog I posted about yesterday showed up. I had to stop everything to watch him. It was such a nice moment. I'm actually really surprised he came over because I was doing a lot of swearing and moving around. I didn't think frogs would be that brave!

Once I was mainly happy about the rock placement, not totally though, I moved the filter box again. It went into it's final position and I got the water going to check the flow.
I have to say that I am not totally happy because there is only about 6" of water in the back. I may lift the height of the outflow a little. I'm going to have a look at the local garden centre because they have a fair amount of pond plants and I'm not sure what height I really need for shallow dwelling plants.

I then built up the rocks on the right and then gave Gregor his seat of power back. This now hides the filter box but makes it so much easier for me to get to the box to clean it out. I also untied the Cordyline to see how it sits with the box being there. I think it really helps hide it!

And finally I had to tidy up the garden, that took a while. >.>
I also had to refill the pond. I had lost so much water when I cleaned out the filter and then taking water in filling the mini pond at the back. I attached a pipe to my water-butt and emptied it to fill the pond. I can't believe it took THAT MUCH WATER! O.O

Anyway. We are now all back in once piece.

Yes, there is still a fair bit of liner to be cut back. I'm not going to do that until it has all settled down and I know that there are no leaks or issues I need to deal with. I'd rather wait and have it look stupid for a bit than have to buy more liner because I cut it without checking.
As it is I think I have a leak somewhere because I have a wet patch in the soil but I can't work out where it's coming from. It may be that it's where I spilt some water previously... I don't know. We shall have to wait and see.

#Changes #Frogs #Gardening #Nature #Pond #Updates #Wildlife