Ponds

[John S. Rabi]

quote:

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Originally posted by KathyH
No John, you cannot eat them! Down John!

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Common Kathy, it's just carp![][][]

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
(This is what I think of the Kona Board of Realtors http://KonaBoardOfRealtors.info)

[missydog1]

If you eat my carp, you will get serious crap! [:p] [:p] [:p]
No amount of emoticons will excuse you, so be forewarned!

I'm happy to say that Cat is going to take my koi and put them up at the posh Kapoho Pond Hotel & Spa. []

[Peter Epperson]

My experience is that if you have any fish at all you won't have mosquitoes.

As far as pond construction goes...If you go liner or concrete you need to plan what type of pond you want. Is it going to be filtered or biologically balanced to eliminate the need for filtration? Almost everyone goes with pumps and filters and they discover soon just how much maintenance a pond can be. Skimmers and filters get clogged, uv lights go out, pumps are generally very reliable but pipes can get jammed up with goo.

A naturally balanced pond on the other hand is something entirely different. The whole trick is to cover most of the pond surface with big leafy plants that block the sunlight from hitting the water where the algae grows. Covering at least 60% of the pond surface is the rule of thumb. You will still have some maintenance. Water plants grow fast and must be thinned out periodically. You can't have more than a couple of koi in this type of pond because they'll tear up the plants when they're feeling romantic. Other fish are fine. The water will be crystal clear once the little biosystem is established.

I've helped many people build their own ponds. I'm happy to answer any questions here or at at 968-6059

[Kapohocat]

hey Pete Thanks for the K-11 info on our concrete "drinking" pond!

You are a wealth of info and helpful to everyone in these tough times!

[grsjax]

Thanks to everyone for the information. Still thinking about what I want to do. Thinking of a fairly large pond, 8000sf or so and about 3 feet deep. Want to put catfish and tilapia in and use an agroponic (sp?) system to clean the water. Lots of water plants too.

No matter how thin you slice it, its still balony.

[durian]

i watched a video yesterday on youtube. search "puna pond" and you can see a slide show of a very well done pond through pahoehoe. looks like it would cost a lot of money. Hole was ripped and excavated with bulldozer, cider was spread with a skid steer, that was compacted with gas powered compactor, plastic was spread over compacted cinder (can someone tell me why) and then the concrete was done with rebar and ready mix like normal. Top of pond could have been done better to hide the fact that it is made of concrete.

[Peter Epperson]

We built that pond in Hawaiian Acres. The plastic is there to keep the reinforcing steel clean and to slow down the drying out of the concrete as it cures.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by grsjax...Want to put catfish and tilapia in and use an agroponic (sp?) system to clean the water. Lots of water plants too.

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When you get ready, please please email me for talapia - our pond is overflowing with them.

[DTisme]

We have a good-sized pond full of lots of koi, swordtails and mosquito fish, and everyone gets along fine. We keep it 70% covered with hyacinths, which are in bloom right now and are lovely. When we pull these out (easy with a carefully-manipulated rake; read: don't touch the liner), we put them at the base of trees, etc., to feed the plants. I would suggest you keep some areas of the pond not too deep -- we got some waterlilies to add to the mix, and the pond is too steep and too deep for them - no place to put the pot. We managed to save one from doom by moving it to the shallow "stream" that feeds the pond (water is pumped from the pond underground back up to the top of the stream and mini waterfall) and the lily has gone NUTS there.

Peter, any advice on keeping what algae we DO get down? It's the stringy type and right now it seems to be on the rise. I tell my husband to just let the hyacinths cover the whole pond, but he says the koi want some light. Who's right?

[Peter Epperson]

DTisme, my friend calls that stringy algae elephant snot. It's very difficult to control. Some fish will eat it. Tilapia do but they'll fill up on fish food first if given a choice. I agree with you. Let the hyacinths cover the pond surface for 6 or 8 weeks. It will probably be gone by then. The koi probably won't mind at all but you might want to talk with someone in the pond society first.