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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

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A Christmas pond update

Posted by Joyce Clark on December 16, 2017
Posted in BlogsCity of GlendaleKoi pond  | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

So many of you who read my blog faithfully have asked for an update on my Koi pond and so, here it is. The pond is now 6 years old. In the beginning as a newbie, there were certainly a series of mistakes made.

When I saw my first algae in the pond I freaked out and added chemicals by the truck load. I created a toxic waste dump and all of the fish died. Disgustedly I vowed no more fish, drained the pond completely and let the pond rebalance itself for a year.

Feeling confident, I reintroduced Koi into the pond and they thrived. They are now quite big, sassy and very healthy. We now have about 30 Koi and as they continue to grow and thrive I imagine I will have to thin out the population. That is no mean feat as we know each fish. Some are very curious and brave while others are timid and shy. Even though they eat the same fare, some have certainly grown more quickly than others. The big guys and gals are the algae grazers. You can see them grazing among the rocks all the time.

Gone are all chemicals. Realizing that the original filter system was inadequate to deal with algae growth we researched and ultimately built an external, 4 barrel filter system. The pond water recirculates through the barrels each filled with different kinds of filter media. For example, one barrel has carbon pellets, another has fluffy polyester batting and yet another has sponges and the last has filter pads. The water remains crystal clear and when some algae does emerge during the hottest part of the year the easiest solution is simply to take it out by hand. There is never so much that the task is overwhelming.

We usually clean the external system once a year and will be doing that this coming January or February. It’s an all day job as the barrels must be drained and cleaned and new filter media placed into each barrel.

Over the years we have learned a great deal about plants in and around the pond. The lilies die back during the winter but come back with a vengeance in the spring. I would love to have some lotus. I have tried several times and in each instance I failed and they died. 

I have learned that a pond plant called ‘Snowflake’ replicates itself like crazy. Every time I think I have removed all of it I discover another new crop. The same can be said for some plants surrounding the pond. Yerba Manza, Taros and Ruella grow and spread prodigiously. I’ve managed to get rid of the Yerba Manza completely. There is still one clump of Taro that will be removed this spring and all of the Ruella ‘babies’ will be removed as well.

If I had it to do all over again, would I have installed the pond? Yes, most definitely. There is something special about hearing the waterfalls splash downward. I have discovered when the pumps have been turned off for an electrical outage, the absolute silence is disconcerting. We watch the fish whenever we have time (as a councilmember my time is now very constrained) and we still take joy in watching them. I read somewhere, sometime, that watching fish in an aquarium or pond lowers one’s blood pressure. I think it’s probably true as there is a calming effect in just sitting and watching, really watching the fish. Is there maintenance work? Yes but nothing so intense that it consumes all of your time after the pond and plantings have become established.

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you enjoy the photos I have included in this blog.

© Joyce Clark, 2017                 

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This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

I thought I would do a quick update of the pond now that it is July of 2014 and we are in the throes of monsoon season. The shade cover has been up since May and is doing its job. It has stretched and when it is taken down this year there will be work to do to tighten it up.

fish in pond

Fish waiting to be fed

The fish are all doing well despite a recent heron scare. I feed them once a day around 3 PM. For several months they have taken to massing together and following me as I walk along the pond’s edge until I feed them.

Water lettuce and lilies

Water lettuce amongst the lily pads

What has really amazed me is the plant growth both in and out of the water. On our last trip to California I purchased a few, maybe half a dozen, water lettuce plants. I threw them in the pond and they took off. The lettuce has proliferated so much that the other day, I scooped about half of the plants out and threw them away. It was getting to be too much and the lettuce was crowding the water lilies and snowflake plants out. I suspect that I will be periodically scooping some out.

Taro explosion

Taro explosion

When the pond was first started, about 3 years ago, a friend gave me two small Taro plants. Well, it’s taken them awhile but this year they have exploded with growth and look magnificent.

Lotus from seed

Lotus from sees

I received some lotus seeds and decided to try to grow some. After three tries with seeds I have finally succeeded. With the first two sets of seeds, they would “hatch,” grow leaves and roots but everytime I put them in the pond it was just a matter of time before they died.  I now know the secret. Start your seeds in the hottest part of your summer. Wait until you have at least four leaves and a healthy set of roots before you pot them and place in the pond. The lotus love hot weather and apparently the hotter the better.

Mountain Laurel

Mountain Laurel

Last summer we planted 3 Mountain Laurel. It took them awhile to take hold but they have finally done so. Right now they look like lanky, ungainly bushes. When they get a bit taller they will be pruned to one major cane that will eventually become a tree.

IMG_5758

Koi pond in July, 2014

We love our Koi pond! We have had countless hours of joy watching Koi antics and watching the pond vegetation mature and look like it belongs there. Was it worth the investment? You bet!

© Joyce Clark, 2014

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Ze pond

Posted by Joyce Clark on April 9, 2013
Posted in fish pondKoi pond  | Tagged With: , , , | 4 Comments

It’s the beginning of April, 2013, and spring has definitely arrived. All of the plants surrounding the pond are starting to bloom and in a few days there will be more riotous color than there is now.

IMG_4305 IMG_4306 IMG_4307 IMG_4310 IMG_4312The pond seems to be in “balance” right now and one can see the pond shelf that borders the perimeter of the pond underwater. An abundance of fish is there for our viewing pleasure as well. My husband counts 18 fish. I, not being as diligent, can count maybe 14 fish. No matter, at this time, they are all healthy, voracious eatersfish and have just started spawning. This morning we observed a pod of them chasing a white Koi that my husband had named “Big Al.” I suppose the more appropriate name, given the activity we saw, would be “Big Alice.” I doubt that we will suddenly be overrun with baby fish. The eggs will be eaten almost as soon as they are spotted as we are not set up to breed baby fish.

Other creatures are in mating mode as well – the birds, the butterflies and the dragon flies. We are not happy about the return of our dragon flies. For you see, they lay their eggs which hatch into nymphs. These nymphs are voracious little suckers and last year, they happily attached themselves to the smallest of our fish and killed them. These nymphs are about an inch long and dark in color. We find some, but not all, in the filter net of our pond.

We have not had to worry about predators like raccoons but our greatest foe is a resident heron. The folks in our area all live on one acre, horse properties. A heron has nested on a property several houses away from ours. He often comes over to visit by sitting on our roof which is a wonderful perch for him as he can see everything in the pond.  We’ve installed a heron decoy and move it from time to time as instructed. Does it work? We don’t know yet. If we see fish carcasses lining the pond perimeter we’ll know that the decoy didn’t work.

pondWith our cool, 60 degree nights and mornings in the 70’s, there is nothing better than sitting on our back patio, listening to the sounds of our waterfalls, viewing all of the vibrant color and watching our fish madly darting after one another. This is undoubtedly the best time of year not just for humans but for the fish as well.

 

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A naked pond…now what?

Posted by Joyce Clark on March 16, 2013
Posted in BlogsKoi pond  | Tagged With: , , | No Comments yet, please leave one

Pond 2011

Pond 2011

Yippee! It’s March of 2011 and we have a pond in the ground. There are no fish and no plants. From all the research done, we knew that we needed to let the water sit or “balance” for a month before we put any fish in. So, I focused on plants in and around the pond. Unless you hire a landscape contractor, which we did not, you are not going to have instant landscaping. It’s been two years and we’re still working on it.

Everything that I read said for a good fish environment, there should be about 50% of the water surface covered in plant material, read, water lilies. The vegetation provides shade on scorching Arizona summer days, keeps the water temperature a little lower and also help to oxygenate the water. It also provides hiding places for the fish. Why would they need hiding places? More on that… later.

Taro

Taro

Lilly bloom

First Lilly, Attraction

 

Yerba Mansa newly planted

Yerba Mansa newly planted

Yerba Mansa 2

Yerba Mansa now

Pickerel Wart 3

Pickerel Wart

 

 

 

 

 

Mosaic plant

Mosaic plant

In the pond, I used Lilies, Yerba Mansa, Pickerel Wart, and Taro. I tried a wonderful water plant called “Mosaic” but it is very delicate does not seem to survive our few Arizona frost nights.

In 2012 I put some grass in the pond because I wanted to create some visual height. Big mistake. I would never put grass in the pond again. It proliferates just like weeds. Soon, it was everywhere! I spent part of this past winter season removing it. Some shoots may still come up but I will pull them as soon as they do.

If you know of anyone with a pond you can always try asking if they have extra plant material to share. I do have such a friend who supplied me with Lilies, Yerba Mansa and Taro. She (is a Master Gardener…good friend to have!) also advised me on the kinds of plants that would require low maintenance and would grow and live for years. My plant palette around the pond includes: Gazania, Rosemary, Stasis, Verbena, Ruellia, Lantana, Daisies, Dwarf Palms and various Aloe and lately some grasses. All of the plants were in one gallon containers or smaller. The only large plant I splurged on was the Aloe we put in the island between the stream and the pond. I even put three cacti in the pond island. Who could kill a cactus? I did. We’re now down to two of them.

Rosemary  newly planted

Rosemary newly planted

Rosemary and Ice Plant

Rosemary and Ice Plant now

 

Ruella 2

Ruellia after frost

Stasis

Stasis

Verbena

Verbena

 

 

 

 

 

In the past two years I have had some land plants thrive and others like the daisies…well, they are in plant heaven.  Ground plants that have done well for me have been the Rosemary, Verbena, Ruellia, Stasis and Lantana. The Ruellia and Lantana seem to suffer damage from frost, even when covered but they regrow with gusto. The Stasis has reseeded itself and seems to like nooks and crannies. The Rosemary just grows and grows. The Verbena makes an excellent ground cover and also is taking off. The Gazania has suffered from frost as well but is making a comeback. Where it frosted it died.

Island Aloe newly planted

Island Aloe newly planted

Giant aloe

Aloe now in island   and Gazania

Lantana after frost

Lantana after frost

First plants in the ground

First plants in the ground

Aloe in bloom

Another Aloe in bloom now

 

 

 

 

 

Pond July 2011

Overhead shot of pond July 2011

 

All of the pond plants have done well. The Pickerel Wart and Taro, even in the pond can suffer frost damage but they will come back. The Yerba Mansa is very hardy, suffers little frost damage and does very well.

Next time, I’ll share my fish experiences…

 

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