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Child Item

500L Preformed Pond Successfully Buried, What Now?

Thargor

After a few days of horrific digging I finally got a 500L OASE pond in the ground, one of these.

My question is what do I do now? Layer it with gravel? Sand? Marine compost?

Also is it too late in the year to start buying aquatic plants like water lilies etc?

I already have little stone staircases set up in case any of my hedgehogs fall in btw, will take pics once Ive tidied up a bit…

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10-10-20

Decaying matter such as leaves. Take out the nutrient by removing the brown (dead stuff) and green (algae).

Also make sure that no runoff rain is getting in as that will drag in unwanted nutrient from the soil.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123418571#Comment_123418571

Im just going to leave it for the first year to see if it stabilises by itself, the plants are alive so Im happy, it does feel like the algae levels are starting to reduce slightly.

I shined a torch in it after dark last night and the water beetle population or whatever they are seems to have doubled or trebled, would they be eating the algae do you think?

Also any clue what species those water beetles might be? About 5-10mm long darting around underwater, hard to get a pic…

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123422048#Comment_123422048

Beetles

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123422048#Comment_123422048

It might be the Great Diving Beetle, otherwise I don't have a clue on the species, but you have 244 to pick from! They are carnivores so I suppose they are consuming various larvae and such.

https://www.ipcc.ie/march-wildlife-watch-great-diving-beetle/

You might find some identification possibilities in this listing with maps:

https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/RL1.pdf

Thargor

Lily update, a 5th leaf has appeared 😎

Pond doesnt seem to be losing any water in the heat, the birds are absolutely loving it, always a few splashing around.

I need to think of a way to make it more accessible for them though. There isnt really anywhere for them to perch and drink apart from that one big stick.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123422048#Comment_123422048

Was it these lads?

Thargor

Leaf number 6 on the lily has appeared, it went from a little tendril to the biggest one yet in 48 hours (closest to the camera), starting to go a bit green aswell:

This corner turned into a proper little wilderness area on its own after all my failed attempts at wildflower growing, burying the grass under a layer of soil seems to be the way to go, might try that in Autumn over a larger area:

Water levels definitely dropping now though and I'm scooping out algae every day but the water is still green, need some rain quick, need to rig up a tarp or something for when the weather does turn.

magicbastarder

Are you removing that algae as it appears? If you say the pond is not losing water in the heat, is be suspicious there's runoff from somewhere else running into it. And that could explain the algae.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123457017#Comment_123457017

Yeah Im scraping about a liter of the green stuff out every other day, no the water level is definitely dropping now. Tbh there is a big clear space opening up in the middle of the pond now so maybe its finding a balance, its less than a year old and the plants are growing so Ill just wait and see.

Does anything besides tadpoles eat algae that I might expect to show up?

phelixoflaherty

Smoothie party?

Thargor

7 Lily pads!

Only lost about an inch of water in the recent heatwave and the wildflower patch is starting to get interesting:

Thargor

1 year update!

9 lily pads now:

And they're getting big, you couldnt even see them in this wide angle shot earlier in the thread but now they're starting to dominate, the plant is only a year old and I didnt bother with an aquatic basket or marine compost, just tipped it out of the pot it came in and shoved it down into the gravel:

The ring of bare dirt around the outside of the pond was annoying me so grabbed a few packs of red and white clover seeds in Woodies and shook them around then sprinkled compost on top to hide them from the birds, a week of rain later, should be nice when it bushes up a bit:

2 weeks ago I added Veronica Beccabunga to the edge which is supposed to be good for soaking up excess nutrients and it spreads to hide the edges better and forms mats that pollinators like to use for basking and shelter. Also added Hippuris vulgaris underwater which will hopefully grow into tall spikes for dragonfly to perch on, that is shooting up towards the surface already, planted 3 spikes of it and now there are 6 gaining about half a cm a day.

I dropped another Nymphaea Alba lily over on the far left aswell as a lot of insects are using the pads to land on plus more coverage might keep the algae down, the algae levels have definitely dropped but the water is still pea soup, Id like to be able to see the bottom to see whats going on down there, lots of diving beetles shooting around so they must be hunting something.

HazeDoll

That looks great.

Have you added some of the muck from the bottom of a healthy lake? When we did that it kept the water very clear with no further interference.

I don't know you but it amuses me to see how much satisfaction you are getting from a job well done. Wouldn't it be brilliant if everybody made an effort to turn their own patch into a haven for biodiversity and for themselves?

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123506281#Comment_123506281

Thats an interesting idea but Im terrified of duckweed getting in and most places around Limerick are infested. I do be up in the Burren hiking a lot so I suppose I could grab some there, might leave it for the rest of this year now and see what comes naturally before I give it a helping hand…

Sad what happened to Joel Ashton, it was his videos that kicked off this whole project for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LevPvXf25Y

looksee

I also took a lot of inspiration from Joel Ashton, it was mostly his videos that guided me in making my pond. I don't agree with him on everything though. While the garden in the video is lovely, that size of garden is not suited to the number and type of trees he planted. I would also be concerned about an easily accessible pond in an area where small children are likely to be playing.

I don't think this 'wild style' garden is all that suitable for a suburban front garden, but while others may mutter about it, they do not have a right to meddle with it. The trees Ashton put beside the picket fence are not suited to that size of a garden. Cherry, rowan, hornbeam, plum, birch, hazel, all trees that need space to grow, not squashed in beside a fence in a small front garden. Any of them will fairly quickly make big trees that will dominate both gardens. A 'woodland border' in a garden that size is not at all appropriate, but that does not mean that the neighbour can kill or damage it.

Its interesting that Ashton then shows himself in a house with a large area of 'sterile lawn' and clipped down hedges, much more suited to the large trees and wild effect that he has left his previous neighbours with.

Thargor

The plants are flying it and the birds and pollinators look happy but the water is beyond murky and full of algae, I have a crazy powerful Alliexpress torch that I have to use on a tight beam at night just to see how the Hippuris vulgaris and others are doing below the surface, also the diving beetles seem to be the only aquatic life in there, should I just bite the bullet and get a bucket of muck and water from a healthy wetland and add it? Or give it another year and see if it improves? If the water was clear so you could look down and see what was happening it would be such an improvement.

looksee

Mine is green but no algae - not been there long enough! Apparently the green stage is an inevitable part of the pond creating its ecosystem. Maybe give it a bit more time, provided there are enough oxygenating plants.

HazeDoll

I would add the mud. When we did this I waded out to about waist depth in a lake and scooped up the sludgy muck from the lake floor. I filled four or five buckets with it, but our pond was quite big.

The reason that we did this was because of an accidental experiment I had done the previous year. I had uprooted some wild waterlilies from the lake and transported them home in a trug with a few inches of muck at the bottom. The lilies were planted and the trug of mud was left beside a shed to be disposed of and… forgotten. When I eventually needed the trug for something I was surprised to find how clean and fresh the water was. Other receptacles that had been left out that had filled with rain were manky and smelled a bit silagey but this one was crystal clear.

10-10-20

If you are going to add a sludge booster take it from a local wild pond and not from The Burren like you were suggesting. The Burren is unique in its ecosystem and most of the water likely has a high pH, therefore the flora and fauna will have developed in that environment and won't thrive in a standard garden pond.

Thargor

11 pads on the lily now, no sign of the other one I put down but that happened last year aswell. The Hippuris vulgaris is absolutely flying it underwater, it came in a tiny pot with 3-4 little seedlings now theres a huge clump of them underwater about to break the surface, its grown about 50cm high in a month after planting on the bottom, too murky to get a pic yet.

Got this big stump and a few blocks of wood from the Uisce Eireann guys doing some works on the road. Im going to add piles of stones and rotting wood and a few ferns and other stuff around the area now to try and improve the habitat, the lawn has absolutely exploded with clover this year as per my other thread so the wildlife area project is coming along slowly but surely.

LeoD

Limerick based and I had a large wildlife pond created a couple of months ago - aquatic soil, gravel and stones from a quarry in O'Briensbridge/Montpellier were used for it - I guess it was this place: https://dereensandandgravel.com/

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123557071#Comment_123557071

Any pics?

LeoD

Planting will take a while to fill out so still looking like a hole with water in it. Saw a dragonfly around it yesterday for the first time though and he was there again just now when I took this photo - need to install a perch closer to the water for them.

LeoD

A few more pics:

This side is the shallow end with a stone 'beach'.

This is from the other side:

It's no more than 1m deep at its deepest point. There are 3 different water lilies planted on 3 raised underwater mounds - you can see one in the photo above. I think they felt it would help the plants get started easier if they weren't so far below the surface. This end also has the shelf for the marginals. I love it so far and looking forward to seeing how it develops over the coming years.

A few construction photos:

Underlay going in:

Bed taking shape:

Rain over the June weekend filled in this much - you can see the mounds that the lilies were planted on:

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123559871#Comment_123559871

Oh wow thats going to be amazing, and the water is so clear! Please keep us updated, mine is in Limerick aswell so glad to hear about the dragonflies.

LeoD

Yeah I'm really curious to see what it'll be like in 2 years! But for now it's interesting how the local wildlife are using it - crows love giving themselves a good wash in it and swallows would fly down and dip their bellies off the surface as they past - I guess this was part of their house building process.

Thargor

14 leaves on the water lily now and 2 new leaves pushing up from the new one, algae still out of control though even though all the oxygenating plants are doing great.

I started adding a little pebble beach, rock pile and log pile to see if I can encourage frogs and other creatures to take up residence. No sign of any butterflies or dragonflies yet.

Thargor

The new lily is putting out some monster size pads now, the biggest is 10cm across, I thought the Brooklime had died but I see 7 new shoots and one of them is flowering. Brooklime is supposed to be a great absorber of excess nutrients so hopefully with that and the Hornwort and a few others will start to see some algae reduction soon.

Still no sign of any frogs or dragonflies. The water is absolutely heaving with nymphs and larvae though so Im hoping for an increase in biodiversity soon especially something that might start eating the algae.

https://i.imgur.com/DdNe3fA_d.jpeg?maxwidth=520&shape=thumb&fidelity=high

https://i.imgur.com/0dpdoDB_d.jpeg?maxwidth=520&shape=thumb&fidelity=high

magicbastarder

i know i keep saying this - but i suspect you've nutrients getting into the pond; you shouldn't still be seeing that much algae getting in long after the pond has settled, if you've been pulling it out.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657330#Comment_123657330

Theres no way that theres any nutrients getting in apart from the pollen and seeds and the odd leaf that I skim off the top with a net, the level of algae is fairly stable its just too high, coating every surface underwater and clinging to all the plants. Unless the birds are doing their business in the water too much, theres always a few splashing around on the edges.

Im hoping it will all die off this Winter and Ill remove all the dead vegetation then hopefully Ill have a proper ecosystem going next Spring, all the plants are in place now and algae levels are down 50% from this time last year when it was just a solid block of green.

If it starts to get swamped again next year Im going to try adding a bucket of mud and water from a nearby lake to see if that will kickstart things.