We made a vault for the waterfall out of concrete blocks and put the EPDM liner over it, then stacked up rocks to cover it. Well since the walls are vertical and we don't have access to flat rocks the rocks were a bit unstable. So AFTER the water, plants, and fish are in there I have the brilliant idea (
) to mortar the rocks so they will at least stick together. Now don't laugh....I am into many kinds of crafts so..............I figure it will work to use a cake decorating bag to squish the mortar between the rocks and won't have to move and restack all of them......well first try and the mortar will not come out the largest tip I have...okay so take that off and just use the end connector....wrong...still won't come out....okay take the connector off and just use the bag without one! Yippee it works, BUT hubby doesn't realize how to fold the end and one squish and there is mortar all over! Okay get that worked out and going to town "frosting" the rocks...ummm then there are apparently areas behind some of the rocks that didn't get all the way to the wall! More mortar in the water! About 3 hours of frosting later all done hey this doesn't look bad.........BUT it was messy and I got some on the rocks.......hmmmm didn't I read somewhere that let it set a bit and then wash it off with the hose??? Okay sounds good........WRONG! Pond is quickly turning cloudy gray! I scream at hubby to get the pump we use for draining and pump out the water where I'm standing as the muck hasn't gone all out into the pond and I figure we can just pump that part out..........WRONG! by the time he gets the pump the pond is a cloudy mucky mess! PANIC I'm gonna kill my fish! Get the strips to check the water and it's off the charts! Colors are not even the same as it shows on the chart! Didn't know which was top or bottom as they didn't match at ALL! Noooooooooo! Tracey's WAKINS! My new BABIES! By this time it's about 7 pm and we are pumping water as fast as the pump will go to try to get the water so we can catch and rescue the fish! (pond holds about 4000 gallons) And it's getting COLD out. Hubby decides we will be there all night with the 950 gal pump so takes the big 5000 gal/hr one out of the skimmer and rushes around trying to find fittings make it so that we can pump the water out with it! He finally gets close but not exact fit so he's in the water holding the thing together and I'm with the cord plugging and unplugging it when he can't hold it anymore. After a few miss-communications he is dripping wet and NOT a happy camper! The water finally gets below the plant shelf (where all the fish were hiding) so he gets the net....well net might be an over exaggeration....it's one of those little green aquarium nets! and off he goes trying to catch them! The fat Wakin, Chubby was pretty easy....and the snoopy red and white one..........but now the Shubunkins were a whole different story! Ohhh for a video! By this time it has gotten DARK! So here is hubby with flashlight chasing fish in murky water. We drain it a bit more and he is able to find and catch all but the last little shunbunkin and I felt sorry for him (hubby this time) and said just let it go. NO... he's now on a mission and he's gonna catch that fish if it takes all night! About 30 minutes of lunging and spotlighting and voila we have all seven fish! So in the house we come both of us cold and wet and hungry with a 5 gallon bucket of fish! New dilemma... now what are we gonna put them in? Trash can with new trash bag? Nooooo all trash cans are full! Largest bucket I have is the 5 gallon one and no way am I making them spend the night in that! Hubby suggests bathtub? but I'm afraid water would not hold in that.......Okay they will have to stay in the 15 gallon aquarium with the little goldfish! I changed the water and checked that the temp was the same as the gang was in and put them in....There is a filter and thank heavens I bought an aerator for it so I figure they should be okay, a bit cramped but enough air and better than the pond water! HA! they were happy campers and even ate! They are doing fine this morning and I am off to the farm store to buy a stock tank! And am ordering a net with a pole on it!
Okay now for the question! Since we had to drain the whole pond, I plan on plugging some holes and mortaring below the water line (will use as little as possible)
How long does the mortar have to dry/cure before I can put water back in and then how long till we can put the fish back in the water? I searched on here and found that someone had washed concrete with muratic acid to take the lime out??? I used just plain old mortar. PLEASE answer ASAP.
A very
new ponder
Peg
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I gave goldfish away last year as I decided to keep just the wakin and shubbies! :'(
) arrived today! 
them! My hubby and I sat out there and watched them for 2 hours! He said maybe we should get a life if our entertainment consists of watching the new fish! LOL There are their first photos. Now please note this is the first time I've ever taken photos of fish and these guys had just got out of the bag from a 2 day 2000 mile trip so please excuse the quality. LOL even our UPS man was excited and hung around to see them!
Thanks Peg 
