Croft, when we first started our pond, it was with one of those aquascape micro pond kits. I remember DH had just finished digging the initial pond 8'x10' and said you know it's only going to be about 700 gals. Right then and there I decided to enlarge it. I wanted closed to 2000 gallons. So DH started digging again, and we ended up with 10'x15'. I used the mini skimmer that came with the kit. It connects to a 100 gal skippy via 2" pvc. I use 20" buffer pads in the skippy. DH and I redid the plumbing in January, made it all below pond level and put our sequence external pump directly behind the skippy. I was amazed at how that improved the flow of the water. When we hooked up the external pump, I took my pondmaster waterfall pump out and now have it in the bottom of the pond near the skimmer. It's connected to a pondmaster submersible uv light and then to the original microfalls that came with the pond kit. I'm only running it a few hours each day right now. I really wish I had put in a bottom drain, but maybe I'll be able to get a retro bottom drain this season.
I was telling DH that spawning season is not far away. I've got some fat sarassa comets that look that they're bursting at the seams. When I was sitting outside early tonight they were starting to chase each other all around the pond. It was really funny, one of the sarassas was nudging up to one of the koi and the koi was twice its size.
Christy, that catfish is the funniest thing when he's eating. He literally skims the surface gobbling up the food. He's like a hoover vacuum.
Kim, we will have had the cat 2 years in June or July. But he has grown more than any of the other fish by far.
