Author Topic: ~ Mom gets a new IMPROVED front pond ! (pics) (Read 3140 times)

spanishleprachaun · « **on:** January 22, 2009, 09:05:47 AM »

Mom finally was able to rope me down and commit to amending her front yard pond. My season slows when the weather down here in South Texas cools, so it was prime opportunity to assist mom in recreating a LARGER, DEEPER, more dramatic pond. Besides, 3 of my brothers would all be in for Christmas,....so.....umm..... yeah... FREE LABOR to assist ! hahaha

We began with emptying the pond, moving some of the fish to the back, and completely destroying all rock work and the area around the old pond.

The issue with the old pond was that it had no bottom drain, skimmer, proper filtration, was very shallow, and just not BIG enough for bigger fish. Mother had seen some of the ponds I do nowadays and just had to mimic them.

Make a long story longer, use of a pneumatic jackhammer to bust through layers of limestone rock worked like a charm to get down to 30inches. Pond is 14feet in length and 9 at it’s widest width. 50gall barrel filter with both spring flo bio ribbon and filter pads. 2500gal sub pump moves the water through the skimmer on this 1370gal pond.

My house is near a area where they were doing construction so I was able to scalp the 8000lbs of rock for free ! Took about 6 days to finish this pond. Would have been sooner, but the brothers were often hard to commit to hard labor as they are not at all accustomed to such things

Can’t wait for another month or so when she can start to plant her terrestrials and really get the water plants going ! I want that puppy lush and tropical !

Moving in some of the fish slow and easy. ( I’ll update with pics as that happens)

Enjoy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Original version :

The New pond :

As of Feb 21, 09 ----------------------- >

rdrboone · « **Reply #1 on:** January 22, 2009, 09:35:25 AM »

WOW! The new pond is gorgeous.

Ruth

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #2 on:** January 22, 2009, 09:52:00 AM »

Lucky Mom! I thought the first pond looked fabulous but the redo looks great! Can't wait too see the "lush" trop growth.

Three of your brothers??!! How many siblings do you have?

Thank goodness there were enough of you to carry all those stones....or were you the only strong one?!

spanishleprachaun · « **Reply #3 on:** January 22, 2009, 10:10:59 AM »

New inhabitants from waters past

EagleEye · « **Reply #4 on:** January 22, 2009, 10:58:33 AM »

Hey Carlos, I can understand your mom's thinking. If you can't get your son, (who just happens to build gorgeous ponds) to do it for you, there is a problem there.
Glad to see that you and your pond building brothers built it for her.

Another beautiful pond you have built

. I love it.

I'm sure, after seeing the plantings around the other pond that it will be beautiful.

Steve

ponderer · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2009, 01:38:26 PM »

Beautiful! I miss the big blue jar tho!

Mary

tammie · « **Reply #6 on:** January 22, 2009, 02:02:00 PM »

I was in San Antonio this past August. You know what it's HOT there! I love the holey rocks, and treasure the 2 I have from you!
Tammie

Kittyzee · « **Reply #7 on:** January 22, 2009, 04:36:07 PM »

Both are BEAUTIFUL! And those fish!! The water is so clear, and here it is just so frozen

Nice job Carlos!

joejoe123 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:09:36 PM »

Where does the bottom drain go to ???

Joey

reddad35 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 22, 2009, 06:05:50 PM »

I love the help for mommy. I hope it works as good as her prev., pond Big fish thre.

landey1230 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 22, 2009, 07:33:06 PM »

I have so much to learn from you. Well done (as always). I understand about brothers not accustomed to hard labor. It's like pulling teeth asking my brother to help with anything.

Julles · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2009, 05:51:30 AM »

Man, I wish I had a pond that size. It really looks great, Carlos. Show pics when the plants go in.

You are such a great son, to spend your Christmas holiday doing hard labor to build your mom a nice pond.

Bonnie · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:02:49 PM »

Looks great C, hope you are doing well!

marla · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2009, 03:53:44 PM »

Yep the first one looked so nice, but the new one WOW

, once the plants are in and full it will be the talk of the neighborhood. You said the fish went to the back....does she have a pond back there also? Fish look great, nice and healthy and my they will definately enjoy the new version of the pond, water looks fabulously clear.

Jerry · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2009, 10:17:00 PM »

The water is absolutely sparkling! Good job as usual.

debs · « **Reply #15 on:** January 25, 2009, 02:11:08 PM »

A Stunning Pond ... with Stunning fish too .

spanishleprachaun · « **Reply #16 on:** January 25, 2009, 08:36:04 PM »

Thanks all ! Still the bare bones with it being winter and all. Another month or two and you bet mom will be hitting up all the local nurseries to LUSH up the terrestrial planting areas I created on both sides of the waterfall.

I'll be in charge of getting all the aquatic plants in. With all my pond clients soon to be calling on my services to clean out ponds for spring, I'll be able to get all kinds of cuttings and full plants to SOFTEN the hardscape along the edges with marginals, and of coarse lillies in the main body of water.

JOE JOE --- the retro bottom drain actually feeds into 2 55gallon drums behind the fence. Gravity feed , daisy chained drums. One has filter pads, and the other BIO RIBBON. The BIO RIBBON in the 2nd where it get's less muck and so the bio colonies can really flurish. The water then flows out of the 2nd barrel and back into the pond TOP WATER to create a even better push current to the skimmer. The skmmer pump feeds the a 55gal drum inside the waterfall with both BIO RIBBON and 2 pads. I had to build the waterfall 36inches high for my drops, but this spring with the terrestrial plants and bushes going in, it won't seem like such a eruption of rock.

TAMMIE --- hey there friend from Hawaii ! Glad those limestone HONEYCOMB rocks are doing grand in your rock garden. Can find those all over down here. I still extend my thanks for the trade of the GREEN SMOKE LILLY ! That thing was awesome ! I lost it last season though :'( :'( :'( ( before it perished, i took a pic --- it's the lilly pic in the collage on the front page of my website )

MARLA --- Yes,... build my mom her barrel waterfeature on the back porch for her sarassas, goldies, and shubunkins. Also,... her 800gallon more formal plant/koi holding pond in the back on the side of the house.

Just received a call from my client whom I build the pond for INSIDE of the SWIMMING POOL. She's doing a cull come March and has 11 HUGE koi for me !!! WOOO HOO ! Cull some of moms smaller guys and adopt in some bigguns ! ( glad I have some decent filtration on this pond )

Jerry · « **Reply #17 on:** January 25, 2009, 11:47:21 PM »

New members! Not only is Carlos a fine pond builder, but as you see he makes great posts.
by the way, his mom is hotter than his hot girl friends! MHO

You might enjoy looking up his past posts.

Joyce · « **Reply #18 on:** January 26, 2009, 09:52:39 AM »

Yeah, and some day he's gonna come to NY to 'LUSH up' my pond.

Jerry · « **Reply #19 on:** January 26, 2009, 11:54:28 AM »

yep Joyce he came close to visiting here, but had to cancel. next time!
I am toying with a quckee 3 day trip to San Antonio. There is a lot to see in the area. Remember Carlo's past posts?

SueSTx · « **Reply #20 on:** January 26, 2009, 07:35:46 PM »

BUT...I miss the Blue Urn also...

Julles · « **Reply #21 on:** January 27, 2009, 07:25:22 AM »

Perhaps Carlos has some hot male pals he could post pics of, for the viewing pleasure of us female AP members.

Jerry · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2009, 11:43:37 AM »

julles, clothed?

how is this??

Julles · « **Reply #23 on:** January 27, 2009, 01:16:25 PM »

Errr... no. That's not what I had in mind.

Jerry, is that you in one of your shoots?

Jerry · « **Reply #24 on:** January 27, 2009, 10:50:23 PM »

It's Wm Shatner and James Spader, not me! yes on a shoot.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 30, 2009, 09:26:48 AM »

I LOVE Boston Legal but sadly neither James Spader nor William Shatner fall into the category of "hot" for me. Neither one has aged with the grace of Robert Redford or Paul Newman. I'm so sorry they cancelled the show, it was hilarious and they deserved every Emmy.

Young Captain Kirk was hot though. First man I ever had a crush on and he still floats my boat whenever I watch The Original Series.

Carlos, I loved the old pond but the new one is going to be amazing when it is planted. Hope you did save the blue urn, it was gorgeous. Love those holey rocks!

spanishleprachaun · « **Reply #26 on:** February 21, 2009, 02:47:31 PM »

As of Feb 21, 09 ----------------------- >

marla · « **Reply #27 on:** February 21, 2009, 03:15:44 PM »

boy the Geraniums sure add a splash of color.....all I'm seeing today is white 7" of fresh snow.

Julles · « **Reply #28 on:** February 21, 2009, 03:30:24 PM »

Oh my, that is lovely!