Biggish pond..

I suppose there are less nutients here than I estimated. This pond is way more stable than the front pond. Maybe it really does have 250 gallons or so of water.
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Biggish pond update

Growbed 2
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Biggish pond update..

Growbed one..
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Nearly five weeks..

No water. Tomatoes are still going wild. I have a huge bunch on the vines.
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Front pond update

I don't think the less nutients are going to make much difference to this celery plant. They don't take many anyway.
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Front pond update

The upside of less nutrients.. My first strawberry from this growbed.
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Front pond update

The lettuce seedlings should be done growing by the time this pond is ready for more fish.
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Front pond update..

Now running a fishless cycle due to the ick infection.
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Front pond..

Keeping a close eye on the new fish. Water is changed and salted, but I doubt the ick critters are dead. I hope to keep the new fish healthy enough to NOT get infected to begin with. So far, all fins are up.
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Sigh...

Treating the fish separately from the front pond. Don't they look awful?
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Sigh..

Water changes alone are not fixing the ick problem. Beginning salt treatments..
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New growbeds!!!

Front pond area-- made from mixing trays. Two foot by three foot and a little over half a foot deep. Planted some lettuce, so we'll see how it does.
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Biggish pond update

These are roughly twice a big as they were last week as well.
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Biggish pond..

The goldies here are ick free. Both cichilds are good, as far as I gcan tell, but they do occasionally attack and kill a goldie. Found 3 pretty bruised up dead ones this week. Guppies still have their puppies.
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Biggish pond

The afore mentioned algae.. I really don't mind it so mush here.
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Parsley plant from last week.
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Biggish pond update

New cover due to algae growth. Algae! = awesome
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Front pond update..

The growbed expansion area. More to come as I work on this.
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Front pond update..

Work in progress. My goldfish have ick right now, so I'm having to do daily water changes. Here's a little rearrangments.
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Eureka!!

Duckweed!---courtesy of UC Riverside's botanical gardens.
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It's a race..

To see who can choke out who first.. Strawberries vs squash!
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New growth..

That was quick.
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Experiment 1 update

Eh. It's good for keeping track of the water level. Poor plant. I hope it recovers.
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Biggish pond water

Omg! I actually caught the texan cichlid in this shot!! I was aim fro the guppies and goldies. Water is super clear compared to the previous week.
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Biggish pond update

Overview..
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'Mater bed..

And it's not complaining about the lack of liquid at all.
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Tomato bed..

Now on three weeeeeks without a drop of water.
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Front pond update

And as per usual, the overall view. Still rather nice, isn't it?
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Front pond update

I'm debating whether or not to pinch the flowers off since they're blooming this soon after the transplant. At any rate, obviously, that one with the flower definitely is a squash.
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Front pond update

I figured it time to document these in the middle "pond": the sitting pots (Even though the ivy is actually in a basket). They are done the same way. Bottom inch layer of each is a clay heavy soil-- easy to find here since it is the native soil. The rest lava rock. Each plant was transplanted w/o removing the soil mixture that they originally grew in. Sounds weird, but as you can see, it works.

I blame parkview nursery.
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Biggish pond..

Just managed to get back here in time to stop another water fiasco from happening. Yep, another hose slippage.

No harm, no foul. Gave me the chance to add more plants.
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The quest for duckweed..

Beginning a search for duckweed. Now, I'm pretty sure that I could swipe a sample from the botanical gardens at UCR, but instead of doing that mean, I tried the local nursery: Parkview. Unfortunately, they only have water lettuce or another floating plant that I pretty sure is too large to be duckweed. They did refer me to a place in Upland, which specializes in koi.
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Experiment 1

The local nursery has pots like this set up on their pond, but without the basket/gravel bed. I think this may be a good way to keep plants protected from fish nibbling, and yet get the benefits of growing in such a manner.

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Biggish pond update..!

Fishless cycling-- now with plants!
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'Mater bed

Bucket is there for size comparison purposes. I think it a respectable jungle. Somewhere in the middle are the bell peppers.
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Raised bed update--!

Still haven't watered over here, and it looks like the tomatoes don't mind it one bit.
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Front pond update!

Fancy fan tails are still alive, and I added my first earth worm to the upper grow bed.

I never knew you are supposed to be do that to a well established grow bed--this one is nearly two years old. It may explain some of the problems I've been having with this pond. Though just why I keep finding earthworms in my pond of all places, I'll never know. The weirdest part? They're still alive! I thought earthworms drowned in water.
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That's damn depressing..

Lost all the fish in the big pond. One of the hoses slipped and drained all the water out while I was asleep.
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Armored up!

Let's see them varmits get through THAT. Raccoons = Cats with thumbs.
Indeed.
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Front pond..status..

Beyond the mini castle, within the moat, are the dears that I'm fussing over. They seem ok and are adjusting well to their new home.
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On another note..

Here in the raised bed area, I completely forgot to water for the past week and a half. Apparently, that's what these tomato plants wanted to happen.

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Might be a bad idea..

Got some guppies and goldies to restock the front, and for the biggish pond, even though I have yet to set up the gravel beds. I get paid next week, and with the pumps running now, I figure they'll be fine up until then.
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And soo...

The mini castle is born. I hereby declare war on the masked varmits. Lost 3 fish to them today.
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Crime scene..

Well, as you can see, my idea didn't work. Dang masked varmits. Back to the drawing board.
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