After almost two weeks since getting this project started I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I am still very skilled at raising fish. Not one goldfish or Tilapia has died on me yet! I have only added one Tilapia to the pond as a test, the others remain in my tank. The bad news is that my plants are not doing as well as I would like. The seeds are mostly still dormant, and the duckweed is quickly disappearing from the pond. I'm not sure if the fish are eating it, or it is dying from the cold temp. I also added a small amount of sediment to the pond. Not sure if that was a good idea, it disturbed visibility but I am hoping it adds nutrients to the water. As of now I don't think there is enough fish "nutrients" in the water to support the plant beds.
I started feeding the Tilapia that are still in the fish tank some earthworms, and they seem to love it!
I have also began to dig the second pond! It is going to be the same dimensions as the first one unless the ground is softer and I can dig deeper. The same spacing around the pond, 4 feet between ponds for a walkway or perhaps a rack for more planters.
Went back down to the Hydroponics shop an bought a pump for $21! It is rated to be able to suck water up 6 feet, so from the bottom of the 2.5 ft pond to 3.5ft above ground in the highest planter box! The water flow seems to be very good, I probably could have settled for a smaller pump but it will be nice to test this out. Hopefully it will last longer then a cheaper pump but it might draw power inefficiently. The company that makes the pump also has a nifty website full of information.
It's still not pretty yet but I am making progress! I had some squash growing from seeds out of soil so I decided to transplant them into 3 inch net pots and put them on floating Styrofoam rafts in the pond. Just to test the water to see if it has enough nutrients to support plant life. The water flowing into the pond will be attached to the planter boxes one day and I will build some kind of waterfall to aerate the pond water better.
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