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During the process of buying our house, one of the disclosures was that the house has a huge inground swimming pool, but some aspect of the plumbing was broken,
by neonnoodle 4y ago
During the process of buying our house, one of the disclosures was that the house has a huge inground swimming pool, but some aspect of the plumbing was broken, and nobody knew how much it might cost to repair. So, as-is.
Nobody in our house swims, and the costs of repairing and running the pool would be excessive. At first I thought about having it drained and either removed or converted to some kind of outbuilding space. Then it occurred to me, I shouldn't just dispose of a water-bearing structure! The thing is engineered to safely contain thousands of gallons! We kept it. The pool hadn't been used in several years prior to the sale of the house, which was perfect because the chlorination had long since evaporated. Thus a readymade freshwater pond.
I started adding native plants and sheltering areas to the shallow end. Frogs were already in residence for mating season but now several species live there full time. Tons of insects: backswimmers, water skimmers, caddisfly, mayfly, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, bladder snails, giant water beetles. Ducks and herons visit. Purple martins and flycatchers hang out at dusk.
People often ask about mosquito control, and so far it hasn't been an issue. I believe this is due to a combination of the water depth (mosquitos prefer very shallow and still water like puddles), circulation speed, and predation of the mosquito larvae by everyone else. Because there are marginal plants, predatory insects can transition from their aquatic larval stage to adulthood (they need stalks to climb up out of the water).
The pond has become one of the great joys of my life--seeing the seasons change through the lifecycles of the species, watching bees forage on pickerel rush flowers, hearing frogs sing at night.
- chime 4y agoWould you be open to sharing a photo or two of the pond? I would love to show it to my kids.
- SCUSKU 4y agoI spent part of my childhood in rural Japan and during the summers would fall asleep to the sound of hundreds of frogs croaking in the rice paddies. It was a great lullaby for me, it sounds like a great thing to have in your backyard!
- hackernewds 4y agoTell that to folks in the Big Island of Hawaii that understand "coqui" frogs (given the sound) as pests that have overwhelmed the whole ecosystem. They are REALLY loud and cankerous, especially every night
- SCUSKU 4y agoWow I had never heard of coqui frogs, but they have quite a loud chirp! I can see how that could get annoying pretty quickly. For reference, here's audio for what frogs in Japan sound like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dBRqQ4ta18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dBRqQ4ta18 versus coqui frogs in Hawaii or Puerto Rico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-DeFADQZFA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-DeFADQZFA
- inkcapmushroom 4y ago>circulation speed Do you run the pool pump, or else how is the water circulating? This sounds like an awesome project, what a joy to have that right in your backyard.
- neonnoodle 4y agoI made a bubble pump, but it's still very much a work in progress. A lot of the circulation is just "traffic" of all the little dudes swimming around. I recommend watching some of David Pagan Butler's videos on organic pools. https://www.youtube.com/user/davidpaganbutler https://www.youtube.com/user/davidpaganbutler
- potsandpans 4y agoThe backstory for one of the main characters from The Southern Reach Trilogy involves a pool turned into a freshwater pond. Maybe you're somehow influencing a future anarco biologist
- culi 4y agoYeah if you get a sufficiently thriving ecosystem going mosquito control deals with itself. But, especially if you live anywhere near the tropics or subtropics, I'd make sure to keep updated on West Nile Virus and other less common ones like dengue, zika, etc
- hackernewds 4y agoponds are also notorious bacteria harvesting stations. pond water is in fact used as a source for lab bacteria testing
- rb666 4y agoYou know, you don't need to drink from or swim in the pond right?