Last fall, we remodeled our entire backyard. Okay, it is probably more accurate if I say that we flattened everything and then built a new backyard. When we put the finishing touches on this fairly substantial project, I decided to add a small pond next to our patio. I like the soothing sound of water fountains and our patio area seemed like a perfect spot for this.

Before	After

The water in our pond turned pretty green after just a couple of weeks, but that did not bother me at all. Then, on a pleasant Sunday afternoon just a few months ago, Sandra came home with something unexpected: a small plastic bag - filled with water and three tiny little goldfish…

When I released the three goldfish into the pond, they instantly disappeared in what can only be described as a dense green soup. Over the next week, I tried to check on the fish each morning before I had to go to work, but I was not able to see anything other than green water. I started to worry that the green algae infested water would be a horrible environment for those tiny little fish, and I wasn't even sure if they are still alive after one week in this.

Our Pond

All worried about those little swimming creatures, I threw a sum pump into the pond and started to empty it while looking for any signs of survivors. The pond must have been almost empty when I saw one of them trying to dive away in the muddy water at the bottom of the pond. I stopped the pump and got a large swimming pool leaf net out of my pool box… it was large enough to catch all 3 goldfish at once. Once I had all three goldfish safely transferred into a small bucket, I emptied the rest of the pond and scrubbed it top-down. I realized that I needed to do something about algae growth or I would face the same problem in a couple of weeks again. With that in mind, I went to The Home Depot and purchased one of those Beckett submersible pump and filter combinations as well as liquid pond start-up bacteria, algae killer and chlorine remover. I refilled the pond, added the filter, pump and chemicals and then waited for another day before I let the goldfish back into their sparkling new pond. It was nice to actually see the fish in there and not only green soup all around.

The next morning when I checked on the pond, I noticed that the water lily container in the shallow corner of the pond had been knocked over. I thought this must have been some bird or so, and I put it back where it belongs.

Well, during the following weeks picking up the water lily container turned into a new morning routine and it became pretty clear that there was something else. I regularly chase my neighbors' cats out of my backyard so they stop using it as a toilet, but having them pray on my fish in addition to that is just too much for me. I went back to The Home Depot and to get a can of Critter Ridder. I sprinkled almost half of that can around my pond - and the next morning, my water lily was still in the place it belongs. Excellent! This could have been the start into a great day if only the water would not seem to turn green again despite of the constant influx of algae-killing chemicals.

I needed expert advice so I called my mom in Germany

My mom told me that I need more plant life in my pond and I went straight to the nursery to buy a decent sized Umbrella Palm that was added to the pond right away. A few days later when I went outside to feed my goldfish, my pond looked like some middle eastern town after a huge explosion. The container with the water lily was at the bottom of the pond, the Umbrella Palm was torn into 30 pieces which were cluttered all over the pond.

So much for the reliability of Critter Ridder. That was it for me, my pond was well on its way to turn into a green soup again and my newly added Umbrella Palm looked like it just crash-landed in the mountains. I declared war on whoever did that, and the first thing needed was intelligence. I went online and spent hours googling everything from pond predators to pond water filtration. After evaluating several options, I decided to replace the underperforming "toyisch" Home Depot filtration system with something (a lot) more powerful. I bought a 2000 Gallon Fish Mate Pressurized UV+Bio Filter and a 600 gallon Fish Mate pump from Petsolutions.com to get rid of my green water once and for all.

At Farmsupplystore.com I found what I hoped would finally bring peace to my pond: A 2.5kV electric fence kit specially designed for ponds. Since I made sure that I have plenty of electrical outlets when we re-designed our backyard, I got the PG5K version that plugs directly into an 110V outlet.

Fence Energizer

[Side note: I purchase *a lot* of things online, but I was simply amazed how quickly the guys at farmsupplystore.com processed my order. I submitted my order at 8:22AM, got an automated order confirmation at 8:23AM, and an email with a UPS tracking number for my already fulfilled order at 8:46AM. It showed up on time the next day. Wow, try to beat 24 minutes from online order submission to shipment notification…]

First, I installed the pump and filtration system. I decided to mount the filter at the back of our retaining wall behind the pond so it would be easier to clean/maintain. Next in line was the electrical fence. The kit came with everything included, it just turned out to be *a lot* bigger than I thought compared to the pictures I saw on the web. I guess I have to point out that my pond has a capacity of only ~130 gallons. Oh well, bigger is better.

Pond Filter	Pond Pump Connection

The installation was straight forward - and the result was impressive. I touched the hot wire and got a decent shock even though I wore rubber shoes. I am not doing that again.

Pond Secured!	Electric Fence Arm

When I checked on my pond the next morning, I did not believe my eyes. One of the fence arms had snapped and the wire was partially in the water and partially wrapped around another fence arm. It was pretty clear that something must have had a really close encounter with Mr. Volt that night. Since it was Sunday morning, I went right back to work and fixed the broken fence, securing it with extra tensioned strings so it won't give in even if something really heavy steps on it.

Broken Pond Fence Arm

But what the heck was that? I was curious enough to spend more than $100 on a Swan infrared surveillance camera and video converter at Fry's Electronics.

I will keep an eye on you!

That night, I connected the camera to my media PC in my living room and installed motion detection software to make sure I don't miss the action. Here is the result:

Neighbors cat? Not so much...

You've got to love your neighborhood wildlife. At least it wasn't a pack of wolves. It was quite funny to watch the full video clip, especially the part that clearly shows the raccoons keeping a respectful distance to the fence. I guess something unpleasant happened there in the past....

I have to admit that my pond now somehow reminds me of Jurassic Park, but my goldfish and plants have not been bothered since. I am still monitoring the pond every night though, and Sandra just asked me if I am also going to install guard towers… This must be a German thing… or I just miss the engineering profession.