I think I’ve inadvertently fallen over a new garden project. Yesterday I discovered the pool is teeming with tadpoles. Now I’m a big frog fan so the idea of converting the pool to a frog habitat quickly took hold. I’d already decided to get rid of the pool this summer and put up a much smaller (more manageable and appropriate for 1 person) one and had recently been dreading what to do with the old one. It comes up perfectly good once cleaned, but with new ones being quite cheap these days, I figured selling a used one on Gumtree or whatever would probably give a pretty low return for the work needed to clean it up. And possibly wouldn’t sell at all, which would be extremely frustrating.
On the other hand, this idea of converting it to a pond really took hold yesterday and overnight. I duly hit the research (aka Google). It seems that “pool-to-pond” is an actual thing, although I found few cases of people doing it with above-ground pools, and none of people doing it with the semi-portable vinyl type I have. This did not dissuade me for more than a moment. One particularly good resource I found is a program run by the Ku-Ring-Gai council in Sydney which offers advice, has YouTube videos etc. Link below.
Ku-Ring-Gai Council Pool-to-pond page
I already learned a lot about the process including some key points:
- mosquitoes should not be an issue – the bitey kinds, of which there are only 3 out of the many types out there do not like deep water bodies
- the initial green algae (which I’ve seen before) goes away naturally as part of the proper conversion process
- the pond will act as a rainwater tank – providing water that can be used for other purposes
- it won’t smell
- if all goes well, it will be a haven for all kinds of wildlife
- it will also be a huge new plant environment, both aquatic (within and around the pond) and non-aquatic (containers/landscaping to blend it in to the surrounds)
So, here’s what I found yesterday:
Pretty green! Although I’m not sure how green the water is and how much is mould on that tarp showing through the water. The tarp is a key point here – I’m assuming it’s how the frogs have got in in the first place, as it drapes right over on to the ground. I’ve been plotting overnight on the basis of leaving the tarp in there, but now I’m not so sure. Strong as it is (very) I think it will eventually rot, which might be a potential catastrophe down the road if it had a living breathing ecosystem all over it. I’m thinking now it would be better to dispense with it now and instead give the amphibians alternative entry/exit routes. So I’ll have a go at that today.
The tadpoles are living within the tarp (although I’m not sure yet what might be living in the darker space below it) so I’ll need to take extreme care removing the tarp (and transferring them to the main section in the process).
Then what? Well it depends whats going on in the water. The key indicators are the algae and mosquito wrigglers. Once the wrigglers are living in the water, its time that plants and fish can move in. While the algae will apparently eventually change from the initial green stuff to a different type, I believe that process will be hugely helped by plants and fish. I will need to find a local source for both, particularly in the short term I’ll want fast growing duckweed and azolla – surface living types that should multiply and work hard for me in the transformation process. They’re available on eBay from various people but the quantities are quite small. I should probably head to the local lake and see if there are vast quantities there for the picking (they’re weeds after all). An added bonus with these plants is down the track I can periodically pull some out to chuck in the duck pond where the ducks will love it. Then I’ll proceed with fish and more substantial plants.
Meanwhile, I’ll need to add landscaping elements in the water for plants to live on and for frogs in particular to use as entry/exit points. Might need some new (smaller) tarps for that process too. I have a good tarp site I use. And I think some significant shade will be important too, and soon!
I think this is going to be fun! I’ll keep posting progress.
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