Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Commercially available habitat

I'm working with my TN in-laws' two small ponds. Both are about 1/5ac. I splurged and got 3 HH Grass Beds, 2 HH Nurseries and 1 HH Shrub. I put 1 HH Bed, the Shrub and 1 nursery in the pond with established BG and LMB populations; and 2HH Beds and 1 nursery in the other pond which we have yet to catch fish in. The color is fine, nothing too bright about it. I just did this a couple of weeks ago so no idea on outcomes. We had a slight insertion accident. My younger, stronger BIL chucked these things into the ponds. The HH Shrub ended up upside down. My SIL saw that and started giving me a hard time. I thought one up quick and told her how this was actually better. That either base orientation (up or down) still yielded vertical "sticks". But base up, also means it provides shade. What do you think? lol... Overall I was happy with the products. I'm a klutz when it comes to assembling stuff, but I had no trouble with these. Pricey, but nice. Next we're trying those 26 hole porcupine heads. I was thinking of scuffing them up with sandpaper prior to cutting. I also plan on using PVC cement. Any thoughts here?

P.S. This is my 1st post!

Welcome AbqBrian
I'm a few hours north of you near Dolores; we're very often in The Burque for fun (Santana in April), Trader Joe's, visiting lots of friends, and family in Santa Fe.
Do you have a pond down there?
Keep us up to date on your in-law's ponds.

Unfortunately no pond in NM. Maybe I'll try to find one. I actually live in Corrales. The TN set up is sweet. One pond has well established LMB and BG. And 15mi away is a young couple who's business is raising pond fish. They have 5ac of ponds. So any stocking I need to do is easy.

In my experience, fish don't read the glossy ads in fishing magazines. I agree with you that they should still use the habitat in the upside-down configuration.

If it does fall over on its side on a windy day, will you able to easily observe that event? If so, leave it for now.

Have fun catching fish off of your new cover-fish concentrators!

Did the HH Shrub have the 1/2 cinderblock in the base? it might slowly poke the "branches" int o the pond bottom and slowly get closer and closer to the pond bottom. If you have a boat, you can rig up a grapple hook and roll it over, or just go swimming and do that while in the water.

We didn't weight it. I assume it will stay as is until we get a kayak, or such; and go flip it. But I see no rush. We just threw one of the Grass Beds next to it to make a little structure. It definitely took some persuading to set the branches into the base. Their suggestion of dipping the ends in soapy water helped. Though if I build anymore, I think I'll try some cooking oil. The technique I ended up using was to put a socket over the end of the rod. That straightened and strengthened it. Then I wailed away on it with a mallet.

Try dipping the ends of the tubes in boiling water. That makes the m softer and when they cool down they return to their original hardness. Just the distance that it gets pushed in. You will have to play around to get the correct "dip time".

I just added one of those porcupiny structures to each small pond.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BAAVMK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

They have 26 holes for 1/2in PVC. We guestimated the water depth and put 18in pieces in the holes. Sorry no pic, I just have a flip phone. We'll see what the denizens of the deep have to say.

Nephew is partner in fiber optic company. Can get all that pipe i want.

Recently disposed of a bunch of vinyl house siding. Thought about trying to use it in a pond; but worried about durability and appearance if visible. May still have a few pieces somewhere.