Beneath the Surface. April meeting information:

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1 April Issue Beneath the Surface Find us on Facebook as: Eastern Iowa Pond Society In this newsletter: April meeting info...1 Meeting Minutes.2&3 Spring Startup..4 Odds and Ends.5 On the Lighter side...6 Membership form.7 Contact Information: Find us on the web at: or on Facebook President: Jo Hunerdosse VP : Jeff Garner Sec.: Stephanie Geers Tres.:Gary Hunerdosse April meeting information: April 11th 6:15 pm Prairie Creek Nursery 4100 Bowling St. SW Cedar Rapids Speaker: Kevin Bailey, Opening Your Ponds April 27th - 5:00 pm, eat at 6:00, meeting to follow Lowe Park th St., Marion Hosting a Pot Luck for the visiting Indiana Koi and Water Garden Club Speaker: Jackie Allsup, Koi Health

2 Meeting Minutes March 23, 2013 The March 23, 2013 meeting of the EIPS was held at Higley Mansion at 4pm with 15 members in attendance. Jo welcomed our new member Mary Lou Heacock to EIPS. Jo passed around the sign up sheet for available meeting dates that still need hosts. Kevin Bailey of Prairie Creek Nursery has tentatively agreed to speak at the April 11 meeting on "Opening Your Pond". A meeting site is yet needed. Greg Bickal offers pond club members a 20% discount. Bickal Koi Farm is having their open house April 27 and 28. The pond club from Indiana is going to Bickal's Koi Farm for the open house on April 27. Discussion was held regarding a potluck with this club at that time. Jo is to contact Jackie regarding this so watch for an with more details and a meeting place for this. A motion was made by Jeff and seconded by Bob for a one time additional $ to be approved to be used for a meeting place for this meeting. Jeff and Kerry are on the program committee and are checking with Aquascape regarding possibly speaking at an upcoming meeting in Also a Bus Trip to Chicago sponsored by Aquascape is in the works for August. Last years bus trip to St. Louis was very enjoyable so stay tuned as more info will be coming for the August bus trip to Chicago. A pond vac is being purchased by the EIPS and will be stored at the Hunerdosse's home. At the May meeting meeting there will be a hands on demo at the Hunerdosse home. Pond Tour: Discussion was held regarding ideas that the tour proceeds would go towards for the 2013 tour. Ideas included: Kirkwood scholarship possibly 2 at $ each, park benches on trails, city parks, or the new library site, or the Linn Community Food Bank. It is preferred that the moneys be distributed locally. Next meeting this will be voted on as a decision needs to be made so the advertising can begin timely.

3 Minutes continued... Treasurers Report: $0.44 interest for the month of February. $ Savings balance $ Checking balance $ dues deposited $ current checking balance + any dues received at the March 23, 2013 meeting. The northern Iowa pond club is ordering plants ahead of the season. Discussion was heard regarding do we want to pre order for our plant sale for the pond tour in July ($2.00 a piece for water lilies, hyacinth..) If so, who will be responsible for growing them and getting them to the plant sale in July?? This remains to be decided. The Brucemore Garden and Art Show is scheduled for August 24. Jackie has always graciously taken charge of our EIPS booth there, however this year she is not available. We need a volunteer to take charge of the booth this year. Articles are always need and appreciated for the EIPS monthly newsletter. This is a big undertaking and many hands can make the job much easier. There are many experienced ponders in this fine group. Please share your experiences by sharing an article for the newsletter. Meeting adjourned at 5pm with a tour of the Higley Mansion. Respectfully submitted, Stephanie Geers, secretary

4 Give Your Pond a Spring Jump-Start When your pond begins to thaw, you want to ensure that you give it a healthy start. Performing a bit of maintenance now creates an improved environment for your fish, plants, and water quality. As we move into spring, here are some handy tips to get your pond in tip-top shape for the water gardening season. Remove the pond heater and bubbler that you added in the winter to keep a hole in the ice for exchange of gasses. Remove any debris that accumulated over the winter, such as leaves, sticks, or fine sediment. A skimmer net, with a finer mesh than a fish net, comes in handy for removing sediment. If your water is fairly dirty, you ll want to conduct a partial water change. To do this, you can use your existing pump connected to a pipe for water removal, or you can purchase a pump specifically designed for pond clean-outs (or you can always hire your local pond contractor to do this for you). Your pond water is rich with nutrients, so as you re pumping out the water, use it to irrigate your surrounding landscaping and garden beds. Your flowers and veggies will thank you! Perform a bit of maintenance to lengthen the life of your pump. Simply inspect the intake and remove any solids or debris. When refilling your pond with water, be sure to apply a water declorinator if using city water. It removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia and detoxifies heavy metals. What s more, it s safe for fish and plants. You can begin to add water treatments once your feature is up and running. If the water temperature is below 55 degrees, you can start by adding a powered bacteria product for cool water. Be sure to follow package instructions. Once your pond water temperature reaches 55 degrees, you can start adding water conditioners if you use them on a regular basis. Beneficial Bacteria assists in balancing your pond, reduces maintenance by keeping filters clean and debris-free, reduces harmful ammonia and nitrite, and produces crystal clear water quality. Hey, while you re at it check your fish for health issues, check other systems in your pond like pumps, lighting; and set up predator deterrents. Predators are pretty busy during those spring months so be vigilant! Add new diffusers to your aerator, and put away all of your winter pond gear. When you ve done this pond season is officially underway so invite some friends over for a pond party, Don t Forget!!! The pond club will soon own a Pond Vac!! We purchased it for YOUR use to help with Spring (or anytime) cleanup. Please contact Gary to find out its availability to rent out. (for a tiny fee) Gary Hunerdosse

5 ODDS AND ENDS.. Thursday, April 11th meeting. Held at Prairie Creek Nursery. Bring your chairs. Kevin will talk to us about opening your ponds, so bring all your questions. The retail store is open till 6:00, so come early to do any shopping you d like. They carry almost everything pond related that you can think of. This should be a great meeting with lots of information, especially for all you beginners. Saturday, April 27th meeting. Come and help us welcome the Indiana Koi and Water Garden Club. They will be passing through the area and being the gracious, friendly club that we are, we are going to treat them to a pot luck done as only EIPS can do. Bickal Koi Farm has agreed to provide the main dish. (Martha s homemade burritos). Please bring a side dish large enough to feed the extra people that are traveling to visit. The meeting is at Lowe Park in Marion. I, Jackie Allsup, will give a Koi Health presentation. They are delighted and excited to meet us, so please try to come and meet other pond enthusiast. Saturday and Sunday April 27-28, Bickal Koi Farm, Toddville, IA Open House. Greg will be giving members a 20% discount on fish purchases. Greg sells Koi and Koi Food only. FREE AND FOR SALE Koi enthusiast, Larry Thompson, is doing a complete remodel of his current Koi pond. Can t wait to see this!! He s moving the whole thing inside a 3 seasons room. Because of this new arrangement, he is beginning by tearing out his quarantine tank. From my memory, this is a DIY rubber lined, wooden built, measuring approximately 8x8x5. Holds around 1000 gallons. It has a bottom drain that goes to a smaller Nexus filter. He would like to simply GIVE away the QT tank. (He suggest you help take it apart, so you know how to put it back together. ) The smaller Nexus Filter is for sale, but at a greatly reduced price. If you ever considered having a QT tank for quarantining fish or for Winter quarters for your existing fish, this is a great value!! Eventually, he will be tearing out his existing Koi Pond. At that time, he will be offering his 2 larger Nexus Filters for sale as he is replacing them with a whole new filtration system. He will also have no further use for his Winter greenhouse. So, he will be selling the rafters and clear plastic panels and hardware that make this all up. This is a great bargain on everything. If you are even thinking about upgrading or building new. Contact Larry for more accurate information and technical info regarding the filters. Larry =

6 ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

7 Win a Prize! Write A Caption For the Turtle Picture. me your idea for a caption and we ll put the results in the next newsletter.. Jackie Cedarserviceja@aol.com Eastern Iowa Pond Society, Inc. Membership Application To become a member of the Eastern Iowa Pond Society, Complete this form and mail along with your dues to: Eastern Iowa Pond Society % Gary Hunerdosse 306 Red Fox Rd. SE Cedar Rapids, IA New Membership Renew Membership Name: Address: Phone Number: Address: Dues are $25.00 per calendar year per family. Make checks payable to Eastern Iowa Pond Society, Inc. ALL newsletters can now be found on line at www. EIPS.org Newsletters will NOT be mailed unless you notify us that you have NO computer, so be sure your is current and legible. Thank You.

8 Eastern Iowa Pond Society Our Mission Statement: The purpose of the Association shall be to create, promote and enlarge the hobbies of ponds, aquatic gardening, and keeping, breeding, appreciating, and exhibiting the wonderful world of fish. The Association shall disseminate information about t he above to the membership to engage in educational and social activities related to our purposes; and to acquire and own such property as may be necessary for any or all of the fore going purposes. Eastern Iowa Pond Society Jackie Allsup, Editor PO Box 148 Quasqueton, IA 52326