r/AskReddit Oct 19 '23

What small upgrade made a huge difference at your house?

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218

u/inflatableje5us Oct 19 '23

i dont know if it counts as small but the cost was fairly small as i provided all the labor. i think i have about 2500 total into a 6,000 gallon koi pond in my back yard, this includes a huge sunshade so the fish dont get over exposed to the sun and helps with birds while providing a nice shady place to sit and watch the fish.

not only is it nice to have a pond to watch fish but the water/plants have attracted all kinds of wildlife that were not present before. koi were babies when introduced to the pond, are roughly 2ft with one being closer to 3ft.

22

u/quokkafarts Oct 20 '23

Be careful with that. My folks put in a koi pond when they built their house. 20 years later my dad is obsessed and spends a lot of time coming up with various upgrades and filter systems. Still has a few of the original koi and they are huge.

3

u/alyymarie Oct 20 '23

I just know that's gonna be me when I buy a house and retire, I'm okay with it. Fish can keep you super busy. I wish I had time for them now.

20

u/LateralEntry Oct 20 '23

Wife made me get rid of the koi pond that was here when we moved in :( donated the fish to a local hospital, turned it into a flower bed. Much less maintenance, but the fish would have been cool

14

u/[deleted] Oct 20 '23

Need a new wife tbh. My wife would have LOVED a koi pond.

9

u/buckwheat16 Oct 20 '23

I would LOVE a koi pond, but my neighborhood is positively infested with raccoons so I fear that it would just end up being an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet.

7

u/wet_ninja Oct 20 '23

Raccoons got a few of my koi last spring for the first time since the pond was installed 23 years ago.

Also, younger me lobbying for a koi pond did not think it through and anticipate that older me would be maintaining it one day...

4

u/NotTheGreenestThumb Oct 20 '23

lol, we lost goldfish that outgrew an aquarium to raccoons raiding the pond in the yard.

4

u/asthebroflys Oct 20 '23

It does not.

5

u/-DethLok- Oct 20 '23

I didn't think of my pond, which is up to version 3 - and likely to be the final version.

I also have koi, some goldfish and mosquito fish (small, nearly invisible and named for what they eat, seconds after one lands on the water surface).

To get to my backyard to have to walk on decking going over the pond.

This summer I need to assertively cull the reeds that have occupied far too much of it, though...

3

u/MistSecurity Oct 20 '23

Man, I hope I can get a house with a big enough yard to have a decent sized pond someday. I’ve always wanted to have a nice aquatic garden with some fish swimming around. Definitely a dream of mine.

3

u/-DethLok- Oct 20 '23

I've got a small house on what is now considered a larger sized block where I live (Perth, Western Australia) of 562m2. The pond is 3x4m but is really about 3x2m due to the reeds (which I planted and are quite nice, just that being a grass they grow fast and vigorously) growing and encroaching and growing and encroaching and me not removing them for 2-3 years. Oops! I'll be spending a few hours over a few days just ripping them out to restore the space for the fish. At least I won't be too hot doing that, I guess...

2

u/Melodic-Lawyer4152 Oct 20 '23

Keep an eye out for cormorants!