Ponds

Off Topic Discussion - Chat about anything, just keep it fairly clean.

Moderator: snoopdog

Post Reply
User avatar
Fishfood
Chromis
Posts: 1831
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:41 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile

Ponds

Post by Fishfood »

I want to put a pond in the back yard. I think it will be primarily a watergarden with a fish or two instead of a kio/goldfish pond. It really can't be that large either. Does anyone have experience with these?

Snoop - I saw the pictures of the pond you put in at your mothers house. I have a few questions, not about tha pond but about ponds in general.

I really don't want to go with anything much bigger than the biggest pre-fab ones you can buy at Lowes or HD. I however read on wetwebmedia not to use one of them so here are some questions..

pre-fab or liner?

Filtration for a water garden? I was reading up on the bucket DIY filters but I just don't understand how to incorporate it into a liner pond.

Pond will be in full sun.. pros/cons?

Someone help me get started here. I plan on starting it once it cools off and hope to have it ready for spring. From what I understand I won't need as much filtration with a water garden since the plants will do a lot of the work.

Can anyone help me?
User avatar
snoopdog
Yellow Tang
Posts: 4258
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:37 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile, Al
Contact:

Post by snoopdog »

Liner above all. There is a good chance it may be there for greater than 10 years....do you really want to lose your prized Koi because you used plastic and not rubber ?

I put a waterfall filter in hers, works great and her is even under a tree. It is almost impossible to do one with maintenance and not have a surface skimmer.....I also recommend a bottom drain. If it is going to be in full sun you are going to either have to do a UV filter or cover the surface with 60 percent plant, which the Koi will eat and make a mess with so that is more cleaning and more stuff in the skimmers. So really, you want a UV filter.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
User avatar
Fishfood
Chromis
Posts: 1831
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:41 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile

Post by Fishfood »

Its not going to be a koi pond. Its going to be basically be a water garden and I might have a goldfish or two in there.
User avatar
snoopdog
Yellow Tang
Posts: 4258
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:37 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile, Al
Contact:

Post by snoopdog »

Well then you may be able to get by with no filtration and just use Hyacinth for filtration.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
jdmorgan20fan
Amoeba
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:48 pm
Location: Mobile, Alabama

pond

Post by jdmorgan20fan »

I used to put in ponds on the side to make extra money. I did a few with the plastic liners but i had one that the liner was punctured and i didn't take a chance with another one. They both had the good and bad. I used to get a filtration box that was cheap. It was built that the pump sat in the middle of it and the water came from the top through two filters and then through bio-balls that surrounded the filter. I had problems with algae bloom but there is stuff you can get that will get rid of it fast. Plants do help with filtration but this helps it more and this way you can have a waterfall. I do agree with snoop, if you are going to keep this for years, don't go the cheap way, go all out and do it right. I helped my grandfather build one and he built it with a bottom drain, all concrete with a place to put plants all around it. He built a place on the side with a very nice filtration system with uv filter and hellacious plumbing. It does cost more in the long run but you don't want to be fighting algae and other problems. My grandmother got too crazy with plants and the pond became too overrun and when my grandfather was cleaning it out, his hand found a cotton-mouth moccasin. I live in an apartment and have a i'm guessing about a 40 gallon pond with a few gold fish and plants in it and have a small filtration system in it. It's just how you see it going and how much you want to invest in it. Just remember most people that have these ponds have problems with algae growth. I am about to install a small one for a lady and it's the plastic one with a waterfall. When i install it, i will put pics on here.
jdmorgan20fan
Amoeba
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:48 pm
Location: Mobile, Alabama

pond

Post by jdmorgan20fan »

I found this website that may help you:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIn ... %20Web.htm
User avatar
snoopdog
Yellow Tang
Posts: 4258
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:37 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile, Al
Contact:

Post by snoopdog »

These were taken is 2006, I need to get a new camera and go over there and take some more. She constantly has people coming by and looking at hers before they build one. She said there are people coming over Tuesday to look at it.
Attachments
DSCN4139 (Large).JPG
DSCN4139 (Large).JPG (191.37 KiB) Viewed 2464 times
DSCN4136 (Large).JPG
DSCN4136 (Large).JPG (119.2 KiB) Viewed 2466 times
DSCN4140 (Large).JPG
DSCN4140 (Large).JPG (201.57 KiB) Viewed 2466 times
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
User avatar
Fishfood
Chromis
Posts: 1831
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:41 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile

Post by Fishfood »

I saw those picks Snoop.

Well I'm not sure how long we will be in this house. I can say for sure 4 yrs but after that who knows. Im only looking at something like 5x10 max but more along the lines of 5x8 for the space I have. I guess I'm curious how to make a side compartment for a filter box. I most likly will go that route.
jdmorgan20fan
Amoeba
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:48 pm
Location: Mobile, Alabama

pond

Post by jdmorgan20fan »

That is a beautiful pond. She takes great care of it.
User avatar
snoopdog
Yellow Tang
Posts: 4258
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:37 pm
Are you a Bot ?: No
Location: Mobile, Al
Contact:

Post by snoopdog »

I dug the entire thing with a shovel, it sucked.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
Post Reply