Getting A Pond

[Dana C]

We have finally had permission from our landlord to dig a pond in our garden and was hoping for some advice.

It will be for a comet and a shubunkin and I was wondering what size we should make for length and width?

Also do we need a filter and if so are they difficult to fit with the electrics?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[GoldLenny]

If you are going to have a good filter system, you could go as low as 50G per fish but 100G would be better. Depending on your winter temperatures and frost zone, your pond would have to be deep enough so the fish can overwinter in the pond unless you plan on bringing them in for the winter. Bigger is always better so tell us how much room you have. It's best to go with the largest pond you can fit and then go deep enough for overwintering. I never hear anyone complain about having too big of a pond. Tell us how much room you have as far as length and width and then we can figure out a good depth and tell you how many fish you can have. If you have limited space, you could go with a 300G Rubbermaid Farm Trough which is 3' deep and makes a good pond for a few goldfish. You can find them used at farm auctions. Go to my blog and click on the pond links on the right side and find more DIY pond info.

 

[Scrofula]

Hi I've built 3 ponds in the past each one bigger than the last. Its not something that should be rushed into. It can take a lot of effort to do the whole project. My last build (see link at the end) took 5 days working flat out but there was already a smaller pond there so that took a lot of the hard work out of it.

Things to think about though.

What are you going to do with the earth you dig up.. There will be a LOT of it. I raised a whole corner of my garden with it!
I'd highly recommend a filter.. Especially if you want to see your fish Which means a pump as well and some means of getting the filter water back into the pond (waterfall) This will need to be bought and incorporated into the design as early as possible.

Make it at the very least 2 foot deep 3 foot would be better.

The electronics are straightforward enough. Make sure you get armoured cable and dig it deep into the ground run it of an trip RCD.

I've used butyll rubber twice and a preformed liner once. I'd stick with butyll. Its cheap extremely strong and easy to work with. Spend a lot of time ensuring that your levels are right. You don't want all your water running to one end of the pond exposing the liner at the other.

If you have any questions then let me know I'll try my best to help you out.

My latest pond = http/img178.imageshack.us/img178/593/dscn0487go6.jpg
You can see the raised area at the top of the garden from the dirt taken from the pond. The waterfall looks a bit ropey in the pic but the plants will soon cover it up and make it look more natural.

I have step by step pictures of this which I'll post in a new topic. It shows the whole project from begining to end

Scrof

 

[Dana C]

Thanks for your replys,

I think we can go about 6 foot in length not sure about the width at the moment would this be big enough for the 2 fish we already have and maybe a couple more.

We will get a filter even if I didn't understand anything about the electrics above, and we will be getting a skip for the dirt we dig up.

I think we will be getting a liner and not a preformed pond as it seems to be cheaper so if anybody can give any advice on laying it please let me know.

Nobody in our house knows anything about ponds so the more advice the better.

 

[Scrofula]

Hey Dani

6 * 4 would make a decent size pond and wouldn't break your back digging it out. You'll get a good number of fish in that too.

Buy byutll (spelling) liner. It costs about 15% more but its well worth it. I posted a Thread on building my last pond but its not really in any great detail.

I think the first thing you need to do is gou out into your garden and mark out where you want the pond (6*4 is bigger than you think). Use sticks and string. Think about what your going to put around the pond (to stand/sit on) think about the environmental issues. under a tree will mean loads of leaves but a good amount of shade. In the middle of the garden meens it'll be exposed to the sun all day and will suffer from algea.

Graham

 

[Dana C]

We have been in the garden and marked out the pond using planks of wood and 6 by 4 feet fits in nicely, how many fish can we have in a pond this size?

We will be digging the pond in 2 weeks time when my parents come back from holiday so we are going to buy everything we need in advance.

Can anyone recommend a filter to use as I have no idea.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[GoldLenny]

6'x4'x (avg.)2'deep = 369 gallons.

Have you looked at available filter systems in your area. It would be better to see what's available and then post the brands to see what folks experience have been. My three ponds were all mini-ponds (like yours... under 1,000 G each) and all I had was DIY filter systems using fountain and water fall pumps. This page http/www.pond-pump-and-fountain.com/ has some mini-pond kits to give you an idea of what you would need... they even have a 6x4 pond listed. If you get a 500-1,000 gph waterfall kit and then use a pre-filter like I have instructions to on my blog http/goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/03/pond...lgae-bloom.html , it would probably do a good job on your mini-pond. That's all I had on all three of mine and it kept them mostly clean and clear, although one of mine which got a lot more sun did give me more green water issues during the hottest months until I got some hyacinths and let them grow like crazy over 75% of the surface. Using a pre-filter around the pump keeps the pump from getting clogged up and keeps the pump a couple inches off the bottom. You still need to clean the pre-filter from time-to-time (weekly or so, depending on your bioload) but it helps keep the pump running better and helps tremendously with the ecology of the pond.

Also, on my blog http/goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/03/pond...d-diy-pond.html, I have lots of links to FREE eBooks on DIY pond building and keeping.

 

[Dana C]

thanks for your reply,

I will have a look around and filters and check back here before we buy one.