My New Pond Diary May 2011

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Today work started on my new pond. It is going to be 18ft long by 9ft wide & 4ft deep at its deepest end. It is going to be semi-above ground, rectangular in shape and surrounded by some decking. Here is the garden before work started (my garden is basically a rectangle with some flower beds around the sides- the pond & decking is going to take up a considerable amount of the garden) ;



Work started 24/05/11- the first scoops with the digger;



Will keep you updated as regularly as possible on this v

Some background info: I first did a pond diary many years ago on this forum. But late last year i moved house and so i'm digging a new pond all over again. But this time i'm having help with it- the last one was dug all by hand and was a real mission, but hopefully with professional help i'll get this one done a lot quicker & easier this time v .

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Work ongoing today (taken this afternoon) ;




Getting deeper;

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Here are is the design/general layout plan of the pond ;



Pond in the garden (including space on the other side of the fence);

 

[mattbleasby]

Awesome! Cant wait too see it take shape. Would love to have a nice pond in the garden, Used to have one a few years ago. But nothing special. Always wanted too create a decent sized one, And im sure i will one day

Cant wait for updates

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Awesome !
I will be posting updates on here everyday on the ponds progress- work is going really fast with the digger ! After finishing digging the area out, the next step will be to concrete it (will be putting in a custom shaped fiberglass contained instead of rubber liner this time- more sturdy/durable so lasts much longer etc).

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well end of the day now and the hole digging has been finished. Concreting tomorrow (hopefully)!;

 

[Haveagojoe]

Cant wait to see the finished product

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Concrete mix has arrived !


Concrete beginning to go into the pond;

 

[mattbleasby]

Ohh this is getting exciting, Looking forward too seeing updates everyday What are you thinking of stocking with?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ohh this is getting exciting, Looking forward too seeing updates everyday What are you thinking of stocking with?

Ah i'm going to be putting goldfish in it . When i moved place last year i had to leave all my pond goldfish behind but a neighbour has been looking after them for me since and so as soon as this pond is finished i'm going to be moving them all over (will clone the beneficial nitrifying bacteria from the old pond filter to the new one).
My largest & oldest goldfish is an orange Common goldfish which is now 1ft long- i really miss him! The other goldfish are an assortment of colours (they're all Common or Comet variety goldfish), mostly white or orange. I want to get more calico patterned goldfish of various colours to add more colour & pattern diversity to my current ones.

Here's a pic i took a few months ago of a few of the goldfish in the old pond (you can see the huge foot long goldfish in this pic too) ;



Edit: Health-wise the old goldfish are doing ok...Yesterday i went back to my old place to check up on them, one appears to have developed a bacterial infection under its scales, but i think this is probably stress-linked to an incident that happened a couple of weeks earlier when one of the filter pipes started to leak and the pond was almost completely emptied, stressing the goldfish out (happened twice too).
Other than that there have only been 2 deaths since last August (and neither of those was disease/parasite related). Overall the goldfish are in really good health (fat, colourful & active), so apart from getting some bacterial treatment done when i next go over there, they should be all in good condition to move in about just under a months time.

The whole project should take a few weeks to complete as there is going to be decking too. Then after that i will start moving the goldfish over, sort out the flower beds and start planting everything up (inside & outside the pond). I'm thinking about planting lots of lillies in the pond. There is going to be a waterfall (separate to the filtration of the pond) and under-water lighting in the pond too !

 

[bae1994]

Very interesting looks great


Cool to have goldfish only but koi would also be cool but the goldfish look great

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well end of the day now and one end of the pond concreting has been finished ;

 

[mattbleasby]

Woah! Really look forward to seeing the finished project, Seems like you are just as much concerned about the looks of the pond than just the fish I love that. Cant wait too see the lillies in the lighting

Going to be awesome, I find Koi really ugly and prefer goldfish ponds

 

[SchottayB]

Can't wait to see this finished! Lovely looking goldfish you have

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the comments everyone so far v ! Second half of the concreting was finished today ;