My Pond Diary, With Pics :) !

[Tokis-Phoenix]

We ended up going for the butyl liner (because it is less thick, it is more flexable, and we really need a flexable liner for this pond shape for everything to work properly ) and have it on order, its gonna arive in 2weeks hopefully .

The total length of the pond from tip to tip is 7 metres long and 4 metres wide, i dunno how many gallons that is but the guy who came to size up the pond liner estimated the pond to be around 5000 gallons- the deepest pond is 4ft deep, the middle connecting section is 2ft deep and the shallower pond is 3ft deep .

I'm not sure if i am going to go for koi yet or not, my two goldfish (an orange comet and an orange common goldfish- the comet has small areas of white scales) are the priority- once the pond is finished i am going to settle them in ASAP and get them a couple of comet and common goldfish buddies.
When i first adopted them they were only 3-4inches long and because the owner had apparently had them for years i thought that stunted growth had taken too big a toll on their bodies for them to grow any larger, but since i have had them in my 30gal they have grown to more like 6inches plus now and are very active and healthy.
I need to get the pond done as soon as posible for them as although their current accomodation is 30gals, its a tall tank that doesn't offer much length to swim in, and i am afraid they are now rapidly outgrowing the tank. Ah well, i expect they'll be pretty chuffed when they move into the pond at least !


I haven't a clue on how to go about pond filtration though...The more i read the more confuzed i get ! Can anyone point me in the right direction for ideas for suitable pond filtration/pumps etc? I feel like i need to start to researching all over again !

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Update! Sorry i meant to keep this thread more update, but here's the pond all dug, then the process of getting it lined we went through today .
The pond is dug!

Despite the lack of rain we have had recently, the pond still filled up a fair bit due to the thick clay soil, i guess at least if the liner ever gets punctured we won't have to worry about the pond draining ;

After draining it we had to put down sand to protect the underlay and liner ;

Getting the underlay out;

Pic the window above in the house of the underlay;

Ground level pic;

Hand on for more pics..





Pulling the liner out now the underlay is in;

Once the pond started to fill up everybody decided to chill out for a bit in the pond ;

My fiance;

Me? Hehe, i got a bit too wet filling up the pond, i shall post pics of me and the pond at some poin soon in the next update .

 

[smithrc]

might be too late now

BUT - if you take a meter reading before and after filling the pond you can claim back the costs of the water...

and 5000 gallons is quite a bit

(and youd be able to work out its size too)

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

might be too late now

BUT - if you take a meter reading before and after filling the pond you can claim back the costs of the water...

and 5000 gallons is quite a bit

(and youd be able to work out its size too)

Hehe, don't have a meter, so don't have to pay for the 5000gals !

 

[smithrc]

might be too late now

BUT - if you take a meter reading before and after filling the pond you can claim back the costs of the water...

and 5000 gallons is quite a bit

(and youd be able to work out its size too)

Hehe, don't have a meter, so don't have to pay for the 5000gals !

In that case give them a call anyway, I believe you are actually intitled to a refund anyway as its being used to help nature of something like that

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

might be too late now

BUT - if you take a meter reading before and after filling the pond you can claim back the costs of the water...

and 5000 gallons is quite a bit

(and youd be able to work out its size too)

Hehe, don't have a meter, so don't have to pay for the 5000gals !

In that case give them a call anyway, I believe you are actually intitled to a refund anyway as its being used to help nature of something like that

I don't think we will be able to as we are on a fixed rate either way regardless of how much or how little water we use

 

[willtang3000]

might be too late now

BUT - if you take a meter reading before and after filling the pond you can claim back the costs of the water...

and 5000 gallons is quite a bit

(and youd be able to work out its size too)

Hehe, don't have a meter, so don't have to pay for the 5000gals !

In that case give them a call anyway, I believe you are actually intitled to a refund anyway as its being used to help nature of something like that

I don't think we will be able to as we are on a fixed rate either way regardless of how much or how little water we use

same but everyone has a water meter as if you go outside you will find those little drain cover fingys if you lift them up there meters in there you just have to locate them first

 

[guppy_man]

looking good, i know its a bit early, but do you know what type of fish you are having tin there yet?
maybe some koi, commets?


keep the pictures coming

 

[Egmel]

You might want to read up about it on your water company's website before calling them because some companies make you pay more if you have large bodies of water that require topping up. I know this is the case for swimming pools etc. but I'm not sure where they draw the line on nature reserves and ornamental fish ponds.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

looking good, i know its a bit early, but do you know what type of fish you are having tin there yet?
maybe some koi, commets?


keep the pictures coming

There's definately going to be goldfish in there as i already have 2 in a 30gal tank (1comet and 1common goldfish) that i want to move into the pond once we've dechlorinated it and got a decent filtration system in there.
I will get some more goldfish to keep them company in the pond, and i will probably be getting some ghost carp too- a friend of a friend of mine apparently has an overstocked pond and they want to get rid of many of their fish (i think they have both goldfish and koi) so i guess i'll take a few of theirs to help stock my pond up a bit .
I think it would be nice to have a pond full of adopted fish as my current goldfish are adopted too (pics of my two goldfish);

 

[jkrekord]

hehe foster care fishies great pond its lookin good keep the piccys an updates coming

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks, i will try to get some pics in a mo , one question though- when it comes to pond filtration, what exactly do i need? I have seen people referring to "pumps" and "filters", are these two separate things in ponds or the same thing? Sorry, my knowledge on fish keeping tends to revolve around tansk not ponds .
I could really do with some answers, so i would appreiciate any info at all !

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Updates! I have two updates, one of the ponds progress i meant to post a while back, and one very recent one on todays and yestersdays work .
I decided i wanted a waterfall for the pond, so we set about making one from smashed up concrete slabs from our old patio (we are going to replace it anyway, we decided to recycle the concrete though and use it for the base of the waterfall along with other stuff we collected from the garden like old bricks we had tidied up).
We have also ordered massive quantities of large slate blocks and slabs as well as large and small cobbles for the waterfall (we've used probably hundreds of stones now) and still need more to for the work.
Anyhoo, here's the progress and me starting on the foundation for the waterfall;

After creating a seat-like shape out of broken concrete slabs for the waterfall slabs to sit in, we pulled the liner over it. Me and my fiance;

Starting to cover up the sides with slate blocks;

We have boughts loads more ponds plants and normal plants (mostly ferns) and stones/rocks as well as slate shingle, we did a lot of work over the pond in the last couple of days and managed to snap these pics before it started raining of the waterfall area so far;

The corner;

The other side;

As you can see, the other half of the pond has been kinda neglected during all the waterfall work, but it shouldn't be for long ;

Hope you like the pics .

 

[black angel]

Nice to see it coming along and the waterfall looks great

 

[ridewake210]

ah this thing looks magnificent already!


great work!