Yippppeeeeeee I'm getting a pond

[sunflower]

OK so my boyfriend told me last night that as part of the major work we are doing in the back garden, he is planning a pond!!!! and he wants fish in it!!!!

I'm so excited!

Anyway, I know absolutely nothing about ponds, especially ponds with fish so I need you guys to help me.

Tell me everything I need to know, recommended pond sizes, depth, fish I can keep (not Koi), filtration, food, absolutely anything that might be useful...

Any advice, however menial it may seem to those of you who are experienced in this area will be very VERY much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[black angel]

I know nothing about ponds, but just wanted to say how lucky you are. Good luck with it and look forward to pics

 

[bribones]

sunflower where you based at ?

if your not going to keep koi that opens up the size youl need as you can go for a smaller pond with less depth ,what size do you want ?space available ?

preformed are good for the beginner can be buried or semi buried or raised
you need to decide on the size and location before you decide on filtration and pumps etc

partial shade is good for the fish in summer and apart from plants etc theres not much to it ,you just treat the pond as a big fishtank

uv filter and netting if trees are in the area ,substrate ie gravel and the rest is open to the imagination ,make a few choices then post the details and more advice will appear as if by magic ,youve picked the right time of year to start the project

 

[sunflower]

Yeah thats what I thought about the Koi/Size thing. Well really I'm open in terms of size. It's going to be a raised pond because it's going to be bridging two different height levels of the garden.

It will be above the ground on one side and dug into the higher ground level at the other side if that makes sense?

In terms of size (very approximate) we're probably looking at 2 metres by 3 metres with a depth of no more than a metre. (we're flexible on depth but the less digging we have to do the better!)

 

[sunflower]

Kinda like this:

Edit: Sorry bribones forgot to tell you, I'm in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.

 

[bribones]

looks good you could add a smaller header pool on the upper level to flow back down into the main pool this will solve the problem you might have with soil running into the lower pond,you could go for brick or timber for the supporting wall
brick would have to be renderd on the inside where timber would just have to be padded with foam ,either way your going to need a good quality liner ,pump and filter ,cornwall aquatics has some canny deals on at the moment ive posted the link in my post called "just checking my maths"the bottom would have to have sand in in case of any sharp stones that may punch through the liner,if theres no shade plant a few evergreens round the edges or have them free standing in pots

 

[sunflower]

Thanks for that, we don't particularly want a split level pond though. Would a water feature, like a stone monolith fountain, on the upper level flowing down into the bottom level be sufficient do you think?

Also, cornwall is a bit far for me to go for pond stuff unless we go camping for a weekend or something. I think it's about an 8 hour drive

 

[bribones]

cornwall aquatics will post the liner out to you

anything you think will look good is possible the main thing is to get the circulation right and the filtration ,all the rest is cosmetic

 

[andywg]

One good piece of advice I've been given is to put old carpet underneath your liner when you lay it as a cheap way to have soft supprot to help stop it splitting.

 

[sunflower]

cornwall aquatics will post the liner out to you

Hey! No need to laugh at me! I didnt know )

 

[bribones]

just as a rough idea ive just paid £51 for a 6x4 meter liner ,this will allow me a pond of 10ft x 5ft by aprrox 4ft deep, this was including postage

you can e-mail Tony Sands at

[email protected]

and ask for a quote ,if you dont want to do the maths just give him the size of pond required and he`ll work it out for you


i wasnt laughing at you i was laughing with you but it was funny

 

[OohFeeshy]

The water feature would look nice. It doesn't really matter what fish you have, but what kind of gallonage will it have?

 

[sunflower]

The water feature would look nice. It doesn't really matter what fish you have, but what kind of gallonage will it have?

Not sure how deep it's going to be yet. It will be about 2 metres wide by 3 metres long.

Thats part of what I was asking. How deep should we make it?

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

I say you make it 100 ft deep and store free willy in it!

Actually,

Sunflower my neighbor has a pond that is above ground with stone surrounding it along with some plants, it looks very nice. He has approx 1 1/2 feet deep. And it is stocked with some small fish that I dont know , I havent been over there to see the new fish in it yet. I DO know that it has a very nice filtration system that goes from the pond INTO his basement where it meets a canister filter. ! I have no idea how its runs and all that jazz. Some food for thought

Perhaps you may want just 1ft or 2ft deep? If I was getting one Id have just a foot and have smaller coldwater fish in it. But thats is up to you

 

[sunflower]

ty DSF, nice to see you posting again

Anyhoo, anybody know what kind of fish I can keep in a pond that's 6ft 6" wide by 9ft 9" long by 3ft 3" deep?