Outdoor Pond

[mettjl03]

I just bought a new home and was thinking about putting in a smaller pond with fish in the backyard. Does anyone on this site have one? If you do was it hard to put in and what type of maintenance does it require? I figure it cant be harder to care for than my reef tanks. Please let me know what you think.... Oh and any other suggestions on pond plants or whatever would be great!

ps... Happy St. Pats Day!

 

[kospaintball]

This a sw or fw pond?

 

[mettjl03]

freshwater

 

[PEMfish]

I dont have one personally but have helped install and maintain a few.

Your use of the word small concerns me. Go to small and the the maintenance required increases, water temperature raises to high in the sun and it is hard to keep stable. Most poeple with small ponds seems to need bigger ones a couple of seasons later. Save some money and go with the bigger one now.

 

[mettjl03]

Thanks Paul I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Shazbah]

Paul is absolutley correct. Pond fish need room vertically as well as horizontaly. 4ft should be the minimum depth or problems set in like water gets to warm.(the deeper the pond the cooler at the bottom). Then in winter it gets to cold(deeper the pond warmer at the bottom).I keep koi and have a 4000 gall koi pond and i have learn't alot. This is my 4th pond and i should have done it right in the begining and saved myself alot of money. I'm not sugesting you need one that big but bigger is easier so just go as big as you can with space provided. You will need a good filteration system this is where your money should be spent. You will also need a UV as algae in ponds is a big problem.
Do it once and do it right.Plan it carefully
Hope this helps
Sharon

 

[PEMfish]

Yeah dont skimp on anything especially filtration ( which includes UV ).
Planning is key; some points to consider are the edges, bottom, and flow.
Do you want a "zero edge" type where the edges slope into the pond like a beach ( much more natural looking and attractive ) or a vertical drop into the water like a pool ( helps keep fish safe from predators )? Do you want to cover the bottom in gravel, a few large rocks, or leave it exposed? Gravel may trap debris and foul the water thus requiring more maintenance. Rocks provide shelter and shade for the fish and add a nice touch. When considering flow consider wind. Which way dose the wind generally blow? You will want to place the skimmer at the most down wind point as possible. The skimmer will suck surface scum and leaves into it, if that flow is opposed by the wind the efficiency will be reduced. Dead spots are another common problem, my advice; avoid them. This may require the use of some smaller supplementary pumps.

 

[mettjl03]

I was planning on making it at least 3000gals... So I guess its not going to be a small pond. I just need to know where to start. I don't want a zero edge pond at all. I have dogs that need to be some what blocked from this area. I will be covering the bottom with gravel. I need more help with what type or brand of filters and equipment I should be getting. Is there a good website that I should order a pond kit from? What do you think

 

[BigAl07]

I bet she ends up taking a beer keg, cutting it in half and burying it in the ground. That's what she'll call a "Outdoor Pond"

 

[mettjl03]

Don't be a hater smallen... Ur such a turd

 

[minicrazy592]

My parents put one in our old house when I was younger (12). I was the official maintainer of the pond. It wasn't that hard to keep clean even under Pine and Oak trees with a Dogwood hanging over it. All we had was a water fall directly across the pond from the filter. The filter took care of the leaves and most of everything. When picking plants I did my research on what type of fish we wanted to stock it with. My parents wanted a Koi pond, so my parents had the landscapers build the pond like their natural habitat and stock it with plants from the same area. As a result our Koi were extremely happy and actually reproduced many times enough that we never had to worry about the fish the raccoons ate. We also had toads and bull frogs out the wazoo, enough that I a small toad farm that my mom hated separate from the pond.

As said before, filtration and design is going to be your friend. I didn't have a UV sterilizer on ours. It could defiantly help. I did water changes enough I really didn't have to worry about it. Also put in as big of pond you can afford/have room for.

 

[Luukosian]

This is something like what I was thinking about when I was talking to you about it before but on a smaller scale.(don't have as much room in my back yard)


http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/Garden_pond_koi9.JPG

 

[Shazbah]

If your planning on 3000 gals youll need a good filter. In the uk the most popular filter(i have one) is
Nexus Filter, Koi Pond and Water Garden Filtration Systems
Dont know if u can get them where you live but they are fab. You don't even get your hands wet when cleaning them you just turn a couple of valves and the filter does all the work and flushes waste away.
You will also need a good air pump as you need to pump oxygen into the water 24/7. Whatever filter you buy will tell you what size pump you need to run the filter. My pond is semi raised as i have dogs and before i raised it the dogs were messing with the pond all the time, now they don't bother.
Putting gravel on the bottom will cause problems as all the detrius will build up and sit in between the stones. If your planning on having lillies then they will soon cover the surface so you wont see the bottom anyway. Pond fish will constantly stir the gravel up and make a mess. One day clean water next day dirty.I have not yet had a Koi that did'nt eat my plants. Once they get to a certain size they will eat everything, and they grow very big so keep that in mind if wanting Koi
Sharon

 

[BigAl07]

I.....You don't even get your hands wet when cleaning them you just turn a couple of valves and the filter does all the work and flushes waste away.....

Now I like the sound of that! Sounds like a sweet deal!!!

 

[mettjl03]

Nice pics guys!!! Thanks for the help... I might have to keep this thread going so I can post pictures of the process... It will be a bit yet before I start this project (because I am in Wisconsin). Any other suggestions are appreciated!!! JT do you know how much your parents paid to have the landscapers put it in? That's what I'm debating right now. I'm not sure if I should hire someone to do it or try to do it myself... Sharon did you build yours or hire some1?

 

[minicrazy592]

I going to say about 1k with labour. I watched them do everything and honestly I could have done it in a weekend. It's extremely simple set up. I'll make a drawing later showing it.

 

[Shazbah]

Hi Jess
I paid someone to do mine. It was a friend but i did as much work as he did. My pond is nearly 6 ft deep so i did most of the digging and shoveling. He laid the linner the bottom drains,brick work, but i helped mixing up the cement and was a general fetch and carrier. This picture was the pond i had before the koi pond was built but i built this one myself. Yes i did it all.
Sharon

 

[mettjl03]

Thanks JT, that would be really helpful. Sharon I was talking with someone a couple days ago and they said if I dug the pond deep enough I wouldn't have to take the fish out in the winter (keep in mind I live in Wisconsin so it gets below zero). Do you think this would be possible to do? How far down would you did to achieve this?

 

[Shazbah]

Jess
The deeper the better, but a minimum of 4ft. My mum has a small pond and it's only just over 2ft. We had a hard winter this year minus 6 and she lost quite a few fish. When builbing your pond try to bypass a waterfall so you can keep the filter running all winter then the pond wont freeze. I have a waterfall with a 2 way tap on the piping so i can bypass waterfall in winter and send water back to pond with a bit of piping. What this does is, it keeps the water moving and filtered. I f you don't do this you will have to turn pumps/filters off as the water going down the waterfall gets colder than the water in the pond. A minimum of 4 ft and all fish should survive winter. Anymore questions just fire away
Sharon

 

[Kovu]

Thats an awsome outdoor pond shazabh