OK - the first pond starts tomorrow

It has been a few years since I filled in the old pond (wrong location
and a small toddler)......the little one can now swim so the time is now
right again. There are three possible locations for a pond, all of
which, I'm sure will end up as ponds in the end. But for now, I need to
fix the water feature so extending it to a small puddle should not be
too much extra work.

The "water feature" consists of a reservoir taking the water up to a
prefab waterfall covered in rocks so looks reasonably natural. The
problem is that the darn thing leaks - so at the very least I will need
to lift it out and line it so all the water goes back into the reservoir
- a water feature doesn't look quite right if you need the hose pipe
running into it to keep it topped up when you run it - lol....the
resident frogs don't seem to care though....

So my thoughts are I may as well extend it to create a small
pond......the plan would be to line the drop into the reservoir but
continue to use the pre-fab (maybe)......remove the grilling and the
reservoir itself and dig out a bit further. The reservoir already goes
below the frost line so I don't need to go deeper.

The pond/puddle itself will not be of any great capacity.....I'm
thinking a few goldfish/shubunkins and a lot of oxygenating
plants......by the time the fish outgrow it the larger pond should be
under construction/finished. The top reservoir would be heavily planted
to act as a veggie filter (and I love watercress so that would probably
be the plant of choice). The circulation would be done by the existing
Hozelock pump (I forget it's exact turnover - it has been there for 5
years). I'm looking at a light fish stock and using plants and the
veggie filter to provide the only filtration.....the pump will aerate
the water.....

Anyone see any flaws in this plan? (apart from disturbing the frogs)

TIA
Gill

Gill Passman wrote:
> It has been a few years since I filled in the old pond (wrong location
> and a small toddler)......the little one can now swim so the time is
> now right again. There are three possible locations for a pond, all of
> which, I'm sure will end up as ponds in the end. But for now, I need
> to fix the water feature so extending it to a small puddle should not
> be too much extra work.
>
> The "water feature" consists of a reservoir taking the water up to a
> prefab waterfall covered in rocks so looks reasonably natural. The
> problem is that the darn thing leaks - so at the very least I will
> need to lift it out and line it so all the water goes back into the
> reservoir - a water feature doesn't look quite right if you need the
> hose pipe running into it to keep it topped up when you run it -
> lol....the resident frogs don't seem to care though....
>
> So my thoughts are I may as well extend it to create a small
> pond......the plan would be to line the drop into the reservoir but
> continue to use the pre-fab (maybe)......remove the grilling and the
> reservoir itself and dig out a bit further. The reservoir already goes
> below the frost line so I don't need to go deeper.
>
> The pond/puddle itself will not be of any great capacity.....I'm
> thinking a few goldfish/shubunkins and a lot of oxygenating
> plants......by the time the fish outgrow it the larger pond should be
> under construction/finished. The top reservoir would be heavily
> planted to act as a veggie filter (and I love watercress so that
> would probably be the plant of choice). The circulation would be done
> by the existing Hozelock pump (I forget it's exact turnover - it has
> been there for 5 years). I'm looking at a light fish stock and using
> plants and the veggie filter to provide the only filtration.....the
> pump will aerate the water.....
>
> Anyone see any flaws in this plan? (apart from disturbing the frogs)
>
> TIA
> Gill
Me? I'm forecasting a very hot summer. Will a veggie filter be enough?
You're talking small puddle and a 'few' fish........I have an uneasy feeling
about this Gill. Got some diagrams/dimensions/gallonage?
--
ßôyþëtë
London, UK

I think it sounds good.
And thinking ahead of the game - soooo much
I would do differently now - but where's the fun
in that!
The next best thing to planning out a new pond
is watching over someone else's shoulder...

k :-)

BoyPete wrote:

>
> Me? I'm forecasting a very hot summer. Will a veggie filter be enough?
> You're talking small puddle and a 'few' fish........I have an uneasy feeling
> about this Gill. Got some diagrams/dimensions/gallonage?

Sadly, until I start out digging I can't give any stats on the size of
the thing....but think a lot of barrel water features, highly
oxygenated......may not even put in any fish but it would be a shame not
to.....the key, is to heavily plant, at least that is what I am working
on....and a very low fish bio-load.....not much different to the indoor
tanks coping with high temps.......

Gill

PS Have you still got that pond fleece on offer.....might take it off
your hands in the next day or so

k wrote:
> I think it sounds good.
> And thinking ahead of the game - soooo much
> I would do differently now - but where's the fun
> in that!
> The next best thing to planning out a new pond
> is watching over someone else's shoulder...
>
> k :-)
>

Ah, but this just a natural extension of a water feature I need to
fix......my eye is very much on the place for the real pond, he,
he......and yes, it does involve getting rid of some of that dratted
lawn.........however it is a pretty major project whereas this one is
simple.....if it just keeps the frogs happy I'll be happy but I want
plants and fish tooo......

Gill

You must keep the frogs happy!
We took out the old frog bog and one of
them ended up on the deck talking to
us all night about it!

k :-)

k wrote:
> You must keep the frogs happy!
> We took out the old frog bog and one of
> them ended up on the deck talking to
> us all night about it!
>
> k :-)
>

Well, my guess about the frogs was entirely correct....lifted two rocks
and found two frogs. Put the rock back while I think of the best way to
deal with them without making them play things for the dog and cat. I'm
hoping that I can get them to jump into the reservoir once I get the
grid off of the top of it. It's not going to stop me doing the
groundwork though....it's just that I wanted to remove the waterfall to
get a better picture in my head as to how best to do this.....hey, ho.....

Gill

BoyPete wrote:

>
> Me? I'm forecasting a very hot summer. Will a veggie filter be enough?
> You're talking small puddle and a 'few' fish........I have an uneasy feeling
> about this Gill. Got some diagrams/dimensions/gallonage?

OK....I retract my first answer to this.....having just cleared the area
in question I think that the pond is going to be a bit bigger than I
first imagined......It will be around 8 foot in length with the width
varying from approx 7 foot down to 2'6" at the narrowest
part......haven't worked out how much this equates to in gallons as I
don't know until I start digging how deep I can go - certainly at least
2 foot at the deepest (probably more) but maybe only 1 foot max at the
shallowest - there is a soakaway pipe which I think I might avoid but
can't be sure until I shift some soil.

It's going to be a pretty odd shape as there are some big granite slabs
and bamboo clumps that need to be worked around, they are not about to
move, so I need to maybe look into how to do good joins on the pond
liner as I'm not convinced that I can do it all in one.

The digging will start tomorrow. As it all has to be done by hand (can't
get a digger down the side of the house) this may take a while.
Fortunately, with all the rain we have had recently the soil is still
quite damp and workable. It is a heavy clay soil so goes rock solid
after a few weeks of sun.

Gill

Will there be some turns or jogs in the
shape?
Good luck with the digging. We have BOULDERS
in our yard (basketball size). One so big we had
to dig a hole beside it and get the football player
across the street to help roll it into its new hole.
(Our own football player needed about five years
growth before he could have done it...)

k :-)

Sounds good to me, Gill. As long as you work with a low fish load, a veggie
filter will be fine. If the next section of pond is going to be bigger and
deeper you might want to consider a bottom drain & skimmer at the time.
Maintenance wise they make life simpler.

What is your plan regarding keeping the fish from eating the frog eggs? I
always pulled my goldfish out in the spring and put them back when the
tadpoles were big enough not to be eaten. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us