After many years of dreaming and 2 seasons of construction...

[slakker]

I finally finished my pond. Now I'm here to figure out how to maintain it! :biggrin:

Here's are some progression pics...



IMG_0558 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0559 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0361 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0363 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0602 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0603 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0604 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0609 by slakker, on Flickr

 

[addy1]

beautiful!! Love the rock work and the water falls, the whole layout! beautiful

 

[slakker]

Thanks... I'm pretty proud of this as it's my first pond build...

 

[addy1]

Well for a first it is wonderful, even for a 10th pond lol.

What kind of fish? what kind of filter? that would help anyone help you with keeping it clean, maintenance.
Where do you live, that would help too. IE how cold your area is.

 

[slakker]

I estimate the pond to be ~1200 US Gallons. The top pond is 4 feet deep and the bottom is 3 feet deep with sheer sides (I read that'll be good against raccoons). But I did put in a stone shelf in both ponds so I can put plants at about the 12"-24" depth. The water lily that I have suspended on the bamboo stick in now in the water on the shelf and the leaves are reaching the surface.

I also have some water hyacinth, hornwort and some cat tails. The clumps of japanese lilies and papyrus are in a bog area that I build so they are part of the ponds' liner.

I have 14 shubunkins in there right now and they seems to be doing well.

I only run a single Laguna 5000 Skimmer on it right now... and I have a river rock/pebble bottom. And we live in the pacific Northwest in beautiful Vancouver. :biggrin:

 

[addy1]

I love my shubunkins, real pretty fish, easier to care for the koi, they can handle the cold. Glad you put in a nice deep pond, that will help the fish handle the cold. I have shubunkins in a 1000 gallon pond, now seeing some little fry. Will be fun to see the colors they turn.

I have no problem with raccoons, lots of problems with herons. Have to keep a net high over the pond to keep the suckers from snacking on my fish.

goldfish shubunkins in the big pond.

 

[DrCase]

I second that the stone work is great ! Good job

 

[CometKeith]

Everything looks great. Fantastic for a 1st pond. I agree with the goldfish idea. They are way easier to care for. There is a link below to my goldfish pond.
We have been using a lot of that stack stone lately in construction. We did a fireplace surround today and mitered the corners. It's a lot of work to do it that way but looks good.

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/6742-my-goldfish-pond/

 

[slakker]

Thanks... Given where we live, our pond could have easily ended up a bear bath or a heron and raccoon feeding station, so we thought to stay away from kois for now.

The basalt stacking wall rocks worked great, I spent a lot of time with a spirit and laser level to ensure the first ledge of rock was under water given the waterfall as reference. Also over hanged them a few inches to disguise the liner, but also a place the fishes can swim in and out of.

 

[j.w]

Looks beautiful and love how you did your brick work and high waterfall!

 

[callingcolleen1]

It looks just beautiful! The work must have been very hard, moving all that stones and building that big wall, but now you can relax by the and and enjoy then nice the scenery all summer long, and I hear the summers in Vancouver are very nice and long, lucky you!!

 

[slakker]

It took 2 seasons... last year, I put up the masonry and ledgstone structure, then this year I finished it. My wife did most of the design and I did the engineering (helps that's what I am)

Also lucky was having my 23 year old nephew with us this year, he carried almost all of the 4000+ lbs of stone from the driveway to the pond area! Ah to be young and full of energy again!

The summer here are awesome! Been so hot the last 3 weeks that with the waterfalls, I have to top up the water daily. But the winters are constant rain, so I had to install an overflow in the skimmer box. I almost forgot about that and if the water came over the liner, I wasn't sure what mess would ensue...

 

[waynefrcan]

Nice use of space! Not too high?

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, very good to have a overflow, all ponds should have an overflow area, where the excess water is carried well away from the foundation of the pond. This way the founation of the pond will not be undermined by the water flowing under liner.

Good team effort on the pond! So nice that you and the wife planned it and worked together, that way it will be more rewarding for both of you. 23 years ago I built my first pond where nothing nice had been. As soon as I was done with that first little pond, hubby come out to see what I had done, and that got him going and he planted a lovely garden beside my pond. It was good to work together, and last week we worked together in the back and pulled weeds behind the fence, my hubby is getting better at weeding too....

 

[slakker]

@waynefcan - I'm not sure if it's too high, but the waterfall is only about 28 inches and the splash seems to be well contained. There's a bit of a shallow area behind the waterfall and the fishes in the lower pond swim tight into and under the falls. The other silly thing is some of them actually ride the waterfall down! Originally started with 3 in the upper pond, then the next day, there was one in the lower. Even now, I have to move some fished back up when too many end up in the lower pond. I started keeping the floating plants by the upper ponds riverbed that feeds the water fall, that seems to reduce the "dare devils"...

My wife and I have been working in our yard for the last 7 years, the lower pond will eventually lead to the "main" pond in the yard which should be large enough to hold another 3000-5000 Gallons.

Here's some pictures of the rest of the landscaping.



IMG_0613 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0505 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0404 by slakker, on Flickr



IMG_0249 by slakker, on Flickr