Another Newbie Pond Build in the works

[cbay]

Hello everyone, I have been wanting to build a pond for many years now. Just bought a new house and have many honey-do projects so I have just reading and watching youtube whenever I can on pond building. I want to build a pond in my back yard with a bog waterfall into the pond into a negative edge or stream and then negative edge but I have so many questions and I know everyone here has answers. He is a picture of my back yard that is a blank canvas right now. I have been desiging this in my head for months now and it keeps changing. Hopefully you can help me answer some of my questions so I can put the shovel to the ground before it gets hot again. He are some of the questions I currently have.

1. How close or far to the fence should I have the pond (I was thinking the NW portion of the backyard)?

2. Would it be better to build it N-S or E-W?

3. How would the sun effect it if it is so far away from the only tree in the back yard?

Please let me know what you think and I look forward to all the knowledge that is within this group.

 

[brokensword]

Hello everyone, I have been wanting to build a pond for many years now. Just bought a new house and have many honey-do projects so I have just reading and watching youtube whenever I can on pond building. I want to build a pond in my back yard with a bog waterfall into the pond into a negative edge or stream and then negative edge but I have so many questions and I know everyone here has answers. He is a picture of my back yard that is a blank canvas right now. I have been desiging this in my head for months now and it keeps changing. Hopefully you can help me answer some of my questions so I can put the shovel to the ground before it gets hot again. He are some of the questions I currently have.

1. How close or far to the fence should I have the pond (I was thinking the NW portion of the backyard)?

2. Would it be better to build it N-S or E-W?

3. How would the sun effect it if it is so far away from the only tree in the back yard?

Please let me know what you think and I look forward to all the knowledge that is within this group.

Howdy and welcome!

1. stay far back enough to do future fence work easily; otherwise, not an issue. Though, you SHOULD know where any underground utilities run and often, the back of the lot has an easment (which you do not own) so find out how far from the lot line that runs and don't build there.

2. Doesn't matter as you have fulll sun. Most of the time, build for viewing purposes. That is, if you WANT to see the waterfall from a house window, make sure your waterfall faces that way. If you're going to go out and sit by your pond, consider if you want the sun in your eyes, at your back, or to either side all afternoon. If you plan on taking lots of pics where sun glare will ruin a lot of water pics, have the sun be AT YOUR BACK.

3. Sun should have no effect for the reason you stated. Most pond plants that flower need 4-6 hours direct sun. A consideration here is that the more sunshine you have, the more effort you'll have to put in to keep algae at bay (the free floating kind, not the type you want on all your UW surfaces).

Draw something up based on some design you already like as this will be easiest for you to imagine/visualize as well as be less likely to be changed as you begin building. You can incorp ideas from various ponds you like/have seen. Your creativity is the only limitation, imo.

 

[cbay]

Thanks so much for your feedback. I fogot to metion I had already call 811 a couple months ago and everyone came out and marked the lines and there is nothing in the picture. There are some just close to the house.

 

[j.w]

and welcome @cbay

Boy you have a really nice big blank slate to work w/to make yourself a beautiful huge pond! I'd try to stay away from the trees as the leaves can really make a mess of your pond water. You can plant other things around your pond that don't make such a mess and will give you some shade. Evergreen or palm trees etc. ones that don't shed tons of leaves will work great.
I have a hardy palm I just love next to mine and there is an evergreen type tree to the left also. That Japanese Maple is quite pretty too but it is too close to my pond and can make a mess depending on which way the wind is blowing when it sheds it's leaves.

 

[cbay]

View attachment 146346and welcome @cbay

Boy you have a really nice big blank slate to work w/to make yourself a beautiful huge pond! I'd try to stay away from the trees as the leaves can really make a mess of your pond water. You can plant other things around your pond that don't make such a mess and will give you some shade. Evergreen or palm trees etc. ones that don't shed tons of leaves will work great.
I have a hardy palm I just love next to mine and there is an evergreen type tree to the left also. That Japanese Maple is quite pretty too but it is too close to my pond and can make a mess depending on which way the wind is blowing when it sheds it's leaves.

View attachment 146347

View attachment 146348

That is beautiful. I would love to have a japanese maple. I am going to need help with the landscaping ideas. I would really love to hide the fence.

 

[j.w]

That is beautiful. I would love to have a japanese maple. I am going to need help with the landscaping ideas. I would really love to hide the fence.

Thank you and you can have the pretty trees like the Japanese Maple, just don't put them right over your pond like I did. You have so much room you can really make a gorgeous pond and property. Many beautiful trees and plants will work great near your fence. Not too close to your fence tho as you don't want big trees w/big roots to come up close to it and ruin it. Just keep looking here at everyone's ponds and get ideas from all of them to start on yours.

 

[brokensword]

View attachment 146346and welcome @cbay

Boy you have a really nice big blank slate to work w/to make yourself a beautiful huge pond! I'd try to stay away from the trees as the leaves can really make a mess of your pond water. You can plant other things around your pond that don't make such a mess and will give you some shade. Evergreen or palm trees etc. ones that don't shed tons of leaves will work great.
I have a hardy palm I just love next to mine and there is an evergreen type tree to the left also. That Japanese Maple is quite pretty too but it is too close to my pond and can make a mess depending on which way the wind is blowing when it sheds it's leaves.

View attachment 146347

View attachment 146348

I know we've been down this road before (multiple times) but when I consider how hard you work getting firewood all year, and how easy an above ground bog filter would be, just can't reconcile why you haven't already added something? Could make it beyond your path, create a shallow river to the pond, and have the bog dump back that way. You only would need a box built from 4x6s, some liner, some pea stone and small amount of plumbing parts. Not like the two of you aren't both creative and industrious...I have no doubt this could be built in less than a day, including wheelbarrowing the stone in.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forum.

 

[j.w]

I know we've been down this road before (multiple times) but when I consider how hard you work getting firewood all year, and how easy an above ground bog filter would be, just can't reconcile why you haven't already added something? Could make it beyond your path, create a shallow river to the pond, and have the bog dump back that way. You only would need a box built from 4x6s, some liner, some pea stone and small amount of plumbing parts. Not like the two of you aren't both creative and industrious...I have no doubt this could be built in less than a day, including wheelbarrowing the stone in.

Maybe some day but it just bugs me I didn't know about this a long time ago before I built it.

 

[brokensword]

Maybe some day but it just bugs me I didn't know about this a long time ago before I built it.

there's a lot of things we never get exposed to (or to the people that know stuff), so it's normal. I'D never heard of having natural filtration; I've always seen it as the 'over the tank' type filter box and motor. I did this for decades and when I learned re bog/natural filters, I looked at my salt water tank in a new way.

So, can't get ya to make THIS your next project instead of digging up the private road? You know the only hard part would be moving pea gravel into your bog box, right?

 

[GBBUDD]

How big a pond do you want how much are you looking to spend on DYI
is this your first pond build?


DIRECTION MATTERS little but i would not want to be looking westerly as you'll be looking into the sun all after noon so more north south is my preference.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

My ponds , stream , bog are all full sun. It makes no difference to the ponds health. The lilies love the sun, the bog plants love the sun, never have green water or algae overload due to the bog keeping the water healthy.

Like said above build it where you can see it well. Mine is down the hill, no choice, we are on such a slope, but I can see the pond just looking out the windows see the lilies bloom see some of the fish.

 

[cbay]

How big a pond do you want how much are you looking to spend on DYI
is this your first pond build?

This is going to be my first build. The pond size keeps growing and I am looking to save as much money as possible lol. The reality is I am about 1-2k I am trying to budget for. I first wanted a 10' x 10' pond but now it more like a 15' x 20' or bigger depending on cost. The good thing is that I access to lots of rock so that should cut out some of the expense. I have been collecting some here and there. I got 3 free loads of pea gravel from someone house who no longer wanted them.

DIRECTION MATTERS little but i would not want to be looking westerly as you'll be looking into the sun all after noon so more north south is my preference.View attachment 146354

 

[GBBUDD]

i had access to boulders as well i still dumped close to 30k, 2 k gets you a puddle with an air stone.. not really but a helix skimmer for instance in 700 bucks if i remember correctly