Garden Pond Question

[Andrew_1990]

Hi all. My names Andrew and im new here, so please forgive me if this in the wrong forum. Simply put im a student and i have been assigned a project where i have to build a interactive application that shows people how to build garden ponds. I wont bore you with all the technical jargon but would really appreciate it if you could just tell me a few things. Any help is greatly appreciated!

1. What (if any) forms of help did you get or receive when you started to build your Garden Pond?
2. If you where to use some sort of interactive guide on a computer, what sort of features would you expect it to have?
3. Would you use a interactive pond guide building tutorial if one was available?

Once again, any help even if its a few sentences is extremely helpful in my project.

 

[sissy]

I had no guidance and went by instinct .The best tool for pond building is showing how deep a pond should be for your area and what predators are in your area you have to protect your pond from .It would be great if it had a section that tells you about different kinds of filter media and do it your self filters .Answers on plumbing and types of plumbing you can use and info on pumps and would be great if that gave a breakdown on energy use comparison and price estiments as with energy cost go up it seems people are wanting to choose how to cut back on the energy use and the first thing they look at is there pond pumps and aerators .Would be great if it included info on water testing and a list of resolves if your pond tests are bad .Liner comparisions and what electrical you will need to run a pond ,meaning what outlets and how many .It would also help make an area where you could upload a pic of the sight you want to build your pond and this will will help give you an idea if it will work and what kind of pond and shape you want and if it should be above ground or below ground or half and half .Shade or sun or part of each and also what kind of plants that work and don't work inside and outside the pond

 

[HARO]

Sissy; I guess I'm kind of old-fashioned... you just described several of my books on the subject! John

 

[whiskey]

hang on john , while i get your zimmer frame .. and a good book... .terry

 

[sissy]

Thats the thing there are books here on ponds but few and some are outdated or hard to follow .I think if there was a pond sight that gave you online detail it would be easier to follow

 

[HARO]

hang on john , while i get your zimmer frame .. and a good book... .terry

Sorry, Terry, but that's a new one on me... what is a Zimmer frame? :dunno: John

 

[CometKeith]

HI andrew. Welcome and good luck with your project. I think it's an interesting idea. There is so much information and misinformation on the web that it makes it hard for a newbie to decipher what to do. I would think you would have to divide it into two general types; one for traditional koi ponds and one for watergardens that would have fish and plants. Since I knew nothing when I started and I didn't even know anyone with a pond this sort of tutorial would have been immensely helpful. Some people that have ponds here actually knew other people with ponds or had someone guiding them so i don't know how important it would have been for them to have a tool like this.
To answer your questions: 1) I had a small booklet from Sunterra that came with my pond kit. It gave me a general idea but was void of a lot of information I should have known 2) All of the features and especially aftercare. Many people don't properly cycle their ponds and put too high of a bio-load in them and end up making their fish sick 3) absolutely yes if the cost was not prohibitive.
btw. Probably the best information you can get for your tutorial would come from some of the threads at gpf. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here.

 

[Andrew_1990]

Thanks again everyone. The information you have provided me so far is brilliant and thanks for doing the Poll as well. Just one more question i forgot to mention earlier. Before you started the construction of your Pond, did you first check online to see if any online tutorials existed?

 

[taherrmann4]

Andrew,
1. I read a few books and found some information on the web mostly from manufacturers of filters and skimmers and then I just started digging and collecting rock and before I knew it I had a hole with water in it and a waterfall in my own backyard.
2. If you are talking about a one stop site then I would have:

• A pond volume calculator
• Head pressure calculator something like this: http://www.your-garden-ponds-center.com/head-pressure-calculator.html
• Types of pumps (submersible/ external) what the differences are and pro's/ cons of each.
• Electrical usage and what a true cost of running is going to be, the person would enter the watts and number hours run x their kwh cost.
• Popular makers of equipment to maybe get someone started in the right direction that do not want to do a DIY filter/ skimmer
• DIY section for building your own filters/ skimmers.
• Bottom drain, what they are for and do I need it?
• Different types of plumbing pipes pro's and con's of each, what size diameter etc
• What type of pond are you going to have koi vs water garden this will effect what type of setup you will need.
• Caring for your pond once it is up and running.
• To use or not to use chemicals in your pond.

That is it for now. Good luck.

 

[addy1]

When you start to build a pond the calculators on the internet help with a lot of the questions that the builder has.

Like tmann says in his post calculators like this:
pond volume
http://www.pondcare.com/reference-center/pond-calculator/index.aspx

pond line size
http://www.pondliner.com/product/pond_liner_size_calculator/topics

electrical cost
http://garden-pond-filters.com/pondpumpcost.htm

This site has a lot of the calculators that might help you

http://www.garden-pond-filters.com/

Water chemistry, what the tests mean here is a nice site.

http://users.vcnet.com/rrenshaw/H2Oquality.html

A lot of decisions to be made before you start with the shovel.

 

[sissy]

I used a couple of the online tools but back when I built my pond there just was not that much info and some were confusing .In the list of things you had up there I had a problem picking just one .Most of the info I got on building a pond on the net at the time seemed to be the same thing and wanted to just sell you there products more than just telling you how to build one properly .They wanted to sell you there filters there chemicals or there videos or there pond building services and maintainance services .All of them even to this day say you should put rocks on the bottom of your pond .They seem to laugh at building your own filters and even some seem to say they build a better pond than you could .

 

[HARO]

Andrew; when I first started experimenting with garden ponds, the year was 1963 or thereabouts, so I'm quite certain no internet help was available! John

 

[fishin4cars]

Dang John, You started experimenting with garden ponds before I even saw first light, and I thought I was a old ponder! LOL
Andrew, Like the others I started keeping my first ponds long before we had computers. I started my first pond with an instruction pamphlet from tetra. Was on my third or forth pond by the time I read my first book. Many ponds, many books, many magazines, and many many hours on the INTERNET later I'm still learning and wanting to improve my design. As stated one thing with certainty is clarifying what a garden pond is, and a koi pond is. Not that they can't be combined but to be truly successful it should really be one or the other. I see some great ideas in your approach, an interactive book with CD or on-line support with video would be a awesome instructional guide. You've come to the forum for writing and your project advice, many ponders come to the forums for advice for ponds so you could get a lot of great information from forums, This is probably some of the best advice available at this time yet there is still so much that is correct yet so much that is not so correct .
Reading through the forums you learn after a while those that use successful old school methods that are tried and proven, there are those that go high tech with some builds. I would like to see a book that shows skimmer installation, bottom drain installation, TPR's and their uses and how different people set them up and install. Then also a good review on new filtering methods, such as Bakki Towers, sieves, rotary drums, easy pods, The hobby is growing in leaps and bounds in certain areas, but publishing good informative literature and how to books has become really quite scarce in the last decade. There are many older books that cover the basics. But as in any hobby you will always find those that want the most advanced information available, Not that a basic starter chapter shouldn't be included but a good writing InMyOpinion would include good information on some of the newer techniques of fish and pond keeping as they are being developed in a updated publication.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Andrew, There were not any tutorials available on line when I started my pond. I made a lot of beginner mistakes like set it too low and rainwater flooded it the first week. Also I didn't know about cycling and put in a 8" koi I got from a friend the second day. It will take a lot of research to combine the right information into a tutorial. If you read the threads here you will find that even "experts" disagree at times.

 

[addy1]

If you read the threads here you will find that even "experts" disagree at times.

At Times? lol yep that happens,

We know what works for us, our pond and some think their way is the best. But like said above, a person that has koi needs a slightly different setup than someone that keeps goldfish and wildlife. Someone growing koi for size, show needs a slightly different set up than a backyard koi keeper.
I keep goldfish, shubunkins, frogs, snails and whatever shows up. My needs are different than a koi keeper. That is your challenge to cover all the different needs, dependent on what the pond builder wants at the end of the journey.