Hello Everyone

[Beenzie]

Hello everyone,

I‘m new here and am building my first pond in the backyard. Still in the digging process right now, but I’m sure I am going to have lots of questions. Been browsing the forum for the last few days. Look forward to communicating with others here with similar interests.

 

[brokensword]

read faster as you'll want some insight to exactly how you're going to re-dig parts after learning what you didn't know! I kid but seriously, you might make some changes based on ideas on the forum you think work for you!

Welcome to GPF! Can't wait until you get LPS. Hopefully you'll survive GPS and soon want to enroll in the BFC! Careful you don't get a bad case of MFS!

 

[JRS]

Welcome Beenzie!

 

[CometKeith]

Hello everyone,

I‘m new here and am building my first pond in the backyard. Still in the digging process right now, but I’m sure I am going to have lots of questions. Been browsing the forum for the last few days. Look forward to communicating with others here with similar interests.

Hi Beenzie. Welcome and good luck with your pond build. You may want to start a thread under pond construction and post pictures and questions as you go. How many gallons are you planning for your pond and what type of fish were you thinking? Koi usually need over 1000 gallons so if this is your first pond it might be easier to try goldfish.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

 

[j.w]

@Beenzie

 

[Beenzie]

read faster as you'll want some insight to exactly how you're going to re-dig parts after learning what you didn't know! I kid but seriously, you might make some changes based on ideas on the forum you think work for you!

Welcome to GPF! Can't wait until you get LPS. Hopefully you'll survive GPS and soon want to enroll in the BFC! Careful you don't get a bad case of MFS!

Brokensword you are going to have to teach me what all the acronyms mean. Lol.

 

[Beenzie]

Hi Beenzie. Welcome and good luck with your pond build. You may want to start a thread under pond construction and post pictures and questions as you go. How many gallons are you planning for your pond and what type of fish were you thinking? Koi usually need over 1000 gallons so if this is your first pond it might be easier to try goldfish.

Hi CometKeith

I am jumping In both feet so to speak. When watching numerous videos and looking at pictures I decided I wanted to build a bigger pond in hopes of avoiding the expansion urge soon after the new build. Plus we live on a cul de sac and have a pretty good sized backyard. My pond is kind of an L shape and will require a 30x30 pond liner to cover it. Max depth will be 3 feet or slightly over and it will have some ledges about 15 inches down in most of the pond. I am going to build a waterfall at one end with a skimmer at the other and have already added the idea of a bog filter inside the L shape that will fall back into the pond as well. I’m estimating it will most likely be somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 gallons after it is lined with rock. Leaning towards Koi but not 100% on that yet.

I will start a pond build thread and take some pics here very soon. We are about 75% done with the dig of the pond right now but we’re rained out from further progress tonight.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

 

[CometKeith]

Hi CometKeith

I am jumping In both feet so to speak. When watching numerous videos and looking at pictures I decided I wanted to build a bigger pond in hopes of avoiding the expansion urge soon after the new build. Plus we live on a cul de sac and have a pretty good sized backyard. My pond is kind of an L shape and will require a 30x30 pond liner to cover it. Max depth will be 3 feet or slightly over and it will have some ledges about 15 inches down in most of the pond. I am going to build a waterfall at one end with a skimmer at the other and have already added the idea of a bog filter inside the L shape that will fall back into the pond as well. I’m estimating it will most likely be somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 gallons after it is lined with rock. Leaning towards Koi but not 100% on that yet.

I will start a pond build thread and take some pics here very soon. We are about 75% done with the dig of the pond right now but we’re rained out from further progress tonight.

Hey Beenzie that sounds really good what you are planning. So regarding the fish for your pond the overall best strategy is to start with a much lower fish load than what you will eventually want. This way you can cycle the pond and get all the beneficial bacteria working properly without too high of a fish load and too much waste right in the beginning. I would suggest to stay with goldfish for at least year one until you feel you have the knack of getting everything right. Even experienced ponders can have problems when they are working with new equipment they are unfamiliar with. If you really want Koi I would suggest waiting until year two before you add them. You would hate to lose any of them while you are learning the ropes. I started out with goldfish and didn’t make the leap to Koi until 10 years later at which time I had a much larger pond. If you do buy Koi I would recommend to start with Tosai that are generally 6-9 inches so they will give you time to develop your pond maintenance skills before they get too large. Also by buying Koi in this size you can get some higher quality Koi than the same price in a larger fish. Personally I prefer Japanese imported Koi because of their beautiful colors but a lot of people wIll disagree and not recognize the difference between different Koi. In my opinion you should get the nicest ones you can afford because the odds are you will have them a long time!

 

[addy1]

Brokensword you are going to have to teach me what all the acronyms mean. Lol.

here you go

Fishy acronyms courtesy of various forum members!

Enjoy you might see them used more than once! GPF (garden pond forum) DKP (dedicated koi pond) FAA ( Fish-aholics Anonymous) LPS (Larger Pond Syndrome) GAS (Gear Acquisiton Syndrome) LBA (Lens Buying Anonymous) BFC (bog filter club, of which poconojoe is president! with addy the...

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[poconojoe]

Welcome!
And check out shubunkin. They are beautiful fish that have nice colors and long flowing fins and they don't grow so large.

Get yourself one of those inexpensive digital water meters for your garden hose. I got mine years ago on Amazon for $20. This way, when you fill you pond/bog, you know exactly how many gallons it all holds.
Knowing the volume of water can be helpful.

As mentioned, keep your fish load down because they will eventually start reproducing causing the all too common problem of overcrowding. This will put a strain on your filtration.

Looking forward to seeing your build in progress.