Hello from a scared new pond owner

[JVRiveras]

Hello! I am so happy to have come to this forum and will be reading every last posting I possibly can! I have been an avid gardener for about 20 years now- as in dirt!! I wanted to try my hand at a SMALL water feature on our patio this summer. I am known for researching everything to death before attempting anything, but after visiting someone's amazing hard with a pond, my husband decided to "dig first , ask questions later!!" I literally woke up one Saturday morning to half of my small city backyard being excavated!! I now have a 15'x15', still under construction pond underway in my yard!! Everything has been done backwards- we have purchased plants that are now sitting in buckets of water waiting to go in to the pond... The electrician isn't even coming to install an outdoor plug on the house until July 1st!

In the past 48 hours we've had torrential downpours. Our pond is now full of muddy looking water! When I saw that this morning I knew that if I didn't get some information soon I was going to just give up! I have so many questions and the people in the garden store where we bought everything are mostly teenagers.

I feel completely overwhelmed at this point... What is supposed to be a relaxing feature in my yard is causing me significant stress. I just hope I can figure out what we're supposed to be doing before the summer is over.

We live in NY and hope to attract more birds to our yard. We live in the city and have been unsuccessful drawing hummingbirds to our yard. We used to have them at our old house in the suburbs and greatly miss them! Maybe now we'll have a shot with the right plantings?

Anyway, so glad to be here and learn from everyone!

 

[adavisus]

Hummm, pick up a book or two on water gardening from the local library while you wait for your pond dig to drain

It's kinda better to be wise, before whatever happens...

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[Troutredds]

Welcome to the forum, JV! There are many nice folks here clamoring to answer any of your questions. Just keep an open mind, ask a lot of specific questions, do all the research you can and before you know it things will fall into place. Documenting your progress with pictures always helps too - for posterity and as a visual aid when questions and concerns arise. Don't stress out - anything truly worth pursuing in life requires effort - it will all be worth it Good luck and again, welcome!

 

[JohnHuff]

Welcome! And what is your first question?

 

[timvz]

Welcome to the forum!

I can understand your consternation! I spent many months thinking about my pond before digging. Anyway, a list of equipment you have in hand would probably be helpful. Also, could you submit a drawing of what you'r planning the pond to look like?

I think your plants should survive in buckets for a good while, especially if you keep their water from fowling by periodically adding fresh water and small amounts of aquatic fertilizer. I've done this with liquid miracle grow and bucketed hyacinth.

There are some basic premises that I followed when building my pond.

1) Purchase a pump capable of turning the water over at least once per hour. (e.g. 1000 gallon pond = 1000 gph pump) In truth, you'll probably need a pump rated double the size of your pond - or, 2000 gph for a 1000 gal pond. The pump also has to pump through a filter and up a hill.

2) Consider small drops (6 inches or so) for your waterfall if you have one. A small back yard will cause lots of noise to bounce around. You don't want a roaring waterfall that interferes with conversation.

3) If using an external filter, consider where you will hide it. You can also get waterfall boxes with filter elements, but they are typically not large enough to meet all your filtering needs. You can also build a bog, which is GREAT for filtering and planting, but requires more time and research. There is a bog building thread from addy1 here https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/bog-building.6894/

4) If you can afford it, have your electrician add a second power box in your back yard which you can extend with additinal circuit breakers. This way you can easily expand your electrical needs later, if necessary. Or, at least have him add an outdoor box with a minimum of four outlets. You'll have a pump, you may want to add lighting later, you may want to add a UV clarifier later, and you may want a second pump at some point.

If it were me, I would stop construction, take a breath, spend about one or two weeks researching and thinking about what you want, do best you can to keep your plants alive, drop a mosquito pad into your murky pond water, and don't trim your liner (if you have one laid down) until the very end.

For research, use this forum and search the web. I got a lot of useful information when I started by watching videos from theponddigger.com. He also sells all the equipment he builds with in those videos, so they are really just advertisements but many concepts and principles of construction can be learned from them. His waterfalls units are VERY large (and expensive), so he doesn't need an external filter box.

Hope this helps.

 

[LarryM]

You can find a whole lot of HowTo's on youtube as well.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

Ask away! Oh, but if you're like ME, I never know enough to even ask the questions, LOL!

First of all....close your eyes and take a deep breath! It's going to be OK

 

[R.Rose]

Welcome and glad to meet you. Dont Be frazzled. Construction is part of the fun.
Get a sump pump drain it, remove mud with a shop vac . I think you are partly stressed because you want to start enjoying your pond now...and you will. Your pond will take a month or two to establish itself.
Consider some of these items now..
While your pond is being constructed you could have a nice barrier built to keep out the herons and predators. (the color black blends in well with the landscape) Herons are very intelligent and will study your pond for their best attack strategy. A visiting heron defeated our revised barrier and got a fish. If just one bird visits your yard it will be a heron!
Ducks may set up a nest in a quiet spot. They will eat plants and algae. I chase them away because I fear for the dozen chicks as our neighbors allow their cats to roam and a car hiting mom and her chicks. We also have coyotes in our neighborhood.
On another post someone suggested a gold fish emergency kit - good idea.
Please do not plant any flowering shrubs or plants at water edge or hang a feeder for hummers. Frogs see hummers and butterflies as food. (monarchs' numbers are rapidly going down). I saw the attempt on a hummingbird and removed my butterfly bush. Plant your bird and butterfly garden, consider milkweed too, away from the pond. You might even see a hummingbird moth!
Obtain extra parts for your pump & filter etc to have on hand..
I get 100% enjoyment from my pond even when the bad happens. My husband and I built it ourselves with no advice 30 years ago, it was dig a hole put liner in and fill. There is so much new and better methods to building a pond even if done in the wrong order that you are fortunate to build it now. Just wondering did you need to get a building permit? You may like to checkt....if someone reports to the city you may get fined.. Consider fencing your property for safety if you dont have one. Keep us updated on how it's going. Good Luck!

 

[Priscilla]

Hello and Welcome!

Yes! That's exactly what I did too! Many many regrets regarding decisions made on the fly (having a hard time hiding my liner, which irks me), but still very happy with the pond. I am 6 months into it now. The fish and plants are doing well. The majority of what I learnt I got from this site and from the ponding friends I have made on here.

 

[callingcolleen1]

It is all a "learning experience" and you are bound to make mistakes, no matter how much planning you do. Everybody who has a pond is always learning and wanting to change this and that. No need to fret or worry, eventually it will all come together. The plants will be fine for now in a bucket of water. and the dirty water can be pumped out. Keep in mind a pond will get some dirt and stuff will blow or drop in pond from trees and stuff. That is what a good filter is for, it will help keep the pond clean. Look at the different threads here and lots of people post pictures of their ponds in progress. You can learn much from others and I will try to offer as much help as I can!

 

[Dave 54]

If you want our sound advice, its taken us to see our dream come together a grand total of 5 years now and at last the build is nearting completion.
Ours is a formal koi pond with no vegitation but thats how we british koi keepers are .
But the ponds we have seen created on this website plants rocks and all are all very beautiful creations that reflect their owners tastes be they expensive or not, professionally built or by the owner ,
So our advice is stick with it and in the end you can sit by the pond watching the fish swimming around the pond plus the bonus of the wild life that are attracted to the pond and plants around your space, just how cool is that ?

Dave

 

[sissy]

welcome and sounds like you are coping any ways ..It will not hurt plants as long as they have water and food .You can always run a heavy duty construction grade extension cord for everything until your electrician shows up if you get done before he gets there .Remember to put the outside on it's own breaker and put more than 1 or 2 plugged outlets out there for future use this way you do not have to pay him to come back .I had 6 put in and had 2 of them put on switched outlets .My son is an electrician so momma comes first

 

[max384]

Hello! I am so happy to have come to this forum and will be reading every last posting I possibly can! I have been an avid gardener for about 20 years now- as in dirt!! I wanted to try my hand at a SMALL water feature on our patio this summer. I am known for researching everything to death before attempting anything, but after visiting someone's amazing hard with a pond, my husband decided to "dig first , ask questions later!!" I literally woke up one Saturday morning to half of my small city backyard being excavated!! I now have a 15'x15', still under construction pond underway in my yard!! Everything has been done backwards- we have purchased plants that are now sitting in buckets of water waiting to go in to the pond... The electrician isn't even coming to install an outdoor plug on the house until July 1st!

In the past 48 hours we've had torrential downpours. Our pond is now full of muddy looking water! When I saw that this morning I knew that if I didn't get some information soon I was going to just give up! I have so many questions and the people in the garden store where we bought everything are mostly teenagers.

I feel completely overwhelmed at this point... What is supposed to be a relaxing feature in my yard is causing me significant stress. I just hope I can figure out what we're supposed to be doing before the summer is over.

We live in NY and hope to attract more birds to our yard. We live in the city and have been unsuccessful drawing hummingbirds to our yard. We used to have them at our old house in the suburbs and greatly miss them! Maybe now we'll have a shot with the right plantings?

Anyway, so glad to be here and learn from everyone!

I think most of us have felt overwhelmed at some point during our pond building (at least on the first one). And I've been in the same boat all summer thus far, as far as wanting to build a relaxing pond, but it's been stress and more stress. It's all part of the process. Eventually you (and I) will have our relaxing ponds. Don't worry!

I'm more like your husband when it comes to doing stuff like this. I'll get an idea in my head, and then just jump right in and do it, and research as I go. My first pond was like that. I made a ton of mistakes, and learned from them. When I made my second pond (which I'm still working on), I made a whole lot of upgrades based on my experience with the first pond... But I still had a TON of questions and made changes as I went based on the FANTASTIC advice I've received here. This forum is a great resource, as there are a lot of VERY knowledgeable and passionate people on here. I'm by no means an expert (except maybe in digging holes by hand. lol), but the more of this I do, and the more time I spend on here, the more I learn.

One thing to keep in mind though, in case you ever get discouraged when people give you advice regarding your pond, you'll receive a lot of great advice here, but you simply can't incorporate it all into your pond. Everybody has their own ideas on filtration, water flow, minimum size, whether or not to rock in your pond, etc. You'll often hear conflicting advice. Usually neither person is wrong; just different ways to do it. I found myself discouraged a few times when I had what I thought was a great setup, only to be told to do it another way. Sometimes I took the advice and changed things. Other times, I chose to stick to the way I was doing it, because one person's suggestions just wouldn't work for me either because I didn't have the time, money, or resources to make it happen. Sometimes I chose aesthetics over practicality (such as rocking in my pond), because although it may not be the best way to do it, being able to look at what I consider to be a beautiful pond is very important to me. So, listen carefully to the advice given, but realize that you may not be able to incorporate everybody's advice for one reason or another.

Anywho, welcome to the forum!

 

[j.w]

JV
Do you have the liner in yet? If not all you can do right now is wait till the water drains from the hole or get a pump and pump it out. Nice size pond. How deep is it? We have all kinds of info here and many different ideas and photos of our own builds. We need to hear from you from what you plan to put in the pond..........koi, goldfish or do you want just a wildlife pond for your birds, frogs or? Anyways, glad you found us

 

[Mmathis]

I think most of us have felt overwhelmed at some point during our pond building (at least on the first one). And I've been in the same boat all summer thus far, as far as wanting to build a relaxing pond, but it's been stress and more stress. It's all part of the process. Eventually you (and I) will have our relaxing ponds. Don't worry!

I'm more like your husband when it comes to doing stuff like this. I'll get an idea in my head, and then just jump right in and do it, and research as I go. My first pond was like that. I made a ton of mistakes, and learned from them. When I made my second pond (which I'm still working on), I made a whole lot of upgrades based on my experience with the first pond... But I still had a TON of questions and made changes as I went based on the FANTASTIC advice I've received here. This forum is a great resource, as there are a lot of VERY knowledgeable and passionate people on here. I'm by no means an expert (except maybe in digging holes by hand. lol), but the more of this I do, and the more time I spend on here, the more I learn.

One thing to keep in mind though, in case you ever get discouraged when people give you advice regarding your pond, you'll receive a lot of great advice here, but you simply can't incorporate it all into your pond. Everybody has their own ideas on filtration, water flow, minimum size, whether or not to rock in your pond, etc. You'll often hear conflicting advice. Usually neither person is wrong; just different ways to do it. I found myself discouraged a few times when I had what I thought was a great setup, only to be told to do it another way. Sometimes I took the advice and changed things. Other times, I chose to stick to the way I was doing it, because one person's suggestions just wouldn't work for me either because I didn't have the time, money, or resources to make it happen. Sometimes I chose aesthetics over practicality (such as rocking in my pond), because although it may not be the best way to do it, being able to look at what I consider to be a beautiful pond is very important to me. So, listen carefully to the advice given, but realize that you may not be able to incorporate everybody's advice for one reason or another.

Anywho, welcome to the forum!

Ditto -- if I didn't know better, would have thought I'd written this, LOL