Hello from Berkshire

[Weirdness555]

Hi there,

We are in Berkshire, England

We're having a pond dug soon We've wanted one for years but we've never had the space until recently when we moved.

I like forums and I find them so useful so I have found this one to start me off with ponds.

I keep tropical fish in an aquarium but like I said I've never kept pond fish. Do you cycle pond filters like you do tank filters?

Do you do water changes? If so how? How do you treat the water in large enough quantities to make it safe for the fish?

There are plenty more questions to come, I can assure you!

Is this forum mostly american or mostly british? it doesn't matter either way really

Thanks a lot

 

[sissy]

welcome and at least you know a little about fish ,or should I say alot .Since you have fish it is a good start inj understanding them .I knew nothing .Do you have city water and since you already have fish you must treat it .Pond's are easy as long as you start out with a plan ,a hole ,a liner ,a pump ,a filter and the cycle it and then plants and fish .Have a budget in mind and size of pond and keep that in mind .Remember electric will have to factor into it all .Above ground ,below ground, half and half and an area in mind will help .Keep in mind you want to be able to have it close to a seating area to enjoy it :cheerful: .I let the rain do most of my small water changes and only add water in the heat of the summer

 

[pecan]

Hi there,

We are in Berkshire, England

We're having a pond dug soon We've wanted one for years but we've never had the space until recently when we moved.

I like forums and I find them so useful so I have found this one to start me off with ponds.

I keep tropical fish in an aquarium but like I said I've never kept pond fish. Do you cycle pond filters like you do tank filters? Yes

Do you do water changes? Yes

If so how? I let one pump hose run onto the grass for a little bit to drop the water level, then top it back off if the garden hose. From March to November when the pond is running I do a 10% water change about once a week and just top off the evaporation as the water lowers. I do a 20%-40% water change in fall before I turn it off for the winter then again in the spring when I start it back up.
How do you treat the water in large enough quantities to make it safe for the fish? There is a pond dechlor you can buy and you add a much larger does than with an aquarium. I only add dechlor if I change more than 10% of the water.

There are plenty more questions to come, I can assure you!

Is this forum mostly american or mostly british? it doesn't matter either way really Both and Canadians and some other folks from all over the world

Thanks a lot

Welcome! We love pictures and threads with pictures showing the pond build

 

[Weirdness555]

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the electricity but I expect my dad has, I'll be in charge of fish and he's in charge of building and all that stuff. We will take lots of pictures

We would love some koi, but would we be better off with goldfish to start off with? I know koi are very expensive.

Let me tell you a bit about our garden and our plans:

We have a river at the bottom of the garden that's only there in the summer, therefore the garden has a flat bit at the top and then the rest slopes down at 45 degrees almost. We're having it levelled with 3 layers put in so we can use the space rather than it all just being steep. We want to have at lease one, probably two ponds, connected by shallow streams, fed by a water source at the top of the garden near the house. My dad also wants a 2m water fall down one side of the garden (That will fit comfortably in the height between the house and the river, to put it in perspective) which will come from the same source, which will flow into a spash pool at the very bottom in which there will be a pump to take the water back up to the top again. I think the plan is to have the river coming from the bottom pond into the splash pool, so that the water that has been through the river/pond system can be pumped up too. I figure that somewhere in this part would be a good place to have a filter?

We will probably only have fish in one pond, unless we dig the streams out properly and link them together so that the fish can swim between the two. Are there any advantages to one method or the other?

This all sounds very complicated for a newbie I know XD We don't like to do things by halves. The reason for the extreme decorativeness of the whole design is because my brother is building a garden railway in the garden alongside all this, so it has to be in keeping to an extent with what will be the landscape around his railway. He has visions of suspension bridges crossing the pond and smaller viaducts crossing the streams at places.

Also does anyone have any advice about how to make the pond accessible so it's easy to feed and look after the fish? Is there anything we should NOT do which would make it really hard? I'm trying to think of likely mistakes which will make our lives difficult in the long run

Thanks a lot, I will be milking this forum.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! What plans you have -- I can't wait to follow your pond as you progress!

A few comments: as already mentioned, we have members from all over, but mostly USA, Canada, and the UK, so you're in good company.

We have another member who has the train set-up, and it's absolutely fascinating! I'll find his user name and post that for you. Your bother can look at his cool stuff! He's SE18 -- look him up.

Newbie advice, off the top of my head:
1. Avoid lining bottom with rocks/gravel
2. Go bigger and deeper than you think you need -- if you have the space and resources, use them to your advantage
4. Go deep enough to protect fish from winter freezes & summer heat (3-4 feet if possible)
5. Take lots of pictures and post for us to see -- we love pictures
6. Get a water test kit and USE IT
7. Think "predator control" [might also help with the next one, #8...]
8. Building slightly above-ground would make the pond more accessible for people, and maybe easier to cover
9. Build so as to avoid yard run-off from getting into the pond

....maybe not what you were looking for, but.....

 

[Weirdness555]

Welcome! What plans you have -- I can't wait to follow your pond as you progress!

A few comments: as already mentioned, we have members from all over, but mostly USA, Canada, and the UK, so you're in good company.

We have another member who has the train set-up, and it's absolutely fascinating! I'll find his user name and post that for you. Your bother can look at his cool stuff!

Newbie advice, off the top of my head:
1. Avoid lining bottom with rocks/gravel noted
2. Go bigger and deeper than you think you need -- if you have the space and resources, use them to your advantage I am already planning to make it as big as we can fit - from my aquarium experience I know that bigger is always better when it comes to fish.
4. Go deep enough to protect fish from winter freezes & summer heat (3-4 feet if possible) That's in the plan too - is there an upper limit? I am 5 foot tall though so maybe 4.5 XD
5. Take lots of pictures and post for us to see -- we love pictures tehe
6. Get a water test kit and USE IT Is API freshwater master test kit ok? That's what I have for my aquarium. Obviously it's still fresh water. Is there anything else I'll need to test for in a pond? My test kit covers ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. Unfortunately I can't test hardness etc, but if we get goldfish I figure they won't worry, are there any fish species I'd need to test that for?
7. Think "predator control" [might also help with the next one, #8...] we have a plastic heron, but I wouldn't think the dogs would let a heron in the garden for any length of time. Cats might be an issue I suppose, can you give me a list of predators which are a problem in ponds?
8. Building slightly above-ground would make the pond more accessible for people, and maybe easier to cover I'm not sure how this would factor into the landscaping of the thing, but it's a good point. I would like to surround the water with slate, would a small slate wall be sufficient Say about half a foot, a foot high? I wouldn't want to brick it in. We would also want it to be hedgehog friendly, so at least one side would have some kind of slope for hedgehogs to escape.
9. Build so as to avoid yard run-off from getting into the pond Can you clarify what you mean by this?

....maybe not what you were looking for, but.....

No that's really helpful thank you! I will show this to my brother when you find the person, he'll be really interested. We've visited a lot of model villages to get ideas, and some of them have really huge koi ponds.

 

[Mmathis]

SE18 is the member with the railroads.

#19 IOW, when it rains, you don't want run-off water from the yard flowing INTO the pond, as would be the case with low-lying ground. Not usually a problem, but one that some folks don't take into consideration when they design & locate their pond -- until they suddenly end up with a flooded pond, lots of mud, or dead fish (from pesticides or other chemicals in the yard).

The API test kit (liquid) is what most on here use. I get the extra kit for KH & GH.

Here in the US, herons seem to be the worst predator problem, but some have raccoons, and maybe cats. Snakes, too, but not sure there's a way to protect against them. Folks who have dogs say they are great heron deterrents! But some have also had dogs get into the pond and damage the liner (sharp claws, trying to get out). And if you have a fake heron, be sure to move it around.

I wish I was good at finding and including links, 'cause there are a lot of good suggestions for ways to "edge" a pond on here (and "search" isn't too helpful). I built a dirt berm about 6" high around my pond, with liner & rocks on top. But my clay soil is getting squishier with time and my edge is flattening. Almost wishing I'd gone above-ground a foot or 2 with a wooden retaining wall so it would be easier to sit pond-side and visit with the fish (I'm assuming you're young enough that it won't be an issue for you). But that just goes to show that we each have our own needs as far as pond building, LOL!

Slate sounds nice! There's a way to construct the edge so that you don't have bare liner showing between the edge and the waterline. I would think that would also make it easier for critters to get in and out. I can't really describe it.... What you do is have a little shelf that goes all around the inside edge -- maybe about 6" or so from the top, and 6" to a foot wide. The "edge" or shelf should have a slight slant, sloping toward the land (not toward the water). When you "rock" your edge, you start by stacking rocks on this shelf, and continue to the top. The slant simply angles the rocks so they are less likely to fall into the water. But the effect is of a natural rocky shoreline.

Hedgehogs! Cool! Never saw one in the wild!

Main, and most important advice is to do JUST what you're doing now -- starting early, asking questions, and having a plan! You're on the right track (no pun intended!), and you'll probably find that you'll change your mind a lot (which gives you ideas for future ponds!). And keep in mind that there are lots of opinions and ideas out there. What works for one person, may not work for another for whatever the reason, so stay objective and keep asking questions.

 

[Weirdness555]

Yeah, I'm already changing my mind a lot. I'd love to build a bog, because they look nice and I think it would be great to have natural filtration, but I know nothing about plants and I think it may be beyond my parents' understanding of why we're digging a hole to pump water through tehe. They don't do aquarium fish like me, it's me who understands cycling and filtration and water chemistry (a biology(A*) and chemistry(B) A level helped with that).

I think what may be best is edging round most of the pond with "critter slopes" about a foot wide dotted around, maybe about 3. They will provide a safe way for the local hedgehogs and frogs and toads and other such critters to get out of the water without having the whole thing left sloping.

I don't think we'll have too much problem with that, and at the very least we are not big gardeners, so there's no chemicals in our soil anyway. We'll discuss it with the landscapers when they start digging.

Thanks again for your help, I'll check out that person

 

[sissy]

you tube is a good source of pics of different ponds and building of ponds .I built mine below my covered porch half above ground and half below ground this way I had a place to sit and watch the fish either on the porch or on the retaining wall
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:60297]

 

[pecan]

Here is a little drawing a made a while back about edging ponds. Example A can cause the liner to show and run off to get in the pond. The other examples make it easy to hide the liner, fill the water a little higher than ground level and wont let run off get into your pond.

 

[Weirdness555]

Thanks, those pictures are really helpful, I see what you mean now, and I will check out Youtube too, thanks

 

[Weirdness555]

Hi there, I have some "before" pictures of the garden now the landscapers have removed everything, so I can start a build thread, where should I put it?

 

[pecan]

Probably either the pond construction forum or the pond showcase forum, but the pond showcase forum no one can reply. So you might want to put it in the pond construction forum

 

[Weirdness555]

Cool, thanks, that way I can keep asking questions

 

[Becky]

Hello from me and welcome to the forum! :wave: