Help with pondless water feature

[blueyedlady]

Hi, I am new to this and I think I really messed up, I need help. I saw an article online about a pondless waterfall and since I don't have room for the fall I looked for something similar and found a pebble pool that looked very nice. I am a 67 year old woman on a fixed income so I decided I could do this myself. I got the basic idea and started digging. I now have a hole that's 2 ft. deep with a diameter of 4 ft. Now I can't afford rocks to fill the hole around the pump which I am putting into a 5 gal. bucket with holes in it. So I am planning to buy perforated sewer pipe from Lowes and cutting them to fill up around the bucket. Now here's my problem, what do I do at the top to put my pebbles on? Everything I find is square and it won't work for a round hole. Will I have to re-dig my hole to make it square? I really wanted it round. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

If you feel like digging some more make the hole square. When you add the final gravel layer make it round just slightly bigger than the square hole.
Be sure to allow for some kind of access to the pump for maintenance and/or replacement.

 

[blueyedlady]

Thank you. I guess I have some more digging to do. I sure wish I would have put a little more thought into this first. LOL

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group! Post some pictures we will cheer you on

 

[blueyedlady]

I have been mentally redesigning my pond since my last post. I squared it off and wound up with about 4' x 4' x 2' reservoir. Since I don't plan on a waterfall just a spray of water I decided I didn't need it that deep and it would be easier a lot less expensive so I filled in to about 1' tamped it down as best I could and yesterday at about 7pm started working on it. lined under and over liner with indoor outdoor carpet, using cinder blocks and some rock to fill so needed to protect liner. Placed my blocks. Worked until dark (it is to hot here in Phoenix to work midday) though I did most of the digging after 9am. I have been joking that my age spots were getting larger and soon they would meet and I would have a gorgeous tan. Well, working all this time in the sun, I still have them but my new tan has made them far less noticeable. I hope to finish this by tomorrow and if it looks decent I will post a picture. If I ever do this again I will do a lot of planning on paper first but. I have enjoyed it and I would like a small stream and waterfall.

 

[addy1]

Got to love the heat! I had a nice pond there. Darn hot to be digging.

 

[morewater]

That's what Kioti's are for.

 

[blueyedlady]

Well, here I am again. I fell off a ladder while painting and got a serious concussion. So after two months of recuperating (a lot of memory lose and dizziness), I finally finished my hidden pond and it looks pretty good. Fountain sprays about 4 ft high, but my husband wants me to turn it into a regular pond and put in water lilies. So yesterday I removed the rocks and top of pond. Then pulled all the cinder blocks that supported the top, drained and cleaned everything. Put in a better filter system hopefully it will stay cleaner. Now I have it running again and it looks really good and the water sound is louder. My question, is a 4 ft x 4 ft x 2 ft pond large enough if I decide to add Koi. I am going to buy the lilies and other plants tomorrow and was wondering if I did put in two small Koi if they will outgrow this small pond very quickly? Any and all advise will be much appreciated.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Well, here I am again. I fell off a ladder while painting and got a serious concussion. So after two months of recuperating (a lot of memory lose and dizziness), I finally finished my hidden pond and it looks pretty good. Fountain sprays about 4 ft high, but my husband wants me to turn it into a regular pond and put in water lilies. So yesterday I removed the rocks and top of pond. Then pulled all the cinder blocks that supported the top, drained and cleaned everything. Put in a better filter system hopefully it will stay cleaner. Now I have it running again and it looks really good and the water sound is louder. My question, is a 4 ft x 4 ft x 2 ft pond large enough if I decide to add Koi. I am going to buy the lilies and other plants tomorrow and was wondering if I did put in two small Koi if they will outgrow this small pond very quickly? Any and all advise will be much appreciated.

Goldfish, yes. Koi, no.
Are you going to keep the fountain? I don't think that fountains and lilies are compatible. Maybe others will offer some thoughts on this.

 

[Lisak1]

Agreed - too small for koi, but a couple goldfish would be fine. And also agree that lilies do not like to be splashed constantly.

Sorry to hear about your fall! Post some pictures of your hard work - we love pictures!

 

[sissy]

The heat will cook the fish if there is no shade .The water will get to hot .I would go with fat fantails goldfish breed to fast and fantails I have never seem to breed .I have 2 and still have only 2 after over 10 years .