How long did your initial build take you?

[EricV]

I want to build a pond (15x10 with waterfall) next year. I can't start in early spring, but might be able to start by memorial day. I'll be working alone. I figure a few hours one night during the week and maybe 8 hrs every weekend is the time I can devote to this. Based on your experience, do I have a chance of having a pond up and running with a few fish in it by the fall?

Thanks!

 

[pecan]

My pond initial build, which was just a hand dug hole (1-3 people digging at a time, 17' x 21' x 3' deep with shallower shelves) and a water fall, no filtration, simple plumbing with a single submersible pump and hose to the waterfall. Took exactly 4 weeks from start until it was filled and running. That doesn't count finishing the edge and landscaping. I let it run for 6 weeks before adding comets. So 2.5 months from start to fish.

But that was a very simple set up that I have had to go back and make many changes on including, adding filtration etc.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I'd say you should definitely have it all set by then. I just looked back at my construction photos, and it was basically a month and a half from start to finish. I'm guess that for the most part I never spent more than an hour and a half on it each day. Maybe two hours here and there, and some things, particularly rock placement and adding the bog, took a little longer.

April 12 was the beginning of digging.


April 20 was the day the pond was filled.


Immediately after the pond was full I spent the next week adding a bog to get the water filtering and flowing, and in late May, I added fish. At this point, the pond was basically done, though I was still working on adding plants around it, and small things like that.


It started feeling like a pond in late June.


and around four months from the day it began, it really was the pond I envisioned.

 

[EricV]

I'd say you should definitely have it all set by then. I just looked back at my construction photos, and it was basically a month and a half from start to finish. I'm guess that for the most part I never spent more than an hour and a half on it each day. Maybe two hours here and there, and some things, particularly rock placement and adding the bog, took a little longer.

April 12 was the beginning of digging.
View attachment 88410

April 20 was the day the pond was filled.
View attachment 88411

Immediately after the pond was full I spent the next week adding a bog to get the water filtering and flowing, and in late May, I added fish. At this point, the pond was basically done, though I was still working on adding plants around it, and small things like that.
View attachment 88412

It started feeling like a pond in late June.
View attachment 88413

and around four months from the day it began, it really was the pond I envisioned.
View attachment 88414

Thanks. That really helps. Are the fish with the blue Shubunkins in the 4th photo? Is that what they can look like in the sun?

I'm tiling a basement now and spending 2-3 hours many nights on it, so if I redirect part of that effort into a pond I should be OK.

More stories welcome!

 

[EricV]

My pond initial build, which was just a hand dug hole (1-3 people digging at a time, 17' x 21' x 3' deep with shallower shelves) and a water fall, no filtration, simple plumbing with a single submersible pump and hose to the waterfall. Took exactly 4 weeks from start until it was filled and running. That doesn't count finishing the edge and landscaping. I let it run for 6 weeks before adding comets. So 2.5 months from start to fish.

But that was a very simple set up that I have had to go back and make many changes on including, adding filtration etc.

Thanks. How often did you have 2 people helping you? I already have a container pond and some fish, so transferring over the bio-filter and the fish means I won't wait long between the fill and the initial stocking

 

[Mucky_Waters]

How long really depends on what sort of pond you want, how you'll be digging it out and dealing with the excess soil, if you have all the materials already, and if you can a little help.
If all you want is a hole in the ground with a liner full of water and you have all the material and a backhoe for an afternoon, you could build a pond in a weekend.
On the other hand, if you want a fully planted and landscaped pond with a nice waterfall and its own filter/pump room, and you plan to all the hand digging and wheelbarrowing all the soil yourself, you could be looking at many months with your schedule.

We built our pond inside a courtyard area that had to be built first. We started early in the spring and just got the pond full of water by the time it started to snow. Landscaping around the pond and the fish had to come the following year. We did all the digging and moving dirt around by hand. there was four of us but it was still a lot of work.
Here's a video of the progression.

 

[EricV]

How long really depends on what sort of pond you want, how you'll be digging it out and dealing with the excess soil, if you have all the materials already, and if you can a little help.

"Standard" pond: skimmer, waterfall filter with cascade. Shovel, wheelbarrow, 15 years of accumulated tree roots in clay which will build up around the pond or go elsewhere in my back yard. I should have all the materials ready or staged in before I need them.

If all you want is a hole in the ground with a liner full of water and you have all the material and a backhoe for an afternoon, you could build a pond in a weekend.
On the other hand, if you want a fully planted and landscaped pond with a nice waterfall and its own filter/pump room, and you plan to all the hand digging and wheelbarrowing all the soil yourself, you could be looking at many months with your schedule.

We built our pond inside a courtyard area that had to be built first. We started early in the spring and just got the pond full of water by the time it started to snow. Landscaping around the pond and the fish had to come the following year. We did all the digging and moving dirt around by hand. there was four of us but it was still a lot of work.
Here's a video of the progression.

I want to plant it and landscape around it, but that can come after if need be.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Are the fish with the blue Shubunkins in the 4th photo? Is that what they can look like in the sun?

Yes, they're Shubunkins. They were nice and blue when I bought them. Sadly I had a disaster last winter and lost them. I really need to get another, I miss having that color in my pond.

 

[EricV]

Yes, they're Shubunkins. They were nice and blue when I bought them. Sadly I had a disaster last winter and lost them. I really need to get another, I miss having that color in my pond.

They are (were :-( ) gorgeous. Were they a special kind of Shubunkin like Blackwater Creek sells or just a standard pond-shop fish?

 

[addy1]

With our Rocky Rocky soil, even using a Kubota tractor it took me over a month. (Daily dedicated digging) Digging on a slope, learning how to use a back hoe, digging a 85 foot switch back stream.
the pond is around 28 ft by 20 +/- deepest point 5.5 feet. the bog is around 27x5x2.5 dug when the pond was dug. By mid summer, water, fish, some plants, tons of rocks moved and installed. More ponds installed since. I have 9 in a loop now.

 

[EricV]

We built our pond inside a courtyard area that had to be built first. We started early in the spring and just got the pond full of water by the time it started to snow. Landscaping around the pond and the fish had to come the following year. We did all the digging and moving dirt around by hand. there was four of us but it was still a lot of work.
Here's a video of the progression.

Randy, that is a neat video and a really impressive project. Nowhere near what I plan though!

 

[addy1]

They are (were :-( ) gorgeous. Were they a special kind of Shubunkin like Blackwater Creek sells or just a standard pond-shop fish?

I got some real nice blue shubunkins from a fish hatchery in Maryland, 3-4 dollars a piece for 5-6 inch ones.

 

[Smaug]

My pond is 16 ft by 13 ft by 3.5 ft deep. It has a skimmer and waterfall with heavy rock border. I did it all by my onezees in about 35 hrs water full and fish in pump on.

 

[pecan]

@EricV

80% of the digging was done by my husband who had just retired as Gunnery Sgt in the Marine Corps so he had time and muscle to do it. Our son in law (also a Marine) helped a couple Saturday's and I helped dig a little, but spent most of my time spreading the dirt my hubby dug out, around other areas of the yard to get rid of it. Which was a job in and of itself. We did not haul away any of the dirt, I just put a little here and a little there until it was gone.

The joke here when people ask, what we did with all the dirt from the pond dig is "we dug a hole and buried it" LOL

 

[Mucky_Waters]

"Standard" pond: skimmer, waterfall filter with cascade. Shovel, wheelbarrow, 15 years of accumulated tree roots in clay which will build up around the pond or go elsewhere in my back yard. I should have all the materials ready or staged in before I need them.


I want to plant it and landscape around it, but that can come after if need be.

Chopping out tree roots by hand can be very hard and time-consuming depending how big they are. Another thing that can slow the project down is if you start getting a lot of rain, hopefully you'll be working in your dry season.
At least 90% of the work is usually just digging the hole if you plan to do it all by hand, so how strong a digger you are will dictate most of your time frame. If in anyway possible you could get a backhoe in there it would be well worth it for all the backbreaking work digging by hand will be.