I love my all rocked pond

[waynefrcan]

2 years looks to be about right then, same as mine. Looks like I will be changing the 1 year rule to 2, but for proper filtrated ponds only.

Thanks for info.

Do you have a pond pic of the entire pond? I didn't see one in your gallery.

 

[Fishylove]

Not yet lol unfortunately my iPhone was crushed after I posted those.
Soon I'll get another and post more. Ooooo or maybe it's a good time to bug hubby for a new camera! Lol

 

[waynefrcan]

Any gal that can post a positive about all rocked ponds in this bare bottom only forum, will have no problem getting a camera out of the hubby lol

 

[callingcolleen1]

Got a nice picture of Poppy standing on an all natural rocked bottom pond, just for you Wayne!

 

[waynefrcan]

I like, I like :razz: What lake? I mean pond!

 

[Fishylove]

Haha. I have my ways lol

 

[Mucky_Waters]

I was trying to imagine what my pond would look like with lots and lots of rocks on the bottom, here is what I came up with. What do you think Wayne?

 

[waynefrcan]

Cute [little] setup. You can get away with no rocks with this one. Whats with the large wall encloser? No backyard space?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Awww! you didn't say anything about the rocks. I took that video kayaking down the river the other day, I thought you'd like all the rocks.

Yeah my pond is not that big (compared to some), but it's all I really want or need, with a volume of around 2,000 gal by my best estimate. The pond is enclosed within our courtyard (thus the wall), the courtyard serves a few purposes, the main being privacy, another being aesthetics. Our backyard, and the neighbor backyards, are not that pretty looking, so instead of trying to beatify our whole backyard and trying to convince the neighbors to do the same (not gona happen), I elected to build this courtyard as our main outdoor relaxing space. Apart from that, the courtyard (and small pond foot print) offers some protection to the pond inhabitants, so far no raccoon or herons have found it. Even the feral cats that use to come and spray around our backdoor (Grrrr) have not found their way into the courtyard. In turn, the pond compliments and adds life to the courtyard area.
The reality is I do have some rocks in my pond extending down to the two foot level, then the pond drops straight down to about 5 ft where I have a bottom drain and no rocks. Where I do have rocks for the most part I tried to use bigger rocks and stacked them in a way that has a lot of open space between them and creates little caves and hiding spaces for the fish, frogs, and turtles to hide. Also when the muck starts to accumulate around the rocks I can run the hose in between the them to flush it out. I just have to flush it into the open or down into the deeper part of the pond, the bottom drain and filter system will take care of the rest.
The way the plants have grown in now you can hardly see the rocks, or the pond bottom for that mater, but earlier in the year you could. Here is a video I posted a month or two ago.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Very nice pond Mucky! I have some rocks on ledge in bottom pond but you can't see them now cause of all the hornwort and other plants. besides every rock I pick up I tend to keeo for the flower garden!
Everybody plays with their rocks in a different way and that makes ponds more interesting!

 

[waynefrcan]

Muck, I like everything but that enclosed wall. But you do have your reasons.

Perfect setup for bare bottom, at 5 ft not much to see anyway. I like the stacked sidewalls, very natural looking.

What about a couple lights facing up from the bottom? Or do you?

So you run as is all year round? BC Interior?

Yes funny video, river rock, looks like mine almost :razz:

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Muck, I like everything but that enclosed wall. But you do have your reasons.
I'm not all that fond of the bare wall either, but I have a plan for that. I have English ivy planted along the edge, it may take a couple years, but eventually I'll have a nice vine covered wall.
The other wall on the far right also has another vine plant growing from a pot that is hidden in the rocks. I was hoping it would have covered the wall by now, but it is doing poorly. I think it suffered a transplant shock, also I planted it too late in the year when it was super hot and it wasn't really ready for that, I really don't expect it to recover.

Perfect setup for bare bottom, at 5 ft not much to see anyway. I like the stacked sidewalls, very natural looking.

What about a couple lights facing up from the bottom? Or do you?
All we have is a halogen light that shines down on the pond from above, it lights everything up at night nicely, and sort of looks surreal, but I'd like to try some colored lights in the water too. Maybe next year.

So you run as is all year round? BC Interior?
Yeah the interior, we can expect 3 months of solid ice on the pond every winter, so no waterfall in the winter. I do have an enclosed and insulated pump/filter room though, and with the way I have my plumbing set up I have been considering circulating the pond water though my vortex tank during the winter months since it is enclosed and "shouldn't" freeze. But I'm still undecided on that.

I think I'm doing OK considering that this pond is not one year old yet, and I only started planting stuff this spring. This picture was taken last Feb 3 2012

 

[waynefrcan]

I'm big into privacy too, put up a 6ft fence. Then they built decks. Now it's like ok I don't care if you looking in. Glad I have a large yard so we not in tight like sardines. Behind the waterfall is open land with CN tracks. No neighbors! But the train comes few times a day. No big deal.

 

[waynefrcan]

The rock - no rock flame war has been going on in pond forums for many, many years. People say they dislike flame wars but the number of views are always some of the highest.

I mortar the rock so I get the look of rock I like and a surface smoother than a wrinkled liner so cleaning is easy. Cleaning a bare liner pond never gave me much satisfaction..."oh goodie, I can see a wrinkled liner". I'd rather have the muck. Cleaning a mortared rock bottom looks better the cleaner it is kept imo.

Of course then I get to be flamed by the rock haters and the cement haters. The more people making disparaging comments the more I figure I must be on the right path, statistically speaking.

Working with mortar is great. It's watertight and hard, but not rock solid like cement. If you want to make changes, a few wacks with the hammer and done. Much better then that black messy crack fill foam for waterfalls, yuk!

 

[waynefrcan]

Pics are up now.

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/10255-my-almost-complete-pond/page__fromsearch__1