My new goldfish pond build

[tbendl]

I hope the adjustment is quick and the fixes are inexpensive.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Mmthis. You hear so many horror stories about people building new ponds you get prepared for the worse. I thinks it helps having a big enough pond to put them into so the ammonia and nitrite concentrations are not too bad. The hardest part was catching the fish! Hey Tbendl. Actually the issues are with the place we are staying temporarily where we are renting. It's very hard to get a short term lease so we didn't have a lot of choices. Whenever our new place is done everything should be good. I went looking for a few lilies today and there is not much to choose from being the end of the season. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday.

 

[j.w]

How come you just didn't divide your lily up and take some and leave some at the old place? Maybe you can still do that. Your fish look good and boy isn't that nice new water so clear and bright!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks JW. Yes my wife was asking me the very same thing today...why I didn't take some of the Lilies. Well the pond stuff was in the middle of packing and moving so literally there was almost no time for anything. Literally a few hours was spent a week ago last Thursday digging the pond by the guys helping me, The next morning the finishing touches on the pond shape took place with me taking off of work to supervise it, that afternoon the liner arrived about 5:00 pm, The next morning I spread the 20x25 liner out with my roofers which took 10 minutes and filled the pond which took over 3 hours, and the next day for a few hours I drained my old pond, caught as many fish as I could, grabbed some plants and transplanted everything to the new pond. Also I promised the new owners I was leaving everything but the hat palm so I didn't want to destroy the lily by ripping it apart. I did divide in half my planting box and took a bunch of plants and sedges. Not including the furniture we had over 100 boxes to pack up and label because a lot was going into storage so everything was pretty hectic and I was doing all the pond work in the middle of it.

 

[CeeJayH]

It's looking good, and will make all the hard work worthwhile. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

 

[Lisak1]

Once things calm down, you might consider contacting the new owners and tell them the lilies will need dividing in the spring. Offer to come and walk the through it the first time in exchange for some tubers to take to your new pond - win-win!

Thanks for sharing your moving story - just increased my desire to never move again!

 

[j.w]

Good idea @Lisak1 He can show them how to do it and when it needs to be done and then offer to take the extra pieces if they don't mind. Or just wait till next season on the forum when lots of us might be dividing ours.

 

[CometKeith]

My next big job is to level all the sides and start to install rocks around the sides. I don't think I will use limestone for the rocks like my last pond and might try to make it look more natural. Also I'm going to try to install the rocks so the liner is hidden as much as possible. Any suggestions or ideas are welcome. We are going on vacation next week so I have a little time before I start. Here is a recent photo but this is only about half of the pond

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Looks like you have enough liner to cut in a rock shelf just below water level. Best way to hide perimeter liner.

 

[j.w]

Yep ledge worked for me and you can plant the roots of a plant in between the rocks so the can grow and look more natural. You can use flat rocks, round or whatever on the ledge. Can't see liner at all!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Meyer. One thing I have learned with the multiple rebuilds I have been done is never be in a rush to cut the liner because you may need the liner later as you finish the pond. Thanks JW. That is definitely the look I will be going for. So the question now is since the sides are not equal height all the way around, do I set the rocks at the lower side and match it by removing dirt on the high side or do I add dirt to the low side? My guess is since there is only a short area that is low it will be easier to build that side up by pushing dirt under the liner. Here is a picture of the pond I took today. The low side is on the left.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thanks Meyer. One thing I have learned with the multiple rebuilds I have been done is never be in a rush to cut the liner because you may need the liner later as you finish the pond. Thanks JW. That is definitely the look I will be going for. So the question now is since the sides are not equal height all the way around, do I set the rocks at the lower side and match it by removing dirt on the high side or do I add dirt to the low side? My guess is since there is only a short area that is low it will be easier to build that side up by pushing dirt under the liner. Here is a picture of the pond I took today. The low side is on the left. View attachment 95015

I don't see where this matters since the rock ledge will be the same depth below water level around the entire pond perimeter. Changing the perimeter soil heights above the water level would seem to be entirely a cosmetic decision.

 

[cas]

It doesn't look like you have as much difference in height as I do. In this picture you can see the high side. On the opposite side, the pond only needed one layer of rocks, not two as shown on this side.

 

[j.w]

I tried to get the top around the pond as level as I could when I built it but I bet it's not so level anymore and I don't care

 

[Jutt]

Looks great so far.. im actually ordering a pond liner and underlay tomorrow,, upgrading from a 250 gallon preformed pond to a 9 x 9 ( approx 2 ft deep).. Any advice would be great