My pond journey

[ShawnInfirmity]

ShawnInfirmity submitted a new Showcase Item:

My pond journey

My Pond Journey: Part One (building the pond)...

I had wanted to build a pond for a LONG time and I finally got the chance to do so last summer (pond was built in 2016, original post was in 2017 on my goldfish forum). My original idea was to have a partially in ground but mostly above ground pond that wrapped around two sides of my existing concrete patio in a L shape. The more I looked into this concept and how much material it would take to build it seemed very complex and VERY expensive (over $1000 in materials alone). In the end, I decided to stick to a standard rectangular shaped pond and got down to planning and picking materials. I was trying to pick a material that was readily available and relatively inexpensive which led me to narrow it down between 4 x 4 landscape timbers or the standard rounded off landscape timbers. Again, $$ was a big deciding factor and I went with the standard rounded off timbers because it was about 1/2 the cost (under $400 for the rounded off landscape timbers compared to almost $800 for the 4 x 4 squared timbers). (1st picture)

The final plan was to buy 8 foot long landscape timbers and cut enough of them in half so that I would have a pond that would be 4 ft by 8 ft for the outer dimensions. I still wanted to dig down into the ground a little but ended up putting it all above ground in the event that I decided to sell the house and the potential buyers did not want a pond. I don't know who wouldn't want a goldfish pond in their backyard, but I can imagine some people wouldn't? You know, those people that don't like fun things.

I decided that I was going to line the inside of the framework of landscape timbers with plywood to provide a more solid/even structure to put the liner into and started to build. The base of the pond was a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2 inch (or 3/4 inch?) plywood supported and/or leveled out in some of the corners by 12 x 12 concrete pavers (2nd picture). I started laying out the timbers on top of the plywood in an overlapping "log cabin" fashion and I would pre-drill and hammer each new layer into the previous one using 6 inch long galvanized steel nails. (3rd picture) This went on for what seemed like an eternity over the span of a couple days before I finally felt like I had it tall enough or got tired of the process.. (I ended up stopping at about 30 inches high to allow tiny humans to be able to see into the pond without a step ladder). Once I had the main part of the pond as high...

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[Gemma]

Very nice!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Thanks @Gemma

 

[addy1]

Love the logs and the waterfall, great job!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Thanks @addy1 , you all are so kind! I started reading your pond build thread and let me tell you I am super impressed by the amount of work you accomplished and I'm only 2-3 pages into the post!

 

[addy1]

Thanks @addy1 , you all are so kind! I started reading your pond build thread and let me tell you I am super impressed by the amount of work you accomplished and I'm only 2-3 pages into the post!

I was a few years younger, hubby working, had to do something with my time. And I love ponds. Not sure I could do it again. My poor hands are giving me issues.

 

[Gordo33]

Great pond , the logs are a grest look . I am considering building an above ground patio pond with similar dimensions this summer. The flat box filter , are you keeping that in the pond or in the over flow box? Are you planting the over flow box to make a bog or veggie type filter?

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Great pond , the logs are a grest look . I am considering building an above ground patio pond with similar dimensions this summer. The flat box filter , are you keeping that in the pond or in the over flow box? Are you planting the over flow box to make a bog or veggie type filter?

Thanks @Gordo33 , I actually have the flat box filter in the pond itself and it filters the water before being pumped out of the pond and through the UV clarifier before spilling back into the pond. The overflox box has water hyssop and parrots feather that have done very well in general but suffered a bit more from this most recent winter, but I'm hoping they bounce back well as it warms up. In theory these plants should provide an additional layer of filtration akin to a raised bog filter.

 

[Jetta]

Love the look of your above ground pond!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Thanks @Jetta