The History
I built a 1000 gallon pond somewhere between 11 and 13 years ago. It was my first (and only), and of course there are some things that I wish I'd done different. But oh well.
I had a grandiose dream of building a water bog and 2 cascading ponds in my front yard this year. My house is at the top of a hill, so the plan was to have a water bog at the top (closest to the house), which would then stream down to a 2000G pond, which would then stream down to a 5000G pond. I've spent a few months with loggers clearing out the wild trees and stumps, then had 811 come and find the lines. Naturally, the lines are EXACTLY where I wanted the ponds! So I'm having to hold off on that one for a minute.
But I'm determined to have a larger pond this year! My fish really need it. So now I'm looking at the back yard, which also slopes downward away from the house.
What I'm working with now
This pic is with me facing the pond while standing on my deck, taken May 2021:
And this is the rest of the garden area to the left (West) of where I was standing in the first picture:
The fence around the yard is kind of oddly shaped, with half of the yard (not pictured) about 40' back (North) of the half that you see here. I'm really not sure why the previous owners did that. So now the plan is to clear cut the area behind the fence, then move the fence to match up with the rest of the yard and give me a large rectangle to work with.
Doing that gives me room for a second, larger pond! That will let me relocate the fish and plants from the first pond, then I can drain that first pond and redo some of those things that I wish I'd done differently :-D
Any advice on how to make that second pond look right, when it's going to be on a downward slope away from the house?
Idea #1
I'm thinking, maybe put the second pond about 10' behind the first pond, and make it more like 3000-5000 gallons. Then I could build a type of stream from the 1000G to the 5000G, then use a waterfall pump to push water from the 5000G to a filter* and then to the 1000G.
* I can't really think of any way to make an attractive water bog in this design :-(
The other concern there is that I don't think you would really be able to see the stream or waterfalls from the house. At least, not like you would if it was streaming towards the house instead of away.
Idea #2
The second idea is a lot more expensive: build a retaining wall on the far left (West) and back (North), build a second retaining wall just behind the 1000G pond, then haul in tons and tons of dirt to build up the new section so that it's a little higher than the first pond. Then I could dig out the second pond and let it stream downward to the first, maybe even put in a water bog in the back area.
Any other suggestions?
I built a 1000 gallon pond somewhere between 11 and 13 years ago. It was my first (and only), and of course there are some things that I wish I'd done different. But oh well.
I had a grandiose dream of building a water bog and 2 cascading ponds in my front yard this year. My house is at the top of a hill, so the plan was to have a water bog at the top (closest to the house), which would then stream down to a 2000G pond, which would then stream down to a 5000G pond. I've spent a few months with loggers clearing out the wild trees and stumps, then had 811 come and find the lines. Naturally, the lines are EXACTLY where I wanted the ponds! So I'm having to hold off on that one for a minute.
But I'm determined to have a larger pond this year! My fish really need it. So now I'm looking at the back yard, which also slopes downward away from the house.
What I'm working with now
This pic is with me facing the pond while standing on my deck, taken May 2021:
And this is the rest of the garden area to the left (West) of where I was standing in the first picture:
The fence around the yard is kind of oddly shaped, with half of the yard (not pictured) about 40' back (North) of the half that you see here. I'm really not sure why the previous owners did that. So now the plan is to clear cut the area behind the fence, then move the fence to match up with the rest of the yard and give me a large rectangle to work with.
Doing that gives me room for a second, larger pond! That will let me relocate the fish and plants from the first pond, then I can drain that first pond and redo some of those things that I wish I'd done differently :-D
Any advice on how to make that second pond look right, when it's going to be on a downward slope away from the house?
Idea #1
I'm thinking, maybe put the second pond about 10' behind the first pond, and make it more like 3000-5000 gallons. Then I could build a type of stream from the 1000G to the 5000G, then use a waterfall pump to push water from the 5000G to a filter* and then to the 1000G.
* I can't really think of any way to make an attractive water bog in this design :-(
The other concern there is that I don't think you would really be able to see the stream or waterfalls from the house. At least, not like you would if it was streaming towards the house instead of away.
Idea #2
The second idea is a lot more expensive: build a retaining wall on the far left (West) and back (North), build a second retaining wall just behind the 1000G pond, then haul in tons and tons of dirt to build up the new section so that it's a little higher than the first pond. Then I could dig out the second pond and let it stream downward to the first, maybe even put in a water bog in the back area.
Any other suggestions?
