Planning a new pond for my front yard. Need advice.

[StealthPrix]

Hello, I'm new here to the forum but I'm looking into the pond life ha! I'm pretty experience when it comes to fish keeping. I've kept both fresh and marine aquariums for years but we recently bought a new house and were plan ing on redoing the front landscaping a bit and the wife agreed to a pond/water feature. I'm planning on using one of the 300 or 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tanks from Tractor Supply. It would need to be almost completely buried to fit with the landscaping. I can leave a few inches above.

- Are there any issues burying the structural foam Rubbermaid stock tanks?
- what is the go-to when it comes to filtration for a buried pond?
- Anybody running a pond solely on solar powered devices?
- I'm planning on stocking with small native species and possibly basic goldfish for some color.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

Go for as big as you can. I have a 300 gallon stock tank and a 1000 gallon stock tank. They do fine, but they are part of the big pond water flow and filtration. I also have a 300 gallon hot tub pond it has only fan tails in it.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome. One word of caution: look Into any city ordinances about having a pond in the front yard, if it has to be fenced, is there a depth limit, etc. These are for safety. Agree with @addy1 to go as big as possible, and try not to overstock — it’s so easy to do, and those fish will grow and have babies. IDK about burying a stock tank, but I was thinking of doing something similar. So far the only thing that comes to mind is to be sure, if there is an external drain, that it is fully and tightly sealed.

 

[GBBUDD]

Hello, I'm new here to the forum but I'm looking into the pond life ha! I'm pretty experience when it comes to fish keeping. I've kept both fresh and marine aquariums for years but we recently bought a new house and were plan ing on redoing the front landscaping a bit and the wife agreed to a pond/water feature. I'm planning on using one of the 300 or 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tanks from Tractor Supply. It would need to be almost completely buried to fit with the landscaping. I can leave a few inches above.

- Are there any issues burying the structural foam Rubbermaid stock tanks?
- what is the go-to when it comes to filtration for a buried pond?
- Anybody running a pond solely on solar powered devices?
- I'm planning on stocking with small native species and possibly basic goldfish for some color.

Thanks for any help!!

for get the stock rubber maid stuff . they end up as more work then they are worth . if it has to be flush if it is in the front yard use a liner dig a hole and make it appealing to the eye.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Welcome! I think a flexible liner with some nice rocks would look quite a bit nicer than hard black plastic sticking out of the ground. As far as using solar devices go, you need quite a bit of panel to support the size of pump you would need, so unless you want to set up a very complicated solar system that would be be done professionally it is kind of out of reach.

 

[j.w]

@StealthPrix

 

[StealthPrix]

The wife and I talked about this further and we are going to hold off until next spring when I rebuild our deck in the back yard. I will implement a pond location while designing the deck. I also need to design a nice propane firepit area which ideally would be near the pond so the seating could be shared. I too was worried about safety with a front yard pond and running power to the front for the equipment hence my question about solar. The back yard will be easier in all aspects. Where is the best online retailer for pond equipment? I would like to stay somewhat budget minded, but with that being said I'm not planning on skimping on anything. I know all too well based on my aquarium knowledge

 

[Mmathis]

Stick around and stay in touch!

 

[StealthPrix]

Stick around and stay in touch!

I will. I'm hoping to browse around and learn. I need to study up on filtration. I'm coming from the world of using sump. I need to learn the differences and similarities.

 

[GBBUDD]

here's one nut jobs build to give you some ideas

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/showcase/gbbudds-12-000-gallon-koi-pond-full-build-and-layout.141/

Some very impressive pond builds

https://whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TOMbsvXjX8 ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc36HtktJD0

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[TheFishGuy]

I don't think there is any "best" online pond retailer. I tend to just look around for the best prices from reputable sites ( unfortunately amazon usually has the best deals ) and order from whoever will save me the most money.