Plans for a backyard pond

Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
Hi, when I saw at my friends place a natural swim pond I was fascinated and started researching about garden ponds. It did not take me long to realise that a pond would be perfect in my garden.
1f642.png


Now I am in a planing phase, did some rough sketches (you can see the dimensions of my backyard on the picture - it is shaped like an elongated trapezoid roughly 22×14 meters - 72.18x45.93 ft) and I started digging where the wetland filter should be located.

The plan, for now, is to build a recreation pond roughly 6x6 or 7x7 meters - 19.69x19.69 or 22.97x22.97 ft (different depth, from 0.5 to 3 meters - 1.64 to 9.84 ft) with fish, plants, a wetland filtration on the raised level (you can see on the photo) and waterfalls from the wetland filter down in the pond. Also a pergola or something like that between the garden house and the pond and maybe a stream with waterfalls also on the level where the wetland should be.

QUESTIONS:
At this time I am thinking of maybe building a negative edge instead of a skimmer box. What do you think is better for this kind of pond?

What are the downsides of building a stream with waterfalls that goes into the wetland filter? Are then two pumps necessary, one to pump water into the wetland and other for the stream? If the water goes into the wetland from above does that in any way affect the filtration process?

As you maybe see on the photo the ground in my garden is very rocky. Anyone had any experience with that kind of terrain when building a pond and what should I be careful about? I guess it is going to be more expensive building in such terrain than usual.

That fact the I am from Croatia raises the question of equipment. There is a local supplier but they don't have the equipment for building a wetland filter. For now I know that I am going to need a pump, geotextile and foil and aquablocks+centipede+snorkel for the wetland. On YouTube I saw Aquascape products, does anyone know if it is available in the EU and where I can buy it? Or where can I buy equipment for pond building in the European Union?

Everything that I wrote is just a plan for now, and prone to changes. Any suggestions, advice, ideas on what should I do would be much appreciated. If you for example think that the pond is too big or that I placed it wrong, or anything like that, please let me know. :)

Attachments:
this is a sketch in paint of my backyard pond and wetland with dimensions in meters:
vrt_dimenzije_jezero_2.png
a photo of my backyard with rough lines where the pond, wetland waterfalls, negative edge, pergola and the stream with waterfalls should be:
20191027_165051.jpg
a photo of the ground where I started digging (as you can see it is very rocky):
20191027_170246.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Save the rocks! great for landscaping the pond.

Mine is a upflow peagravel plant filter i.e. bog. Even water just flowing in and over a wetland type filter will help the water.
Is the green the wetlands? if so you could pump the water into the bottom of the media so it flows up and out into the pond. I am not sure where your stream is going to be.
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
Save the rocks! great for landscaping the pond.

Mine is a upflow peagravel plant filter i.e. bog. Even water just flowing in and over a wetland type filter will help the water.
Is the green the wetlands? if so you could pump the water into the bottom of the media so it flows up and out into the pond. I am not sure where your stream is going to be.

The rocks are not going anywhere ;)

For the wetland I plan it to be some 1.6 to 2 meters deep, and pump the water to the bottom of the wetland so that it flows up to a layer of aquablox and then above to layers of bigger, medium and small gravel and back to the pond through waterfalls.

For the stream it is best that to show you some photos from different angles:
stream1.jpg
stream2.jpg
stream3.jpg
the stream is marked with blue and an arrow
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Now I see it in your other pictures. That will look great. My wetlands/bog filter is just pea gravel, but others have made it with aqua blocks etc.
The stream water flow you need to make sure it has enough head pressure to get the water to the top of the stream. My stream is run with a different pump on a timer. My head pressure is over 100 feet (the top of the stream is at the top of a steep hill)

i you have a powerful enough pump you could have a T sending some water to the stream some to the wetlands
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
Now I see it in your other pictures. That will look great.

I hope so. :D

My wetlands/bog filter is just pea gravel, but others have made it with aqua blocks etc.
The stream water flow you need to make sure it has enough head pressure to get the water to the top of the stream. My stream is run with a different pump on a timer. My head pressure is over 100 feet (the top of the stream is at the top of a steep hill)

Is there a formula for calculating the needed head pressure?

i you have a powerful enough pump you could have a T sending some water to the stream some to the wetlands

In that case, with a T not all of the water goes to the wetland but some goes to the stream. Do you, in that case lose on filtration? What I mean is, does that affect the filtration process? If 100% water does not go to the wetland but some goes somewhere else does that mean that it gets less filtration in the process?

I am also thinking of maybe ending the stream with a waterfall directly into the pond, avoiding the wetland. The wetland is going to have an up flow, so the water is going to be pumped to the bottom of the wetland then go up to the surface and then with waterfalls into the pond. If the stream is going to end into the wetland then maybe it is going to somehow affect the up flow and the filtraton, I don't know. What do you think?
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
With my setup, I have a T sending some water to a 1000 gallon tank (fish) , another T to 3 small ponds (fishless) A separate pump to the deck ponds, fishless, which feeds the stream which water falls into the big pond.

The bog only gets dirty water from the big pond. It has not affected the water quality at all. The three small ponds are more like plant ponds. One has lilies, one has lotus, one has parrots feather.
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
This is a calculator:


There are others on line.

I calculated mine mainly by the slope it was going up and distance. Around 50 feet from the pump up a 25 degree slope. I bought a harbor freight clear water pump to handle the head pressure, around 1250 gph, didn't want the electricity hit a pump that can handle that type of head pressure would need.
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
With my setup, I have a T sending some water to a 1000 gallon tank (fish) , another T to 3 small ponds (fishless) A separate pump to the deck ponds, fishless, which feeds the stream which water falls into the big pond.

The bog only gets dirty water from the big pond. It has not affected the water quality at all. The three small ponds are more like plant ponds. One has lilies, one has lotus, one has parrots feather.

I was thinking that maybe by having two sources of water for the wetland, one from the bottom and one to the top could somehow affect the filtration process. Maybe the water from the stream would push the filtrated water down, I don't know. I need to do more research on that. xD
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
Did anyone use very large boulders for the pond?

The problem with medium sized rocks is that if someone steps on them, stacked one on another, they might all collapse. Even with gravel filling the voids between them it seems to me that they are unstable. Maybe I am wrong?

For bigger rocks I am, most definitely, going to have to use a crane.

Now on to the question of design. I've seen this pond in the linked video bellow and am thinking of emulating some of the design. Only I can't figure out what are the dimensions of the pond, especially of the "swim pond". I think that someone says in the video that it is 20x20 feet, but it seems bigger to me. What do you guys think, what are the dimensions?

 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Search @GBBUDD , he also used @Gbbudd2 build thread he used HUGE boulders.
I will see if I can find it working on a hot spot it is a little slow.
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
here you go

 
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Messages
2,517
Reaction score
2,999
Hardiness Zone
7b
I know that Mark MJ Wilson (The Pond Advisor) just recently became an Aquascape pond contractor. He is in England. So I imagine that Aquascape products are available outside the US -- just not sure specifically where. I can't wait to read about your progress!
 
Joined
Oct 28, 2013
Messages
13,070
Reaction score
13,394
Location
Northern IL
Showcase(s):
1
Aquascape has a ton of content on YouTube featuring ponds of all sorts. For pond building, you can't beat The Pond Digger, Eric Triplett. Here's his step by step playlist:


We have a negative edge in our pond. We love it. No skimmer box to keep clean - the debris flows out into the "down flow bog" - built just like an up flow, but the water flows down through the gravel instead of up. The gravel captures the large debris on the top. We just clean it out whenever we fell like it needs it.

A swim pond is a unique type of pond - you may want to get some expert advice to make sure your filtration plans are adequate. That would be my only concern if I were going to use a pond routinely for swimming.

Good luck!
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
I know that Mark MJ Wilson (The Pond Advisor) just recently became an Aquascape pond contractor. He is in England. So I imagine that Aquascape products are available outside the US -- just not sure specifically where. I can't wait to read about your progress!

Thanks for the info! :D It would be great if Aquascape products are on the European market.
I know that Aquascape products are available in Australia and Canada for sure, I think even Mexico, but have not found anyone that sells or distributes in Europe. :/
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
16
Reaction score
5
Country
Croatia
Aquascape has a ton of content on YouTube featuring ponds of all sorts. For pond building, you can't beat The Pond Digger, Eric Triplett. Here's his step by step playlist:


Thanks :)
I will most definitely watch more of his content. The videos about rock placement are very helpful.

We have a negative edge in our pond. We love it. No skimmer box to keep clean - the debris flows out into the "down flow bog" - built just like an up flow, but the water flows down through the gravel instead of up. The gravel captures the large debris on the top. We just clean it out whenever we fell like it needs it.

Do you get sedimentation in your "down flow bog" and then need to clean with pump or how that goes?

A swim pond is a unique type of pond - you may want to get some expert advice to make sure your filtration plans are adequate. That would be my only concern if I were going to use a pond routinely for swimming.

Good luck!

You mean that, with not enough filtration, the water would get dirty and not be suitable for swimming?
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
30,782
Messages
508,589
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top