Plastic ponds good or bad

[Ronnieger]

Im thinking of putting fish pond in garden. I had one in previous house. Properly dug in with liners etc. Im now considering the pre cast plastic ponds. Are they any good. Can you wade in them to clean pond without damage

 

[Stephen Noble]

I have one flowerbed plastic pond that is 15 years old. So with care they can last. It is small, only about 200 gallons. I've never walked in it. I don't think that is a good idea. Are you considering a very small flowerbed type or one of those large plastic ponds? In my opinion, I would go with a liner if you are going large. I am editing this because I should have mentioned that there are no fish in my flowerbed pond. Only frogs and lots of plants. 200 gallons is just too small for fish. My larger ponds have fish but not the small plastic pond.

 

[j.w]

Myself I just stick w/liners even for my small frog pond. I do have a bathtub pond tho and that thing will last forever. Hubby plugged up the bottom drain hole w/some kind of hard drying stuff and where the knobs were I put plastic pill containers w/fiberglass screen door material so tub will not over flow over the top when it rains. No fish tho, just some plants and frogs that like to lay eggs in there. I did use it as a quarantine tub for some Shubunkin goldfish for a few weeks before adding to my big pond. If you do decide to get a plastic pond I would never walk in it. The soil underground can move and leave gaps and if you walk in there on uneven ground it could crack. Not sure if they make any that are super strong that you could walk on. If so it would be costly I bet!

I cut in half so just a tube and put the screen around one end and crammed it in the holes. Fits perfect and drains through nicely. Need to clean it off once in awhile as it can plug from debris. If I didn't use them tho small plants will just float out the holes.