Retaining wall pond?

[Storm]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for any (probably multiple) stupid questions

I've a little bit of experience with ponds..... I converted an above-ground (vinyl) swimming pool that the previous owner had put INTO the ground, into a Koi pond (dirt to fill it in a bit and slope the sides; concrete over the dirt; carpet underlay on top of the concrete; pond liner on top of the underlay; crappy bin filter; etc.).

Building a new house (well, not me ) in Perth, Australia. No snow here.... ever . It's a Passive House btw, if anyone knows about that.... fascinating.

Anyway, we need to have a retaining wall along one of the boundaries (garden is 4m wide by about 12m long). Will attach the rough landscaping plan.

So, we had the bright idea of including a raised pond along the retaining wall! Kerrazy!?

Then... how about we have a dual layer retaining wall, so that the outer wall can have plants (Frangipani etc), to make it look prettier (hide the boundary fence) and give shade to the pond.... on the inner retaining wall. Kerrazier!?

Then..... I was thinking.... how about extending the raised pond/retaining wall to some organic shape at the bottom corner of the garden, so that the fish could have a bigger area to swim in, include a waterfall to aerate the water (and it's such a soothing sound), and do whatever else around that organic pond section.

Thoughts?

Directions?

Goldfish? Koi? I know Koi poo a lot more so it's harder to keep clean. But they are so much nicer to look at than goldfish (sorry goldfish!).

Attached a few things I found on the interweb which are interesting, for various reasons:
- wall sides which allow planting of flowering creepers
- fish cave so fishies can escape from the paparazzi

Thanks for your advice in advance

 

[Storm]

btw, the area to look at in the plan, is where it shows "grass landscaping" (going to be diachondra if possible); the 2 soakwells; large tree in the bottom corner; outside the lounge/dining room windows.

 

[Storm]

Just got an email from the boss

"I want to do a welded steel retaining wall that is the fish pond itself - not separate retaining wall.

So I would be looking for something that is maybe 2 lengths of 5m long x 600mm wide x 450 deep troughs welded up in stainless steel sheet. These will be a couple of 100 mm off the boundary so that we can run plants along the length of the fence.

We could separate the two troughs with a tree planter portion which will be about 2m long x 300mm wide x 450deep with no base, just filled with soil (or maybe with a compartment for the pond pump etc.). We'll need a power run to there as well now that I think about it. The reticulation guy will be putting an electrical run in the ground for the retic timer so maybe he could run something for the pond pump while he's at it.

So you could get a quote on the 3 x steel troughs in a thick gauge steel (they can recommend the thickness for you to suit a fishpond / planter box type approach)."

I don't quite get all of that right now (2 or 3 troughs? why separate?) so I will talk to her later

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

 

[j.w]

@Storm

 

[brokensword]

not sure of your question(s) overall, but I will say; look into Shubunkin goldfish--you might be suprised! And I hope you have this engineered well because there's a goodly force of water pushing against the walls when above ground. Which is why many of us dig into the ground and let the earth help us out!

Good luck and post pics!