Second Pond, First time using liner

[Denon]

So I had a small preformed pond that was about 35 gallons that we decided to replace. Two weekends ago we pulled that out (because our 12 year old Japanese Maple died giving us much more room and my son wanted a much bigger pond right away) and replaced with a liner this time. It is about 4ft x 5ft and about 18in deep. Very unlike me I did not do enough research and did not read how to do a better job hiding the liner. I ended up with a slight mound around the whole pond which I wrapped the liner up and over and then covered with river rock. I then placed flagstone over the edge. I would love to pull out what I did on the side but I cut the liner and don't have enough to make a shelf and wrap it. Any tips on hiding the liner better? I did buy some water lilies that are in pots and water lettuce but it is too cold now to put out.

Overall I am really happy with how it turned out. The waterfall sounds much better than my old one and it is much bigger and fills in the area by our patio much better. Next I am going to work on filling in with some sort of dwarf grasses and plants. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

I don't plan on having a lot of fish. I have two comets in there now and plan on getting one more (Maybe a Shubunkin for my daughter to pick out). I don't have much for filtration. I had tropical tanks so I am familiar with keeping fish. With that said I filled the waterfall box with quilt batting and then layered it with a bag of lava rock. Will that be ok? I basically copied the more expensive waterfall filters I have seen just using a generic one making my own filter.

 

[RobAmy]

We come, nice job and now enjoy it

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group! It looks great. The liner will get covered with a fine coat of algae and not even be noticeable in a bit.

The quilt batting will get clogged up pretty fast be aware of that. Might make your filter overflow. Quilt batting is used more in a area you can pull and rinse it quite often.

 

[sissy]

I think it turned out really nice and you will enjoy that for years to come .I am sure your son is happier about the new pond

 

[Tula]

Welcome

 

[peter hillman]

Pond looks nice, it takes time for them to mature. I don't worry about a little liner showing, don't care.

 

[Denon]

Thank you everyone. Yes I guess I must be patient and wait for it to mature. That doesn't come easy for me

The two goldfish just love it. I keep them inside in the winter in our turtle tank. I think they not only enjoy the room but not being pestered by the turtle!

I had the same type of filter in my small pond and it worked fine...but that was much smaller. Being bigger this time around it might not be enough. It is easy enough to get to...the top rock lifts right off the waterfall box and I just have to pull out the bag of lava rocks and rinse out the batting. I put the waterfall on a remote so I can turn it off easier when rinsing the media. I actually like that chore...I have a few dwarf apple trees that I think really benefit from the cleanings. I imagine in the summer it might have to be too often....The area is elevated by retaining wall blocks and in my attempt to make the pond as bis as possible I didn't leave enough room.....Any other ideas for some mechanical filtration? My first pump I had used one of the sponge prefilters and that was a pain to clean.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum! You've done a beautiful job with your pond

 

[KC Crook]

Thank you everyone. Yes I guess I must be patient and wait for it to mature. That doesn't come easy for me

The two goldfish just love it. I keep them inside in the winter in our turtle tank. I think they not only enjoy the room but not being pestered by the turtle!

I had the same type of filter in my small pond and it worked fine...but that was much smaller. Being bigger this time around it might not be enough. It is easy enough to get to...the top rock lifts right off the waterfall box and I just have to pull out the bag of lava rocks and rinse out the batting. I put the waterfall on a remote so I can turn it off easier when rinsing the media. I actually like that chore...I have a few dwarf apple trees that I think really benefit from the cleanings. I imagine in the summer it might have to be too often....The area is elevated by retaining wall blocks and in my attempt to make the pond as bis as possible I didn't leave enough room.....Any other ideas for some mechanical filtration? My first pump I had used one of the sponge prefilters and that was a pain to clean.

You dont say where you are from but goldfish really like cold water. I dont see the need to bring them in in the winter. Im no expert on this, but you may be worrying more then you need to when it comes to the fish.

 

[Denon]

Thank you everyone. I am in Chicago so the pond will freeze over.

Each day I changed a little something. The last two days I ended up pulling back the liner and creating the shelf for the first level of rock. I guess I had more liner than I thought. I searched and used some of the advice here to fold it up and over the first layer. It was not as much work as I thought. I just needed more and more rock...I added a few more plants and now am going to try and find some type of ivy or creeping plants to soften the rock ledge.

 

[cas]

Very nice!

 

[KC Crook]

Lovely! I really like it. Love your waterfall!