Garden ponds ???

[Bill]

Hi al, now that summer is on the way and I have a lot of spare space in the garden that is presently lawn the idea of a pond is growing on me. I've had a Google and found some quite good references from everything from a puddle to something akin to a swimming pool. If any one has a favourite site they could point me in the direction of or any comments they would be much appreciated. Yes I know that there are probably pond groups out there but there always seems a good stock of educated info on uk.d-i-y so I thought I'd ask here first.

[Set Square]

Here's one I found when I was looking a little while ago . .

[Neil Jones]

[Set Square]

Apparently!

[Pet]

We've got an inherited 14 Koi in a pond with a max. depth of no more than 36" at the deepest point, probabally closer to 30" average.

In the winter they all huddle up together in the bottom. The biggest one is about 14" long.

All fish seem fine and have been in the pond for over 5 years.

I believe unless you want to show them the surface area is more important than the total water volume. Just make sure there IS a deepest part.

[Geoff Beale]

You could try lurking in the "rec.ponds" newsgroup. You'll learn a lot. There are lots of knowledgeable and helpful people there but it is heavily USA oriented. (That's not meant as a criticism.)

Whatever else you do, make the pond a minimum of at least half as big again as you first think you want. If you don't, you'll regret it within a few months and it's a PITA to enlarge one that's stocked, planted and balanced.

[Matt Helliwell]

As Geoff Said, rec.ponds is probably the best place to start. A few things to think about are: what sort of fish (if any) do you want in it? koi need better filtration and more volume bog standard goldfish.

However big you think you want it, make it bigger.

plan in advance where your filters will go and how you'll clear them out. Making diy filters is hours of entertainment and saves money that can be spent on making the pond bigger.

Decide now if yon want a bottom drain, retro fitting one will be a pain.

Use a pump with a floating cut off switch so if you get a leak, the pond won't completely empty.

[Bob Minchin]

It is a few years since I built my pond but then a mailorder firm called Bradshaws were very competitive on pumps and liners even allowing for postage compared to my local water garden centres. I don't know if they are still as competitive

Bob

[Ian Stirling]

Though resist the temptation to go too deep. A friend has a 3m deep hourglass shaped pond, 5m wide. She just kept digging.

The conclusion was recently reached that a pond you can stand up in and have your head out of the water is a good thing, after she fell in.

[PJ]

I'd say five foot minimum. Any less and you really should heat it in winter to prevent iceing.

Mine is 7ft deep and heated. When I say heated I mean just enough to keep the fish happy. I set the thermo to 50 during winter. I use a swimming pool boiler but the modern way is an electric pond heater.

If I had my time over I wouldn't dig to 7 ft. It's a PITA to catch the fish if they need treating etc. Dragging a net through 7ft of water and catching fish requires great strength and skill believe me.

I'd do 5 ft and have the heater on standby at say 40 degrees or cover the pond with twin wall plastic in deepest winter. I'd also have the pond fibreglass lined rather than the butyl pond liner I used.

The secret is to keep the fish feeding during winter and the only way to do that is to keep the temp up at 50. Any less and the fish go dormant. Then, in spring, any food left in their gut (rotted over the winter) can cause major problems including fatalities.

As others suggest... go on a koi newsgroup or do a search on the net for loads more info.

[Bill]

In message , Bill writes

Thanks for all the input, I have joined a couple of yahoo groups and spent a lot of time looking around the web and now feel totally confident that I have a lot to learn! So hopefully it will be out with the spade, or more likely the next door neighbours mini digger shortly. It's very handy having a good neighbour who hires out diggers!

[G&M]

Got my neighbour (a farmer) to dig out "a small pond" with his mini-digger yesterday. However he was somewhat enthusiastic about the job and we've now got a major lake :-) Should be impressive once it's filled.

[Huge]

Good. 'Cos the prime rule with ponds is "make it bigger".

In a few years, you'll wish you'd got a bigger one.

[geoff]

In message , Bill writes

A good neighbour would come and do it for you for a crate of beer

[geoff]

So the spam keeps telling me

[G&M]

mini-digger

Why's that ?

[Rob Graham]

This is the enthusiast approach to Koi. I don't know where the OP lives but I'm near Edinburgh at 400 ft above sea level and the pond freezes over regularly in the winter. Its approx. kidney shaped 500 gallons volume and 3 feet deep ( originally!) and it's happily supported 4 Koi for 5 years. I've none of this bother with heaters - in fact this is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing; as I said this seems to be a serious way of keeping fish which I'm sure there are thousands who succeed without this complication. My pond has a circulating pump to a waterfall with a filter and a UV lamp in the filter.

It is perhaps good to know how the enthusiast keeps his fish but the evidence is that it isn't really necessary.

Rob

[geoff]

In message , Rob Graham writes

Yeah, just over 2" deep here, half an inch of ice on the pond ... no problem - not soft and pampered.

I lost a couple to a heron last month though, I need to teach them some martial arts this summer

[Bill]

In message , geoff writes

Indeed, I should have explained further, as he is a very good neighbour he comes along with his digger. 5 years back he took out an extremely old and beyond redemption 60' hedge for me and levelled the ground for a bottle of scotch and the cost of the tip fees. For the green ones amongst you the hedge has been replanted with hawthorn and is doing well, two blackbirds nests last year.

[Huge]

More is better. Too much is just enough.