DIY backyard pond with fountain - for swimming?

[Strangways]

hi, At my place of work they had some flowerbeds which they turned into small fountain / ponds.. They dug them up, put down liner and rocks, installed a pump then hid it, put in a drain if the water gets too high and it was done. Looked easy and Im going to do the same in my backyard. I had a thought, why not make the basin a bit deeper, maybe the size of a hottub, then I could jump in it from time to time and cool off in the summer. Would I need a special filter for this? does anyone sell a standalone heater and jets to make it a hot tub pond?

[RickH]

Heed my advice a pond is not easy to build and not easy to maintain and thats just a relatively dirty pond for fish, even those need a floor drain to be proper, plus filtration and bacterial culture maintenance.

As for a human-use hot tub built with a pond liner, forget it, just go out and buy a hot tub you will same much money and labor. The list of safety issues here is just too long to list, plumbing, electrical, bacterial, rising ground water under the liner, drainage, etc.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Here's a start-

I don't think a 100 degree hot tub would be compatible with much pond life-- but if you want parts there are always free hot tubs on Craigs list.

Jim

[gfretwell]

Just be aware if the neighbors rat you out to code enforcement you will probably have to bring this "pond" up to swimming pool standards. (bonding, entrapment protection, sanitation etc) bathe quietly

[Red Green]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

One word on this:

FrogsFrogdungAlgaeRottingleavesSnakesBirdcrapSnalesSlugsDeadinsectsDeadrodentsPollenDirtDiseasePondscumEtc

These are all good things as a pond is an balanced ecosystem. Keyword is POND.

[a]

Carl Spackler: This place got a pool? Ty Webb: Pool and a pond... Pond be good for you

a

[Jim Elbrecht]

Thanks for the correction. I'm new to the pond scene and conflated the two filters in my head.

I think I'm doing it for real in my little wading pond- I've created a gravel lined 'bog' which I'm filling with plants and will be trickling water through. The main suspended stuff gets filtered in a skimmer/waterfall- both with bio rocks in them.

Too soon to see if I'm doing *anything* right, but the dog likes it & it has been fun.

Jim

[gpsman]

Really no more effective than lying within reach of a sprinkler, I don't think, but with a little less cach=E9. -----

- gpsman

[Jim Elbrecht]

Sprinkler is probably cold water. . . can't read there. . . dilutes your beer/beverage. . . wastes water. . . can't be home to water plants or water-life. . . and of course the caché is worth something.

Jim

[jim]

Best wading pond we ever had was with the black pond liner in the back of the old mazda pick up. close the tail gate, fill up and the sun against the black liner heated it up real nice. Water got too putrid - open tail gate, rinse off and refill. Hard on the coil springs but this truck was only used to plow the driveway in the winter.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] wrote in news:eff3d385-53ff-46d0-b625-0f530ec36243 @m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:

Here, in violation of my own comments about scuzzy water, I am using a rubber ducky wash thingy. Portion of a pond I built over a decade ago.

You should have seen the cat the first spring when the ice thawed to the point it would no longer support it's weight. I was so fortunate to be there and see it. I renamed the cat Jesus Christ seeing that I learned it could walk, well run, on water. Actually I used to break the surface often to avoid the animal from possibly going under and getting trapped.

[Bob F]

Best wading pond we ever had was with the black pond liner in the back of the old mazda pick up. close the tail gate, fill up and the sun against the black liner heated it up real nice. Water got too putrid - open tail gate, rinse off and refill. Hard on the coil springs but this truck was only used to plow the driveway in the winter.

*****************************************************

And it probably got real good traction in the winter.

[KLS]

I was really disappointed not to find a pic of Jesus Christ the cat. Bait and switch!