Hello, looking forward to get more involved in this group as I restart my pond life. TLDR, I have built a few ponds, most of my fish have died over the years, but I am about to try again, this time smarter than the last, and will document for others to learn from the mistakes I have made. Do as I say, not as I do and more bog more better.
After enjoying aquariums, I decided to venture to koi and ponds 25+ years ago and started with a simple raised pond on a slope in my front yard with a cheap liner. At just under 500 gallons and 6'x10' with a single pump fountain pump/filter combo. I eventually added a 5' stream and then after losing my fish to a heron covered it with a net/garden fence. Then I lost my fish, all with a hole in each as the heron walked poked them but did not eat any of them because of the net. I also lost 2 ponds worth of fish to the dreaded top off with water and leave it over night to find out I had chlorinated them all. I eventually decided to dig down a little deeper and used some old copper pipe when it was cheap to create a raised fence/net over the pond and added a 12" upflow waterfall with plants (not really a bog) and a skimmer. Never lost another fish again with that setup to any animals. I also learned that the cheaper liners can work, but it only lasted about 5 years before starting to break down so I converted to 45 mil liner and have never used anything else since. Lessons learned, 45 mil liner, limit chlorine, place your net high if you have one.
My next pond taught me about friction loss and depth, it took about 5 years before I figured out using a garden hose for all my water needs was a very poor choice (2 and 3 inch pipe only now). My first design was a 60 foot stream to a very shallow and large rock area before entering an 8 foot by 12 foot pond built in the same style as my front pond by just using the slope of the ground and building a wall on the other end. The racoons loved the easy ability to wash their hands and clean their fish before eating. After a year of that I swapped out the design and almost had it right with a small bog at the top and a steeper but not steep enough drop into the pond. I still had exposed liner everywhere and never really finished it, and the racoons now had a great place for a bath. So The following year I changed it again, ripped up the liner added an L shape and created 15" drops as my lowest spots into the pond and the racoons were finally thwarted. Volume was up to 16' x 8' expanding to 10' plus an extra 6'x 4' extra section. I added in a skimmer and a bottom drain along with an upflow rock feature, but did not add any plants to the waterfall, just floating plants that would cover the pond each month and then get removed in the winter. The bottom drain only last a year as it caused a leak and was always clogged and never worked as it should, mostly because of my poor abilities. I eventually got smart and added a larger (too large) waterfall with a 4' drop to a top flow bog at the bottom and a second upflow bog made from a 100 gallon tank along with a bead filter and the water quality finally improved to ok levels for the 15 fish in the 3000 gallons.
After numerous temp/quarantine/baby raised ponds, my 3rd in ground permanent pond was at a second home, and never really got the attention it needed. It was a 4000 gallon 12'x16' round pond and 4' deep, 5k gallons. Also on a slope, we decided to use large boulders to make up the difference and brought in an excavator for the first time. This was the first pond I used cinder blocks to build the edges, I will always use these now as they create steep strong edges. Have them top out just below the water line and give a great landing spot for the large rocks on the edge to allow better coverage and liner hiding. The liner was hidden everywhere except the walls and the edge was finally what I wanted, not perfect, good. The center waterfall based on a 100 gallon stock tank bog with an up flow design that worked out well. I added a stream that never really worked well and was designed to only run when we turned it on with a ball valve and just needed to be better. My wife planted all around the edges and we added a deck creating a decent overall effect, but not enough bog to control the algae. The other mistake was making it too round and the rocks too uniform, I think variety in both is need for that natural look. Plants were also a bit too close together in year one creating an overgrown look by year 5. The other lesson learned, even at the beach, just a few strands of fishing line will keep out the herons. We saw a number of them perch on the neighbors roof, but never saw a sign of a fish being taken until the lines broke off one year.
Then we decided to move, and that meant leaving all the ponds behind and starting again, only that process of moving and getting things ready took way longer than expected. Our move was a disaster for our fish, we ended up giving some away as our temp pond could not handle the load and fish were dying. Our property had an existing pond, but the liner was very damaged and it never made it up our list to repair, so we bought a 12' swimming pool and tried to keep the fish in there, but without a proper filter we were still losing a fish each month. The fish ended up toughing it out over the next 12 months in swimming pool and we were down to 8 fish from around 50. Moving sucks as we not only lost our 3 largest fish, but countless others because of our poor planning. At least when nature eats them you can have solace that you were part of the circle of life, but when life just gets in the way, it hurts.
Pond 4 was an emergency pond to save the remaining 8 fish as we were still planning our new garden pond. I again used the cinder blocks to create the edges, but this was a dig by shovel and pick axe type of thing, so it stayed small. We went with a simple modern look and then covered it, only to have the snow destroy the cover a few months later. So we rebuilt the cover with a nice green house with steep roof and a living wall of plants, so it turned out great. It has turned out very good and will eventually have a 3' x 8' x 24" bog feeding a 10'x12' pond when done and be used as our new fish pond before moving to the new outside garden pond.
Pond 5 (or build number 10-20 depending on all the temp/rebuilds that I count) is where I am today and I plan to send pictures in the construction forum each day of work to show progress based on the designs at the top of this post. Goal is to be test fish ready by the fall and then populate with our remaining fish in the spring.
After enjoying aquariums, I decided to venture to koi and ponds 25+ years ago and started with a simple raised pond on a slope in my front yard with a cheap liner. At just under 500 gallons and 6'x10' with a single pump fountain pump/filter combo. I eventually added a 5' stream and then after losing my fish to a heron covered it with a net/garden fence. Then I lost my fish, all with a hole in each as the heron walked poked them but did not eat any of them because of the net. I also lost 2 ponds worth of fish to the dreaded top off with water and leave it over night to find out I had chlorinated them all. I eventually decided to dig down a little deeper and used some old copper pipe when it was cheap to create a raised fence/net over the pond and added a 12" upflow waterfall with plants (not really a bog) and a skimmer. Never lost another fish again with that setup to any animals. I also learned that the cheaper liners can work, but it only lasted about 5 years before starting to break down so I converted to 45 mil liner and have never used anything else since. Lessons learned, 45 mil liner, limit chlorine, place your net high if you have one.
My next pond taught me about friction loss and depth, it took about 5 years before I figured out using a garden hose for all my water needs was a very poor choice (2 and 3 inch pipe only now). My first design was a 60 foot stream to a very shallow and large rock area before entering an 8 foot by 12 foot pond built in the same style as my front pond by just using the slope of the ground and building a wall on the other end. The racoons loved the easy ability to wash their hands and clean their fish before eating. After a year of that I swapped out the design and almost had it right with a small bog at the top and a steeper but not steep enough drop into the pond. I still had exposed liner everywhere and never really finished it, and the racoons now had a great place for a bath. So The following year I changed it again, ripped up the liner added an L shape and created 15" drops as my lowest spots into the pond and the racoons were finally thwarted. Volume was up to 16' x 8' expanding to 10' plus an extra 6'x 4' extra section. I added in a skimmer and a bottom drain along with an upflow rock feature, but did not add any plants to the waterfall, just floating plants that would cover the pond each month and then get removed in the winter. The bottom drain only last a year as it caused a leak and was always clogged and never worked as it should, mostly because of my poor abilities. I eventually got smart and added a larger (too large) waterfall with a 4' drop to a top flow bog at the bottom and a second upflow bog made from a 100 gallon tank along with a bead filter and the water quality finally improved to ok levels for the 15 fish in the 3000 gallons.
After numerous temp/quarantine/baby raised ponds, my 3rd in ground permanent pond was at a second home, and never really got the attention it needed. It was a 4000 gallon 12'x16' round pond and 4' deep, 5k gallons. Also on a slope, we decided to use large boulders to make up the difference and brought in an excavator for the first time. This was the first pond I used cinder blocks to build the edges, I will always use these now as they create steep strong edges. Have them top out just below the water line and give a great landing spot for the large rocks on the edge to allow better coverage and liner hiding. The liner was hidden everywhere except the walls and the edge was finally what I wanted, not perfect, good. The center waterfall based on a 100 gallon stock tank bog with an up flow design that worked out well. I added a stream that never really worked well and was designed to only run when we turned it on with a ball valve and just needed to be better. My wife planted all around the edges and we added a deck creating a decent overall effect, but not enough bog to control the algae. The other mistake was making it too round and the rocks too uniform, I think variety in both is need for that natural look. Plants were also a bit too close together in year one creating an overgrown look by year 5. The other lesson learned, even at the beach, just a few strands of fishing line will keep out the herons. We saw a number of them perch on the neighbors roof, but never saw a sign of a fish being taken until the lines broke off one year.
Then we decided to move, and that meant leaving all the ponds behind and starting again, only that process of moving and getting things ready took way longer than expected. Our move was a disaster for our fish, we ended up giving some away as our temp pond could not handle the load and fish were dying. Our property had an existing pond, but the liner was very damaged and it never made it up our list to repair, so we bought a 12' swimming pool and tried to keep the fish in there, but without a proper filter we were still losing a fish each month. The fish ended up toughing it out over the next 12 months in swimming pool and we were down to 8 fish from around 50. Moving sucks as we not only lost our 3 largest fish, but countless others because of our poor planning. At least when nature eats them you can have solace that you were part of the circle of life, but when life just gets in the way, it hurts.
Pond 4 was an emergency pond to save the remaining 8 fish as we were still planning our new garden pond. I again used the cinder blocks to create the edges, but this was a dig by shovel and pick axe type of thing, so it stayed small. We went with a simple modern look and then covered it, only to have the snow destroy the cover a few months later. So we rebuilt the cover with a nice green house with steep roof and a living wall of plants, so it turned out great. It has turned out very good and will eventually have a 3' x 8' x 24" bog feeding a 10'x12' pond when done and be used as our new fish pond before moving to the new outside garden pond.
Pond 5 (or build number 10-20 depending on all the temp/rebuilds that I count) is where I am today and I plan to send pictures in the construction forum each day of work to show progress based on the designs at the top of this post. Goal is to be test fish ready by the fall and then populate with our remaining fish in the spring.
). Going to see ELO in concert and visit with son and DIL