- Joined
- Feb 19, 2025
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- 3
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Hello from Oregon, I am re-entering the pond owners world after a bit of a hiatus the last 15 years. I grew up near lots of natural ponds and waterways, and dug my first pond in my backyard while I was in grade school for my pet ducks. That first pond was lined with a large construction tarp and had no pump or filtration, so obviously lots of lessons were learned.
Fast forward a few ponds and a few decades later to the present - we have had wild ducks nesting in our front yard the last few springs. We live near a greenbelt with a creek where the ducks hang out normally. As awesome as it has been to see the nesting cycle, the ducklings always seem to sneak out of our yard early in the morning after they hatch and we don’t get to see them before they disappear to the creek. I was able to use this “cute story” to convince my wife that a pond in our front yard would maybe get the ducklings to stick around for a week or two before they disappeared to the larger creek system, and she agreed on one condition - don’t spend any money.
Over the last 6 months, I have acquired a preformed pond liner (50-80gallons ish) from a neighbor for free, and I have harvested logs/rocks from the wild. I built a DIY canister filter from a 5 gallon bucket, and had that feed a 4-5 foot long babbling brook into the pond. I then made a dry creek bed for overflow/runoff and to tie the pond into the yard a bit.
I was worried this first pond was not going to be big enough to entice the duck family to hang around once the ducklings hatch, so I found another preformed pond liner on FB marketplace for $40, and that came with two water pumps. This is about 165 gallons, and has about 3x the surface area of the first pond. I am currently in the process of installing this 2nd pond shell just a few feet from the first one, and am landscaping the yard around it to be a water garden with a connected appearance.
The only things I have spent money on (more than the occasional $10 here and there) were the pump, some lights, $20 liner for the stream, a few cans of spray foam, and then $40 on the 2nd preformed pond liner.
I plan to share some of my progress, as well as my DIY filters, skimmers, etc. and I expect I will learn a lot from the members here. I’m a big fan of ecosystem ponds that mimic nature, and even though that can be difficult with preformed pond liners, I am going to try my best.
Cheers!
ADHDiy Guy
Fast forward a few ponds and a few decades later to the present - we have had wild ducks nesting in our front yard the last few springs. We live near a greenbelt with a creek where the ducks hang out normally. As awesome as it has been to see the nesting cycle, the ducklings always seem to sneak out of our yard early in the morning after they hatch and we don’t get to see them before they disappear to the creek. I was able to use this “cute story” to convince my wife that a pond in our front yard would maybe get the ducklings to stick around for a week or two before they disappeared to the larger creek system, and she agreed on one condition - don’t spend any money.
Over the last 6 months, I have acquired a preformed pond liner (50-80gallons ish) from a neighbor for free, and I have harvested logs/rocks from the wild. I built a DIY canister filter from a 5 gallon bucket, and had that feed a 4-5 foot long babbling brook into the pond. I then made a dry creek bed for overflow/runoff and to tie the pond into the yard a bit.
I was worried this first pond was not going to be big enough to entice the duck family to hang around once the ducklings hatch, so I found another preformed pond liner on FB marketplace for $40, and that came with two water pumps. This is about 165 gallons, and has about 3x the surface area of the first pond. I am currently in the process of installing this 2nd pond shell just a few feet from the first one, and am landscaping the yard around it to be a water garden with a connected appearance.
The only things I have spent money on (more than the occasional $10 here and there) were the pump, some lights, $20 liner for the stream, a few cans of spray foam, and then $40 on the 2nd preformed pond liner.
I plan to share some of my progress, as well as my DIY filters, skimmers, etc. and I expect I will learn a lot from the members here. I’m a big fan of ecosystem ponds that mimic nature, and even though that can be difficult with preformed pond liners, I am going to try my best.
Cheers!
ADHDiy Guy
