My first self built pond.

[Lesley Gilks]

I've always wanted a pond. when we decided to move part of my wish list was a garden big enough for the dogs to have fun and for me to have a largish pond. We found a bungalow with an existing pond (whoopie), but it soon became clear that there were major issues. I bought a pressurized filter but it did not clear the water and we were loosing a good 5 inches a day so it was obvious there was a major leak. I tried to pretty it up but it had been poorly dug and all the rocks just slid to the bottom of the pond. It was also only 18 inches deep in most places so was pretty useless for keeping gold fish. It was teeming with brown fish, though. The three photos are after my modifications. The options were reline it or completely redo it. As we were in lock down and we were going to be stuck in the house for the foreseeable future, I decided to go for option B, with the help of Hubby. It took us a good three weeks to clear the liner and rocks and dig up the two large pampas grasses (back breaking work), and Hubby spent days tracking back all the bamboo runners that turned out to be the reason why the pond was leaking. The roots had pierced the liner in multiple places. When I say "liner" I mean it in the loosest sense as it was three tarps, one on top of the other. The underlay was old carpet and stank to high Heaven. I'd watched all the Aquascape videos so decided to go for a natural pond with a wet land filter and intake bay...I really wanted a negative edge but thought that might be too complicated. You can't see from the photos that we have quite a dramatic change of gradient past the pampas so I thought I could use that. In the end, I had to modify my plans as we discovered some other problems once we started digging. If you see the line of pavers on the edge of the pond, well there is a drainage pipe about 18 inches below the surface. This would've been in the middle of the pond so we had to shift it over and capped it off so now one side is the pond and the other side is the wetland filter. Part two coming soon.

 

[YShahar]

What a beautiful dog you have there! Looks like s/he is impatient to have the pond enlarged and ready for dogs to swim in.

Great that you decided to rebuild, rather than to keep throwing money and effort into the previous pond. Quite often, starting over really is the best way to go. Pampas grass and bamboo are both known as pond-killing fiends.

Looking forward to seeing the result of your rebuild!

My pond also ended up being my lockdown project, but in my case, it took 6 months to complete the dig. Totally worth it! I also went with an intake bay and wetland (though the later is still in progress). Since Aquablocks aren't available where I live, I went with milk crates for the bottom of the intake bay and wetland.

Cheers!

-Yael from Israel

 

[Lesley Gilks]

Thank you...Doggos love the water although they are not great swimmers. They'll get into chest depth and that's their limit. That's Leo (8), and Nelson (4). I show Nelson and he's done quite well and has qualified for next year's Crufts. Leo will drop his toys in the pond and in my most recent clean out, I found 6. We also have a 12 year old called Rigsby.
We couldn't do the intake in the end as I discovered more pipe where I wanted it to be but the wetland has proved most effective. I'll take some pics of the pond as it is now and will post them soon. X Lovely pond, BTW.

 

[JRS]

Great progress!

 

[j.w]

Looking forward to Part 2 and your beautiful setter is too

 

[Laaf]

Beautiful pond and beautiful dogs!

 

[cas]

Pretty pond!

 

[addy1]

Very nice pond we will enjoy watching the rebuild!

 

[Lesley Gilks]

Thank you but the pond is totally different now.

 

[Mmathis]

Nice!

 

[GBBUDD]

Looking g good from. What I can see. I will are one note about the drainage pope under the liner if you suspect any water is building g up under the liner take that cap off and hopefully the water will raise within the pipe and not lift your liner

 

[j.w]

Looking g good from. What I can see. I will are one note about the drainage pope under the liner if you suspect any water is building g up under the liner take that cap off and hopefully the water will raise within the pipe and not lift your liner

Darn the pope was under there? Nice of him to try and fix the issue

 

[GBBUDD]

that'
s what i get using the phone without glasses

 

[j.w]

that'
s what i get using the phone without glasses

You are doing better than I could if I didn't put on my reading glasses! I still have to proof read everything after I write it all.

 

[YShahar]

Thank you but the pond is totally different now.

Photos, please! Looking forward to seeing the final (or even partial) result. The design part is definitely the most enjoyable. The hauling of heavy rocks, not so much.