My new goldfish pond build

[CometKeith]

I'm starting a new thread just for my new pond build. We are moving in less than 10 days and I have to dig a new pond at our new property and move all my fish! It's not my first choice but we got a great offer on our house and couldn't turn it down. Also we are very busy moving after 18 years in one place so life is going to be very interesting for the next few weeks. I'll start it out with a couple pictures of my existing pond and fish and then a sketch I made tonight about where it might be placed. First the

existing pond with all the crazy overgrown plants this year. It did keep my water and fish cool despite the high heat we had.
Next some pictures of my goldfish. All but 3 were born in the pond. I've had 10-15 babies every year for the last 4 or 5 years!

Now my new backyard. It doesn't look great quite yet because the property is under construction.

Okay. I did a little sketch of how a pond might look. I'm going to build it close to the garage. The garage is 26 ft across. The distance between our back porch and the garage is 24 ft and we need a place to install pavers for sitting areas and a barbecue. I made a sketch and the distance across would be 16 feet. One of the widths of the sections would be 8 ft across and the other section would be 7 ft. I'm leaving some space in the far corner for a waterfall. Here is the sketch.

I'm guessing it will be close to 2500 gallons with a maximum depth of 4.5 ft and I'll have a 1 ft wide shelf on the front part about 1 ft down. The average depth will be about 3.5 ft. I'm thinking to berm the ground on the left side and do some nice plantings there and have the waterfall on the right in the back corner. I already bought a Laguna 2000 pump and 3000 filter and I think this will be sufficient since I am not adding any more fish. I started it running the other day in my existing pond so my filter media starts to develop beneficial bacteria. I don't think I'll get a skimmer because I actually like doing that myself with a net and feel sometimes skimmers catch too many fry. I don't have the final say as both my wife will be very involved as well as our oldest daughter who does design. Also I have a client who is a landscape architect and she offered to help. I know my wife will be concerned that the pond is not too big as to overshadow our yard but I'm going to draw a line of at least 2000 gallons. Any advice or suggestions are more than welcome!

 

[Mmathis]

Ooooo, how exciting! And I guess it's good that you'll have help with design and planning (but that could be a hindrance as long as you don't lose control over what your most important features are). Will you go with a BD set up? Advice? Gee, with my limited personal experience, you've probably already figured out more than I could imagine..... Be sure to give yourself enough room between the pond and garage for maintenance issues. How is the pond situated with respect to compass directions? And will there be any natural shade, if that's an issue? And what about protection from wind? (I'm just grasping, trying to recall some issues I failed to consider -- one is that we installed a really cool, huge rock that we can sit on to watch the pond -- but it's on the east side which means in the afternoon, we're looking straight into the sun)

 

[Tula]

What about a small bog, connected to the pond. It could look beautiful, with plantings and spill into your main pond

 

[sissy]

moving is fun and not so fun .I know it was exciting to move from NJ to VA but a lot of work also .I started with a house and dirt and no furniture so at least I did not have to move that stuff .I gave it all away in NJ .Did keep my dogs and 1 cat .oh and hubby At least you have a new start and people to guide you .Good luck and know you will have fun and the pain will go away .Just make sure you can get to the pond from several sides .Also remember about run off from the buildings .I thought I was OK until we got that really heavy heavy rain storm and the rain came flying off the porch roof and gutter at an astounding range .Almost over shot my pond coming off .First time that has happened and hoping it never happens again .Now they are calling for more snow this winter than ever before and now thinking about the ice and snow coming off the roof .

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks for the replies. Mmathis that's a good point about direction. I have been there a lot of different times since we bought the property last fall to get a feel about the sunlight both for the yard and building. The garage faces south so the pond will be pretty shaded in the mornings with neighbor trees, but then get a good dose of afternoon sun. This is a lot different from my current pond that sits just north of my garage and is in it's shadow most the time. I think it will be nice in the fall and spring and even in the winter that it will get a lot more sun. I like to keep my waterfall going all year so I think more sun will be a help. It's going to be fairly deep 4-5 feet, and probably have a good number of floating plants so I don't think the water will get that hot. Also we are moving closer to Lake Michigan and the air temperature is a little cooler there in the summer because of the lake and warmer in the fall and winter.

Thanks Tula. I would love to build a bog. I almost feel that my current pond is a bog with fish because I have so many plants. The downside is we need space for outdoor furniture and open space in general so i don't know how keen my wife would be on having most the yard filled up with water. I think over time I may do some more stuff and right now am figuring out just the pond position and size. Definitely in the spring I'm going to design and build a nice waterfall. Who knows if I play my cards right I can find a space for a bog. I like doing everything naturally with my pond so a bog would be great.

Thanks Sissy. It's been pretty stressful but so far we have been hanging in there. It's been a hard process because we were looking for properties for a year and we were looking for bigger than average city lots so there would be room to build a pond. In the areas we were looking there was only a new property like this coming up every 2 or 3 months. Then we went for a zoning exception that took 6 months so we could build the project we wanted, and it took another 4 months to get the permit. Plus dealing with an architect and all the design issues. Honestly when we designed and built our house 18 years ago it seemed like a much easier process. Now we are selling a lot of furniture, storing a lot, and just moving a small part of it into a two bedroom apartment while our project is being done. I'm not complaining because we got exactly what we wanted for our house, but it is a lot of work. Also we are officially empty nesters because our youngest daughter just got a job and moved to Ohio so there is a lot of change underfoot.

Well I ordered the epdm liner last night. I went with a typical 45 mm Firestone pond liner. It was a little hard knowing what size to buy because the pond size isn't set yet, but I can't wait because I need to dig it by Friday at the latest and need the liner ready.I went with a 20 x 25 liner. The pond I was hoping for would need 19 x 27 so this liner is just slightly short. I paid $315 for it plus shipping and checked a number of web sites and ended up going with az ponds again. The odds are my pond won't be 16 ft across after the negotiations are over and if it's just 14 ft this liner should fit fine. Still if I do a kidney shaped pond it will be at least 2500 gallons and for 50 or so goldfish I have I'm sure they will be very happy or at least happier than me right now. Can't wait until the move is over and the pond is done!

 

[Mmathis]

@CometKeith

 

[CometKeith]

The first picture is from yesterday. A lot of concrete was being broken up in the yard, but there still was a lot to do.

The rest of the pictures are from today. A lot more concrete and other debris was dug up and the pond dig started. My goal was to have a kidney shaped pond with the front edge lower by one foot. Also I decided for safety reasons there should be steps coming out of it.

There is a big drain pipe going through it. i'm going to check with our plumber but I'm pretty sure it's not being used anymore and was once hooked up to a drain in our garage. Also the diggers left the back side with a one foot shelf. i'm pretty sure I'm going to eliminate that and make the back side deeper. I was thinking of eliminating a few of the steps because it looks like there are too many. I haven't received the liner yet. It better come tomorrow!

 

[Mmathis]

I like the idea of the steps. I did that with mine, and while the steps are small, it sure helps getting in and out of the pond.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Mmathis. Since we are moving to a pretty dense area and we will also have tenants, I'm also concerned about dangers to children in so this would be a safe way to get out if someone falls in.

 

[gliebig]

Those are some purty feesh.

 

[CometKeith]

This is the final hole for the liner and pond.

I had to work around a drain line that you can see but I don't think it will bother anything. Hopefully my liner will be big enough the wrap around it because that was unforeseen. The liner is being delivered this afternoon. My plan is to install it first thing tomorrow morning and fill it with water. Let it run for a day with the declor with a small pump and put in my fish and the new pump/filter on Sunday. It's about 4.5 ft deep and has a 1 ft lower shelf running around the front half. I like the way the steps into it worked out so it is easy to get in and out if need be.

 

[cas]

It's about 4.5 ft deep

It looks like if you would have gone only 4 ft deep, you wouldn't have run into the drain pipe.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Cas. The pipe has a pretty large diameter and it was jutting up when the dirt was a foot higher. I don't really need it. It connects the floor drain from my garage. How many garages have drains in the floor and why do you even need one? Well my wife thought it would be nice to still have it even if it doesn't connect to anything anymore so the melted snow from her car has a place to go. The drain line goes about 20 ft towards our building and just ends where the old catch basin was. I don't think it will hurt anything if the pipe drains into the ground. I didn't really want it to stop where my pond is and maybe have sharp edges where we cut it. Maybe down the road I'll connect the drain where it stops into our sewer system. Anyway the liner showed up today and is sitting where the fed ex driver left it by our front door. It's really heavy. Well if it doesn't rain tomorrow the liner is going in and is going to be filled up with water. I'm not thrilled the fish will be going in so soon but the filter I bought for the new pond has been working for about 10 days in my existing pond. I'm hoping the filter media has enough bb that the new pond will have a nice head start to being cycled. Also hopefully the new pond is big enough that any ammonia and nitrite produced from the fish will not be that dangerous. I think it is going to be definitely over 2000 gallons and am going to take final measurements tomorrow. So the plan for tomorrow if it doesn't rain is drop in the new liner, fill it up with water and add declor, and let a pump push water around to help aerate it. Then Sunday move my new pump and filter over and bring a bunch of fish. Maybe I'll bring some Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so I don't bring too many fish at once. Tuesday is moving day and Wednesday's our very last day as we need to be out of the house by 1:00.

 

[cas]

Wow. You are moving fast.
At least your garage has a drain pipe..... I went to clean the drain in my garage, lifted up the grate and found that there was no pipe. Just a big hole in the ground.

 

[Lisak1]

Wow. You are moving fast.
At least your garage has a drain pipe..... I went to clean the drain in my garage, lifted up the grate and found that there was no pipe. Just a big hole in the ground.

I think that's actually more common than what @CometKeith has.

Looking good @CometKeith - rain all weekend here... Hope that doesn't slow you down!