Please advise as to if this pond design makes sense

[Mayank]

Just redid the deck and made it bigger and of Trex. Planning an attached patio with pond. See attached pics. Each square on the graph paper is two feet. Pond went from 12x5 to 12x8 (as shown in pic). Thinking of interesting to 13x9. Formal rectangular with water coming from centerof far 13 ft side towards house. Planning central Island to hold my metal Buddha in summer. Not sure if I will have fish but want to have that option available in future. Any thoughts?

 

[Mayank]

New deck and surrounding area photos. Proposed pond to go approx where coolers are sitting on the grass.

 

[addy1]

That will look great! Bigger is better, no usually says wish I made it smaller.

 

[Mayank]

That will look great! Bigger is better, no usually says wish I made it smaller.

Thanks for the advice! The patio guy said that his old company put in ponds and did regular yearly maintenance like spring cleaning etc so he can put one in for us. He said that he would have to do a bio filter. Have no idea what any of that is. Assuming it's going to be a liner type pond? Any specific things I should look out for or make sure he does?

 

[Mayank]

Also currently I have a pre-formed 60 gallon kind of pond in my front yard that a water lily has successfully lived in for 14 years. Every year we attract frogs but the first season they died because the pond wasn't deep enough so every November we clean the pond out take the frogs to a bigger pond so they don't die and "winterize it". The Lily has been coming back so I kind of feel like I should do okay with the big pond if I just had plants. The issue is that I might want to have fish in the future I just want to make sure I don't omit some necessary steps. Also unless I can find vegetarian fish food I will not be having fish so maybe it doesn't even matter.....
I was referred to this site by bonsainut. there everyday I look at newbies posting things that are super basic but now I feel like I'm in the same position when it comes to ponds..... Completely clueless

 

[Mayank]

My current pond

 

[addy1]

did regular yearly maintenance like spring cleaning

If you have fish and if you have a balanced pond, you don't really want a spring cleaning. A lot of them drain the pond and power wash all the good stuff away, like the algae coating, the good bacteria etc. And it is hard on the fish to catch stick somewhere and put back in.

I have not drain cleaned mine ever, it has been running for around 9 years now.

He said that he would have to do a bio filter

Not sure what he might be referring to, I only filter with a bog i.e. pea gavel up flow filter full of plants. Never have water issues, green, cloudy, algae etc.

Assuming it's going to be a liner type

Make sure it is a good liner, not something like pvc.

 

[addy1]

Also unless I can find vegetarian fish food I will not be having fish so maybe it doesn't even matter.....

Mine live on the plants etc that are in the pond. They probably eat bugs also I have no control lol.

 

[Mayank]

Mine live on the plants etc that are in the pond. They probably eat bugs also I have no control lol.

So you don't feed them anything extra? Is there veggie dish food? What kind of fish do you have?

 

[Mayank]

If you have fish and if you have a balanced pond, you don't really want a spring cleaning. A lot of them drain the pond and power wash all the good stuff away, like the algae coating, the good bacteria etc. And it is hard on the fish to catch stick somewhere and put back in.

I have not drain cleaned mine ever, it has been running for around 9 years now.


Not sure what he might be referring to, I only filter with a bog i.e. pea gavel up flow filter full of plants. Never have water issues, green, cloudy, algae etc.

Make sure it is a good liner, not something like pvc.

What material should it be then? I'll make sure I'll ask for that.
Also I totally agree with the spring cleaning bit because if it is a self sufficient ecosystem then why would that be needed?
Not sure what a bog filter is?

 

[Lisak1]

Vegetarian fish food? You want your fish to be vegetarians?

A bog filter is a planted wetland filter - plumbed water in through the bottom, layers of stone and gravel with plants growing in the top.

 

[Mayank]

Vegetarian fish food? You want your fish to be vegetarians?

No. I'm vegetarian so I won't keep a "pet" that needs me to feed it non-veg. In the other hand it they can survive eating algae and mosquito larvae etc then that's fine else I'm ok doing without...

 

[Mayank]

Oh and if there is a good book that I can get to study these things and how to design a good pond etc i'd love to know so I can get it.

 

[addy1]

So you don't feed them anything extra? Is there veggie dish food? What kind of fish do you have?

I have gold fish / shubunkins Every now and then I give the fish food, I need to get the bag to see what is in it. right now they are getting mainly wheat germ.

 

[addy1]

What material should it be then? I'll make sure I'll ask for that.
Also I totally agree with the spring cleaning bit because if it is a self sufficient ecosystem then why would that be needed?
Not sure what a bog filter is?

Here is a thread about bog building.

Bog building, also called upflow filter, eco filter, wetland filter

I was asked to start a thread on how to build a bog. This is my rendition on bog building 101............. Building a bog: Before you decide to build a bog, you need to know what you want its primary purpose to be. Total pond filtration bog filtration combined with another filter. If you...

www.gardenpondforum.com

You want it to be epdm 45 or some other good heavy duty liner.