Shading a pond on the fairly cheap with immediate results

[texmaster]

Hi Folks.

One of our ponds is hopelessly in the presence of full sun. I planted a Chinese pistachio a few years ago and while its doing great its not protecting the pond in the afternoon at critical times and despite my overload of filtration the algae is slowly taking control.

Now I have tried in the past with big steel 1.5 inch pipes on each side of the back of the pond and a ton of shading material tied to the front but they look beyond horrible and the polls eventually bent from the wind to the point it was worthless.

I'd love a pergola of course but it would have to be HUGE like 18x18 huge. From the pics, the sun passes over from right to left in the first picture and just gives the pond and patio a beating in the mid afternoon. Now I am semi handy, can pour concrete, electrical but don't think I could build my own.

As you can also see we have an existing pergola that I'm sure I could tie into. It looks pretty strong.

Love some ideas of what you guys have seen or done to your ponds.

The pond itself is 12x10x4

The last 3 pics were in the build process and do not reflect the current patio look fyi

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Shade Sail(s).

 

[texmaster]

Shade Sail(s).

That really is a great idea but can you leave them perpetually up?

 

[Faebinder]

Yep.

 

[MoonShadows]

I just built a shade canopy for my raised pond. It took me a while to come up with something that would do the job I wanted it to do and be aesthetically pleasing. The canopy only covers the back half, but it keeps the pond mostly shaded from 11 am to 3 pm and partially shaded the rest of the time. I built it out of 2x3's and stained it the same color of the Cedar pond frame. I used shade cloth to cover it. The canopy frame is heavy enough that it doesn't have to be attached to the pond frame and can be removed at any time. I only plan to use it for the hot summer months.

Here is a pic of it taken from our raised deck. This pic was taken at high noon. As you can see, the only part of the pond in the sun is a sliver in the back and a sliver in the front.

Here's a pic from ground level.

 

[Tula]

@MoonShadows , love the cover you built. My shade sails have been up year round ...even through OH winters!

 

[HomerJay]

I use a shade sail all summer.

 

[MoonShadows]

@MoonShadows , love the cover you built. My shade sails have been up year round ...even through OH winters!

Thanks, @Tula. I didn't want to go with a shade sail because we do most of our pond watching from our raised deck. If I used a shade sail, I would have had to attach it almost to the 2nd floor of our house and it would have had to be very big being so high off the ground. This half canopy keeps most of the sun out during the hottest hours and allows us to see the entire surface and into the pond at all times from the deck.

 

[DutchMuch]

Looks really nice, bet the inhabitants will like it even more

 

[texmaster]

Thanks very much for the great ideas and pics!

I've contacted a company and hope to get more info on a solution.

The sails have my vote for cost and protection for now.

 

[addy1]

To bad you can't incorporate a plant filter. I am not as hot as you, but my pond is full sun, sunrise to sunset. A bit of shade as the sun sets. The plants keep the water nice and clear.

 

[texmaster]

To bad you can't incorporate a plant filter. I am not as hot as you,

oh I bet you are!

but my pond is full sun, sunrise to sunset. A bit of shade as the sun sets. The plants keep the water nice and clear.

Yeah if I had to do it over again I would have incorporated a nice big bog filter. sigh.

 

[tbendl]

My pond sits in full sun and I have added a lot of plants. Lilies, water hyacinth, lotus, and I've had some potted stuff in the pond to throw shade.

 

[texmaster]

Ok folks I got some bids but they were a joke. 7-8 thousand dollars for a sail! That's right, just a sail. Forget a pergola. 4 poles and a shade sail =7-8k.


So screw this and despite my wife's objections I'm going forward with doing it myself.

This is my plan.

My thinking is that I can use the 2 posts closest to the patio by adding a 2 4x4x6 posts, setting them on top of the brick and tying it in at the back of the existing posts using 1/2x 10 inch lag bolts and poking a hole in the yellow plastic roofing extending it high enough to add in the sail. Also adding 2 4x4x12 new posts on either side of the pond for a 18x18 sail. I'm thinking they need to be at least 2-3 feet in the ground for support.

The existing posts are 6'11" and from the top to the brick "footer" is 4'10" Since I need to slope it towards the fence I'm thinking I'll need to go a foot and a half above the existing 6'11" height to get enough elevation then make the new posts 7'3" to allow for the slope for the rain to cascade away from the house.


Is this a sound plan? Anything I'm missing? Appreciate the input.

Posts I want to tie into and extend about 1.5 feet higher

 

[Faebinder]

Again your pond is small. Imagine making a table with long legs on top of it. Buy the material from Home Depot and build it yourself.

As for the bog, all you need is a small stock tank that has the surface area of one third of your pond. Drill a nice hole in it for the waterfall. Pass a tube from a pump from your pond to a pvc cylinder you leave at the bottom of this stock tank. drill holes in the cylinder so water can go everywhere. Fill up with pea gravel and add plants... it's that easy.