So why a pond?

[Sunshine]

It is a great place to sit by after a long stressful day.

 

[RobAmy]

It allows us to have nature, relaxation and photography all come together in one area. The pond is simply the best thing we put in our yard. Sitting by the fire with a cup of coffee in the morning watching wild mallard ducks and various songbirds with the sound of the flowing stream is something that is truly enjoyed. Viewing the pond in the fall with the steam coming of the water with the fall colors is nothing short of spectacular. Of coarse with all this we get the added bonus of seeing and feeding the Koi and Goldfish. We are very lucky to have the seasons too. Watching the pond come alive in the spring is amazing, the plants are growing, the frogs are calling and the birds are singing. All very welcome after the winter months. Winter is tough but also has it's beauty at the same time, seeing the snow on the rocks with the moving water and ice formations is amazing. Even that we rather not shut down the pond for a couple of months during the winter, this does provide excitement to see spring awake it once again. My only regret with the pond is that we did not install one sooner.

 

[Andy41]

Why a pond?

I've always liked moving water, and animals, and building stuff. Building a pond has allowed me to do all 3, even if it has driven the mrs a bit mad at times... i tend to start projects and then start planning the next one before i'm finished with the first.

Until we moved 4 years ago i never had space for koi, but now i do, and the ideas and feedback i get from this forum have been invaluable.

At the end of the day it's wonderful to sit next to the pond with a beer and watch the fish and know that it's all your own work.

cheers,

Andy.

 

[HARO]

Why a pond?

I've always liked moving water, and animals, and building stuff. Building a pond has allowed me to do all 3, even if it has driven the mrs a bit mad at times... i tend to start projects and then start planning the next one before i'm finished with the first.

Until we moved 4 years ago i never had space for koi, but now i do, and the ideas and feedback i get from this forum have been invaluable.

At the end of the day it's wonderful to sit next to the pond with a beer and watch the fish and know that it's all your own work.

cheers,

Andy.

You sound like another pisces, Andy. ?
John

 

[Nepen]

and we'll all be looking forward to the updates on that!

that's a sure thing But we have to kill off the Wisteria first (and that uses chemical) to start building the pond.. so dont really know when I can start diffing. In the mean time the fish will be at their old pond until I get to build a new one. At least we are not going to sell our old house so I can leave them where they are until the time comes. I wish I could start around April so I dont have to worry too much about water temperature when I move them

 

[Andy41]

You sound like another pisces, Andy. ?
John

Nope, Taurus.

 

[C-Note]

I just love fish, koi specifically. I love having the ultimate place to relax with my morning coffee and evening wine. And maybe 3 French Bulldogs just wasn't enough responsibility, along with a full time job?? LOL. Mostly it's the beauty and calm that comes from sitting by the pond, enjoying the fish, listening to the flowing water. It's nice to watch the fish grow, reproduce, and thrive, knowing YOU created the right environment for them. It's nice to step away from stress, and the hustle & bustle of life to just enjoy nature's wonder. It's also cool to enjoy the rewards of the hard work that goes into being a pond enthusiast.

 

[Willo]

Why a pond you ask........well me and my girlfriend bought a house together we moved in Oct 2012. The house had a.........I will use the term pond very loosely!!! As it was 5m x 2m but was about 20cm deep one end and 60cm at other, according to the guy who dug it he got bored digging it!!!
It was at ground level and the down pipes from the conservatory ran into the pond?
No filter system at all?? And the plastic liner had more holes than a sieve. There was only 1 fish a golden orfe (we called Felix) I managed to put the fish in a friend’s koi pond, he’s been keeping koi for about 25yrs and had some huge koi his pond, certainly put my pond to shame.

In early March 2013 started work on the pond just as the frogs had started getting “jiggy with it”, I caught at least 150 frogs and had buckets of frog spawn that all got transported to a pond over 5 miles away, nicely re homed.
The size of the pond was alright and was nicely surrounded by block paving and raised planters so I decided to just dig it deeper......this will be easy I thought!! Solid clay and boulders it took me a couple of days with a pickaxe & shovel to dig it to a decent depth, I bought some railway sleepers to raise the sides up as by then I was fed up of digging and I didn’t want the pond at ground level as I could see me tripping and falling in.
The pond is now about 5m x 2m x 1m deep and holds about 9000lts.

I was given some old filters by my friend but I wasn't sure how to sort anything out that's when I joined this Pond forum and got lots of good advice.
The filters were housed in a small shed about 3m from the pond and all the pipes were buried underground out of the way.

It all took a couple of weeks to sort everything, by May we had Felix back in the pond.
By July we had purchased a few very small koi and been give some very nice fantailed goldfish by someone who was filling in there pond. During that summer we spent hours just sitting and watch the fish swim round with a glass of wine.

I have had lots of issues mainly algae blocking the filters up!!! But the main problem I have had is the filters are too small for the size of the pond.
So a couple of weeks ago after much research I bought some new filters, as these filters can handle 10,000lph the pipe work is much bigger than before so I have had to reposition the filters next to the pond and build a box to hide everything. I still need to move my old filter shed and our old shed which will give us a nice patio area to while away the hours watching the fish from.....with a glass of wine of course!!

The pics start from what the pond was like when we moved in to how it was with the filter box away from the pond to as it is now with the box alongside the pond. Still a work in progress..............

 

[C-Note]

Wow @Willo , that's an impressive do-over!! Looks really great. And yes, always a glass of wine in hand for those evenings by the pond. Or afternoons... or whenever!

 

[j.w]

That's absolutely beautiful now! You worked darn hard to get the better depth and I love the way you did the finished top edges and raised it all up! Now enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

 

[Andy41]

Hi Wilo,

Very nice job,... the pond looks great.

Is that a blue sea monster in one of the pics?

cheers,

Andy.

 

[Willo]

Hi Wilo,

Very nice job,... the pond looks great.

Is that a blue sea monster in one of the pics?

cheers,

Andy.

Ha ha yes its a pottery Lock Ness monster.........it was in the pond when we moved in ???

 

[addy1]

Great job! It looks very nice. Like the sea monster.

 

[Andy41]

Ha ha yes its a pottery Lock Ness monster.........it was in the pond when we moved in ???

and you ditched it? shocking!

 

[Willo]

Ha ha the algae seemed to love it, took it out to clean it and it disintegrated poor nessy