Apparition

You'll need to line it first with soft sand and then a suitable pond under liner , they can be bought where you get the butyl liner from or you can use old carpet. You'll need to use the top line of bricks to hold it all in place.

Be warned, in winter, this type of pond will freeze deeper and longer than one submerged in the ground. We had one and even with those liners and a layer of earth too, it still froze quite easily being above ground and more susceptible to the cold.

There are loads of sites online which will fill in any other details you need to know.
Good luck
Yve

Bakerman

We have a 5k gallon pond which is in the ground but if I do one again I will have it raised a bit as well i.e. say a few feet above ground with some glass for viewing the fish. Any shallow pond will really struggle with temp fluctuation (ours has been bad enough this winter despite its size) and therefore may not be suitable for fish. If you don't have fish then you don't really need a filter, then again if you have a balanced pond and only a few goldfish you probably still don't need a filter but they do help (beware the cost of running a decent pump though). Depending on what fish you want to keep should really impact the size of pond you build.

Before doing any digging really plan the location of electrics, filters (if you have one) and waterfalls etc etc. We moved into our house which already had all this kind of done (not to my **** level though) and the bad routing resulted in our pump removing something like 3500gallons overnight when the filter outlet fell out, if it had been designed properly then the spill should have gone back into the pond via the waterfall but heh ho. My next pond will be really really nicely done.

Almost forgot, whatever size pond you create next year you will want it bigger.

Pop into a local World of Water and pick up their free guide which has a lot of useful info in designing/building ponds.

pauld37

Have you tried this site B2Z?

Very informative, got a sports thread too, and not many Gooners on there, which is always a plus point

Koi Magazine

pnbond007

iTrader: (1)

I have a pool around 1000 gallons, 3ft deep - similar to a kidney shape, its around 18" above the ground & is filtered by the Bios system 3 with built in UV lamp.

I have no problem with depth or winter temps, it runs all year round & through the very cold periods the water still returns through the usual way straight from the filter to air then the pool..

I did have a pond heater a while back keeping the pool at 8/9 degrees, I have not has this working now for the last two winters, the fish are fine & in very good health.....

Keeping a good pool is a variation of many things, including luck. You can have the ultimate set up & it could be a real problematic pool, you can have a normal set up with a decent filter & providing you keep an eye on the basics it works fine, the water is crystal all year round and I very rarely get pond weed, though when that appears I just treat it with a product called blank-kit & the weed has gone within a week.....

When a proffesional moved my fish from my father in laws to my own pool he said they would be dead in two weeks, well 5 years on and they are in top form.....some of these fish are over 25yrs old.....

Yes I have lost two & I have raised many to a decent size, though those who grow quickly are mostly poor quality....

I have also had the odd problem with fish and disease, it all clears up and they continue to look great with some lovely colours......

I never treat the water when I top up, though that is luck with my local water quality, I do 50% water changes twice a year...and keep my filters clean with tap water....yes tap water.....

Have fun & enjoy the build, it will work you just have to find the balance

Phil