J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Have always fancied a Pond, the kids are old enough to not drown themselves within 30 seonds of filling it and we have the space.

Anyone got one, any photo's for inspiration, the missus is not keen but to be honest she rarely goes that far up the garden, are there any rules/guidelines for proximity to houses as there is a property at the far end of the garden which has no garden itself so butts up against the back of ours and I dont want to cause them any issues.

Fancy a decent sized one with fish in, we have a Cabin up the garden with power to it so getting power for pumps etc would be easy, dont want it to look twee, fancy it looking a bit wild.

How much would it cost, doing the work myself ?

Turbohot

Some of my friends have wonderful ponds in their gardens which I may put the pictures of; only if they allow. I always wanted one, but since I have discovered that newts exist in this country, I am not having one. Not keen on lizard-like creatures. Apparently, you have more chance of having them around if you have a stream going along your house or if you have a pond.

Ponds are so beautiful and calming, though. I wish I could have one. Never mind, I wil just have to put up with my indoor water feature. <sighs>

j4ckos mate

that weird and wacky garden centre in lymm have started stocking fish,

id make a little sactuary up the far end by the mancave or at least some sort of fountain type thing, thatll be great to relax in front of

Coffin Dodger

Newts aren't exactly life threatening, they're tiny for starters. Found loads in our garden hiding under planters etc. and we neither have a pond or any sort of stream nearby.

Ponds can be great and look good but they do require a bit of upkeep. Building one yourself is a great thing to do. The expensive bits are the liner, pump and filter. Basically you dig a big hole shaped how you want your pond to be, if you are thinking of Koi it's best to be quite deep (~6ft) as they will fair better in the winter. Remove any sharp stones, tree roots, etc. then put down a layer of sand followed by this stuff they sell to go under the liner that looks a bit like carpet underlay (probably is underlay). Then put your butyl liner over and a bit stretched with bricks or whatever around the edge to keep it in place and fill it with water. You want the water to stretch it a little and for it to bed neatly into place, you have to keep making adjustments as it fills.

Once full rig up your pump and filter and you'll probably want to think about how to edge it e.g. stones, brick, railway sleepers, etc. and features like a waterfall, fountan etc.

Leave it for a few weeks with the pump / filter running and then add fish, plants, etc.

ScoobyWon't

Take a look at this for inspiration

David Lock

I love ponds and have built, with help, a couple. But please realise that upkeep does take an effort to keep it nice but huge fun. I would suggest that you get a book or two for ideas and ideally talk to someone who knows their stuff. My first pond (not shown) was built into a slope and I surrounded it with Norwegian Granite with a waterfall. The one below was more formal but I built in a waterfall as I do like some sound and movement. Full of Koi.

Hired a man with mini-digger and then lined with slab surround. Submersible pump with filters hidden behind small wall. You'll get plenty of advice here. Impossible to give a realistic cost without plans but filters and pump most expensive items. I would say you could get a reasonable pond for £2000.

Go for it. dl

Clarebabes

I built a pond in my garden years ago when eldest was a baby. I got one of those rigid liners and did it all myself. I would have one now but back garden isn't big enough really and we have a 2 1/2 year old who would not be able to stop himself from throwing stones or his body into it.

Good luck and post pics if you do it...

Spoon

Jackamo, watever you do make sure you do it right first go. Depending on the quality of fish you have will dictate the size of the pond and cost of filters to a large extent.

It will need to be at least 4 ft deep with our winters if you have fish. Deeper is good but then you have to consider if you need to get in and can't reach from the side, even chest waders will struggle to keep you dry nearing 6ft unless you drop water out. You then have to consider where in your garden you could empty a large amount of water out. I have a field which makes water changes easy but those in a house with neighbours will find it more difficult. If you don't want fish, regular water changes aren't important. Consider water costs too if you're on a meter.

If you fancy a 'wild' looking pond and not a 'proper' dedicated Koi pond then I suspect you're going to use a liner. These are freely available to purchase in different qualities and you could get digging the pond yourself but a digger would be the way forward if you can get one in your garden.

Steer away from any garden centre overpriced and largely useless filters. Secondhand koi equipment will be cheaper and better. You pond clarity and fish health will benefit as a result. Filtering your pond correctly will depend on the gallonage and stocking levels. A decent sized pump is also a must to turnaround your pond water properly. Eco pumps are availble and relatively cost effective to run. Airstones too are essential for aerating the water and will require another pump. You will also require a UV lamp. All equipment is rated to correspond to gallonage for maximum pond efficiency.

Making a note of the gallonage when filling up your pond is essential in case you should need to treat your pond/fish at any time. That also allows you to buy the correct hardware and not just guess.

Planting is easy but note large fish will destroy any plants they can reach.

As for overall costs, well, it all depends on if you want to have a pond you can see into all the time and don't want to regularly be buying replacement fish. More than a couple or so thousand gallons starts to get dearer to run. Decide on a depth x length x width to suit filtration and don't decide filtration after the pond build.

Oh and consider the possibility of Mr Heron making an appearance.

hodgy0_2

Very nice DL (and nice safety feature)

we filled ours in due to children, we put a sailing dingy in its place, to keep the space a "feature"

David Lock

Thanks. The safety feature, as you probably guessed, being an anti-Heron trip wire (which worked reasonably well).

And our pond did bring some unexpected visitors

dpb

Iv a f**k off sized pond 100 yards from front door

And it needs no maintenance whatsoever

Turbohot

You don't say that, man.

Newts aren't life-threatening, So aren't those teeny-weeny spiders and daft daddy longlegs that freak some people out. Those people are all for not liking them, but that's the way it is. I know one person who left her car on the roadside after seeing a tiny spider doing boing-boing from her wing mirror. The other one (it was a man; not gay either) crashed his car on the sight of the similar. It happens. Personally, spiders and daddy longlegs don't bother me.

I spotted one newt inside my house after the bonfire night last year. Amazingly, I had been to see Paranormal Activities 3 (not into this kind of movies tbh) that night in the picture halls, and there 'it' was, sitting in my living room. I very bravely picked it with the kitchen towel, and put it in my garden. For a long time, I was undecisive whether I saw 'things' due to the film impact, or was it real for real. You see, I never knew you had lizards (or the likes) in the UK. I might have seen one or two scrurrying away on my walks in the mountains a long time ago, but I chose to believe that they never existed here. Since the bonfire night, I have seen them outside my office in the town. They come out from under the planters and sit right in front of the glass doors. I have been told that they are protected in the UK. I don't know if its true or not, but one person said that the building construction work has to stop on the discovery of a red-bellied newt on the site. I didn't know they were so worshipped in the UK! I do know that they don't come in the middle of the night to get you or something, but it doesn't mean I have to like them.

I have asked many people how come they are in our office compound. Everyone says that they must come for a walk from the stream, or they must be coming from the pond. Apparently, newts know how to swim, and find ponds and streams very chilling places for them. That's why I said that having pond may mean inviting newts for a BBQ in one's garden, which I could do without.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Wait until you dig up a fire slamander inside an old brick wall.

Or walk round the rear of your property to be confronted by a 6 foot Montpellier Whip Snake.....

I never knew I could still move so fast........

Spoon

Turbs, you'd not like what I have in my wildlife pond then.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Don't think I could get a digger round the back, unless you can get a really narrow one, its only a thought at the moment but would love one, makes a garden so much more interesting.

Would be a hell of a lot of earth to move, would need a skip or two I reckon if I need to go deep, would intend having fish in it, would need to factor in the cost of filling it as am on a meter.

Spoon

A mini digger might fit but I don't know your layout. Filling it and ideally 10-20% water changes a week IF you wanted to do things by the book.

David Lock

Depending on design you may be able to use excess material as part of pond landscaping e.g. some raised material behind with rocks. rockery plants, waterfall - useful to hide any overground filters etc.

If you know rough volume of pond the cost of water is easy to work out per m3 from your water bill.

dl

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Grass snake? How big was he? was he aggressive?

My little (6 foot) b*gger reared at me and hissed.....

Turbohot

Holy sh*t, Spoon! I want my mommy now! How do you you put up with that thing in your pond? Very scary indeed!

My sister from India rang me at 3am the other night to inform me that they have recently had two regular visitors of this kind (below). They were respectfully fed on the milk before the snakecharmer was called to take them away.



I had to put up with many creepy crawlies back there, and I did think that I was pretty safe here. My sense of safety has gone out the window after encountering newts and meeting your wildlife pond snake in that picture, Spoon. Hello, snake! ****! I can't lift my arm to wave as I am frozen with fear, snake dear!

I now shake my garden chairs before sitting on them, just in case a newt is stuck to them to make my day. I don't have this problem with wasps and snails.

Turbohot

I can imagine! <nods>

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

That is lovely, I am thinking I want mine to look like its always been there though, i.e. no defined edge, I may try to use an optical illusion to make it look bigger than it is, i.e. take it to plants on the left hand side so it looks like it goes under and beyond.

Got to convince the wife though, doesn't like anything that may involve additional work, and cites my brother in laws kids as being at risk, they visit us once a year on average !

Spoon

It was a female grass snake that came towards me across the pond. She got a fair move on in water too and was a decent size, biggest I've seen in the garden anyway. I netted her to take a look and then let her go. She never hissed in the net but I have had a smaller grass snake hiss on approach. Possibly little snake syndrome.

Spoon

That above, Turbs is Premier league stuff! Grass snakes in a garden are a bit different, more Sunday league material. The Voles run like **** with Sydney on their tail though.

dpb

Had a green mamba in back garden place in Zambia we stayed, picked figs there day before garden boy came to cut the grass
He ran away didn't come back lol. Next day we set fire to a tyre

Turbohot

Phew! That's alright, then. If Sydney can handle them, I can.

Hello, Snake matey from Spoon's wildlife pond! << (big wave with both arms this time)

He is in good health. Not calorie counting, I suppose.

Why did you set fire to the tyre, though?


Just a Google image here to show that small ponds in back garden look quite cool with a little waterfall step.



IMO ponds shouldn't appear too neat and tidy with an obvious, manmade look. It is nice to see them looking natural i.e. mossy, wild and with indefinite edge. Its a delight to behold the colourful fish swimming in the mysterious, mossy depths. Frogs will not be seen so well against the dark backdrop, but they will hop and dart ocasionally to make their signature ripples on the surface. Then again, its great to behold the fish in crystal clear water. I hear that the best idea is to clean the pond occasionallly so that you get the best of both worlds. I also hear that some people buy moss eating fish for their ponds. I bet all fish eat moss to some extent, but some apparently eat moss for every meal. I don't know what that fish are called.

dpb

They cant stand the smell and vacate Swati

legb4rsk

Jacko,have seen these micro-diggers.Only 750mm wide!
As we know digging a hole will always give up 10 times the spoil for the size
Any reasonable size hole is much more work than you think.
Diggers are so much fun.Proper boys toys & you will enjoy the project rather than killing yourself doing it! Also hole size will not be an issue.

http://www.chs-hire.co.uk/diggers.html


I saw a programme on TV about swimming in the wild or with Nature?
Someone had a huge wild natural pond & used it for swimming in as well.
I have dreamt of having one ever since.Will be on my lottery shopping list.

Also ponds/water features look magical at night if lit properly.

Turbohot

Oh, right.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

750 mm, that would fit I think, need to work on the wife as she isn't keen and we have a few expenses like the holiday, so going to plan and price it up and work on her, really fancy a pond, always have.

Spoon

Sydney is a she and she goes for the low fat voles only.

My 2 ponds are 20 years old and look completely natural with sedges, grasses, ferns, Gunnera, Comfrey and a whole host of wild flowers surrounding the water and nearby banking, originally made up from the soil taken out of the ground by the diggers. One pond is filtered, allowing clear vision of the fish and the other pond I maintain totally for wildlife. The fish pond still has frogs etc, but lots of wildlife will be lost due to big hungry fish.

I can't get a decent picture of the whole area as it is too big to capture on my phone but here are a few snaps of the fish pond before the growth and colour of the plants starts.