planning stage

Hello all

I am in the planning stages of building my very first pond. This is all new to me and have only got books to work from so its still a mine field Any advice or tips on what I need to do and at what stages please say

So what do I want from a pond

I would like it to run from one side of my garden to the other side with a bridge over it and then somehow after the bridge make it so that the pond turns into a bog garden or kind of veggie filter.

I would like a couple of koi but not dominated by then, it will only be raised about 100mm from the ground and would love a natural waterfall homemade with rocks.

Rough size i'm looking at is 16ft x 7ft x4ft

What else do I need to be planning at this stage?

Cheers all Jamie

 

Incorporate a pump, filter and waterfall to work together. Have the filter at the height of your waterfall so that the pumped water serves two purposes.

How big do you want your bog garden? If it's not naturally wet, then it'll cost you a fortune in water charges if it's a big area.

 

Have you thought of a bottom drain ? Or uv ...in the summer having the bottom drain airatted is a massive help if the water warms up ... are you having shelves .? Are you doing a wildlife pond or a koi pond ? Filters what are you looking for in terms of a pond ? This is a pic of my 2nd pond which was a typical garden pond with lilies etc ...nothing like my 3rd pond which was a out and out koi pond

 

This pond had lilies plants fish etc

 

Kevin read your a star, that pond is just how i want mine to turn out, looks stunning, what gear did you have running it? did you have a Bd on it and what filter was running it also? I will be having shelves

jamie

 

This was the pipe work and filter etc for the koi pon

 

On that pond I had 2 bd ( bottom drains ) .each bottom drain went to a box filter ..a kockney koi xl which is a series of mats in a box basically ... the problem was that the dirt the pond generated due to all the plants fish waste etc the filters could not keep up and the marts needed cleaning every 3 weeks or so and it's a horrible job .especially in the winter ...bd are very efficent you see ... I will post my 1st pond pics
This one had no bd and only a pump inside the pond itself where when you have a bd the pump is outside the pond in its own filter pit with all the other equipment ..have a look at the koi pond picture I put up ...

 

My 1st pond ...smaller than the one with the bridge ...realistically more manageable though as no bd and run with a pump in the water and a box filter

 

This is a pic of the bds in the 2nd pond .

 

This is me dismantling my 1st pond to build my 2nd pond with the 2 z bd

 

Wow and wow they all look amazing, really don't know what to do now.. I really want to get it right first time

 

That is the golden question ... if I was to do one again it would be the same as my 1st pond ...reason being it was a 10,000ltr per hour pump inside the pond water .a simple filter . Uv .shelves and plants and lightly fished ..and the most important thing cheap to run .at today's electric £30 a month tops ... my 2nd pond way to big and heavily stocked with fish and plants and the filter system never coped ..my 3rd pond amazing . 6ft deep .4 inch pressure pipe .nexus 200 feeding the waterfall from 1 bottom drain attached to 2 skimmers the 2nd bottom drain attached to a bead filter and uv and pumped back into the pond ...big koi no plants and you could see 6ft down ...but when I built it electric was probably 500% cheaper and so it cost a fortune to run ...about £60 a month on top of your normal gas and electric ... hence the 1st pond

 

i think you have help get me on the right direction, i don't want big costs and time can be an issue as i already run marine tanks and they cost a bomb and use up a few hours a day. What size was your first pond and how did you work out your shelve dimensions? also any build pics you have of it would be great. Also did you have a breeze block collar all the way round and high many blocks high was the collar?

thanks for your time pictures and help

Jamie

 

Also the big green leaved plant, is that a gunnera?

 

It is a gunnera and I have left 3 Huge ones 10 years old in my last house this January as we moved to a smaller one .... they may yet be coming back to me as I am unsure if the new owner wants them and I may not have the room myself ...