Well....finish-"ish". Doesn't ever seem to be really finished, right? The finished parts of this video already is different with our added plants, but the structure is the same. First time pond builders, and I genuinely underestimated the amount of work and effort it was going to take. (So much digging...so much clay!).

We filled in our bog this weekend with rocks and this video was done before that. What do you guys think?? ❤️ I have seen so many amazing ponds on here and it has been such an inspiration.

I discovered I have a bunch of large fish in my pond that I had no idea were in there. I also saw a Northern Green Frog in the pond today too. I've never seen a frog in the city so I have no idea how it got there. Yes, I know it hopped... ;-)

So, because of the hoilday I could feed mid day and I fed from a different side of the pond. As far as I knew I had 20ish rosy reds and 4 goldfish. They were eating when all of a sudden all these large grey fish came up and started feeding. They were VERY skittish, popping up quick and leaving. There body color usually camouflages them to be completely invisible. I could only see them today because of the angle of the sunlight. They must be living in the heavily planted side of the pond. I went out looking for them a little after feeding and there was no sign of them. I look at my pond every day. So these new found fish were shocking. They have to be survivors, spawn from fish in there last year. There are at least 5 and maybe as many as 10. It was a wild day.

My pond has a problem that I cannot figure out. Can you help me? It is 10 feet long x 4 wide originally and 4 -5 feet deep.

It was dug out of a hillside by a guy with a skid loader and a lot of shovel work by yours truly.

I tried to avoid disturbing the original dirt, but there was a few places where the skid loader went too far. In those areas I now have a concave wall however, the problem is the side. The other side is not as bad as this side.

I would think the force of all this water would’ve kept the dirt in place, but as you can see, it’s rolling inward under the liner . and you might be thinking well that’s cause you built it on a slope. But wait… It’s rolling inward on the lowest side of the slope, not the high side ,and I don’t know what to do to stop this trend. The pond has been here now seven or eight years, but this is getting worse quickly. less

Just finished our bog this weekend and took an updated video. Has been just a few months since we finished building. Just wanted to share. 🙂

Pond

I’m getting ready to build my first proper pond and honestly didn’t expect there to be so many things to figure out. Filtration, pump size, depth, plants, cleaning, water quality... there’s a lot more to it than just digging a hole and filling it up lol.

I want to keep koi eventually, so I’m trying to get the basic setup right from the start instead of fixing things later. Next Day Koi is one of the places I’m looking at since they offer next-day delivery and a 14-day guarantee, which is a nice bit of peace of mind when ordering live fish online.

For the people with ponds already, what’s one thing you would definitely do differently if you were building yours again?

Okay, I think I'm going to get one this year. What's good, meaning it works and doesn't die in a year?

It just rained all day yesterday, and this morning I went to go check on my mosquitofish pond. I noticed two things I never seen before.

First photo shows some green insect that I suppose is a baby dragonfly?

The second I am more curious about. The water spangles/salvinia and the duckweed has been in there. But this third plant is new (upper right). Anyone know what is? And does it find its way during rain/wind? It’s a container pond so shouldn’t have came through runoff.

After digging I realize due to size of the pond, I need 25 x 30 ft pond liner. I am looking at the weight and it is 225 lb plus. My pond from my driveway is at a distance. What can I do to make it easy to move the liner. I do not have access to heavy equipment? how many people do I need to lift it up?

For me, the spring is by far the busiest time in the year for me. This means that unfortunately, most outdoor and yard projects have to wait until June at the earliest. Because of this, I am two years behind in putting in our pond because by the time I have the availability, there are usually too many other things that have come up that need taken care of. But this year I have been working towards the pond build, and I should be ready to dig in 2-3 weeks from now. I am concerned, though, that doing it late in the year might be a problem. We are not doing fish, and we are planning lots of plants with a bog filter. Obviously the plants could be hard to get established, but is there any other reason I should NOT do it in the fall? Thanks!

Finally got my backyard pond running. With the rocks in, it holds about 150 gallons. A reinforced hose runs from the bottom to an external pump, then through a VEVOR canister filter and a DIY bog box before returning over the waterfall.

Even with the pump at its lowest setting, the waterfall churns most of the surface. I may have overbuilt the circulation for a pond this size.

What’s the best way to reduce the waterfall flow without restricting the filter too much? Separately, what compact plants would hide the liner without taking over?

Need advice for new pond

Hello, I’m in the UK and as a fun little project to do with my son’s I’m going to build a fairly reasonably sized wildlife pond. I’m currently thinking about 2.5m by 1.5m but I have a lot of space to work with so could go bigger.

My questions are:

1. If you dug your own pond do you have any tips?
2. What sort of liner should I get? Do I need some sort of underlay or can I use old blankets/towels?
3. I think I’m good/better off with no water movement for wildlife pond, is that right?
4. I read chalky soil makes good substrate, is that right? I’m literally digging nothing but chalk and flint in my garden.
5. What levels do I need? I think shallow wants to be about 15cm+5cm substrate, then I see conflicting advice, can I go straight to 45cm+5cm substrate for a deep section or do I want a middle section around 30cm?
6. What pond plants/life should I add to help get it started?

I’m on a bit of a slope so first I’ll dig an oval bigger than my pond, about 30cm extra all the way around and just get it level, then I’ll dig my pond into that area, and after I can bury the edge of the liner pretty well so you won’t be able to see it, I’ll do about 50% beach up to lawn and 50% will be rocks and logs where I’ll have to hide the banked part. Sound good?

This pond in the corner of my property has never had any floating plants. It's maybe been 3 weeks since the last time I sat down to stare at it, could duckweed have taken over that fast? It's fed by a little stream coming out of a wooded swamp, whole area is pretty shady. Going to scoop some out for fish tanks and to feed my goldfish.

We lost our koi over the winter and now have 10+ baby goldfish and no one to eat them before they grow. I’ve heard that bluegills are also good at eating fry but will one bully my goldfish? Where can you purchase one? Or should I just get another koi and pay the hefty price for a large one?

(I won’t kill the babies myself to get rid of them)

Got this blue iris in a stand alone pot, filled with a bag of large pea sized lava rocks 32lbs, a 300gph pump at the bottom with a 10in 1/2in pipe pushing the water straight up towards a mesh basket with pea pebble-lined, soil within surrounding the iris, and salivinia surrounding the open waterline. It gets 4hrs of sun in its current position here in Phoenix, water was pretty hot, now its 930pm and its 86 degrees. Is this a good idea, or is this iris about to die. Thanks

I have shubunkin goldfish, koi, mosquito fish and Chinese highfin sharks to help keep the pond clean. Never any issues with predators. The deepest part is six feet. We swim in it on hot days. Really changed our yard. I hated mowing on a slope so I made it into a pond with waterfalls instead

Hello, I am planning on building up a small pond in my garden (without fishes). For the moment I have just dig the hole, the deepest point is at 45cm (I can't dig more, hardpan).

It is very clear to me how to hide the liner outside the pond, this should be no problem, however, I have no clue if in the end the liner on the vertical walls will be visible and how to hide it. Of course there will be some plants, but I want to keep quite minimal, additionally the pond will be relatively small so I do not really want to make a stone wall. Any advice?

What should be ideal shelf width and depth. Pond is 8 x 12 ft x 3 ft deep

Do I really need all sides to have shelf? I have limitations on one side

So I posted a video after I cleaned it out. Then I was asking questions. I will install a bog filter and get a 24/7 electric pump.

https://youtu.be/VZhjDX2aR48?is=HG9j2rKka9yOjcqN

I was beginning to doubt my ability to complete the final piece of the jigsaw in a garden overhaul that's taken 3 years... So thank you to those who commented on my previous post and gave me the boost I needed to create my first pond - completed with a billion pleats and a fair few litres of sweat. The liner and my marriage appear to be remaining intact so far... Just need to complete the job with a little scaping foam and the job will be done.

I have two backyard projects pending: shed and pond... In my mind I am thinking it would be incredible to combine them and have a pond and then build a shed where a section of it is fully over top of the pond; somewhat inspired by the Kenrokuen Garden buildings.

In my mind it seems simple enough: dig pond, then drill down 1.5m and do cast concrete pillars up to the original surface level. Then layer pond liner everywhere, including around the pillars, and seal everything before finishing the pond and then building the structure over top.

I've got questions though: Has anyone here ever done something similar? Are there issues I'm not foreseeing or is my general plan pretty much correct?

Will having half the pond in perpetual shade cause any substantial issues?

I plan on the pond being a tapered rectangle, about 4m wide in the back, 4m long front-to-back, and tapering to maybe 3m in the front. 2m deep. Shed will extend over 3m of the rear 2m section.