Digging Holes in the Ground and Filling Them with Water: the Pond Thread

Richard_Dastardly

About a month ago I decided to dig a pond in my backyard. After two weeks of procrastination I finally started the project and, with a little help from my friends, I finished last weekend. Almost. I still have to get the fish and figure out the landscaping around the pond. But, I'm pleased with it. And apparently so is the local bird population.



I wish I coulda made it bigger, but there was a giant root in the way. Anyway, I wondered if any of you has or is planning to bring the waterfront to your property. You know, we can share stories about our ponds, offer advice, maybe cry a little but I think we'll all be the better for this by the end.

So, backyard ponds. Discuss in 5... 4... 3... 2...

Oh. And randomcats.

Tanolen

Had a pond at my old house, but after a heron ate all my koi I decided agianst doing it again.

matt has a problem

We had a pond at our house when I was 12 that we kept filled with goldfish. Raccoons ate them pretty regularly, so we had to screen over the pond. It froze over one year (we lived in Florida at the time so that was a rare thing, it being cold enough to freeze more than a little cup of water), and the fish lived through it, just swam around under the thin sheet of ice.

Olivaw

I have a pond in my backyard right now!

It is very large and feeds into a small river that goes through my property!

But it is full of algae and even though we're throwing barley pellets and pouring chemicals in it to get rid of it, the algae remains

Not sure what to do about that

We've planted water lilies for the frogs that live in it though

Richard_Dastardly

Olivaw wrote: »

I have a pond in my backyard right now!

It is very large and feeds into a small river that goes through my property!

But it is full of algae and even though we're throwing barley pellets and pouring chemicals in it to get rid of it, the algae remains

Not sure what to do about that

We've planted water lilies for the frogs that live in it though

Do you have snails? They seemed to have taken care of a nice bloom I had in the pond I built at my mom's house a couple of years ago.

evilintent

Ponds are pretty. Maybe I should get one for my bathroom. Like, in the floor.

Hmmmm.

Richard_Dastardly

evilintent wrote: »

Ponds are pretty. Maybe I should get one for my bathroom. Like, in the floor.

Hmmmm.

A lack of aim would no longer be an issue.

evilintent

Richard_Dastardly wrote: »

evilintent wrote: »

Ponds are pretty. Maybe I should get one for my bathroom. Like, in the floor.

Hmmmm.

A lack of aim would no longer be an issue.

It would have to be covered with glass. Think.. reverse skylight. Ish.

Else I'd wake up to piss at 4 AM and drown. No joke.

Mom2Kat

Oh Oh this is a thread I can get behind! The house we live in came with a nice pond (~354 gallons) with a water fall and a spitter in it. I have been slowly replacing things that needed it, (the guy who built it was using a sump in a bucket with holes for the pump). I got a good pump and a filter but the directions that I had in teh box seemed to be wrong. They wanted me to attach the filter hose to the housing for the pump but not the intake, so It seemed to be pulling water more from around the intake than the filter. And last fall my pumps impeller shaft busted, so for the last 8 months I have had no water circulation

I am now thinking of going to a different pump and filter style. We also do goldfish instead of koi since I can't fathom spendin $30+ dollars a fish when 5 for @7.99 are just a good. We even have babies this year though I have no idea if the adults survived the winter. I have some lillies but teh pots got all dumped last year and again I have no idea if they survived. I think this weekend is going to my pond cleaning and installing the new pump/filter. I have had no time yet this year to do it.

And here are the requsit pictures.

Centipede Damascus

There is an actual creek flowing throw my backyard. It's pretty neat.

Improvolone

I've always considered ponds to be smallish bodies of water that haven't been named Lake _____. We had a pond behind my house growing up. A real body of water with real fish and other wildlife. None of this "oh I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with plastic, its really a pool for some goldfish but I call it a pond" bullshit.


OP, do something about that orange extension cord running your pump.

Richard_Dastardly

Improvolone wrote: »

I've always considered ponds to be smallish bodies of water that haven't been named Lake _____. We had a pond behind my house growing up. A real body of water with real fish and other wildlife. None of this "oh I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with plastic, its really a pool for some goldfish but I call it a pond" bullshit.


OP, do something about that orange extension cord running your pump.

Oh, my bad. I thought I'd mentioned that I hadn't finished landscaping yet.

And, I lined the shit with rubber. Not plastic. That'd just be silly.

Cessnuts

I got 3 ponds on the property. ones gotta be about 80/90 ft long, 40/45 ft wide. The others probobly like 50ft by 20 or so that we dug with a back-ho when i was 10. The other one we dug by hand thats like 5 x5 ft. and spring fed. (we built a SWEET ass stone springhouse too) The fish in the big one are tame as all hell,(sunnys, pumpkin seeds, pirch largemouth bass, catfish, bowfin ect..) you can brush them with your hand and they don't care. we had koi in the midsized pond but they sucked and dug up the bottom, so we caught or shot them out. they had to go. We do have snails but i don't know if they keep the pond scum down.we don't have a real problem wth it. too much scum, get in there with a rock rake and wind it up and yank it. pile it up and it almost desintigrates. Ponds be the shit.

Cessnuts

what kinda algea? (sp) the grassy like stuff on the botom, or the real slimey stuff that kinda murks up the water? id show you giys the pond but i don't have a url of the pics of them. youd like them

BC

Duffel

Improvolone wrote: »

I've always considered ponds to be smallish bodies of water that haven't been named Lake _____. We had a pond behind my house growing up. A real body of water with real fish and other wildlife. None of this "oh I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with plastic, its really a pool for some goldfish but I call it a pond" bullshit.


OP, do something about that orange extension cord running your pump.

"Pond" can be pretty nonspecific. Walden Pond is big enough to tool around in a small boat in but it's still a "pond".

In any case I love stuff like this. There's something kind of peaceful about sitting next to a creek or a stream and reading or just sitting there.

evilintent

Duffel wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

I've always considered ponds to be smallish bodies of water that haven't been named Lake _____. We had a pond behind my house growing up. A real body of water with real fish and other wildlife. None of this "oh I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with plastic, its really a pool for some goldfish but I call it a pond" bullshit.


OP, do something about that orange extension cord running your pump.

"Pond" can be pretty nonspecific. Walden Pond is big enough to tool around in a small boat in but it's still a "pond".

In any case I love stuff like this. There's something kind of peaceful about sitting next to a creek or a stream and reading or just sitting there.

Yeah, until a wasp the size of a football that only lives near bodies of water stings you in the balls. That is the sole reason I hate water, fucking insects.

Talleyrand

Growing up there was a creek that ran at the foot of the hill that was our backyard. This meant there was always snakes around which was pretty awesome at the time.

1ddqd

Wherebouts I live, we call'em tanks.

Because cows drink out of them. We have two - one is around 2,000 sq feet, the other is around 8,000 sq feet (area, not volume, not sure how deep they are).

Simjanes2k

I live on a lake, so I guess there's that.

Oh, I should clarify. I live at my parents house, which is on a lake. My last residence was a crappy apartment, and it looks like in the next two months I'll be moving back into another one.

However, someday I'd love to have a stocked manmade in my backyard. With a long dock into the middle so I don't need a rowboat to fish in it all day every day for fifty years of retirement. I guess I should win the lottery soon.

Gooey

My parents have a pond at their house, and they went about it a different way. The bought a sugar kettle from an old local cane mill and filled it with water and fish and plants and things. It basically looks something similar to this:

I've always wanted a pond, but I hate digging, and I don't want to wrestle with something like a sugar kettle (they're solid iron, so one of a good size weighs like 600+ pounds or something)

tsmvengy

Duffel wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

I've always considered ponds to be smallish bodies of water that haven't been named Lake _____. We had a pond behind my house growing up. A real body of water with real fish and other wildlife. None of this "oh I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with plastic, its really a pool for some goldfish but I call it a pond" bullshit.


OP, do something about that orange extension cord running your pump.

"Pond" can be pretty nonspecific. Walden Pond is big enough to tool around in a small boat in but it's still a "pond".

In any case I love stuff like this. There's something kind of peaceful about sitting next to a creek or a stream and reading or just sitting there.

I think what I remember learning in grade school is that one definition says that a pond is a body of water where light can penetrate to the bottom across the whole thing - so plants can grow on the bottom everywhere.