Being a keen keeper of most things animal related (have lizards, tropical & normal aquariums, dogs and a budgie), I thought it was about time I took back part of the back garden from the other half for a small pond. So I thought what better thing to be doing in the scorching heatwave that we had this weekend (25th June - 27th June 2010) than digging in a pond! Not the cleverest decision I've ever made I know lol.
Now before I made the transition to a half-decent sized pond, we did have a very small pre-formed pond liner surround by decking...you know the sort you see in garden centres etc. It was about 1' deep and around 3' in diameter, and had a few small shubunkin's and goldfish in. Fortunately, I did have the foresight that I might one day get off my arse and build myself a proper pond so at the same time I also bought the following: Hozelock Ecoclear 5500 kit. This comprised of the following items: Bioforce 5500 Filter & Titan 3000 Pump both of which combined should be capable of supporting a high density stocked pond up to around 5,500ltrs. Totally overkill for the tiny pond that I bought at the same time, but when the other half gives you permission to spend some money, your wise not to miss the opportunity!
Moving on to this weekend.........
After giving some thought to what shape and size of pond I wanted, I had to have a rethink as it turned out my idea was to big and the other half wanted to keep at least some of the grass. After all the dogs do need somewhere to do the business so that only seemed fair. The pond will be situated in a corner of the garden that currently gets shade cover all the way through till approx 13:30 during the summer days.
After the rethink and agreeing a permitted area with the other half, the following pond size was agreed on: 6' long x 4.5' wide x 3' deep. At one end of the pond there is a shallow shelf that's about 9" deep by 12" wide that will be used to put some planted pond baskets on. At the other end was supposed to be another deeper water shelf at about 1'6" deep down and 12" wide, but I got a bit over enthusiastic with the pickaxe and spade and the shelf ended up being around 2'6" deep down instead..... :whistle: So I reckon, and by my calculations, I have a total pond volume of around 1,912ltrs/ 420gallons or so. I do have pic's of the build as it went through its various stages during the weekend, and will post them up when I get chance this week (hopefully sooner rather than later).
When I took the filter and pump out of the old pond, I made sure to leave as much old pond water in the filter as possible as I assumed that this might aid the start up, biologically speaking, of the new pond. But thinking about it now, how long would the "good stuff" stay good for in the unused filter? If its still good, would it mean that I would have less chance of suffering from new pond syndrome, and be able to stock the pond with the old fish quicker than if it was a complete new pond and filter etc?
The old fish are currently in plastic containers at the moment with an air stone in each and netting over the top to stop the local cats getting at them, and at the moment they seem fine and healthy. But I obviously don't want to keep them in these any longer than absolutely necessary.
The pond is now full with water and has been treated with Tetra Pond AquaSafe. The pond still needs edging and finishing off properly yet, but after a weekend of digging and moving an unknown quantity of wheelbarrow's worth of soil/clay I was to knackered and decided to call it a day. Also along the way I had a slight disagreement with the pickaxe, and it jumped up and hit me in the head and while filling the pond I decided to demonstrate to my daughter how dangerous ponds can be by simulating a slip into it (in reality I slipped on the lowest self and fell backwards hitting my back/ribs on the side of the pond before ending up sat in about 2' of water
ops: ).
At some point in the not so distant future, I plan on adding an Oase SwimSkim 25, to help try and keep the surface clear of debris etc, and this will be put on a timer to come on two/three times a day for 45mins/hour at a time.
Forgot to mention that I couldn't have got in all done without the help of my father-in-law
Thanks for reading, hope I didn't bore you all to much, and look forward to hearing all your comments and feedback etc.
Now before I made the transition to a half-decent sized pond, we did have a very small pre-formed pond liner surround by decking...you know the sort you see in garden centres etc. It was about 1' deep and around 3' in diameter, and had a few small shubunkin's and goldfish in. Fortunately, I did have the foresight that I might one day get off my arse and build myself a proper pond so at the same time I also bought the following: Hozelock Ecoclear 5500 kit. This comprised of the following items: Bioforce 5500 Filter & Titan 3000 Pump both of which combined should be capable of supporting a high density stocked pond up to around 5,500ltrs. Totally overkill for the tiny pond that I bought at the same time, but when the other half gives you permission to spend some money, your wise not to miss the opportunity!
Moving on to this weekend.........
After giving some thought to what shape and size of pond I wanted, I had to have a rethink as it turned out my idea was to big and the other half wanted to keep at least some of the grass. After all the dogs do need somewhere to do the business so that only seemed fair. The pond will be situated in a corner of the garden that currently gets shade cover all the way through till approx 13:30 during the summer days.
After the rethink and agreeing a permitted area with the other half, the following pond size was agreed on: 6' long x 4.5' wide x 3' deep. At one end of the pond there is a shallow shelf that's about 9" deep by 12" wide that will be used to put some planted pond baskets on. At the other end was supposed to be another deeper water shelf at about 1'6" deep down and 12" wide, but I got a bit over enthusiastic with the pickaxe and spade and the shelf ended up being around 2'6" deep down instead..... :whistle: So I reckon, and by my calculations, I have a total pond volume of around 1,912ltrs/ 420gallons or so. I do have pic's of the build as it went through its various stages during the weekend, and will post them up when I get chance this week (hopefully sooner rather than later).
When I took the filter and pump out of the old pond, I made sure to leave as much old pond water in the filter as possible as I assumed that this might aid the start up, biologically speaking, of the new pond. But thinking about it now, how long would the "good stuff" stay good for in the unused filter? If its still good, would it mean that I would have less chance of suffering from new pond syndrome, and be able to stock the pond with the old fish quicker than if it was a complete new pond and filter etc?
The old fish are currently in plastic containers at the moment with an air stone in each and netting over the top to stop the local cats getting at them, and at the moment they seem fine and healthy. But I obviously don't want to keep them in these any longer than absolutely necessary.
The pond is now full with water and has been treated with Tetra Pond AquaSafe. The pond still needs edging and finishing off properly yet, but after a weekend of digging and moving an unknown quantity of wheelbarrow's worth of soil/clay I was to knackered and decided to call it a day. Also along the way I had a slight disagreement with the pickaxe, and it jumped up and hit me in the head and while filling the pond I decided to demonstrate to my daughter how dangerous ponds can be by simulating a slip into it (in reality I slipped on the lowest self and fell backwards hitting my back/ribs on the side of the pond before ending up sat in about 2' of water
ops: ).At some point in the not so distant future, I plan on adding an Oase SwimSkim 25, to help try and keep the surface clear of debris etc, and this will be put on a timer to come on two/three times a day for 45mins/hour at a time.
Forgot to mention that I couldn't have got in all done without the help of my father-in-law
Thanks for reading, hope I didn't bore you all to much, and look forward to hearing all your comments and feedback etc.
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