I'm building a pond - is my plan ok?

Afternoon all, and merry christmas

I've marked off a small section of my garden which will be enclosed. I haven't formally planned anything yet, its just ideas for now.

I have two ideas in mind. One is a couple of concentric circles, but probably wont go for that.

I'm leaning towards dividing my mini enclosed section into 2 L shaped halves, with one L shape being the pond, the other being paved.

Here's what I'm unsure about.

1) I want to put some goldfish in it. Can you do that? They are just carp aren't they?

2) Straight lines go against my normal plan, but will work well in this spot. However if I grow marginal plants at the end of an L shaped pond, obviously softening the edges, will that work design-wise?

3) The pond is only going to be shallow. Probably 6 inches deep with gravel bottom (I'm going for a minimalist design, with mostly clear pond but with a few lillies or something for the fish to hide under). The idea being it will be safe and fun for kids to play in, under supervision of course. I know the pond should be 2ft deep so that creatures have safe refuge in freezing weather, but I reckon I could bring goldfish in to an indoor tank for winter if need be.

 

Unleash your artistic side and let's see your ideas as a sketch.

Cheers, Tony.

 

Goldfish will be fine, except that I don't think they will like the 6" of water - I think it will get too hot, and the evaporation (relative to the total volume) will cause significant fluctuations between re-fills - and the re-fill will be quite a large proportion of the total volume, so will upset temperature etc)

But IME Goldfish are pretty robust.

6" of water is enough to drown in ... so your supervision will need to be the same if it is 6" or 6' - personally I would make it deeper (chest depth for your youngster when wading perhaps?) which will be a much better proposition for both fish and plants in the pond (the fish could do with some in the pond, I think, to provide shelter / shade etc.

But Fish isn't something I know a lot about, so don't commit on just my say-so!!

 

Hee hee Clueless, that's what we did they kept getting bigger and bigger and never went back to the outside pond again. They are now in a 5ft long tank and the biggest must weigh about 3lbs and the other one is not that far behind either. We really must find them a new home next Spring as we cannot keep them in the tank much longer as they are now too big for it.

 

I'd be inclined not to put fish in a 6in deep pond, especially if you intend it for the kids to play in.
It will go green and gungy, the kids wont want to play in it and the fish will die.

Sorry to be negative clueless, but I cant see it working.

 

Hi
Need more water depth for fish at least 18 inches deep other wise you will have fish fingers plus the birds will have them, I have mentioned before on here I had a magpie that quite liked a baby goldfish for supper and to see that get carried away wasnt nice.
Another thing to remember hedgehogs! need to be able to climb out easily I could tell a tale about the lady in work and her pond built like " Prisoner Cell Block H " but I wont, need I say more .

Even minature lilies would need at least 12 inches to grow properly , go on go deeper opens up a new world

Spruce

 

Thanks all, I'll take all this into account when coming up with the final plan.

Nothing to apologise for Pete, if you don't think my original idea will work, I'm grateful you said so. You might have saved me a lot of futile effort.

 

too much work turn back before it is too late.

 

I don't mind putting in the effort, just as long as there's a chance its not in vain, hence me seeking opinions

My dad was round earlier, and he too agrees that my original plan is daft, but his reason was that the area was too small for both a pond and a barbecue kitchen, and I'd fall in while cooking, and the only advantage being that at least it might be funny. He's suggested I section off another spot for the pond.

I'll see if I can do some rough sketches over the next few days, and get them on here

 

With a pond, do try to be clear what you want it for before you begin.

So, if it won't be deep enough for fish, just have it as a wildlife pond - which can be just as much fun for children to observe: waterboatmen, skaters, damsel flies, dragon flies; maybe newts and frogs will find their way in too. Plants would blend in well.

For young children to play it, sorry, but I would stick with a paddling pool; at least with a paddling pool, it can be kept out for weeks if you add a little chemical to keep the water "safe" - if using a pond, all sorts of bacteria (which may not be child friendly) will develop over time. Also, midges! They love a pond in humid weather and having suffered a negative reaction to their bites, it is not something I would wish on a young child

 

The pond will be in its own sealed off section of garden that the lad or his buddies will have no access to unless I unlock it (and in any case, there's always at least one grown up present when the lad is in the garden).

Not too worried about pond lurgy. Legionairres is the only really risk I think (as long as we don't get diseased rats peeing in it), and as long as the water is kept moving and aerated that shouldn't be a problem. For midges/mozzies, I've seen a pond additive that claims to be harmless to everything except mozzy larvae. Any milder pond lurgy I can live with. Kids need things to train their immune system. When I was a kid I fell into ponds and marshes more times than I can count while searching for frogs, toads, newts, small fish etc, and apart from a spot of mild insanity I've turned out alright

 

I think this is the best suggestion. 6" sounds much too shallow for goldfish, but it would be fine for most of the wildlife mentioned above. Likewise for lilies - these are pretty dull as pond plants go, and also quite poor for wildlife (too simple a structure, especially when they crowd/shade out more useful plants). Unfortunately, the vast majority of garden ponds in this country seem to be designed in favour of goldfish and water lilies, greatly to the detriment of many more interesting native species. This leaflet - Garden ponds and boggy areas - has some better planting suggestions for small ponds. This one is also very good - Creating Garden Ponds for Wildlife - apologies if I have already linked to these in a previous discussion.

You should be able to reduce excess algal growth by keeping the water as low in nutrients in possible - ideally fill with rainwater and plant bareroot plants directly into sand/gravel (not soil or aquatic compost). Most native pond plants should grow OK like that (and not too vigorously), but lilies need higher fertility. Fish are a problem for this kind of pond, since feeding constantly adds nutrients to the system (in the form of fish waste and uneaten food). They also root around, muddying the water and releasing nutrients from the bottom sediment.

I finished building a new wildlife pond in my garden last Friday (21st), which the rain is now filling for me - photo here. Once it's full (shouldn't take too long in this weather) I'll check the levels and tuck down the liner at the edges. About 25 sq m, max depth 12" with a large area of gently sloping shallows. The idea is that I'll add a layer of play sand in the shallow areas for plants to root into, then allow the water level to rise/fall naturally with the seasons (no topping up). Any damp mud/sand exposed in the summer is good habitat for various creatures, and also a good place for water plant seeds to germinate. No fish obviously, so it should quickly get colonised by a range of amphibians, aquatic insects and other species (hopefully also our resident grass snakes).

Regarding biting insects, the main midges found in garden ponds are harmless Chironomid midges, which don't bite. Mosquitoes breed more in small stagnant water bodies (leaf-filled plant trays etc.), rather than ponds since I think that water boatmen and other predatory insects are very efficient at eating the larvae. In a very small pond though they might be problematic.

Nothing to do with me, but there's a whole series of photos of a very nice looking small garden pond here: colinandelaine - Garden Pond

 

I've started it now. Got quite far with it today.

I've gone with my original plan but with a couple of modifications taking on board everything people have said.

The main difference is the depth, and the fact that I no longer care if I can't have my barbecue kitchen there. I'll just site that somewhere else if necessary. Here's a very poor attempt at showing what I've done and where I'm going with it. The photo doesn't show any perspective unfortunately, so I've demonstrated my vast picture editing prowess by drawing some coloured lines on it.



You can see the area in question is tiny, but not quite as tiny as it looks in the pic.

The area to the left, bounded by the purple line, will be dry land. I intend to whack some hardcore into it, then a mix of sand and gravel (I'm not sure what the proper name for it is, but my dad ordered some mix from the builders merchant for a path on his allotment, and it looks good, sort of almost natural but firm enough to stay put).

The pond will be all of the area enclosed by both the red and yellow boxes, but it will vary in depth.

Inside the yellow area, the sides will slop down towards the green area, which is about 10 inches deep.

The red area has steeper sides, and slopes to the blue area, which is going to be about 20 inches deep.

I'm going to sculpt it up so that there is a step down from the yellow area into the deeper red area.

Although its near impossible to see in the pic, I have actually dug most of it out, so I hope it doesn't rain too much before I get to work on it again because the soil there is rubbish. Its almost nothing but clay, so if it rains heavy it will fill up, then I'll either have to buy a bilge pump or wait for the spring drought before I can resume work.

 

*admires prowess at drawing coloured lines*

Could you cover it with something in the case of rain, cl1? Even a tarpaulin you could "empty" if the rain gets a bit much

 

Hiya C1.

Just wondering, what do you plan to line it with?