smelly pond water

Many thanks for your reply the reason why I am asking questions is that if I got a preformed pond could I do everything that I wanted to do? I don't want to get xyz and then get advised oh no you can't do that. You should have done this to complete your idea.
So my idea of a pond is to attract wildlife. Have a few small fish. Plants. Sit back and enjoy but to put this idea into practice is hard so I ask questions

 

Yes I get your reasoning.
You are still going to need to be able to move a fair amount of sand and gravel to pack around the pond inside your wooden framing.

 

many thanks for your reply i am trying to talk with my wife who has learning issues about a pond now with ponds in general there are pro and cons between ponds so with shelves in mind what would be the min height and wide of shelf or does it depend on size of plant ? as looking at preformed ponds on www they seem to have different sizes ..
i would have thought that a wooden frame with preformed pond would be packed by the soil for plants to grow not sand and gravel but i am only learning
thanks

 

Well ok, packed with whatever you want to use, just pointing out you will need to hump something or other in order to pack around the preformed pond.
The pond will come with the shape that it is, so the size of shelves for plants will be predetermined by the size of pond you can fit in the available space.

 

@Gizmo this is my little preformed pond, pics taken last summer. You can clearly see it is a preformed pond but the planting, slate pieces, etc soften the edges a bit. There is a log pile underneath the purple geranium.

 

Many thanks for your reply the problem I have at the moment is which pond would be suitable
Takeing into account there are lots to choose from
With what I have seen on www with preformed is that there are some have some shelves and how wide they are for plants in there baskets. Also I am thinking about depth due to the pump that we have and what you can put around it eg wooden housing and also thinking about fish frogs etc
With In ground pond you can do anything to your imagination really. But the work involves hard work especially if you are alone with disabilities.
The risen pond we had was 6 x 4 feet x approx 18 inch high there is lots to think of at the moment and to many questions
Thankyou for your advice and help

 

It seems, from what you are saying, that a preformed pond might work best for you. They come in all shapes and sizes, so finding one you like and fits the space you have shouldn't be too much of an issue. Whether the pond is sunken or raised up with planting pockets there will be digging/ shovelling involved. I would imagine the latter would be the better option as less soil to be moved. The only way to avoid any digging or shovelling is to either get help with it or having a raised pond similar to the picture you liked posted by ricky101. If you imagine that picture without the soil and the pond fitting snugly into the wooden surround. You could have pots of plants around the base of the surround to add colour, texture and movement. Just an idea trying to think of ideas to minimise digging/shop .

Another thing to perhaps mention ( not sure if anyone else has ) is fish might be inclined to eat the wildlife in your pond unless it's a large pond. ARMANDII has a very large pond so he's managed to achieve a balance between fish and wildlife. I have no experience of a smaller pond containing fish and wildlife, but there are likely others who can advise you better. My own wildlife pond does not have fish. It does have Newts and they are quite voracious .

 

Thank you for your reply. My problem is with preformed ponds and plants with baskets that may or not fit on to the ledge shelf of preformed pond this is what I am looking at as you can't fit a eg 2 inch pot on to a 1 shelf. Some preformed has got wide and thin shelf.
Even with our old pond we find it hard to find things like baskets the right size for plants to sit on etc the pump with got was hozelock easy clear 4500 as we had the pump on all the time when it was windy the water from the fountain went on wooden surround and turned it green we kept on cleaning out pump filters etc no real change to water or algae.
As this is possibly our first home made pond we are unsure of shelf height or how wide they should be even if I could dig one out. With the soil that would be left from the corner planter and pond hole the only thing I could do with it without putting it in skip would be raising the flower beds up and getting more planters.
Maybe worry to much?

 

There are always options for plant baskets. You don't have to use a ready made aquatic basket, you can use a basket/pot that will fit the pond shelves. I used plastic baskets from Wilkos that have a lattice design. An ordinary plastic flower pot can be used, just cut some holes into sides. Also, you could have floating rafts for plants and then it wouldn't matter about shelves. You could even plant directly into the soil at the bottom of the pond.

A preformed pond might be easier and less time consuming but it's down to personal choice. As You have mentioned you could use some of the excess soil on flower beds or flower pots. You could advertise it on Freecycle or offer it to friends/ neighbours, etc. Recycling centres except soil, although I think they are likely closed at present.

I had a raised pond years ago with two goldfish and a small pump. I found the wind blew the water everywhere too so had to switch it off on windy days. I currently have a pump in a large pot just for the purpose of giving splashing water sounds. I didn't add a fountain head and have found that the water doesn't get blown around so much. Anglesey is very windy!!

 

Many thanks for your reply. I found this useful as I didn't know you could put pond plants into other pots or even in the soil. With regards to excess soil I have got approx 400 litres without digging a pond. We have a skip on front garden for the rubbish from old pond and corner pot not sure if soil is aloud or if it has to be bagged up. No friends or neighbours want soil.
With regards to pump can they do any where in the pond if one was dugged out as like the old pond I would like a waterfall as well without water going every where in windy weather or should you just turn pump of even if you have fish.

 

@Gizmo - re your other post, you mention that your patio is on "Rolled (?) Chalk" but where you are considering a dug out pond would be just a few feet away, so has the ground suddenly changed to soft soil or is it still hard chalk, which would make digging almost impossible ??

Have you tried digging a small test hole or knocking a metal spike in the ground to see whats actually there ?

 

Thanks for your reply to be honest with you I don't know what is at the bottom of the garden beside the shed all I can say is when we arrived there was nothing apart from a mound of earth that someone used as a flower bed. So I made some raised flower beds up and transfered the mound to the beds to make it flat. As we was told that about rolled chalk we are unsure how far it goes there are slabs from kitchen window to a concrete path at the bottom on the garden before you get to the shed path left side of shed. Soil right side of shed where I put down fake grass then risen pond. At the moment I am in process of taking the corner box. Pond. Cascade apart for skip

 

I turned my pump off for several days in my fish pond and the fish were okay. If the pond conditions are right the fish could likely survive longer. I do recall someone telling me about finding a pond in the garden of their new house. It was covered by lots of overgrowth and revealed when it was cut back. She was amazed to find fish in the pond and thought they must have been there for a number of years, surviving with a pump or any processed fish food.

Both the pump in my fish pond and the water sounds pot on my patio were/are sat on bricks on the bottom. Where were you thinking of placing your pump?

 

Thank you for your reply. If I was to dig out a pond depending on health and what is under the soil.
I was thinking right side on shelf so hose goes around edge and not across to waterfall

 

I have nearly finished clearing the area for a pond. And looking around for a new pond I have seen a pond but can we have fish? Etc 5.8 x 3.8 x 18.5 this is the size a roundabout
Thanks for your help and advice