Ornamental ponds

Blammo I have an almost unused in ground pond lying upended in my yard . One season of having the upstairs neighbours tossing cigarette butts into it was enough for me .(just not the right neighborhood for genteel pursuits .) Fortunately I never even had time to stabilise the water enough to introduce koi . I had a 108 gallon aquarium in the living room that had two koi in it . A black butterfly and one three pound koi that I rescued from a pet store that was selling it to a guy as piranah (sp) food . At the moment a couple of common goldfish grace my home and thats about it .
 
Well...I wouldn't quite call it that, but I did dig a small hole and line it and such several years ago.

It's at the front door...about 3' x 5' and split level. It's about 18" deep on one side and 36" on the other. I made one side deeper for winter freezing. There is a perennial crop of plants that have to be thinned out and a double handful of goldfish or their descendents are still living in there.

Enough to be of interest to the neighborhood kids, small enough to not be dangerous. The fish have been on their own the whole time except when little ones want to feed them...live on skeeter larvae mostly.
 
Enough to be of interest to the neighborhood kids, small enough to not be dangerous. The fish have been on their own the whole time except when little ones want to feed them...live on skeeter larvae mostly.[/QUOTE]

You are doing better than me .I,m just wondering if it was completely "au naturel" or if you had a small pump?
 
How cool of a thread is this:) My wife and I are installing a drop in shell pond today in our backyard. I probably won't put fish in it, but i love the sound of running water. It's going to hold about 100 gals and we're going to rig up one of those electric pumps that looks like the old manual pump handles. My sump pump burps out into my backyard and makes a big mess, so i'm just going to route the sump pump to spill out into my pond as it needs to (lot of ground water). I have a small chlorinator that I could choke down to put tiny amount of chlorine in the water to keep it really clean.
The plan is to make my backyard a dog pin/zen garden;) I want plants and bamboo and life thriving. it's going to be a place to drink my coffee in the morning, and just relax in the evenings after a hard day's work. I'm working on my dealer to give me an automation breaker box. Basically, it's a 100 amp box that is pre-wired for 4 automated funtions like my pond, my track lights, and maybe a bird bath with a water feature.

Jake
 
i grew up on a small lake/large pond. aside from the huge trout and bass, it had quite a few ex-goldfish in the 20lb. range - big suckers they wuz & beutiful gold, allways thought they were really koi & possible leftovers from the ol' mansion on the other side of the lake....never could catch 'em, too smart, same with the big trout, they didn't get big by bein' dumb. caught a few of their smaller relatives and a three foot across snappin turtle, mean bugger, he'd pull down ducklings in a quick blurp as they disappeared. he didn't after me & my friend harpooned it. tastes like chicken (or duckling :) )
 
"au naturel"...the tiny pump I first had burnt out in a month. Left it alone and it seems just fine. Freezes in the winter but the fish don't mind and just go deeper.

I also have a big pond in the back yard...maybe 1500' by 800'

Plenty of fish back there.
 
I am building a pond/water feature and need help with linings. I have a twisty stream bed laid out and want to know the best way to line it. Also would like to talk with someone who knows waterfall layouts. I am in Atlanta.

I used to have a 10x12 pond on an enclosed porch. About two feet deep. I love the koi. Can be incredbly beautiful fish.

Also want to build a soaking tub about 5 feet square if anyone has any experience with this?
 
Bill Marsh said:
I am building a pond/water feature and need help with linings. I have a twisty stream bed laid out and want to know the best way to line it. Also would like to talk with someone who knows waterfall layouts. I am in Atlanta.

I used to have a 10x12 pond on an enclosed porch. About two feet deep. I love the koi. Can be incredbly beautiful fish.

Also want to build a soaking tub about 5 feet square if anyone has any experience with this?
Click to expand...
Go over to www.koiphen.com/forums and search for waterfalls and streams.
There's some great info and lots of " in progress" photo tutorials
 
One of my dreams is to have a nice waterfall pond with beautiful Japenese Kois.....:)

I think I like the tri-color the best...red white black.......
 
In the future I would also like to get back into ponds . I thought of a shallow creek leading into a 200 gallon pond . The idea behind the creek was aeration and evaporation to lower the temperature of the main pond . Perhaps a couple of water features . If you know the bamboo striker that slowly fills with water, pivots and strikes another piece of bamboo ? I thought of modifying it into a pivoting "rainstick" . .
Blammo that is a great set-up you have there . I think its great when someone can make a business out of something they are passionate about .
I am staying at the aquarium level for now .I believe in understocking and the use of biological under the gravel filters . The powerhead gives plenty of aeration and aside from the occasional gravel cleaning the filter is virtually maintenance free . .
 
Blammo,

Wow! what a beautiful place you have--a real showpiece! I think water features are great to have on your property. We don't have any that we made but we do have a river that runs through the lower property that we treasure.
 
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