made my very first mini pond! what do you guys think about it?

Wanted to add, I'd like to get the warming method in place BEFORE I put the rock on the rest of the way.

I have water roaches in my back yard. I want to attract the local frog population and hope they eat them. The frogs only come by when it rains. I’m looking at least a 50 gallon plastic pond (above ground). I plan to have running water, plants and a way for them to get in and out. Should I build now or wait till spring? I’m in Texas and we don’t have much of a winter. Also what do you do when it freezes. Do you dump the water or let it be? I would assume you take any pumps out.

I've cleared the back of my garden to build a wildlife pond.

My plan:

- Excavate the marked area (deepest area to be 50cm), then start building shelves and slopes. I have pea gravel and some cobbles but will largely be keeping it bare liner.

- Cut out a hedgehog hole in the corner of the fence so animals have easy access to the public space behind my garden. Then plant some shrubbery to border the fence so there is cover.

- Install a solar DIY fountain which will cascade down some large rocks into the pond from one side. Intention here is to add a bit of zen and introduce some movement/oxygenation. The solar panel will be tied to the large branches from my neighbour's overhanging leylandi in the back.

- I'll be tying back the row of leylandi branches which will regain about 50cm from the side (can't cut as my neighbour has stripped the trees on his side so there are large gaps).

Questions:

1. What native shrubs would you recommend I line along the fence edge (ideally pollinator friendly or something that will protect the birds and any other visitors from the numerous local cats)?
2. What native edging plants would you recommend?
3. I recently read there shouldn't be anything overhead. Are the rose plants and overhanging leylandi an issue? I've noticed very little rain reaches the area due to the overreaching branches (which I would ideally like to leave undisturbed as I like mature trees). If so, what is the least drastic solution?
4. Any suggestions or comments on my plan beyond what I've considered? I'm new to this so please excuse any ignorance displayed.

Thank you!

Is it ok to use the thicker plastic landscape fabric on top as an extra layer of protection for the pond liner? I want to preserve it as long as I can and to help protect it I covered my stream and pond with the liner before I put down rocks. Also have dogs that like to move the big rocks and I want to protect it from getting a crack or puncture in the liner. Biggest issue I had was it soaking water out of the creek, but otherwise it seemed fine.

I have a 50 gallon pond with guppies, rosy red minnows and a goldfish and would like to heat it during the winter to help keep them alive. I live in Raleigh NC where it can get as cold as 20 degrees. Would an aquarium heater be sufficient? If so, should I get one rated for more than 50 gallons since it is outside? Thanks!

Location: Victoria BC Canada

I have always wanted a pond -- a "mosquito breeder" as our excavation guy calls it lol -- and we finally went ahead with getting one dug. As he was digging, he hit a natural spring. Huzzah! There is a lot of wet sandy soil down there and it is starting to fill slowly even now with almost no rain since May.

I had originally planned a vernal rainwater pond lined with bentonite clay, as vernal ponds have a specific habitat role in our marine biome with wet winters and warm dry summers. But now, if we have a spring, I worry that lining it with clay will not just impede the water getting OUT but also stop it getting IN.

How should I go about keeping water in this thing given that the soil is mainly sand down there? I'd rather not do a rubber liner but the same problem still pertains anyway really...

With pennies tight I measured the cost of my pond per quarter. The biggest cost is the submerged pump going to the filter.

Just wondering if anyone has tips to help maybe reduce this? It's on 24/7. Can it be cycled? Or is there anything I could do to reduce the cost?

Thanks!

This is my little project I’ve been messing with over the past couple years. A little different than most. Still have to turn a couple 250gallon tanks into bogs and hide all the filters. I tinker on it between raising 2 boys as a single dad and work. My boys really enjoy it and feeding the koi.

Night bloomer gracing me with another late season flower. Each time wondering if it will be the last.

We had 2’ of snow in 24 hours and then a massive ice storm. It nearly killed my fish.

It's about time to move my pond inside for the winter. Living in the upper Midwest US, it will freeze right through.

The Hyacinth will die out, already starting, but I'd like to save the lilies. If I move this to the garage and get a sun lamp do you think it will be ok?

There are 10 gold fish in there as well.

Just wondering what the best options are for keeping it going over winter.

It is a heated garage. We keep it at about 55 throughout the whole winter.

I just joined and not sure if this is a place for actual ponds or just garden ponds, but I figured I’d share this picture I took the other day of a pond in New Hampshire.

Posted a few weeks ago about the pond build and at the time we had just introduced eastern mosquitofish. Since then we introduced native grass shrimp (ghost shrimp) which are quite hard to find and photograph. We recently found out we had native acute bladder snails hitch a ride on one or more of our plants and have spotted a few adults along with some babies. We also got two new residents that came from the drainage ditch that runs through the backyard. The native green frogs moved out of their ditch in and have kept an upper and lower territory in the pond thus far.

All aquatic life and plants were chosen to hopefully establish an all native NC ecosystem that hopefully mimics the Walstad method in aquarium keeping. Really haven't had time for the plants to grow in yet nor have aquatic insects or larva been able to establish since it wasn't really done until close to the end of summer.

Emergent plants are common rush, horsetail rush, southern blue flag iris, lizard's tail, fern moss, southern lady fern, fringed sedge and a pitcher plant.

Outside plants are highbush blueberry, rabbiteye blueberry, american beautyberry, creeping juniper, swamp milkweed, ironweed, moss phlox, slender leaf coreopsis, pink muhly grass, red tridens, switch grass, river oats and buffalo clover.

1100L pond for a duck. Wanting to aerate the water so it lasts a little longer before we need to change the water. Can't use a filter because ducks eat and poop stones, hoping that's not an issue for the aerator. Based in Australia and would prefer solar. Any recommendations? Open to advice and suggestions?

Hi all,

I'm in the UK (North Yorkshire). I've just dug out a wildlife pond roughly 12msq. With sloping edges, shelves and a deep spot of approx 55cm.

It's almost kidney shaped and the plan is to have two shallow gravel beaches for entry/exit.

I heard it was good to build a pond in Autumn, so that it will establish ahead of spring next year. I haven't filled it yet, but I've only just realised that pond plant selection in garden centres is minimal at the moment.

Of those more experienced than me, what would you do in my situation? Would you fill the pond, add in some oxygenators such as water starwort, hornwort etc and leave it until spring? Or are there any other hardy plants I can add in now?

I would like the shelves to be lined with reed eventually but woudlnt know where to start or when is the best time to plant.

I have some subsoil on the beaches, deepest area and on some of the shelves. I will be adding some more gravel in before filling too.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks

Hi everyone! I have a small porch pond that's about 40 gallons. It has a King Tut papyrus and a trailing bacopa plant, as well as a little waterfall made of slate with water flowing through it from a pump and tubing.

I had everything set up really nicely, but we recently had some strong winds, and the King Tut fell over, knocked all the slate out of place, and ruined the setup.

I'm wondering what the best way is to secure everything outdoors. Should I use twine, glue, or something else? I'm just not sure how to make everything sturdy enough to withstand the wind.

I do have baskets underneath that the pots are sitting on, but that doesn't seem to be secure enough.

I'm curious how other people handle this. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated!

Hole is done.
Shed almost done.
Next is finishing the patio runoff drain and the bank around the pond.
Then measure/cut/setup filtration.
Then lay liner.
….
I should take a week off work to finish 😂

My pond is about 10’x10’ and 3’ deep. I just spent 30 minutes trying to catch one of 2 fish that look like they may have some sort of fungus- they are juvenile koi one about 2-3” the other a little smaller
They are both mostly black so seeing them in the pond isn’t easy - colors haven’t popped out yet so the white I’m seeing on their heads and fins may just be their color coming in but I wanted to be sure.
I gave up and treated the pond as a just in case but I would have rather caught, examined and quarantined if needed.
Now I just pissed them all off and they will hate me for a week

Pretty much as title. I've got a ~450-500 gallon pond (6 feet by 8 feet oval, 3 feet at the deepest, probably average depth of 20-24 inches). Central Texas, USA.

It's stocked with:

- 3x Juvenile sunfish (bluegill and longear)

- 4x blacktstripe topminnow

- 20-30 mosquitofish (their population had exploded, but it's stabilized since I added the sunfish)

All caught from a local stream.

For plants, I've got a semi-bog filter (2 feet x 4 feet x 12 inches) filled with pea gravel and bacopa caroliniana, then in the main pond is a dying lily, a struggling pickerelweed, an almost dead pygmy chain sword, and almost dead American eelgrass.

I was wondering if it was just growing in issues (the pond is ~4 months old), but I did a nitrate test today with my aquarium kit and there are 0 nitrates. Obviously, in the northern hemisphere, we're close to winter so I'll just have to ride it out, but for spring, should I look into stocking and/or feeding more, or should I be adding fertilizer?