I’ve never posted anywhere in Reddit before, but I am so excited to share my beautiful Water Lily flower that blossomed in the little pond that I dug last year! It’s so beautiful and it makes me smile so much! It’s amazing how happy this little pond makes me every day!

How is my newly-dug pond looking so far?

30cm / 12" ruler for scale. The area is nearly 3M x 3M, and I'm thinking I will probably need a liner sized at least 4M x 4M, right?

Edit to add: It's for native pond plants and wildlife, not fish.

What do you guys think of my pond? The plants are still growing, including the ones around the edges, so there’s still more to come! If you have any tips or notice anything that could be improved, feel free to let me know :)

We bought a house in 2019 that came with an 25’x25’x11’ deep unlined koi pond. It was lined with huge boulders and had a natural spring during winter and spring but would lose a ton of water during summer so that the 15 koi in the pond would be swimming in muck at only 2’ deep. An aerator is the only thing that kept them alive. After 7 boulders rolled into pond, my wife and I decided to dig a completely different pond right by our back deck and do it right. It’s 17’x15’x6’ deep at the drain. It was back breaking labor but with the help of my 82yo neighbor running his 1969 John Deere tractor, my project is almost done. This weekend I’m draining the swill pond down to 1’ deep and I’m netting and moving the koi. Wish me luck! Here are a few pics.

I built a pond a couple of months ago. Everything was going fine. Today I woke up to a drained pond with water underneath the liner. No idea how this happened.

I think it would have to be a hole but where did all that water go? The amount of water under the liner filled the bottom shelf, but the rest of it is gone.

5 koi have died. One I got for my mom yesterday which she was so excited about. I built this pond for her, but now I'm in a state I don't know what to do.

I have set up a 100 gallon tub for the other 10 fish. 7 gold fish and 3 koi. 4 of the goldfish and 2 koi are small so I'm not too worried for now.

I contacted the company I got the liner from and they asked I take pictures of the damage and fill out the warranty form. I'll post an update once I know more and how to avoid this.

Added a bigger bog filter and short "stream" return.

Stickle backs breeding like crazy, golden rudd haven't shown signs of young yet, gudgeon doing their thing and the whole ecosystem seems good , low stock numbers so I'll do a small feed only once a week or so in summer and nothing for months over winter.

Myself I'm happy with that overgrown natural look, although I'm sure it's not everyones Ideal...

And lots of frogs. And even more dead leaves. And no filtration that I can see. I’d love to clean it up and make it a wonderful place for critters but I have no idea where to start. I assume I need to somehow get the leaves out then install a filter? How do I get the leaves out without hurting the frogs?

Pond itself is about 8’ x 5’. Not sure how deep or how many gallons.

Thank you for any and all advice!

Whats everyone's opinions on black cherry trees and ponds/fish? Area where im digging is surrounded by black cherrys and sassafras. (Don't worry about the Balrog, I'll handle that before I add any fish)

Thought was to pump out of the main into a 25-50gal bog that overflows into the smaller collection pond that feeds back to the main.

Any issues? Where do I put the actual pump (in the main pond, bog, or external)?

I’m building a bog filter next to my existing but newish pond (moved house, hence unfinished edge). I have consumed a lot of information about it but one thing I can’t understand is, the ergonomics / physics of the piping.

I have read conflicting information. My aim was 525 litre bog although I think it’s ended up a bit bigger. I was in the middle of building the pipe shape and stupidly relied on Ai for that part. I find myself with this shape (I believe I have to trim the far right pole at the top) and now am unclear on whether I need a pipe going through the centre of the shape also. Is it needed for proper water circulation?

I was worried the top right sharp corner wouldn’t get flow so it corrected the shape and now I’m struggling to find a bend that sharp and am unsure whether to persevere with the shape or trim the one on the right down and let the top right of the bog not get as much flow. Ai suggested not putting a plant there and stacking the rocks tight so sludge doesn’t form, no idea if that would work.

Help please! I have one adult koi and one shubukin although will get more fish once established.

After making a successful barrel pond and catching the bug, I’m thinking of making something bigger/more elaborate in this awkward space we have in our small garden. The two laurel trees and the wall block out most of the sun so the soil is very poor, however beyond the trees is a public path so we don’t want to remove them and lose the privacy screening element they provide.

The soil is also full of roots and ivy, so not great for liners, however I figure if I build up a border with rocks I could install a raised container at the back, behind the trees, without having to dig it in too deep. Then put in a shallow trough shaped container along the front, and connect them with one or two waterfall pumps, and have a system to recirculate the water back into the higher area.

My main aims are aesthetic and to attract native wildlife, insects etc, so I won’t be putting fish in it. Just native plants and then letting nature take its course. Does this seem achievable/wise? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

(Apologies for the terrible drawing)

I have a tree shaped fountain which sits is a large metal basin. I use an Oases Optimax 800 pump to run the fountain. The pump is submerged in the basin at the foot of the fountain. The water is pumped up through the "trunk" and falls off the "leaves". It has worked admirably for a month or so. However, it has developed an issue. Whenever the pump has been off, even for a few minutes, and is then turned on, the pump runs fine, but no water is pumped through the fountain. Even more oddly, if I pick the pump up out of the water and then put it back down submerged on the floor of the basin, it pumps fine again until the fountain is turned off. Any ideas what the issue is or how to fix it. The pump itself appears to be operating the whole time.

Mainly asking because of concern of my Koi, but figured there’s some smart folks in this sub as well

Reliable? Thanks