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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on May 23, 2012 at 6:43am

I researched liners for my pond and concluded EPDM was the best choice. It lasts as long as Butyl rubber and conforms to the size of your hole MUCH easier. Mine came with a 20 year warranty from Firestone. Any other material like PVC for example is asking for trouble. It could degrade in 10 years or less and I've even heard stories about it lasting just 2 years. Once a liner leaks you're screwed. So its better to pay the extra money; it'll be cheaper and much less hassle in the long run.

I say the deeper the better and if you experience cold winters its a necessity. The only catch is your water lilies and any other submerged plants like Hornwart might not emerge till very late into the growing season if they're under 5 feet of water. This probably has more to do with water temperature than a lack of light. Its May 23 and the difference in temp between my surface and bottom can reach 20 degrees. Its no wonder that my lilies are not coming up as quickly as when they were in 2 foot deep water. I've also read that some plants won't even survive in water over 3 feet but I won't be able to confirm this for awhile. So I guess what I'm saying is you might want to raise any plants onto a platform.

Staying on the subject of water depth, make sure to build a shelf around the perimeter of the pond. Make it about 6-12 inches deep so you can add bog plants. I've got a beautiful Iris that made it through the New England winter just fine. I've also scoured the local waterways for plants and found some beauties. You can't go wrong with local plants because they are the ultimate survivors.

As fas as perimeter size goes I say the bigger the better. 13' X 6' is pretty good but if you add a 3'wide/1'deep shelf to the perimeter you'll have a pond that's 20 X 12. Larger ponds help you in many ways:

1) It adds to the water's stability. You'll have stuff falling into the pond and you don't want the water to be subject to all kinds of fluctuations - temperature or otherwise.

2) The large size and especially depth will help protect the fish from being eaten by birds. I've also heard that large frogs and snakes can be a problem but I've never experienced this. Add a cylinder or hollow log to the bottom if you wanna be super-safe. 

3) If the pond is large enough you won't need a filter.  Plants are nature's filters. If you listen to some of the clowns on this site you'd think tropical fish come from little high-tech tanks strategically located in the Amazon Rain Forest. In my first pond (15' X 15' X 2') I let the leaf litter sink and form my substrate. The water lilies loved it. They jumped their pots and had roots extending 20 feet! No ferts either. Make sure floating plants are a big part of the pond. These are the real filters. (lilies are not floating plants) In fact, in some localities, floating plants are used to transform raw sewage into potable water. Sewage enters and clean water leaves. You gotta see it to believe it. Its amazing.

Other things to keep in mind:

-- Lilies and most pond plants are sun lovers. Don't shade the pond. Fish love sun too; it gives them color. Only when you see a goldfish up close from a pond do you understand why they're called Goldfish and not OrangeFish. 

-- Try not to feed the fish. They'll consume mosquito larvae and a million other things in the pond.

-- The rainwater makes a great environment for softwater tropicals (in the summertime of course!) But netting them in the fall could be tricky. I threw some Bettas, Mollies, and cheap Angels in my pond two weeks ago. I'll see if I can catch them in the fall with a drop net. Stay tuned. I'd love to add Discus but that would be an expensive experiment in netting pond fish.

-- My pond has no filter and is filled with leaves. My ammonia level = 0 and nitrate level = 0. In fact its cleaner than my indoor Discus tank. 

That's all I can think of. Love ponds. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Eric on May 27, 2012 at 1:50am

My pond is a "wildlife pond," no fish but just for frogs, water beetles and bugs, dragonfly larva, and for the birds to play in the waterfalls and stuff. Koi and Goldfish are a conspiracy to get you to spend money buying expensive fish and solving expensive problems, imo, and fish eat all the wildlife and plants that you could otherwise have in your pond. All of Robert's advise was good. I run a filter, so I'm not sure about not using one, but he seems to be doing fine without it. Be carefull not to punture liner, obviously. I did not want to have the liner showing at all so what I did was but a layer of underlay fabric not only under the liner but over it, and then used flat stones to make a floor and walls for the pond. Then I added 6" of Pea Gravel on the bottom. Let the underliner air out well for a couple of days, it will smell like gasoline at first. I know that sounds bad, but I went ahead and used it as I wanted to protect my liner above all, and I have had no detecable bad effect on wildlife. Save your money, for the most part, on special pond planting baskets. The soil just leaks out anyway. I would suggest as Robert did, WIDE shelves on the edge of the pond, and if I had it to do over, I would make mine at least 12-18" deep. Then put down some pea gravel mixed with low humus soil and plant your plants directly into the substrate. Forget the pots except for with water lilies to keep them from spreading out of control. The wide, deep shelves are versitle for planting sedges like fox sedge and frank's sedge, as well as irises and blue flag and such. Stay native with your plants. You might line the edge of shelves with a line of bricks or rocks to keep gravel/soil from migrating into deeper water. Just research what you are doing on the web or in books real well, it is all there. Lowes and home depot has a couple of descent books, and amazon is full of them. All power to Wildlife Ponds, don't dig yourself a moneypit dreaming of the perfect Japanese koi garden.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on June 4, 2012 at 1:06am

Eric reminded me about  the underlaying fabric for the liner. This is very important. I used newspaper about an inch thick and used old carpet to protect the liner from being punctured from rocks I placed on top of the liner along the perimeter. Its a lot of work, but its worth it. You'll enjoy the pond for decades if you just put in a little extra work now.

About the planting baskets... again I agree with Eric. The water lilies will jump the pots and take over the entire bottom. Your ponds bottom will be covered with muck no matter what kind of filter you get. And guess what? That's a good thing. Plants will grow like crazy. And whatever nitrates are left will be consumed by algae. This is how it works in nature. And as for the plants - go native. They are just as beautiful as tropicals and free if you know where to look.

The only difference I have with Eric concerns fish. Fish are wildlife too. They eat mosquito larvae, bloodworms, mayfly larvae, algae and, in turn, provide food for frogs snakes, birds, turtles, and larger fish. I stocked my pond with 25 white Comets costing me a whole $2.50. The only plants they bother are the duckweed and algae, and I have no problem with that. Koi, on the other hand, have a reputation for wiping out certain plants. Do you need special equipment to keep pond fish? If you ask the commercial fish stores they will say "yes". But the answer is absolutely "no". I've never fed the Comets or filtered the water and they are growing like crazy and breeding like rabbits.

Good post Eric and a fun read. Good luck Ben 

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Permalink Reply by Cire Loknok on April 13, 2014 at 2:42pm

It is good to line the hole with play sand before you put the liner in. This makes it easier to move around in the winter as the ground/water freezes. This will help so it doesn't leak eventually. When the pond is done, Its good to have lots of plants, and not a ton of fish. 

good luck

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