need shallow outdoor pond advice.

[Shay]

I'm putting in a shallow outdoor pond Thursday or Friday. Plan now is to build a top frame from treated 2x6 about 15x15 ft on the top. I'm going to nail the liner to the 2x6 frame and dig down another 4 to 6 inches for a total water depth of 10 to 12 inches.

Use will be for plants and a few goldfish. Depth is shallow, but I'll have shade in the summer (plants), and the winters are very mild here (Houston). There is really nothing to stop me from going deeper, but I won't bother with the extra gallons unless they are needed.

Any suggestions? Does this plan sound all right?

-Shay

 

[TJcanada]

Sounds fine, but I do think you should add some more depth.... fancy goldies do ok in shallow water, but it should be atleast 18inches... 2ft is better(thinking adult size here) - as for commons, like comets, would go atleast 2ft, 3ft being better, just my opinion. BTW if you're thinking of lilies then the top of the pot should be atleast 12inches below the surface... the crown should be kept cool for good growth, again just my opinion. Pressure treated wood is something I would caution you in using, cedar would be better or spruce and then sealed - pressure treated can leach out it's toxins, not something I think you want for fish but plants won't mind.(I realize you said you'd be wrapping the liner over the frame,... just mentioning this)

...and if there's any chance of freezing/ice cover then the goldfish will have to be brought indoors...... unless you heat the pond.

good luck... TJ

 

[thom336]

i dont think you should have any problems with your propsed set up, but like TJcanada i would recommend that you do go deeper...i think alot of pond keepers regret not making it bigger when they have finished, i know i did with my wildlife pond, but there you have it. i would recommend making your pond as big as you can first time round, as it is tough work trying to make it bigger later on.

 

[thom336]

one last point, in my experiance, the more deeper the water is, the more tamer the fish tend to be. they will feel more secure, and the rewards of happy fish are worth the extra digging. believe it or not (i know it can be hard to believe), the deeper your pond is, the more you will see of your fish.

 

[Shay]

Thanks for the advice. It looks like I need to go down to about 2 feet. I'm thinking about making my pond a little smaller in that case. 3,400 gallons seems like a lot of water to deal with. A 12x12 pond would give me about 2,150 gallons at 2' deep, which seems about right to me. I'm a little worried about my 10 lb dog falling in and getting tangled up in the plants. Has anyone here heard of that happening? He's a good swimmer when he isn't tangled up. I've got plenty of bamboo to make a cover, so I'll probably do so.

2' will also give me the freedom to experiment with Shibunkin. I'm going to try some juveniles because my wife likes them, but I'm ready to give them away if/when they start wrecking the plants. Water plants grow very quickly here, so the pond will be able to tolerate *some* grazing. Two feet will also give me enough depth to drop in an entire toilet tank instead of trying to rig up some other type of float valve. I am expecting a lot of evaporation in the summer.

There is no way that the water will come into contact with the wood, but I'm going to look at cedar timbers tomorrow and investigate the possibility of using those instead of treated 2x6.

Freezing over is not a possibility. It might get just cold enough if the water were still, but I'm getting a big pump.

-Shay

 

[TJcanada]

sounds good... would just like to mention that more water is 'actualy' easier to maintain than less for a variety of reasons - more room for play.
10lb dog... well mines 110lbs and loves the water - she's never attemped to go into the ponds tho(been trained not to) but does like to use them as a convient drinking bowl. In both our ponds we have shallow shelves for the "just incase" senario of the dog or kids or us toppling in. As with small children, pets should also be watched around any water feature, you never know what may happen...
There are ways to keep the fish out of your plants... most of them DIY(do it yourself) designs for floaters and submerged if that ever becomes a probem.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.. photos would be an added bonus

Regards, TJ

 

[thom336]

i never have a problem with my dog and my ponds...because he hates water. so im rather lucky in that repect. what i have probs with is the amount of feathers i have in my ponds from the birds...they love bathing in my wildlife pond as it is very shallow at the edges, so they can splash about.

 

[Shay]

Well, I will post some pictures when done, but my plans got moved back a couple of weeks. I took the day off of work yesterday to dig the pond, but realized that I would be crazy to pass up the opportunity to move my aquariums (I'm remodeling) while I had a friend staying at the house to help me.

I'll be out of town for the next couple of weekends, so I'm looking at April now before I will get another chance to dig.

I'm not going to make any attempt to protect my plants mechanically. If the fish eat too much, then I will get less able fish (perhaps lionheads). I think I'll throw in a long ear sunfish to control breeding if I do that. What I like about shibunkin is that they only make more shibunkin.

-Shay