Year-round pond in PA?

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Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
3,958
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Southeastern PA
Real Name
Mr. Palmer
So, I am reading up on threads about ponds here, but also want to ask some questions about how to build a pond that can hold fish year-round in PA. Philly area more specifically.

So, this is what I "know" (feel free to do a true/false reply to this section):

1) In order to be year round stocked, it should be over 2ft deep.
2) For coldwater fish you don't feed them in the winter as they go dormant.
3) You turn off filters and such in the winter. (not sure on this, just seems logical)
4) You do not break the ice, you either cut through it or melt through it.

That sums up what I know about ponds lol. So, any and all advice is welcome, and here are my specific questions:

1) What kind of liner can take zub-zero temps and 90+ temps in the course of a year?
2) How would we prevent the pond from getting mud in it when it rains?
3) How do you make a pond on a hill that is about 5 degrees or so?
4) What is the smallest pond you can have for goldfish? Koi? Sunfish?
5) How much filtration do you need on a goldfish/koi/sunfish pond?
6) What is the best way to cheaply keep electrical wires dry outside?
7) What is a good way to hide ugly electrical wires and pond equipment?
8) Do I need a fountain/waterfall to aerate the water, or am I good with just a filter?
9) How deep do I actually need to make it for my area (Philadelphia area)?
10) How expensive do you think this will be?

The story behind this is that my mom's girlfriend wants to help install a proper, year-round pond with filters and such in our back yard. Currently I just have a tiny water-garden of sorts, with 3 guppies in it during the summer, it freezes solid in the winter (so I take the guppies out and have a small tank for them). It's about 15 gallons total. I'm fine keeping it the way it is, but even I admit it's not the most beautiful thing in the world lol. So yea, I don't really want a big pond, but this is for the planning of such a pond. Try to convince my mother and her girlfriend out of it for me, will you?
 

snoopy65

I am Sam aka Snoopy65
Aug 24, 2008
4,628
0
0
Where the ducks walk on the fish, PA
So, I am reading up on threads about ponds here, but also want to ask some questions about how to build a pond that can hold fish year-round in PA. Philly area more specifically.

So, this is what I "know" (feel free to do a true/false reply to this section):

1) In order to be year round stocked, it should be over 2ft deep.
3ft
2) For coldwater fish you don't feed them in the winter as they go dormant.
Correct
3) You turn off filters and such in the winter. (not sure on this, just seems logical)I kept a sponge filter running
4) You do not break the ice, you either cut through it or melt through it.
I got a round pond heater that keeps a 9-10 inch hole open in the top of the pond.

That sums up what I know about ponds lol. So, any and all advice is welcome, and here are my specific questions:

1) What kind of liner can take zub-zero temps and 90+ temps in the course of a year?
Normal pond liner
2) How would we prevent the pond from getting mud in it when it rains?
Built up rock border around the edge helps
3) How do you make a pond on a hill that is about 5 degrees or so?
????
4) What is the smallest pond you can have for goldfish? Koi? Sunfish?
???? I keep fancy goldies
5) How much filtration do you need on a goldfish/koi/sunfish pond?
Depends on how many per how large a pond just like in tanks
6) What is the best way to cheaply keep electrical wires dry outside?
PVC pipe hidden by rocks,, plants etc
7) What is a good way to hide ugly electrical wires and pond equipment?
Same as #6
8) Do I need a fountain/waterfall to aerate the water, or am I good with just a filter?
Usually filter/waterfall/fountain all one and the same
9) How deep do I actually need to make it for my area (Philadelphia area)?
3 ft is the minimum for an inground pond not to freeze solid
10) How expensive do you think this will be?
Depends on how much sweat equity you want to put into it and whether or not you are willing to buy used equipment. Our 400 gal cost us $5000 total including fish and a good week and a half of hard work digging moving rocks etc.

The story behind this is that my mom's girlfriend wants to help install a proper, year-round pond with filters and such in our back yard. Currently I just have a tiny water-garden of sorts, with 3 guppies in it during the summer, it freezes solid in the winter (so I take the guppies out and have a small tank for them). It's about 15 gallons total. I'm fine keeping it the way it is, but even I admit it's not the most beautiful thing in the world lol. So yea, I don't really want a big pond, but this is for the planning of such a pond. Try to convince my mother and her girlfriend out of it for me, will you?
Hope this helps
 

Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
3,958
3
38
Southeastern PA
Real Name
Mr. Palmer
Thanks snoopy! I think my mom's gf is thinking smaller then 400, probably around 100-150. And I KNOW I don't have 5grand to drop on a pond right now, so it probably won't happen (thank god... I don't know how to care for a pond, and don't really want one, tbh). Thanks for helping with the answers, if we do go through with this, I'll keep the thread here updated with questions and comments.
 

Sploke

resident boozehound
Staff member
Oct 20, 2005
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South Windsor, CT
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Matt
1) In order to be year round stocked, it should be over 2ft deep. I made mine 4' deep for extra volume as well as for the turtles I had in there, for a layer of mud at the bottom for hibernation.

2) For coldwater fish you don't feed them in the winter as they go dormant. True.
3) You turn off filters and such in the winter. (not sure on this, just seems logical). I always turned mine off.
4) You do not break the ice, you either cut through it or melt through it. I just kept an airpump running with an airline (no airstone) on one end of the pond, it uses a heck of a lot less power than a heater and kept a 6-8" hole in the ice.


1) What kind of liner can take zub-zero temps and 90+ temps in the course of a year? Highly recommend EPDM rubber liner

2) How would we prevent the pond from getting mud in it when it rains? Keep the edges higher than the surrounding grade so water can't wash into it.

3) How do you make a pond on a hill that is about 5 degrees or so? The water is going to be level regardless so one bank would be higher than the other.

4) What is the smallest pond you can have for goldfish? Koi? Sunfish? I would go bare minimum a few hundred gallons, mine was about 1500 (12'x7x4' at the largest dimensions....obviously it wasn't a perfect cube).

5) How much filtration do you need on a goldfish/koi/sunfish pond? Depends on how heavily you stock it, I basically built canister filters out of 4" PVC filled with lava rock and used an external pump. A UV filter will also probably be needed to cut down on green water in the summer.
6) What is the best way to cheaply keep electrical wires dry outside? Run them in PVC underground and put a weatherproof junction box above ground.
7) What is a good way to hide ugly electrical wires and pond equipment? Landscaping, plants, benches, anything really

8) Do I need a fountain/waterfall to aerate the water, or am I good with just a filter? I had a short spillway for the filter return that spilled the return water back into the pond from about 8" high, that provided some aeration.

9) How deep do I actually need to make it for my area (Philadelphia area)? I would go 3' minimum, if you do some research with building codes etc you should be able to find out how deep you need to go to get below the frost line for your area.

10) How expensive do you think this will be? Depends on how big/pretty/finished/pre-built you want to make it. For mine, the major costs were the liner ($250), external pump ($150), UV filter ($125), plus all the iterations I went through building the filter which probably ended up costing about $2-300.
 

Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
3,958
3
38
Southeastern PA
Real Name
Mr. Palmer
Thanks to you too sploke! I'm currently doing reseach on building codes, and working on contacting my local utilites people to find out if they have anything in out backyard.
 
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