How to build a pond, part 2

How To Build a Pond: Getting Started


To build your pond, you will need the following:
A shovel, maybe two if you can get help to dig
A rake
14" 28 gauge roofing flashing
1/2" PVC pipe cut into @ 2' pieces
15# roofing felt for underlayment
Pond liner, pump, hose clamps, tubing for waterfall


How To Build a Pond: Digging The Hole




When digging, do not break the edges of the pond. They hold your decorative rocks and if disturbed during the digging process, may break down due to the weight of the rocks. If the sides of the pond are soft, you must reinforce them as you see in the picture. I use 28 gauge roofing flashing and support it with PVC pipe stakes.
Dig almost vertically to 14" inches. Place the excavated dirt in a ring about one foot away from the outer edge of the pond. You will need it later to finish off the pond. Install flashing, hold in place with PC pipe. Crimp top edge of flashing toward the outside of the pond so sharp edge does not penetrate liner.

How to Build a Pond

This will be the first of a series on how to build a pond. Photos will be included with each step.


There are many kinds of garden ponds. When you are designing your pond, you must consider your lifestyle. Is it formal and therefore you'll want a formal pond, a rectangle, circle or other regular geometric shape? If this is the case, usually the pond is built from concrete or gunnite and might be covered with masonry or tile both in and out. The formal pond usually holds a fountain or statuary. Sometimes it is a reflecting pool with no fish or vegetation and needs to be treated like a swimming pool. Other ponds are informal with rocks or boulders placed around the pond. A roaring waterfall or trickling stream might be the moving water feature rather than a formal fountain.
This pond might also be chlorinated, but most have vegetation, fish and are treated as a balanced ecosystem. The pond must fit the lifestyle of the owners.

After the style is determined, we must know the type of pond to be installed. The koi pond is a special type of pond and needs much filtration, must be deeper than most other ponds, is treated like a very large outdoor aquarium and must be taken care of like one. The filters must be cleaned regularly, the koi must be fed daily, and most of the time, there is no vegetation growing because the koi will eat it....and they will eat it FAST. If goldfish only are placed in a pond, the maintenance is less, but only if the goldfish are not fed. If they are fed, the fish will grow larger than the pond can support, keep having babies and sooner or later there will be a fish kill. To have a balanced ecosystem and therefore the least maintenance, the goldfish must survive in the pond with existing vegetation, working daily for their room and board.

So after the style and type of pond are determined, the location is the next most important factor in pond installation. I always recommend the pond be as close to the viewing area as possible. The pond/bog plants move in the breeze, the waterfall makes a delightful noise and the fish are colorful to watch. If the pond is in a far corner of the yard, chances are the owners will not enjoy it as much as if it is near a den or kitchen window or even a bedroom window that can be left open in good weather. I usually determine what room of the house the owner spends the most time in and decide the location from there.

So before installing the pond, at least three things must be decided:

Style
Type
Location
After these decisions are made the rest is easy!

This is why we have ponds

I was going to start a series this morning on How to Build a Pond, but I looked outside and saw this. I usually don't like Canna's because they look so ratty so much of the time. But they are a great pond plant, they love to have wet feet. I have low spots in my yard. No, I have a low yard altogether, so the Canna is a great plant for me. I can put up with their overall rattiness to have the great broadleaf plant that loves the sun AND the wonderful flower that said, "Hi" to me this morning. So I got the camera so I could share the Canna with you.


Jan, the pondlady

The dog days of August

In New Orleans, August is longer than any other month. The temperatures easily reach the mid to high nineties. Lows are night are often in the eighties. The people suffer, the animals suffer, the garden suffers and the pond is unhappy as well.

The fish lie in the cooler water of the deepest water. Even the water lilies droop. If a water lily is going to get attacked by bugs, now is the time. Usually bugs can be sprayed off with a strong burst of water from the garden hose. Sometimes they need to be sprayed with a mixture of water, oil and dish soap. Always pinch off the damaged pad. Don't worry they will quickly grow back. And remember they still want to be fed twice monthly until their winter dormancy period. Here in the South, that starts in October. If you are farther north, (and most everyone is), when the nighttime temperatures start to reach 55F, the lilies quickly go dormant. Stop feeding them then and prepare for winter.

My blue pot

I have pictures of my new garden bed. It is so tough to take pics of a new bed. Everything is so new and raw and sprawled out. The new plants are not filled in, their leaves are willy nilly, but we try anyway and get the best picture we can. At the very least, it gives us something to look back on when we are wondering why we didn't think before we planted those philodrendons that will get so very big they will consume the entire bench before long. And why we put those thorny roses next to the pot when the pump that's pumping the water through the pot needs tending and we are fighting rose bushes. We gardeners are like that, aren't we? We plant with abandon and don't think ahead very well. At least I am. I'm sure all of you plan for months and months, make elaborate designs on paper. I shop for inspiration and slap unplanned, but available plants into the ground just about like old New Orleans natives make Gumbo....and just hope everything gets along and looks nice.

Hope everyone is surviving the heat of August.

Jan

Rainy day

And the rain arrived just in time to give my new plants a good soaking. I have a quasi pond in the front yard...a cobalt blue pot with water entering a hole at the bottom and flowing over the top. It is gorgeous, but without plants around it, it was naught but a rock pile. So now there are 2 philodendron selloum, 3 canna lilies, 3 vareigated sweet flag, 3 dwarf oleanders, a crape myrtle and nearby, 3 Knock Out roses and butterfly plants, not buddleia, but not milkweed either. Monarchs love them and eat them down to their stems. I never liked roses until I found Knock Out roses; they changed my mind. They do well here in our hot, humid climate and it seems as if they never stop blooming. I shall have pics tomorrow if the rain stops. Oh, and I put my trademark bench near the pot...a large rock perched atop two blocky rocks. Not too comfy, but from afar it looks like magic.

Jan, your erstwhile pondlady

Questions with no answers

After 17 years in this business, there are questions that stand out. Remember when a teacher told you there is no such thing as a dumb question. That teacher was wrong wrong wrong.

Here's two questions I have gotten, and not just once either, but several times.

The only answer is a silent look and a quick change of subject. And sometimes a biting of the tongue to stave off gales of laughter.

Customer: " Jan, my pump is running slower and slower. I have several houseguests and wonder if it is because they flush the toilets more?"

Jan has no answer.

Customer: "Jan, my water level is dropping about an inch a day. I think I know why tho. My dog drinks out of the pond. Could that be it?

Jan has no answer.

Swim Bladder Disease

QUESTION:

I have some fairly good sized gold fish in my pond..all of which appear
healthy. One in particular, about an 8 incher, will occasionally float on
the surface, almost flat on its side. Thinking "oh no, I've lost one," I
go poke it and it will wiggle slightly. After another poke or two it will
take off like it just woke up or something. Is this something normal? There's
no apparent disease or fungus anywhere on the fish and no cloudy eyes, etc.
I am relieved when it shoots off but am wondering if its sick and will
turn up dead one of these times.
Any thoughts....


ANSWER FROM A PONDPEOPLE MEMBER:

It's called swim-bladder disease and it isn't fatal but it also is not
curable. I was just at a show in Oregon over the weekend talking to the
goldfish judges and other experts. They say they have kept fish for a
very long time with it as long as they are able to eat. The fancy
goldfish (Ranchu, Oranda, and other big-bodied Chinese varieties) have
about a 5-year life span anyway. Not all will get this problem, but it is
prevalent in the larger species because of their breeding.

need help with updating my pond

Hi Jan,

I am 53. I have a pond that is approximately 6' y 8', 24 to 38" depth, with a small 3-4'waterfall that I have enjoyed off my deck for now over 11 years. We originally put it in ourselves, with a simple bucket filter with the pump, lava rocks and bio-balls. My waterfall is leaking now (younger daughter tried to repair but broke a critical rock), and the pond liner is old. I am also having difficulty with pulling the huge bucket in and our of the pond. I don't have a drain in the pond, which some people say is critical. Many of my original plants have expanded beyond their containers. I used to have Koi, but I live less than a mile from a Heron preserve (Chatfield Resevior, in Littleton, Colorado. I now live alone, so things must be easy. I know I should not get it fixed without replacing the near-out-dated liner. I don't know how big a pond needs to be to have an out of pond filter, or whether I truly need a drain I'm a single Mom with two girls in college, and I'm worried about people taking advantage, but I would love for my pond to continue to prosper for many years, with greater ease in me caring for it. Can you help with these questions? I am willing to increase the pond size somewhat. Can you recommend any companies in my area that are honest and reliable. I would also love to re-introduce Koi, but if there isn't a sure fire way to protect them, without diminishing significantly, the aesthetics of my pond, I am all ears. We had no problems till 5 years ago when run-off with rivers was high, and then the Herons hit all ponds in this area. The problem is: they never forget. I could use your help.

Hi Denise,

Congratulations for keeping that pond going for 11 years. Many liners fail before that long. You are right re doing any repairing without replacing the liner and that is one expensive task. Every single thing has to be removed just to get to the liner. So it is more expensive to replace the liner than it was to build the pond to begin with. Here in New Orleans, it would be several thousand dollars to do what you want. If you want to replace the liner, be prepared. I would look for a reputable company through the Colorado Water Garden Society...the oldest in the country. They should know someone.
I might think about rerouting a hose to the waterfall rather than doing the liner replacement. If you want an out of pond filter, they are pretty easy to install...usually behind the waterfall. There are filters from a few hundred dollars to combination UV light and filters for many thousands. I would not worry about a bottom drain.....if the pond needs cleaning, that can be done for not much money. No matter what you do, you take a chance with Koi....you already know that you would be opening a new sushi bar for your nearby herons.
There is a product called GatorGuard...an alligator head about 34" long with bright yellow eyes that works well here in the south. I wonder if Denver herons would recognize an alligator? Maybe. You could try. It might be a genetic memory.

Jan

The New Pond

Hi Pondlady

I am a new pond owner and it has been established for about a month , I have added a few fish at first they were very active now I feel they are lying on the bottom more and not swimming around as much. My pond has a little green on the bottom and sides but is basically clear. Am I jumping the gun or do you think I may have a problem with the fish? they are eating but not as much.I have several plants in the pond and seem to be doing o.k. my water lilly has finally formed a pad but it is small, how often should I fertilize it? I also have a pond smell it that normal?
Please help.


Pondlady answers:
Check my "ten laws" link under resources on my web site and make sure you have not broken any of those laws. Make sure you have 1/2 of the surface of the water covered with floating plants and have plenty of places for the fish to hide. Have at least 1 bunch of anacharis per square foot of surface area. Feed the water lily at least once monthly, but it would prefer to be fed twice monthly or even every 10 days in the growing season. Use Pondtabbs or other aquatic fertilizer. If you can’t find it, use Job’s Tree Spikes cut up in 4 pieces or Job’s Tomato Spikes. And as a last resort, just dig a hole in the dirt of the water lily, put a powdered fertilizer in there and cover it back up. And stop feeding those fish unless they are Koi. If so, you must feed them and have much filtration.

Jan

11 months out: Dateline New Orleans

Yesterday was the 11 month anniversary of Katrina. The time has both crawled and flown. It is hard to believe that we evacuated, returned, found our house totally destroyed, fought with FEMA, fought with the insurance company, fought with tree removal people, septic tank people, the phone company, the internet provider, salvaged what we could from the old house, demolished the house, bought a new house, moved in, sold my business and retired. All in 11 months. Whew!! My pond is coming over here from the lot, rock by rock. We sold the lot and have only until the closing on August 11th to get the rest of the 3 tons. Pricy things, those rocks. I hope I don't have to leave too many behind. Do you believe that yesterday when we were there putting rocks in my van, we noticed anacharis galore and GOLDFISH in the pond. It has not been tended since the evacuation. Just shows you that goldfish are pretty hardy critters. We are enjoying the new house, I guess, but we both know it is simply a stopping point until we decide where our permanent retirement location will be. Our little bedroom suburb of New Orleans has grown by 60,000 people (was about 30,000 pre K) and is no longer a pleasant place to live. Jill, I know you never did like Slidell, but it beat living in crime filled NO. And if we had stayed, we would have been living about 4 blocks from the 17th Street canal levee, one of the levees that failed. So we would have lost our house either way.
So, my focus is now on this web site and online sales and information. I will continue to keep in touch.

Jan

Rich Sacher, my long time friend and owner of American Aquatic Gardens in New Orleans has a new book out. See it at the International Water Garden Association web site:

http://www.iwgs.org/HybridizingWaterliliesbyRichardSacher_000.htm

I also have a link to it at the right side of this blog.

Rich has been growing water lilies since he was a youngster.....and since we are the same age, that's a long time. He also built and has operated the premier pond store in New Orleans since 1989. When I started buiding ponds, i could not have made the business work without his referrals.

Have a look at the promo for the book. Buy one....you will love it. And when you are in New Orleans, stop in at American Aquatic Gardens, 621 Elysian Fields, NOLA 70117. They are open 9a - 5p every day. Phone number 504-944-0410


Jan

Nifty new thing

I have found what I think is just the neatest thing. Attach it to your hose and top off your pond without worrying about adding dechlorinator. Just think, if this attachment had been on your hose the last time you turned it on to top off the pond and then forgot the water was on, you would not have killed your fish and plants. See it under "accessories, neat stuff" in my shop.  This dechlorinator attaches to your hose bib and the hose attaches to the dechlorinator.  You can find it at most online pond sites.



Jan

How big should my pump be?

I often get asked how big a pump has to be. I generally use as big a pump as I can afford to get maximum sound from the waterfall without splashing water out. But all you need is a pump big enough to circulate the water once per hour. And just a reminder, water can fall 1/2 the distance of the width of the water it falls into. If the width is too small or the height of the waterfall is too high, the water will splash out and you pond will splash itself dry overnight.

Jan

My water lilies have stopped blooming and look funny

Lilies and other aquatic plants begin to go dormant about the first of September. If they stop blooming in the summer check fertilization schedules and amounts. If the leaves are getting smaller they are not getting enough fertilizer.

A tropical water lily bloom lasts about three days until a new one takes its place. Pinch off the old flower and discard it. Do not let it rot in the pond.

Your lily will be happiest if the top of the pot is at least 6" below the surface of the water....deeper if you can. I place them on the bottom of the pond (18").

Water lilies like to be fed every 10 - 14 days with Pondtabbs or other aquatic plant fertilizer. They also like to have the tops of their pots at least 6" below the surface of the water and are happier even deeper. And remember, the outer ring of leaves gets yellow and needs to be pinched off periodically so the new leaves can grow. Same with the flowers.

If water lily leaves begin to disappear, check your pond for visiting wildlife.

Monday, Monday

And the livin' is still hot hot hot. Not anything we are not used to like the rest of the country. How do you folks handle our weather, but without air conditioning? How hot is it? So hot that I didn't write anything here yesterday, so you can stop hitting your refresh button now. We have had oodles of rain in New Orleans. It is normal to have oodles of rain this time of year, but we have had so little since Katrina that we are not used to it. If you stand still very long, there's a good chance mildew will start creeping up your legs.

Oh, ponds, that's right. We talk about ponds here. The cursed blanket weed is rampant this year again because we did not have a freeze again last winter. That's two winters in a row with no freezes. So the filamentous algae flourishes. But under it, if you can get under it, the water is happy and so are the fish. It is the humans who are not happy. We have experimented with many things to control blanketweed. Some of us use a beer and it works! No one really knows why, but it does. One wonders how it got tried the first time. A mishap at a yard party perhaps? The only thing I know works is Microbe-Lift. Great product, great company. Use the Microbe-LIft PL. Not only does it keep the blanketweed at bay, it's good for the fish. Before Microbe-Lift, I had a problem pond (a client's) and was at my wit's end as to how to control the blanketweed. I tried covering the top of the pond with water hyacinths...nope. Finally in desperation, I dyed the water black. I was dreading how it might look, but found that the black water made a rather ugly concrete pond a dramatic reflecting pool. The water lilies shot their flowers up from the black water and elicited ooh's and aah's from everyone. A month later, I drained the pond and NO BLANKETWEED. That was years ago and only recently has that green spaghetti reappeared. I tried it in a liner pond with rocks. It looked awful, so bad, we drained it immediately and refilled it, blanketweed and all. Microbe-Lift was the answer for that pond.

Algae Blues

Algae can easily be controlled.

1. Balance your vegetation, marginals (with good root systems such as
Pickerel, Iris), oxygenators (parrots feather, anacharis) and surface
coverage (water lilies, parrot’s feather). Also be patient, nature tends to
correct itself. I've found that patience is much better than trying to
overcontrol pond chemistry.

2. When pH gets on the basic side algae flourishes. Vinegar is weak and it takes forever (days) to neutralize. But it takes an expert to use muriatic acid properly, so do not put concentrated muriatic acid in your pond to balance pH!

3. It is good to have algae slime on the sides of your pond... this is a
sign of a healthy pond and can generate up to 70% of the oxygen needed for
your pond.

4. If you feed your fish, use a biological filter. The nitrate load will always get high.

5. Fresh water mussels work great and multiply faster than goldfish. But
if you get hungry they are great over linguini.

6. Scotch Barley bales work, but the pond must be cleared of algae first and
it will take some time to initiate the decomposition process. Approximately
3 months in a zone 6 winter or 1 month during the summer, i.e. you will need
overlap when exchanging the bales.

7. Black dye is very effective and is asetheticaly pleasing to show off
water lilies, but again the pond must be cleared first of algae. The other
trick is having the right amount in the pond. Since I use a white sand/pea
gravel for my pot topping, I add dye until I do not see the stones. This is
tricky, because it can slow plant growth if put in too strong and if not put
in high enough concentration you will get algae formation. If you do go down
this road, then stay away from the blue or green dyes. Trust me you will not
like the result.

8. There are several products on the market that will wipe out algae
population without harming fish or desirable plants. The downside is they
wipe out all of the algae and you may end up with an anaerobic pond.

9. Displace 25% of your water with non-chlorinated water (well or rain) on a
weekly basis during > 80 F weather.

10. UV (ozone) will work and is good when you have a lot of fish. The down
side is the ozone is a great oxidant and will kill some of the beneficial
critters. UV lights will NOT work for blanketweek/filamentous algae.

How much does it cost to run a submersible pump?

Electric costs are easy to compute. I am often asked how much it costs to run a submersible pump and if there is a difference between brands. I will use the example of a 100 watt light bulb and a utility cost of $0.08 per KWH. A KWH is a kilowatt-hour or, 1,000 watts used for 1 hour. A 100 watt light - .1 kilowatt or .1 KWH = less that 1 cent per hour.

• Find the actual wattage used by the motor. (If the actual amp draw is not available, estimate by using the full load amps plate.)

• Watts = volts x amps for single phase motors. The light bulb has an amp draw of 8.7 x 115 volts = 100 watts.

• Compute your cost per month by multiplying the KWH x 24 (hours used per day) x 30 (days used per month) x cost in KWH (to find the actual cost look at your last power bill and divide the total power charges byt KWH used).

A good general rule to use when buying a pump is the following: Usually the more expensive the pump is the less electricity it will use.

How Much Water do I Have?

I get asked one question more than any other. How much water do I have? And you need to know this, at least approximately, so you can add dechlorinator, calculate how many fish you can have or how much to medicate them.


This is the formula for calculating the number of gallons of water in your pond. Because most ponds are irregular, the capacity will be + or - based on various contours within a rectangle or square (in gallons)

Rectangle: Length x width x depth = cubic feet.
One cubic foot of water is 7.5 gallons.


Circle: radius squared x 3.14 x 7.5
One cubic foot of water is still 7.5 gallons.

Remember.....you learned that in basic geometry

Raccoons

It has always seemed strange to me that we build beautiful wildlife resorts in our yards and then we want to restrict the population. Most of us don't like raccoons to visit and it's true they can be destructive to plants and can kill fish.
Because we are taking the raccoon's habitats away every time we build a new house or a parking lot or a shopping center, they are doing what they know to do and finding a place to live and eat where they used to live, but can't anymore. And their only natural predator is us. So here we are wanting a 'gated community' in our yards and we took away the raccoons community. Whatever are we to do? There are have-a-heart traps that might work, but then you have a raccoon in a trap and must call the SPCA to come get it or you must release it somewhere far away where the raccoon will most probably die.

The best thing I have found is to make the pond occupants less desirable to the marauding raccoon. Plant asparagus fern, dwarf holly or other prickly things aouund the pond where the raccoon interstate highway leads to your pond. That has worked for me and for my clients throughout the years.