Our new pond! LOTS OF PICS!

[Scuba Kid]

Hey guys. Me and my family recently built a new pond, started construction a couple months ago and basically finished less than a week ago (if you can ever consider a pond finished. we're gonna be adding new stuff to it constantly. :P).

Stats:
1500-1550 gallons
16 ft at it's widest part (i think? I'll hafta double check)
Freeform with a waterfall going into the big area and a small channel into the small area. 2.5 feet at it's deepest, 18 inches at it's most shallow area.
In the future (next spring) we will have a bridge going over the channel between the two ponds and a bench (probably granite) by the fench. We will also be adding tons more plants (aquatic and non) and of course more fish, one of which defnitely being an albino channel cat.
Present inhabitants include 1 silver and gold ogon butterfly koi (he's metallic in the sun! beautiful! ), 1 large comet goldfish, 1 (what i think is) a black fantail goldfish, 1 blue and multicolored koi, 1 orange and white koi or goldfish (not sure 100%, but i think it's a koi), and a crayfish.

So here are some pics of the finished product. Ignore the brown color of the water, it's not neglected and gross, it's just dirt on the bottom left over from construction. We're going to remove it very soon with a pond vac (at soon at it arrives from foster and smith).

The pond!


The channel and small pond


The waterfall


The waterfall at a different angle and with some zebra grass and another kind of grass (forgot the name, lol). Also a mophead bush and other plants in which i dont know the names (im not a plant expert here! :P)


The lily in the small pond. One of it's flowers is gonna open any day now!



And finally, the fish gang! Here is our first pond inhabitant, a comet goldfish.


The black fantail (?) with the blue koi underneath. i need to get abetter shot of the blue koi as well.


Orange and white koi


Another shot of him


A hungry comet



And that's all for now, folks! I definitely need to get a good pic of my butterfly ogon, he is just gorgeous. Shimmers in the sun and has great fins!

Lemme know whacha think.

[fish_doc]

It looks nice. I see a spot for a small bridge in the future.

Love the lilypads. Im sure you will start to find all sorts of animals you didnt place there. Frogs, dragonflys, skeeters. OOPs did I say skeeters. The goldfish will keep them from showing up.

[Osiris]

Same here DOc! Great pond!

[Eddie Would GO]

wow!!!!!!!! sweet as pond!!!!! thats awusm, how much did ur pond liner cost? im making a pond now and will probaly do it in cement, but awsum pond its kick ass.

eddie

[Scuba Kid]

Our liner was $.79 per square foot.

Thanks for the compliments.

[Eddie Would GO]

sweet as dude awsum pond

[igauresh]

That is a very nice pond! I would guess it took a long while for you guys to make that as beautiful, but it's worth it! It's very nice of you to share the pictures of your pond, it inspired me on building my own. I just need the proper persons to assist me.

[Alisha]

That is a beautiful pond! I love the shape and the waterfall!

[Tanger]

How much did this all cost you, if you dont mind to answer..

(i'm thinking bout buildint a pond just like that but i'm still debating cuz of the cost)


oh and i think you should post a pic of the crayfish!

[justintrask]

Hate to bring up an old thread, but any updated? New residents? New plants?

Also, I don't know if it's been answered, but if you don't mind answering, how much was the end product? My girlfriend wants to build a koi pond about that size, but we're not sure about the cost. I know you said the cost of the liner, but what about total cost?

[Scuba Kid]

I don't remember, but this was mainly my parents' project, so they'd have a better idea. I think the filter was somewhere around $200 or $300....I don't really remember. I'll look it up later...the site we bought it from isn't loading right now.
That doesn't include the cost of gravel, stones, plants, fish, etc.

I don't have pics from this year but I have some from last year....











Looks pretty much like this now that the water hyacinth has overgrown...I need to scoop some out pretty soon.



Its much more planted around the pond now though, with plenty of terrestrial plants. There are more plants in the pond now as well.


As for stocking right now, unfortunately the pond was attacked by a huge blue heron which ate our albino channel cat, a few of our larger goldfish, and i think at least one bullfrog (unless it took off due to the threat). We put a net over the top now so we haven't seen the heron lately....

So right now we've got 5 koi (largest is about 18 inches, smallest about 6 or 7). Colors are: orange and black, platinum, metallic gold and silver with black shadowing, orange and white with a blue back, and a multicolored orange, black, and white. We've still got some comet goldies and shubunkins as well, along with the ridiculous amount of baby goldfish they make . We're starting to see some breeding behavior from the koi now that they're maturing, but we haven't seen any babies yet. We also have a bullfrog or two hanging around and a couple small frogs that developed from tadpoles we threw in. As for plants....water hyacinth, pickeral, irises, cat tail, lilies, parrot feather, anacharis, marsh marigold, horsetail....I think that's it...

I'll try to get some pics of the current fish we have soon.

[VincentM]

I really wish I had a pond... I loved in japan for a year and one of my favorite things were the Koi Gardens

[justintrask]

looks great! thanks for the update

[MaelStrom]

Looks great! Got yourself a little hyacinth factory....

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by MaelStrom

Looks great! Got yourself a little hyacinth factory....

Yeah, really. This stuff spreads FAST. It looks nice when it blooms though...big purple flowers. Too bad it only blooms once and for a short time...

FYI, water hyacinth really stinks when it burns....not that I tried burning a huge wheelbarrow sized pile of it last year when I needed to thin it out.

[COM]

Wow, that pond looks great.

My major criticism for most ponds is that they look out of place, especially with features like waterfalls. Yours fits so perfectly into the spot that I think it could almost pass for natural. Beauty!

[Kyoberr]

Looks like a nice pond. We want to get one but it hasn't happened yet. You're yard is so much bigger than ours, I envy that. Not as much fun to mow though.

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by COM

Wow, that pond looks great.

My major criticism for most ponds is that they look out of place, especially with features like waterfalls. Yours fits so perfectly into the spot that I think it could almost pass for natural. Beauty!

Thanks!
That was our main challenge in building this pond. As you can see, we have kind of a small, strange and sudden slope in our backyard so we used that to our advantage. That and planting around it (its much more planted now, by the way) really made it come out nice, I think. Took a few tries to get the plumbing and water flow just right, but it eventually worked quite well.

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by Kyoberr

Looks like a nice pond. We want to get one but it hasn't happened yet. You're yard is so much bigger than ours, I envy that. Not as much fun to mow though.

Thanks. I actually love mowing our yard though because we have a riding mower. haha

[justintrask]

haha. we have 6 acres in our backyard, and to stay in shape, me and my dad take turns with a push mower. not one of those fancy engined push mowers. a real one with spinning blades. by the time we get to the front, we need to start the back again!


MY DREAM MOWER