Very nice !!I wish mine was that large. Here's a picture of mine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Karens pond

Wow, that's a GREAT first attempt, Tmg! I would love to see more pics, from closer, if possible. Your garden looks like a wonderfully relaxing place to be!

I love your waterfall, Karen! Your water is so clear, too. That little pool before the water spills into the pond is really neat! :)

Brenda

Both are great ponds! My 3 year old pond isn't nearly that eye catching!

Thank you for the wonderful responses. Brenda, I'll try to get more pics this week. It's raining and dreary out right now. :-(

Karen, your pond is beautiful! I love the frogs. How do you keep them from being noisy at night? tee hee (that was my attempt at humor... argh), all the ponds posted in this forum gallery here are just beautiful. I love to see everyone's ideas, big or small. Formal or not.

tmg- is your water fall a DIY stock tank waterfall filter? I am just starting the gathering of info stage before planning my pond and am curious about how people have set theirs up. Yours is lovely!
~Michelle

Michelle,

Thank you for your nice words.

Yes, the top of the falls is a skippy that I made out of a 100 gallon rubbermaid. I have it falling into a pre-formed spillway from our local home hardware store (Lowes), which falls into the pond. I'm in the process of putting stone and mortar around it so it does not look so plastic. I'll post more pics when I finish (weather permitting).

The hardest part of the entire process was drilling the hole for the drain. Are you planning to put in a skippy for a waterfall as well?

I think so. I'm so new I'm not sure what a skippy is. Is it a filter? I was looking at the how to on the website below. Is this what you did?

Here is a link that might be useful: Stock tank waterfall flter

My setup is similar to the one you are looking at in the link... here's an easier one - this is the one I made.

Tina

Here is a link that might be useful: skippy filter setup

Ooh that website is wonderful, thanks!! Now all I need is to decide how big I want to make my pond...

You are very welcome. :-)

The skippy I built from that site was very easy to do. And I bought scrubbing pads from our local Dollar Store here in Illinois. Used 180 pads (30 packages) - and for the eggcrate, I used an old piece of metal chickenwire fencing I had from the garden. Total cost was under $100.00 - not bad for a 100 gallon filter.

Make it as big as you possibly can afford - I thought mine was too big - until I got used to seeing it there. Now I wish I had made it bigger (my yard is big enough to allow expansion). That won't happen for some time though - my caluses are still healing from digging the last one.

Getting the liner, etc... is easy too. I use these guys for all my ponding needs, questions, etc. I have not been disappointed in their service.

http://stores.ebay.com/Pond-Depot

Ponding is addictive isn't it? I started by asking my son to dig a little hole for a preformed that I bought. look what the little hole turned in to.

We live in Texas Hill Country, it's hot and usually in a state of drought and water gardens take less water to survive than grass does. The only problem with hill country is the ground, about 2" of clay that leads to straight up solid rock. Insane stuff to work with. It takes me about 45 minute to dig a hole to plant in. I'm thinking of using the 100 gallon simply because it'll allow me the height to build an above ground pond. It depends on how good I end up being with masonry (something I've never delved into!).
What kind of pump did you go with? That's my next step in the process, dh would like koi so I'm going to need a moderately deep pond.

I have family in Austin - I love Texas.

Illinois has about 2 1/2 feet of dark rich soil - then it's all clay and rock from there.

I attempted my first masonry job around the skippy - being no expert, the job is taking much longer, but I'm having a blast learning.

What about some type of landscape timber? I've seen raised ponds using these that look very natural.

I actually have two pumps - the first is a pondmaster with a pre-filter attached and a fountain attachment - I have that one in the 2 foot section of the pond.

The pump leading to the skippy is actually a waterfall pump... CalPump PW-4500 Submersible Pond Pump. I know it's overkill, but I figured if I ever wanted to add on or enlarge the pond, I'd have the power to do it. I have the pump sitting in a plastic crate stuffed to the brim with white shop rags I bought from our local warehouse club.

The spillway is filled with Lava Rock.

It works for me... basically everything I've done so far has been trial and error - but that is what makes this so much darn fun.

So where is your submersible pump located? Is it in the pond proper with a pvc line running to the waterfall? Can you tell I'm a newb?
Oh and you must post pictures of your masonry job in progress!

I have it in a crate on the 3rd level of the pond - you don't want to put the pump at the lowest point in the pond - no pvc... just a flex hose connecting the pump to the inlet of the skippy on top.

I'll take some snapshots later this afternoon. Hopefully I'll get them posted by tomorrow.

Actually, I give you credit. You are asking all the questions I was afraid to ask. Besides, I'm a newb too... haven't had the pond for even a full season.

The blind leading the blind you mean? Nothing wrong with that! Could you tell me, what's the difference between a skippy and other types of filtration?

Ok.. promised more pics. here they are:
Sorry, they are a little dark... had to take them when I got home from work. As you can see, I'm not done with the mortar work around the skippy/waterfall, but it's getting there. Hopefully I'll be done soon. The little pond with the hosta and relaxing frogs was a mother's day present from my son. The water lillys are sickly - don't have a clue what is happening with them.

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In response to your question regarding filter types I found this site to be helpful. scroll down past the stuff for sale and you will see the explanations for different types of filters. It's my best guess that the skippy is both a mechanical and a bio filter dependent on the type of filter media that is being used. Just a guess now...

Here is a link that might be useful: filter types

Wonderful! Your mortaring job is coming along great!

Thank you so much. Yesterday my son and I were out after taking the pics and we found our first bullfrog sitting in between the two day lillies on the shelf - tried to get a picture but he was too quick.

The little side pond also has a baby bullfrog - he's about 1 1/2 inches right now.

I know - silly to get excited over frogs, but since we've put the pond in, I've become mesmerized by wildlife!!

Wow First attempt? Looks like you got it right the first time! It's a beauty! Debbie

Thank you so much for your kind words. I think I've made every mistake possible, but that is what makes it so much fun. My pond is definitely my obsession.