If you want a basic watergarden looks good. I think you could get the liner cheaper through justliners.com How big is your pond going to be, how deep, fish load? I'm not wild about beckett pumps. Pondmaster or calpump are tough pumps. I haven't been able to kill either of mine despite plenty of abuse;) I don't know much about altantic and how they hold up but I've seen them and they look good to me I've had savio which is super tough and oase which has a great skimmer design.

If I were to go back to my first pond I wouldn't buy anything till I had a written detailed plan and definately don't buy the liner until you have the hole dug because if you are like me, your plans keep changing.

Good luck!

I am curious about the lights. I had no luck, just aggravation, with three lights and one transformer but this set seems to have some sort of difference. There is an extra part but there is no setup info so I can't guess how this might work.

Oops. Meant to say the lights I got were set in series. If one light went out and had to be lifted from the pond, the rest had to come out because they went out too. You had no way to tell which one went bad.

The cheapest I have found on the web is "webbsonline.com". They have been very easy to do business with.

jeff

How big/deep is your pond going to be? I just ask this as I dug mine, 10l x 6w x 3.5ft deep and wish I had made it 20 ft long!!!(am in a raised bed so have to stick with width...)I have found that everyone here gives great advise, and the size should sound rediculously big to you, cuz once it's done, you are always gonna want bigger!!!ha!

Very good advice given......thanks. you've convinced me to dig my pond before I buy the liner. My initial plan is for a 15x20 (2ft deep) but that may change after I dig. I might go 3+ft deep in a section. I'm not sure about the lights. I think ill take them off my order until I have the pond more complete.

I don't think your liner will be big enough for a 15x20x2ft pond (particularly with a 3ft deep section). I found that as I worked the liner into the contours of my pond that the process of folding over and tucking down a fold to follow a curved contour causes a lot of liner to be used. You need to be certain you have enough liner above grade to tuck under rock edging and then roll up *behind* the edging where it can be concealed. I had this exact problem with my pond and ended up with sections where I didn't have enough liner left above grade. I ended up moving that section of the pond *in* towards the center to give myself more liner above grade - but that was not what I wanted to do (didn't want the pond smaller).

So, I went through this exact issue and it frustrated the hell out of me because 1) the liner is expensive to begin with 2) it's damn heavy to move around your yard and 3) getting those folds neat and flat are a pain.

Ensure you've sized the liner to your pond accounting for this and *make the pond bigger to start*. Everyone says it and it's true. You'll want it bigger later (to quote Michael Scott: "that's what she said").

Check out my album link below. You can see a couple of pics with the liner and folds and see how my liner was "short" in a couple of spots around the edges. Thought for sure I had it big enough!

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: My pond album

I to agree, I dug my first pond and when I was done I already made plans for making it bigger next year. I still
now wish I would have gone deeper to at least 4' in at least one area so I didn't have to bring in all my fish as I'm in a very cold climate, but tree roots gave me alot of trouble, had to work around some really big ones..

Wish you luck, please post pic when done..
have a great day.
Sheri

i just looked through your picture album Chris_in_ct.
absolutely awesome! now i'm trying to figure out if i can fit in some sort of stream and bridge into my plan.

Tride26,
Thanks, appreciate the compliment. I learned a lot reading this board before I started my pond so happy to offer any advice or creative sparks.

I was happy with the way my stream and bridge came out. The only thing I didn't do from my original plan was a larger deck catilevered out over the pond to create the impression of a large pond surface underneath. Couldn't do that given where I put my pump (it's external and I buried it in a pump chamber). Anyway, enjoy your project. This is the third year with my pond and every year I enjoy it more as I finish a little more and do more plantings. I'm sure you will too.

Let me know if you have any questions.
-Chris