I did find a pond that I like, I put it in my clippings, it is the second picture down from the top. Of course, I would not have all of the plants in the pond and I would want a little more of a waterfall and some ambient lighting. Would something like this work and how would I make it??

Hope the clipping works!!!

I've taken the liberty of posting the pic of that pond you really like, LFN! And good luck with such an exciting project! :)

Courtesy of joeyb5980 -

{{gwi:198882}}

Brenda

Thank you very much Brenda!!! I didn't know how to just place the picture in my post. I hope it was OK to put it in the clipping, and thanks to joeyb5980 for giving me the inspiration.

By the way, nice to meet you, my name is Brenda too :)

Hi Brenda! You might want to take a garden hose or rope and create a fake outline for us so we can see what you're after. Or even outline you dream pond with white spray paint (you'll mow it off in no time)! Then we can give you loads of information. S

Hi, Sarah! LOL

Nice to meet another Brenda! Not too many of us out here. :)

To place the pic in this post, I just looked at Joey's pic in your clippings area, right-clicked on it, then chose "Properties". I then copied the "Address (URL)" information - http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b389/joeyb5980/Pond%20pics%20July%2006-2/Pondpics7-25-06001.jpg - and pasted it into the "Message" box here.

I then added some symbols and such so it looked like this -

only without the space after the Hope that makes some sort of sense! :)

Brenda

Looks like a fun summer project!
You really have about a million choices as far as set up goes. Do you have any ideas how long you want it to be? If you use a liner, you can have a lot more options, and go to about any length/depth you choose.
You could even do a stream that would travel the length of your deck and end in the pond.

This is a great place for help and inspiration, good luck!

Hi Everyone :)

Thank you so much for your responses. I looked up some sites yesterday on how to build a pond and had lots of trouble understanding stuff. I am so much more of a visual person, you can tell me something and I just cannot seem to grasp the just of it all. Especially when it comes to filters and stuff like that. I honestly believe that I cannot do it because I do not understand.

I still love joeyb5980's pond. That is exactly the shape and setup that I want.

Mine will be up against a deck too. I like that I can place planter flowers behind it so the shape is perfect. And then put a little in front of it.

From the pictures it appears that his pond is not that large, I can't have an extremely large pond in the front. This pond is very appealing to me, except I would want a larger waterfall (not huge though). I want exactly the same shape of pond that Joe has.

When looking at the sites I did decide that I do want two coi fish (just two).

The dimensions of the pond for my area would have to be about 6 ft lengthwise with the largest width (from the deck out about 4 feet).

As I understand I would have to have a depth of at least two feet for fish to overwinter here in Central Illinois.

It will be in mostly shade so water lilies are probably not an option for me so I would have to some plant life for the pond. I understand the fish gobble up the plants quick, so I don't know what to do about that either.

And filters and liners and skippies and waterfalls, I just don't get it at all. I don't know what to do. I want a place for fish to hide also. I want a low maintenance so I would want something to help clean the pond.

And cost....wow!!!! OMG!!!!! How much is this tiny little pond going to cost??

I am so very sorry for all of these questions. I am in a very small town and want to get the best help that I can and do it right the first time and make no mistakes.

This weekend we went to get a new puppy and (I do not know whether it was fate or what) but someone had one of these beautiful ponds right next to their front door with Koi's and I fell in love :)

Let me know if there is any way that I can help out a little further in getting information and understanding and please give me your insights.

Thanks so very much :)

Hello Brenda,
Here's a link for a kidney-shaped pond calculator. You'll need several measurements to use it but you need to know your volume in order to size a pump & filter. This will also give you a minimum liner size. (FYI, I have to use the Tab key to move on this page. The mouse won't work. Could be me.)

I don't have koi and only know what I've read but I think they really prefer a deeper pond to be safe and healthy - 3-4 feet. What you're planning would be great for fancy goldfish, though. I do believe my shubunkins are pretty as any koi!

I have a dwarf Helvola water lily that does great in shade. There are others, too but I don't know what they are off hand. I wouldn't rule them out yet. If it really won't bloom, you could trade with someone with a sunnier pond. There are a number of other plants that like or even prefer shade. Water lettuce, lizard's tail, variegated sweet flag, for sure.

As for cost, my personal experience is that whatever you think it'll cost is only the beginning. There'll be something else, and then something else. It adds up if you're foolish enough to do so! I also would not expect to "do it right". Everyone's situation is different and you'll almost surely have to change things but that's OK. Kinda fun, even.

One last thing from someone who hasn't been doing this long herself (but has had other gardens)- I firmly believe the only low maintenance gardens are the ones that have gardeners. You can have it more or less complicated but it's still gardening and still going to be some work. As long as you enjoy gardening, that's no problem.

I'll hush up and let the more knowledgeable people continue from here. I'm excited for you, though!

Vanessa

Here is a link that might be useful: kidney pond calculator

Hey there, Brenda. Lots of research does make things easier and total immersion in the topic, just like learning a new language, helps you catch on to the things that are important. This forum has a lot of info being talked about by lots of people, some of whom get pretty technical. There are plenty of others who keep it simple.
Now I am going to be mean.
Sometimes the limitations we cannot change make us give up some things we really want. A list of each can help see the realities. After I looked at the pond you like and read what you wanted, I realized you can't have all of it. I don't want to discourage you. You can still have a lovely and totally satisfying pond/water garden.
The pond you like is a rigid preform. It is probably 72"x48" and 18" deep. It holds 125 gallons and will take 3-4 3" fish. Those dimensions are for Maccourt ponds which seems to be the most common preform. There are some new ones that are foldable made of virgin vinyl but that doesn't seem to be what you are looking at. There are also some pond kits that include plastic liners and EPDM rubber liners are very versatile.
The volume of water in any of these ponds would prevent you from having koi. Koi grow to very large proportions and soon your fishies wouldn't have room to turn around, literally. I have a 1000 gallon pond and some of my 6" koi are now 12-14" after only one season. One that is 3 years old is now even larger than that. In addition I have a population of comets, sarrasa and other related fishies and they started breeding last year. Many of them started as 1" feeder fish. All of them need room to move! Fast! I'm getting nervous. There are many colorful fish other than koi that you would enjoy but you would need to control the numbers and figure out a way to keep them over winter. I put my gourami and guppies in the pond for the summer and put them back in aquariums in the winter. The cold would kill them. In your zone, it is possible for an 18 inch pond to freeze solid but more likely it would only have ice to 4-6 inches. I would wait through a full winter to see just how deep the ice goes before investing in fish other than goldfish. Gases that accumulate in the water could kill larger fish with only that much free water.
An EPDM or plastic lined pond could give you the depth you need but the volume still would limit the number and type of fish.
Don't despair! No one ever got it right the first time they were designing a home and you are designing a home for fish... and plants.
Now that I have managed to scotch some of your dreams, (sorry, sorry, sorry) the necessary hardware can be put up for discussion. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: preform ponds

Awww, Vanessa and Sandy you are really making me sad :(

I will hold off on building my pond until next year.

Let me reintroduce myself:

My name is Brenda. I love nature and wildlife and gardening. I live on a little over 3/4 acre of land. I feed the birds, squirrels, and own 4 wonderful dogs and a cat.

My backyard (which is bigger than the front yard) is fenced completely in and where the dogs and squirrels are at. The dogs have their very own personal dog door. Last year, I built/made my squirrels their own personal squirrel station. There is also a nice walnut tree that belongs to the neighbords and hangs over our fence for them. Here is my squirrel station (sorry the pictures are a little big). By the way, the fence behind it was all built one board at a time (not sections) and is very large.

{{gwi:198883}}


{{gwi:198884}}

My front yard hosts birds. I also have a birding station. I am currently building a nice plot for hummingbirds to frequent with some plants that they love.

Back to the pond, I love Joe's pond. I didn't exactly say I wanted a preform. The reason I love Joe's pond is because of the shape, the rock design around it, and the plant layout also. Mine can definately be deeper, bigger and whatever else needs to be done.

I have the space and the ability to do what everyone else has done here on the Ponds forum. Don't worry, there is no bad news coming from anyone here, because, you can rain on my parade a little, but you cannot take my dreams becoming a reality away from me.

I want my space/my yard to be my own little nature walk/santuary. I know what hard work is, I did it all last spring/summer and fall. I am doing it again this year.

I have given you just a peek of myself and some things I hold very dear to my heart, I hope you will all welcome me.

Smiles :)

Hi lovefornature. I am new to this forum as well, but have been ponding for awhile. I believe that sometimes you just have to throw yourself at something and learn from it. I started with a preformed pond of only 100 gallons. Maccourts site shows you how to dig the hole and such. You don't really need anything fancy like a skippy for this. I purchased a pressure filter w/uv (my preference cuz of full sun) and a pump. At the time I believe the preformed pond was $70.00, pressure filter was $129. and the pump about $70. The rest was sweat equity. I later bought a preformed waterfall from maccourt as well. Now, that said. I didn't build a pond for koi. I wanted a nice outdoor area for birds, my turtle, frogs, etc... I added tropical fish and a heater later. I have a few plants, but mostly water. The wild birds fly in and bathe/shower in the waterfall daily. dragonflies lay eggs, a bullfrog that I got as a tadpole has stuck around all year, hibernating somewhere during the winter. I have since added more and larger ponds, but I will always love my first little starter pond. Without it, I wouldn't have any love for ponding. And what if I hadn't enjoyed it? At least its a smaller hole to fill back in, and all the parts can be resold. That is my 2 cents worth. Happy Ponding to all, big and small.

{{gwi:198886}} thought you might want to see my first pond. dream big, sometimes take baby steps.

Brenda,

Love the squirrel feeding station. They must be fun to watch. I have all kinds of hummingbird plants too. One thing they really love is water spraying up into the air. They fly into it and hover there, taking a shower.

Please don't be discouraged. Ponding can get pretty darn expensive, but is sure worth it. It pays to get the best liner you can afford if you aren't going to get a preform. A friend used a cheap plastic that is now leaking and is faced with replacing it after a short time of having the pond.

This is the best place I've found for help and encouragement. I agree, in the beginning understanding the jargon and visualizing everything was difficult for me too.

I put in a preform ( a free used reptile tank 6X3X2 1/2) and bought a good pondmaster pump. That's what I started with. Over a couple of years I added rocks and plants and a stream. I want to add a skippy filter next. I think I have the idea about what they are and why I want one. I have done well without it though. Some day I would like a freeform larger pond, but am happy with what I have for now.

So... continue reading, search this GREAT site, ask questions, and come back and have fun with us. Next thing you know, you'll have your pond up and running.

Anne

Hi Brenda, Welcome to the Forum. It is a great place to learn thru other peoples mistakes LOL-I have a small 250 gal preform that sits about 6" above ground, to prevent runoff from going in. I enjoy it immensely!! That's not to say I wouldn't love to have a much larger pond, some day, but this one serves me nicely. I have Goldfish & lots of plants. I have a very small yard & big trees, so not much room for much larger. One good thing about preforms is you can set one up quickly, also everything you need is fairly simple to figure out. I'm of the mind that, If you want something, just go for it!! Worry about all the "what if's" later....Good Luck with your "First" Pond. You will Love It- but be warned ponding is a very addicting hobby. Dianne

Thank you for making my message a little lighter, folks. I am on my 5th pond at the moment and the 1st two were only 100 gallons each. They were my experiments before I got in too deep. They showed me many of the things I needed to know and kept me form making a lot of mistakes. Of course this forum and experienced forum members have kept me out of trouble, too. One of the original water gardens is still going strong in the Master Gardeners Display Garden at the Cooperative Extension Service on the IU Purdue campus in Fort Wayne. It is a favorite on garden walks especially to the kids who want to feed the fishies(two or three feeder fish). This one changes every year since we can't keep it from freezing solid in the winter time, and it isn't possible to rebuild it the same each time. We aren't allowed to put in something that is permanent so we make it a teaching opportunity.
My 1000 gallon pond is not the end of things. I am planning to enlarge it as soon as my broken back heals enough to allow me to dig again. It may never be finished and I expect there will be errors in judgement to deal with in the future. I try to look on them as learning opportunities.
I would never dare to encourage the tree rats here. There are too many of them and as cute and cuddly as they look they have done some real damage to our trees. Feeding them is an expensive hobby. If there were only a few it would be a different story. I have to admire the little monsters though. Their persistence is amazing. They gravitate to our yard because everyone else has dogs. Our cat is no patsy but there is only one of her. The Jungle gym you made for them is cute.
Sorry if I misunderstood your requirements for the pond. You seemed to be putting some absolute restrictions on it.
Dianne, LOL, you like to live dangerously! Sandy

Thank you everyone for your encouragement!!

First, I wanted to tell everyone that I am sorry if my words seemed a little snippy. I just felt that I was being told that I could not handle it and I know that whatever I set my mind to, no matter how difficult, I can do it.

I think that I will just start with a pre-formed pond, I can then later move and build up to what I want. I also have the space to make a larger pond, which is what I probably will do. I have tons of space. A pre-form sounds like where I should start since I am a beginner.

I thank everyone who came back after my post and gave me enouragement and push in the right direction. :)

I am sure I will have more questions as I go along and I am glad I have this forum to come to.

BTW: I am already addicted after seeing someone else's Koi pond this past weekend. Absolutely beautiful!!!

Just wanted to say that I love your spirit and determination, Brenda! It seems to me that you will be successful in making your pond dreams come true, and I wish you all the best.

The other Brenda :)

No problem with your 'snippy'. I don't have the talent for saying things nicely and still getting my point across. I hate for people to think what they want is what they will get when it isn't in the cards. That is a sure way for people to lose interest. Now that you have a better idea of what you want you can make adjustments in the construction and you won't lose fish because the pond is too small:) Keep us informed, Sandy