Hey there, yeah, we're really going to laugh our heads off at you when we were in the same position not too long ago. I started with a generous 100 gallons and have upgraded to 1000 so far. I expect it will go higher in the near future. Many of us started out with containers that hold only a few gallons and I want to install one of those some day if I get a chance. Of course there are ponders who think it isn't a real pond until it goes over 25,000 gallons and the water fall drowns out the major highway over the back fence. Yeah, you guys! I know you laugh at my measly 1000 gallons! Zinniachick started with a concete swimming pool and her fishies are huge. It's an ongoing project that she doesn't feel the need to hurry. She has a pretty little water feature in front, too and it is very pleasant to the eye and ear.
The only thing you should worry about is suiting the water feature to the location and vice versa. In the sun the water in a small container can get very warm. It will require a way to get more oxygen or it can stink. A bubbler for an aquarium will work but it is easier to put the container in shade. Use caution if you want to put a fishie in it. You will need to clean the water since a fish requires food and it poops and too much food spoils in the water. A plant has it's own requirements and will make the fishies happy to have a place to hide. Lots of people will be anxious to help you so ask whatever you think of. We aren't going to laugh. Sandy

I am pretty proficient in gold fish tanks, and I do well with my, no smell, no slime, and the fish are happy and ALWAYS hungry :)
I was thinking that I wanted this because I wanted to hear the water thats why I didnt want anything monsterous. I was thinking of getting a plec...(I cant spell it but it eats the scum off the sides of the tank) and some fish, and thats about it. Well some rocks, larger ones and hmmm maybe some pea gravel for the bottom, and then a few little plants. It will not get too much sun.... maybe mid morning but thats about it. I do live in Texas though so it gets hot. But on the other side, sometimes we will get a bit of a cold spell. Like this morning, there was ice on the windsheild, and yesturday it was sunnny, not too hot. So, go figure...... I know its not good for them to be in supercold water. I know they will just be very still, bt should I put somekind of heater in it like the glass ones have a kind you stick to the side to warm the water. But because it is plastic I was wondering if that was even possible to do.
I dont really want to get too much bigger unless the pond will be in the ground in the front by my future "fern gully" :)Even then I dont want it huge. We have WAY to many trees and too many leaves and pine trees and well the list goes on, and I know cleaning it would just be a pain in the neck. Then there is the beating my kids away from it as well. I have already had one of them fall face first in a duck pond at the park here in huntsville. LOL
I do love the aquarium life and habitats, I think they are great and I want to grow VERY slowly before I jump in and dig a gigantic hole in my yard!!!
Would a turtle like a small one fit in the little tank? I have seen some really small turtles before, I dont want them to eat the goldfish though.... I figure if I had a big enough rock or petrified wood log, they would be able to get out and lay there. Thanks for not laughing, though I know you were snickering LOL :)

Dear Girl that asked the stupid question. Just make sure you know what you are getting into. Water features are addictive and I bet it won't be long after you get that until you are drawing up plans for a lake=p

- John

I'll come back later with a little more chat but in the meantime take a look at the gallery. There are some smaller ponds that might suit your taste and I've put a link down at the bottom to one in your area. Well at least a lot closer to you than I am, LOL. You can pretty much ignore the posters price estimate. It is way out of line, especially if you are going to do it without a landscaper. Just use it for a starting point to decide just where you want to go with a water feature at the moment. I have done one for under $100.00 by shopping sales.
I have used a submersible aquarium heater in my isolation tank outside. The container is about 25 or 30 gallons and the kind of thin plastic half barrel liners you find in some big box stores like Menards and Lowes. It worked just fine. It kept the sick fishie warm enough to be comfortable while getting well. At one time the container was filled with stones to be a sedimentation tank then I changed over to a larger pond with a different filter system. Bye for now. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Is this too big?

sleepless,

That is a gorgeous pond. I think that is a little wide for what I am wanting to do. I would not want to do that for a few years, but I know where I want it :) There is like a "nook" area right off my front porch. Its almost 100% shade, and I could put a few lawn chairs..... or OOHHH I could build a low deck and put the pond in a corner. That would look nice.... Man I wish I had a few hundred grand in the bank and I could just do everything at once LOL. I'm a little impatient!!! Plus I am the type to just waiver around and not decide on things. That is why I was wanting the little plastic one, and then I wouldnt be out too much money if it didnt work out, ot if for some reason I didnt like it. I doubt that will happen, but I like to make sure first that way I know what the work load is ect. Thank you for the link, I will certainly take a look around for pics!!

hi lindsayg!

A friend of mine put out the exact pond you posted and loves it. She doesn't have fish in it, but many plants that thrive. She finds it easy to clean when necessary, and here in zone 4 she hauls the whole works into the basement for the winter. She has added snails to help clean it, and does have an algae problem, but it's in full sun, so she just cleans it ocassionally.

"Kits" are a good way to start if you're not sure ponding is the hobby for you, go for it! Worst you can do is sell it at next year's garage sale.

Sarah (she who ordered a 20 gallon 'pop-up pond', said no way, and now has 3 ponds (each under 300ga..:)

I started out with a 30 gal patio pond 6 summers ago and 5 little feeder fish from WM. Go for it girl. Hint...water snowflake blooms beautifully for a small container. If there isn't enough light on the porch for it to bloom use a grow light. Three fish would be enough also. Choose some with a lot of color. Please don't put gravel on the bottom. You can use an aquarium vac to keep it clean also.

I was looking at one of those just a few days ago for my patio. Yes, I would get another small container.

Of course the fish grow and you have to go larger, and larger yet and then they have babies and you have to go larger yet. The plants multiply and you have to divide them and buy new ones that are beautiful colors and then divide them so you have to add something just for the plants.

OH, was I thinking out loud? Now I have cattails in the 30 gal because it cracked. I have a 90 gallon with last years babies, a 160 gallon with granddaughters babies from the first hatch a 750 gallon with the original 5 feeders and a 500 gallon with the numerous plant divides. These are all stocktanks.

This summer the plants are going in the compost heep. AND I'm getting another 500 gallon for a lotus and some tropical lilies...I hope, I hope.

Did someone say addict?

OMG mammasue,

How do you have the time for that??!?!?!
Oh and why not the gravel at the bottom? will it get gross?

Gravel in the bottom maked it difficult to clean, Alot of the fish and plant waste get into the gravel and gets stinky. Without the gravel an aquarium vacumn works nicely to clean a small pond.

Hi Lindsay,
I say go for it too! I think its cute. I agree with the no gravel too. You'll have to think of shade-loving water plants. The water lily they show in the picture wouldn't make it in shade, plus they like still water.
I wonder if you can adjust the flow of that pump so it wasn't pouring out there so much?
I think its a great idea. You must show us a pic of it after you get it all set up!

hi lindsay - I once looked at that exact pond and had ideas for a small water feature but my main pond was still in construction. I think you would like it and it would be a great learning experience to hook you on big, bigger, biggest.

I like all the ponds I see posted here - fish pond, water garden or some kind of landform gushing enough water to drown out the freeway, as Sandy said. Some aspects of some ponds may not be what I would put in or around mine, but after a while you begin to appreciate the work and feeling that is in every pond.

It seems you will have fun and enjoy the effort you put into it and start getting the bug. Just don't put gravel in it!

Welcome to the world of ponding.

Mike

That's a terribly cute water garden. My first pond last year was a 20 gal utility tub which I kept on the back porch even after adding the 8' stocktank a couple months later. I envy the big ponds but I'll likely never have the space but there's just a world of small container gardens - much cheaper & easier to take care of. My current plan, after adding more plants to the stock tank is to put a 50 gal on the front porch this summer with a small fountain, a few plants, some snails and minnows. Being above ground makes it harder for the neighbor dogs to use it as their water dish. Nothing stops the cats.
Vanessa

The reason I thought if gravel is because I have it in my goldfish inside tank, and that doesnt smell, I guess it is different outside?
My grandmother had some goldfish that survived MANY a winters inside of a VERY old rusted out sap collecting/pouring thing. It looked like a couldren and it sat on a stand which I am sure was welded at a later date, no pump, no cleaning and inside of a rusty "bowl" LOL with pine needles falling all in there. That was one tough fish!!!
Thanks for the input I will give it a whirl!!

For Christmas, we gave my mom the little water feature in the pic below, to go with the bench DH made her last Christmas. No fish, but I already gave her some rooted Houttuynia that she can add to the barrel in late winter/early spring. Malone the pug likes it almost as much as Mom does! :D I think you'll love your new feature, Lindsay!

But see that fence out beyond the pine tree in the top right of the picture? That encloses their front yard, which is very large (they live on just over an acre). I'm taking bets on how long it'll be before Mom has the front yard dug up for her expansion pond. :D

{{gwi:174567}}

Brenda

Lindsayg wrote:

"The reason I thought if gravel is because I have it in my goldfish inside tank, and that doesnt smell, I guess it is different outside?"

Hi Lindsay- I assume that the reason that you want gravel is because of the aesthetic appeal- I can identify with that 100%, but unfortunately, I learned the hard way that it's not a good idea. I lost a few fish last winter because of it.

There are several people on this forum who can give you a more accurate explanation, but basically, you're creating a layer of "gunk", and eventually poisonous gas, when you put gravel at the bottom of the pond. What looks perfectly natural in month 1 looks like crap (which by the way, it is) a short time later.

BTW- I identify 10000% with everyone else who says that you'll be addicted and want to go bigger. In the 2 short years that I have been doing this (a couple of hours away from you in Austin), I have gone from a 35 gallon pre-formed to a 300 gallon liner pond, to a 700 gallon, and now to a 1,600 gallon.

Best of luck!

Brian.

I have been trying to remember some of the more unusual containers I have seen on this forum and the first one that comes to mind is an old claw tub. It was in the middle of a wildflower garden and was quite interesting. It brought to mind old victorian houses for some reason. Wooden horse troughs show up nicely if you have access, otherwise I suspect they might be rather expensive. Galvanized wash tubs and wooden half barrels with liners and very large urns that have an overflow into a gravel filled bed (sometimes this is called a pondless waterfall, no fishies in this one), a bucket tipped and pouring water into another larger bucket or tub for a start. I gave a talk to a group of older people living in a group of condos with only a small patch of concrete in the back, and showed them a small water garden in a 15 gallon plastic ice tub. I put in three plants including a small black magic taro and a small pump and fountain from Harbour Freight. The filter came from Lowes although I showed them how to make a filter out of Tupperware. I got a letter from them two weeks later and they had all put in a water garden. None of them was like the other and they were all very pleased to sit on their concrete slab and talk to their neighbors about their water gardens. A friend has a monster flower pot that she sealed on the bottom and it attracts lovely little frogs. I thought it was terracotta but it is plastic foam. She changes the way it is set up every year. She sometimes puts a fishie or two in it but doesn't want to let them get too big. She uses an aquarium bubbler and does a complete water change from her well every week.
OK, that's all I can think of right now. What do the rest of our ponders remember?
Oh, yes. Look up Adam's Filter. It is the same principle as my tupperware filter only a bit larger. Don't use clear tubing. It clogs up with algae really fast. Sandy