Thanks zgardennut. Cost wise I'm not sure if it is cheaper. I received the roll roofing from a co-worker. The rolls are pretty wide and I was able to get two ponds from it. The pond pictures and another one that is a nature pond. It is a large bird bath. We set and watch the robins and other birds take their baths and eat the tadpoles. What I like about it is if it gets a hole I can patch it like a tire tube.

"I moved into a new-to-me house last spring that has a small pond in the backyard - about 6'x3'x3'. It doesn't have any fish or plants growing in it, so pretty much all I did last year was clean out the leaves and pull out some of the rocks that had fallen in that were supposed to be around the edge. Tadpoles took over in May, so I left them alone, hoping that frogs would help with summer mosquitoes. If they did, I shudder to think what it would have been like without them around. (I also used dunks on a regular basis throughout the summer.) The water stayed remarkably clear overall." Hello Rosten18, If you had no plants and clear water last year then consider yourself lucky. Also, I wonder if you had frogs or toads. I'm in KS too and the Eastern American Toad is the primary visitor to my pond. My first year I had lots of mosquito larvae in the pond and used the dunks to take care of them. But last year I bought about 2 dozen Gambuzzia (sp), the mosquito fish, from the local tropical fish store and had absolutely no mosquito problem. "Now that spring is coming around again, I'm wondering what I should do with it. I'm afraid I simply don't have the time to deal with fish, and any plants would have to be really low maintenance. At one point it had a filter - it's still sitting out there - but the cord has been cut, and I have no idea where the rest of the cord is, or whether there is still power running to it. It's far enough from the house that I don't really want to try to run another line, so I was thinking about trying something solar powered." If you were to try mosquito fish you wouldn't have to do anything, at least not very much. They feed on the larvae that accumulates on the edges. My experience is that they have a hard time overwintering here in KS so you might have to spend a few bucks but they're not expensive (about the same as buying guppies). I'm not sure of the filter you speak. Is it a filter in a skimmer, or, is it a power filter in-line between a pump and a discharge? Perhaps it is part of a biological filter in a filter box? And what cable has been cut, the buried electrical cable or the cord to the plug of a pump? Sorry for so many questions. I would want water moving to help enjoy the pond so I would repair the setup. "I'd appreciate any advice, but in particular I'm wondering whether I need a filter if I don't have anything living in the pond. I would also like to know whether anyone has experience with solar powered pumps, and whether there are any brands in particular to look for. The main reason I would do a pump is to keep the water circulating, which I'm assuming would eliminate the need for mosquito dunks. Is that a safe assumption? " Do you need a filter? I would think you don't need much of a filter for a 6 x6 x 3 pond with out too much load but you will have sediment to handle. How do you want to keep your pond clean, by hand? It's your call. I don't have any experience with a solar pump. Sorry. I like mag drive pumps because they are oil-less and have great dependability and don't use as much electricity as regular pumps. A simple pump will do for you and your situation. You won't have to spend more than $100. You won't get a break from discouraging mosquitos, at least not too much of one, if you add a pump and circulate water. There are always areas or pockets that can support their existence. It is best to do the dunks or the fish. "Also, I've cleaned out most of the leaves again, but is there any reason why I shouldn't empty the pond entirely and refill it with clean water? I'm assuming the tadpoles will be back, so I should probably take care of most of this within the next month." Water chemistry, I guess. I would try to leave water that doesn't include chlorine or chloramines in it. If your water supported tadpoles last year then you probably have sufficient water this year. If you go and empty the pond you should expect an algae bloom and perhaps a reduction in aquatic life, unless you use a de-chlorinating water conditioner. Most city water in KS uses chloramines (make sure your water de-chlor. is able to handle this because some dry formulas cannot). I'm really not that lazy, but it's just me, and between working full time and going to grad school, there's only so much I can do! I'd like this to be fairly maintenance free, so I can devote any spare time I have to a garden. Thanks in advance for your help! It sounds to me that you can go either way. Not do a whole lot besides hand cleaning, or. you can invest and make a beautiful ornamental pond out of it and have aquatic plants. I just can't imagine a pond without plants! One or two hardy water lilies and some anacharis (sp), a few floating water hyacinths. And you have an easy and beautiful pond. Good luck!

We used to have a small waterfall in our pond, and there was a filter which hosed water back into the pond, via the 'waterfall' which was a stream-like affair, running down on 3 levels, before the water went back into the main pond. One bright spring day, having bought some watercress for salad, from a supermarket, I noticed that some stems had roots forming, but I knew that watercress prefers moving water (My SiL lives near a watercress farm in Hampshire) so I stuck these stems into the top section of the waterfall, and placed a flat stone on top to keep them there. Within 3 weeks, I had to pick and divide the clump, and keeping an amount in the top section for the duration of the summer, gave us plentiful supplies of fresh, peppery watercress, AND - it filtered the water amazingly well!

The adventures in concrete continue. I figured out that there is indeed an overflow pipe. It'll need some attention, though, because it's metal and pretty rusted. I've thought about putting a PVC pipe over it as a sleeve -- both to back it up for its eventual failure and to adjust the depth of the pond deeper. But that's taking a back seat to the concrete. Oh, the concrete. So, yes, it's amazing that it wasn't leaking more when we first got into the house. I started picking at some spots in the interior that looked like they were about flake off anyway. Which revealed a patchwork of patches. Chipping away some more revealed layers of paints (thoroseal?), roofing tar (?!), more thin layers of concrete, fiberglass, more tar with gravel...got it all down to a layer that wouldn't come off with a cold chisel and hammer. Ow...my back. I'm soon to the point of finding a way to make it hold water again. I'm coming around to the thought that further layers of concrete covered with "goop" might not be a great idea. I'd like to find a way to put a liner in it, but there are some really large edge rocks that are mortared in that hang over, that would be over the water line. I'll post a picture when I get closer to addressing that issue. I've spent some time pulling out the intake lines and shoring up the "pump house." Turns out, the half-assed mortared walls fell apart as soon as I took the large rock roof off. Holy cow...I had my head under that thing when I took the old pump out! Here's the new set up, with a new bulkhead pipe, extension of the pipe to the waterfall, new electrical outlet and concrete floor: I had to extend the water line that runs up to the waterfall and used a rubber coupling on the existing ABS line to extend it with PVC. Thought about concreting it in (to shore up the pond wall and surrounding embankment), but I think I'll wait until I get a pump attached to make sure it works. I'll soon start trying to make it hold water. I think I've learned the lesson that more layers of concrete might not be a great idea. Putting a liner might be the right call. There will be challenges with some big overhanging edge rocks that cemented in. The liner could go 'over' them, but I wonder if there's a way to tuck the liner in under the edge and have it stay put?