Above ground wood pond question

[Small_Kine_Fishlover]

Hi, I have a question that I'm hoping someone can give some good advice on.
I've bought a 60 gallon plastic tub for my goldfish and my owner/boss/girlfriend has so ordered that I build a frame around it so that it doesn't look like a ugly black tub...which it does.

I have fishing nailing, drilling, cutting and bolting the wooden frame together and now I'm at the final stage of finishing the wood. I've stained the wood a beautiful mahogany color and it's just waiting for some kind of protection.

My question is this...how do I finish the wood so that it's protected from the elements?

I was going to put 3 coats of Varathane outdoor varnish on it, but man that stuff takes forever to dry and also it will eventually yellow and chip over time.

My friend highly recommended that I just Thompson Water seal the entire wooden frame and just recoat it once a year or so. He told me that it won't chip, yellow and it provides a great seal against water and U.V. rays.

What do you "experts" here at this forum reccomend? Also, if you recommend the Thompson water sealer, how many coats? My friend told me at least 2 to 3 coats, but the website (thompson) states to not use more than one coat?

Any Advice would be appreciated and if I can figure out how to post pics of my pond, I shall do so...thanks!

 

[Ianab]

Any varnish type coating is just going to break down in the sunlight and look ugly in about 12 months.

The oil type coatings that you can re-apply each year and soak into the timber are a better option. They may fade over time but you just paint the wood again.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Small_Kine_Fishlover]

Thanks Ianab, you've verified what my friend told me...just one question, if I use the water sealant (Thompsons sealant) will I have to worry about the runoff as it runs into my pond water? Just curious since this is a oil based sealant, I wouldn't want any of my goldfish buddies to die....

 

[Small_Kine_Fishlover]

Thanks for the advice and to show my appreciation for the advice and for this great site, here are some pics.
For those that care, I used Varathene Chardonnay stain for the color and I didn't realize that it would also seal the wood. I guess I didn't have to use Thompsons water sealant on top of it, because when I tried to seal it, the wood wouldn't absorb the sealant very well. Oh well, learned something.
This is my first pond and it was built entirely with a power drill and a 8 year old Craftsman hand jigsaw.....my arms killing me! I admit that I had to ask my neighbor for help with the bigger mitered angled cuts for the top piece, cuz there was no way I could make the cut with my little jigsaw. You can probably see the countersink holes that I made that I filled with wood filler, cuz it didn't take the stain too well, but overall, I'm very happy with my little pond.
The first few pics are of the frame as I was sealing it...see the uneven cuts.. gonna have to buy a miter saw for my next project.

The last pics are of my frame with the 60 gallon hard plastic pond inside.
I have a Purple/Black Taro plant, two purple water lillies and 10 misc goldfish (Ryukin, Hosakin, ranchu, veilteils and one red betta that my daughter named Porky Pig) inside of the pond.
Yes, that's my large Skippy filter on the side there. I will be building a shelf system around the filter so that my boss/girlfriend can put plants on so as to hide the filter. I turned it on today and I'm going to see how long I can run it without cleaning it....so the watch starts today....November 9, 2007! I can run it year round her in Hawaii so we'll see if the claim of non maintenance is true! Well enjoy and any advice for future projects are welcome.

 

[Small_Kine_Fishlover]

It's been awhile, but I finally finished my pond. Instead of building a shelf around the pond, I just decided on building a small Japanese type fence around the skippy filter to hide it.
I still need to attach some screening to the inside of the fence, but other than that, I'm done.
You can see how clear the water is now. The picture shows a bit of cloudiness but in person it's crystal clear.
You can also see that I changed the outtake tube to a larger black tube (I bought a larger pump and the outtake tube was too small) and I think it blends in better.
Well, enjoy folks and thanks for the advice on this wonderful site.
Maybe one day my boss "aka" "girlfriend" will allow me to build a deck and a bigger pond!!!

 

[Small_Kine_Fishlover]

Oh yeah, here are the new pics of the pond and of my fish.
Also, it's now February and I've yet to clean the filter but the water is clear and my fish are healthy!
The sixth photo down (the one without the reddish planter in the center) is a pic of my water clarity only a few weeks into the skippy cycle. The more clear photo's are of the water in January and February to show the clarity...skippy filter do work!

 

[Nic]

nice looking set up...

 

[~THEO~]

That looks great! definitly better then the tub by itself. I would be very happy with the outcome.

 

[twk1]

Very nice pond indeed!! i wanna build a pond now!

 

[Muske]

Your luck to have it look like that in Jan./Feb.
Here's mine....