Best Pond

enjoi_madness

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Oct 7, 2005
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what is the best way to build a pond in a back yard? i've heard to use bricks and line it with pond liner, or use kiddy pools, or use preformed. what would be the best way and most cost effective?
 

spryandspringy

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Jul 7, 2005
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The Lone Star State!
Cheapest? (Not necessarily the best, mind you.)

You can dig a hole by hand of any size or shape you like, line it with a lot of damp newspaper, and then lay your pond liner. Your filtration will have to be external or "in pond". Expect to replace the whole damn thing in about five years when you get a tear (or tears) in the liner.

Best? (And certainly not the cheapest, but still relatively "do it yourself".)

Rent professional digging equipment and include a deep path for a bottom drain in your digging. Plumb the drain at the lowest point in the pond, and then line the pond with concrete and seal it with a fish-safe cement sealant. Hook up a pump and filter to the bottom drain. Oh, and then declare bankruptcy. ;)

I've done both (except the bankruptcy ;) ) and they'll both do the job. It really depends on your budget, how much you want to do by hand, how large you want the pond to be, and how long you want it to last.
 

bluedempsey

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Apr 6, 2005
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she knows from experience!
 

guppy

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Apr 15, 2005
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It all depends on budget and desire. One of the nicest set ups that I ever saw was in Navato, Ca. and was a 5' tall waterfall into a 2000g pool with a stream flowing from there into an 8000g pond. It was stone lined and gravel bottomed, with professional plumbing that ran through a uv sterilzer, 2 1000g filters set into concrete troughs and a 2' deep x 4'wide x 36' long plant trough before being pumped back through the waterfall. It had auto fill, temp. monitors, ammonia and nitrate/nitrite monitors, O2 level alerts, a 1200g premixing vat,,, everthing you can think of. It cost as much as a new pick up truck with all the goodies, maybe as much as a small home.
 

yourmylunch

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Aug 26, 2005
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i could answer easily if you said how big a pond you want

kiddie pools only last one season so a bad idea except as a quick fix

live stock troughs a re a better choice plastic not metal for small ponds

or see above for the whole shebang

indoor pond i'm doing now is just wood and a liner so i can make it a certain sive or i would have gone with a trough
 

aquaholic

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Aug 14, 2005
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brick, nj 08724
i used to run my own installation and maintenance buisness fresh & salt and i always prefered a liner 40-45 mil. its easier to make the pond look more natural
 

auren

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Oct 16, 2005
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Mexico City
guppy said:
temp. monitors, ammonia and nitrate/nitrite monitors, O2 level alerts, a 1200g premixing vat,,, everthing you can think of. It cost as much as a new pick up truck with all the goodies, maybe as much as a small home.
I am very interested in those monitors, where can I get ammonia and nitrite, monitors with aleters? I am planning on enlarging my small 300gal pong to almost 500gal.
 

guppy

Small Squiggly Thing
Apr 15, 2005
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I have seen a multisensor alert panel for sale in a saltwater aquariest magazine at the library, I don't know who makes them, wasn't really paying attention.
 

FlammingWoodChuck

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May 14, 2005
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I was thinking of buying a above ground pool and just use that as one. mabe dig a hole for it or just put it on backyard patio. My dads friend has 1 and he said it cost him 1000$ but he uses it as a pool. I have a question tho. Could u use a pool filter on a pond?????
 
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