My DIY Pond

[357MAGNOLE]

Hey,

New to site, and thought I'd share this pond I built about 6-7 months back. It's 9x9 feet and 34" deep in the middle which is about a 4x4 area, then the rest is roughly 18-23" deep. It's contoured a bit with slopes and what not.

Stock is 6 Shubunkin Golds, 1 Koi, 6 Sailfin Mollies, a few Tilapia, countless mosquito fish, and 1 bushy nose pleco.

The "flow box" behind it is fed by a 1200 GPH pump that is fed through a pressurized UV filter first. The box is 7' long 18" wide and about 20" deep. It's full of about 8 large bags of lava rock for bio media. The plants are in the plastic baskets from lowes for garden plants and actually fit perfectly on the rim so that the roots get water and the base of plants remain dry.

 

[MrsE88]

Very beautiful.

How has the lava rock been working out? When I was building my filter I kept hearing that it was a pain to clean. What other filtration do you have?

I'm a major diyer so I love seeing what other have made You did a great job.

 

[357MAGNOLE]

Honestly it's been running 7-8 months and I haven't touched the lava rock. I also don't plan to until winter time when everything slows down and I can clean the whole pond out. I have plants in the. Box obviously but I also have plants IN the box. Lots of Anubias and gonna add some Java fern soon.

Thanks for the compliment, honestly one day I just picked up a shovel and said "I've always wanted a pond"

 

[MrsE88]

That's cool. Any chance you can show some close ups of the filter box? I'd love to see the plants all in there.
That's awesome you haven't had to clean it all this time. Once you do you should report back how it went

That's how I went about my ponds too. Just start digging. It's a lot of work, but so worth it!

 

[357MAGNOLE]

I'll be happy to when I go back home. I'm in Va for military training, house is in Florida. I'll be back home in May

 

[FishPondSealant]

WOW! Looks good. Thanks for sharing

 

[kno4te]

Nicely done. Feel like pulling up a chair with a good drink!

 

[Chub_by]

Looks very nice. The only thing I'd have done different is made it a little deeper.

 

[357MAGNOLE]

Nicely done. Feel like pulling up a chair with a good drink!

I wish I would have at this point. Probably at least 40" in middle and 20" in most shallow spots. It's been fine all throughout summer but the water has definately gotten warm.

 

[MrsE88]

That's the thing with ponds, you always want to tweak them and make them bigger. Lol
My husband and I just got our upgrade done this summer and we are already talking about adding another pond with a stream connecting them. Or something along those lines with a bridge.