Hi, am new to this post so please be nice
...i think u will , anyways am 16 years old, and i have already started diggind myself a pond, 7x7 feets,, problem is how deep should i dig it, and rite now i am about 12 inches at the deepest, how long would it take me to dig 3 feet, and how many small goldfish would a 7x7x3 pond hold?? also one more question? is it really neccesary to have a filter and a pump thingy??? or is there some way around it? as u can see...me bieng a 16 year old, i dont earn enough money...any digging tips ppl????ANY help would be deeply appreciated! thnx in advance
Can anyone help????really desperate!!!
Well you can dig it as quick as you chose to work. Its hard work indeed, but good for you! You are taking on a large task, and for it to successfully hold fish you are going to need a liner of some sort, and yes sorry to say a pump. The fish need it to circulate the water, you should also put in some plants for oxygen. I know some people who use the black plastic paper you get from stores like wal mart or lowes. Its usually like 6mm I would suggest you use the thickest you can find, its cheap. As for pump and filter, there is a great post here on how to make your own filter, but the pump is a cost. Mom and dad wont spot you the money for the effort your putting in. I know I sure would be willing to support my kids in such and endeavor. Its a great way for a kid to spend their time. As far as plants I am sure once you get that far some of us here will try to help with that issue, with your folks consent of course. I suggest you talk to mom and dad see if they can help you out with the cost. If you work hard and promise to finish the task I bet they will. Good luck and keep on digging! Also I dont know your weather but I would suggest 2.5 to 3 ft minimum for that length and width.
Some times it take awhile for someone to reply to your post, these arent like a chat room.
What kind of winters do you have there????? My pond book says that if you live where there are bad winters it needs to be 3 feet deep in the middle for the fish to survive. We have bad winters here and are planning to make the pond much bigger and much deeper in the autumn right before winter hits.
My pond isn't very big right now....it's about 6 by 4 feet and 20 inches deep........and I don't have a filter in mine.....I do use a solar fountain to help oxygenate the water for the fish.
Here's a link to my pond topic...
my pond Oh, I have 4 goldfish(one died this morning), and about 12 mosquito fish, but one of them just had babies. That's a lot for a small pond, but it will be bigger soon. And I have 4 water snails and a bullfrog....The bullfrog found the pond by itself.
thnx a lot karrie, i was thinking 3 feet too but the ground is full of rocks, and the pump, i was just hoping to save some money, weather heres HOT! hm.. i suppose i DO need to spend money then hehe...
BTW, this is my pump.......
solar pump Once you pay the inital cost of buying it you won't be paying more electric costs, but it only works when it's sunny and not at night.
The only thing my pond cost me was for the solar pump, fish, and plants. I got the liner for free.....
But you can make the pond without spending much money....
Good luck with the digging...it's pretty rocky here too.....no easy way around it either, just got keep digging it out!
thnk u loz...the coldest the winters get is 15 C, no frozen water AT ALL...hehe...oh also u mentioned u dont have a filter, wat if i arrange a way to put in fresh water every second day, would that keep the fish alive??? instead of using a pump??
My pond in Indiana didn't have a filter other then the one attached to the pump in it, and it did fine till we put in fish, but our fish mutiplied like crazy so a filter became necessary.
wut exactly does a filter do?? and wat if i arrange a way to put in fresh water every second day, instead of installing a pump would that keep the fish alive???thnx for ur help again
oh alos wuts a "Skimmer", and loz, where does all the water u put in thro the solar pumpp go? ??
Originally posted by Nashir:
wut exactly does a filter do?? and wat if i arrange a way to put in fresh water every second day, instead of installing a pump would that keep the fish alive???thnx for ur help again
A filter...well, it filters all the dirt stuff, fish poop, etc. out of your water to keep it clean. If you don't have a filter you will get some bad algae pretty fast. If you put in water every second day you are going to have a big expense in the conditioner that you have to add to the water to get the chlorine, etc. out of it, unless you have another source for your water besides the garden hose. Your fish can't live in water that has all those chemicals in it that they add to drinking water.
how many small goldfish would a 7x7x3 pond hold??
That's almost the size of the first pond I had.
I bought 5 little goldfish to put in it.
Those 5 fish had a LOT of babies in the spring, and now I have about 75 goldfish, and have had to build a huge pond for them. :rolleyes:
How Not To Build A Pond
hmm thnx mate!!!!really appreciate it!
My solar fountain pump just sprays the water in the air and back in the pond, to keep the water oxygenate.....still water is not good for the fish....
My pond doesn't have a shallow end for the fish to mate in so I haven't had golfish babies......the whole pond is 20 inches deep.
I top off my pond every single day in the summer because of evaporation.
When we make the new pond though I will be adding a filter and electric pump. I wish I would've done that with this small pond actually.
Have you thought about maybe just having a whiskey barrel pond?
HEY how come loz get her pond without a filte and a pump, but just a fountain???and u pretty sure my fish wont live in garden hose water??...is a filter one of those things u put in the kitchen??
by the way grey parrot ?? i read ur other posts and saw ur home made filter!!!...how can i make one??
and loz... a whisky barrel pond wont be fun at all!!! lol
ha too much reasearch for today..will check this site again tomoroow.very helpful ppl here
...ill gfo sleep now its 4:53 AM!!!!
i have a "whiskey barrel pond" that isn't a barrel at all. it is a plastic tub that is about 2 feet deep. i have 10 fish right now and a pump, but no filter. i am going to have to add a filter though. although, with enough plants you can get away with postponing the filter.
if my geography is right, you will have a problem with water loss due to evaporation if you don't have enough plants. and even then, you will have some. isn't Qatar considered an arid country?
as for the water, you need to find out if the water from your garden hose is treated with chlorine or chloramine. or if it is not treated at all (if it is straight from a well). if it is treated, you will need water conditioner, and you will need to plan the water so that you have some conditioning to add. if it is treated with chlorine, you can just let it sit overnight. if it is chloramine, you need to purchase a chemical for it. hope this helps.
thnx a lot...and yes qatar IS a very hot country, dunno wut arid means :p , by the way, "it is treated with chlorine, you can just let it sit overnight"???REALLY? i suppose ill have to add plants then...thnx for the help
hmmmmm....so a pump is not really needed too, if u put in water every day?? or find sumthing to keep the water moving???
you have to have the pump. it causes the water to mix with air, something the fish need. it is an absolute necessity.
and if the water from the hose is filtered, is is "treated" or "softened"? if it comes from a deep well (i'm guessing it does) or if it is piped in, usually chemicals are added to make the water taste good and/or to counter the iron and minerals that is usually in water. if the water is treated or softened, you will have to address that too, as the chemicals used to soften the water are bad for fish.
and arid means dry. desert like. one more thing, if you don't mind. it is easier to read your posts if you don't use all caps except for one or two words for emphasis.
Well a pond filter is really a good thing, it helps get rid of all the fish poop and other yucky things.....
Adding water once each day doesn't make up for having your water moving all day......the bubbles from a fountain adds oxygen to the water throughout the day.
And I'd get some pond plants...that is a good shady place for fish to hide, and it helps the ecological balance of the pond.
HAH!...water comes from the SEA here
...u see QATAR is SORROUNDED BY SEA...its comes from a disallination plant, and is filtered before it gets to the taps...its free so i can just leave in the piper all day long (H) hehe, and by the way, where does all ur excess water go???...yeh loz am thinking of planting plants, and gud news ppl!!!....my digging is 45% done!!!
ONE MORE DAY i and ive done digginG!...one stupiod question really, do turtles require the same things, pumps filters, or can they live normally??
sorry jiffymouse about the caps
Well a real pump will sit in the pond and suck water up through it....then spit it out into the pond...so there is no extra excess water, it's just getting sucked in, and pushed out repeatedly.........
Are your parents excited about the pond too?
my dads actually quite supportive :thumbsup: my mom doesnt mind, my 14 year old brothers helping a lot in the digging, and my friends think i wont be able to make it
still 47% done
hehe...wut bout turtles?
Here's an older topic.......
turtles Glad your family is supportive....Luckily my husband dug our pond out........I'm a weakling.
LOL i am skinny and underwieght :p
but AM the one digging the hole LOL!, and I am really proud of the depth i have i have reached, i think its 1.5 to 2 feet deep
...now ill read about the turtles..coz am taking a break from diggin! hehe
ill post pictures up of my hopefully beautiful pond :p (soon)
Great, you'll be proud of yourself when it's all done.
Do you have a good pond liner? And it's good to have an underlayment before putting the liner down........some kind of padding. We just used some old thin carpet.
i have a thick clear plastic sheet, its not being used so i thought id use it...its pretty thick, and as for padding, ill use the soild i dug out??? its would be just the soil without the stones and rocks...but i must admit, diggin is a hard job..i dug 4 hours yesterday (when i started) and 3 hours today.. i think ill do 5 hours diggin today....anyways? did u get blisters too while digging or is it only me??
by the way...i think ill buy myself a pump hehe, its worth it! altho due to lack of choice in the shop (theres only one petstore which is in the town 6 km away) i will haev to spend loads from my saving!
I used roofing rubber for our liner......it will last for a long time. The thicker the better.
I did get blister when I dug out the flowerbed that the pond went in. That was hard working digging up the grass.....but like I said my husband dug the actual pond out.
How hot is it over there today? And what time is it? It's 11:54 AM here.
its getting cooler now maybe 30-38 degrees Celcius, and its 7 pm here getting dark..but ive got lights in my backyard so its not a problem
also we only have a patch of grass hehe...but the harder work is digging out the ground here! theres like these 2 layers of marble and limestone just 5 inches below surface :|
Wow, that's pretty hot!!!! I had to find the celsius to fahrenheit converter, but that's from the high 80's to 100's! It's about 86 here right now, but VERY humid.
Keep on digging, you'll get it done!
MY MY MY...i just descovered this floor od ROCK!..solid hard...under THAT is the easy thing to get out...clay :p
Hey all, is it easy for a small sharp kinda rock to tear thro the plastic liner????
Sure it is, especially with all the weight of the water on the liner. That's why it's best to have a thick liner, and an underlayment....something on the ground under the liner as a cushion sort of.
now that i have nearly finished digging...how will i keep away the cats from the fish? 2 feet is not deep enough for a cat to go in a attack fish is it? do u recommend i go dig a bit deeper??
Are there a lot of cats around there?
My pond is 20 inches deep and with all the plants I think the cats have a hard time getting to them......
![[Linked Image]](F:\Pond building!\DSC01514.jpg)
THATS me proud of wat i dug!!!heheits knee depth which makes it 2.5 feet deep?
how do i post up pictures? :S
how to post pictures It'll explain it all to you, you need a free photo account like photobucket....do you have a digital camera?
PS: there is one HUGE rock in the middle becoz of which the average depth is not as deep as it couldve been, and also i still have to paste a thick layer of sand on the rocks and then its ready!!
Do you have any old used carpet somewhere that you could use under your liner, to keep the rocks from cutting through it?
thnx both,,,yea i took a picture , and i found a way to stop the rock cutting thro, one more question tho...can i put in the pump and filter later?? i mean: put in water today, and put in pump filter and fishes next week? it wont be hard to do that would it? sorry if my question isnt clear...
yes, that is a perfect way to do it. let the water "settle" first. good luck and congrats on the finished project!
heh thnx!!!!...but guess wat...after filling it up with water, (and enjoying dipping in it!!!) i have decided, its better to use cement!! wut u all think..my dad has agreed to buy me cement
(its not expensive here anyways) so give me comments on wat u think, personally i prefer a cement one for it wont tear up or anything...
Good Job, Nashir!
You got that hole dug in great time!
I think that your photo album must be set to private because it isn't showing the picture....
actually ill just post the link :p
My Pond!!!!!!!
WOW!!!!!
Looks great! I bet you are so proud of yourself!
Way to go! That looks great!
HEHE THNX ALL!!!...you BET im proud lol...just need to get it cemented, then i shall decorate it
must admit tho, ur help really encouraged me!!!
and i hope to take out the plastic and fill it wil cement, coz i thinks its going to be easy to maintain...thnx again for ur help!!, ill keep posting pictures
you probably want to either put the plastic over the cement or under the cement. cement will hold the water, but not completely. you will get some seepage if you don't have a liner of some kind.
it does look very nice. i like the circle in the bottom. and, the rock you couldn't get up adds character.
if you can get some stones or rocks or bricks to put around the edge, it will be very nice
Thnx jiffymouse for the info....ONE BURNING QUESTION: Water evaported a lot today morning, sunshine from 6 am to 12 pm (now) and so much water evaporated? does this heppen to all of u? and if so, wut should i do??
Any more information on Cement??? ..i could do with some help hehe...by the way, should i cement the Large border stones in too?? i have yet bout my filter..i will tho soon!!
also, after about how many days should i take out the fallen leaves...i found like 25 leaves in today :| which i took out just now....THNX for all ur help again ppl..really appreciated!
Originally posted by Nashir:
Thnx jiffymouse for the info....ONE BURNING QUESTION: Water evaported a lot today morning, sunshine from 6 am to 12 pm (now) and so much water evaporated? does this heppen to all of u? and if so, wut should i do??
Mine evaporates a lot in the summer.....a good inch a day I'd say...I just fill it up every night.
i got more pics up..plants this time ...u think these plants would be suitable around or iunside the pond???
My plants, that id like to plant! just luk at the pages around it, and tell me wut u think
thanks :thumbsup:
Whoa! Nice pond indeed! You have really been busy!
One thing about cement is it
can affect the PH of your water. Putting your plastic liner over the top of the cement will keep this from happening but I would say that if you put sand down first and you are careful when you are in your pond, (for cleaning or for cooling off)
you should be fine just like it is! About the evaporation. In the dry heat that you have there, I can imagine you will have much evaporation. Maybe an inch or two a day wouldn't be unusual. If it is much more than that, I would check for leaks. My small pond evaporates about an inch every two days or so. As for the plants, I am always trying new things and have found out that many plants that are not traditional "aquatic" plants will grow well in water. I have put 'creeping jenny', 'forget me nots', several types of ivy and mint family plants and I have had very good luck with wild strawberry growing in my small pond! I actually had some tiny berries on one of the plants. You have to do a little research tho because there are some plants that are "toxic" and can quickly foul your water and/or kill your fish. I looked at the plants you have pictured and one of them looks a lot like a type of mint. I would experiment a bit and dig a small plant up, make sure and get 'all' the roots. Rinse the roots gently with pond water in a bucket and put the roots in a small jar filled with pond water and put the jar in the pond with the lip of the jar just under the surface of the water. Every other day, pour the water out of the jar and replace with fresh pond water. If after two weeks or so you do not see any major rot or death of the plant or roots, you may then pot it in loose gravel in a pot and set it in your pond! Again,
GREAT JOB
on digging your pond and keep us updated with pictures!
thnx!!..i am hoping to dig the patch which aobut the same size as this rite next to the current pond, then i am hoping to make these two ponds into one...which is why i need cement and not plastic sheets, for cement would cost me less to take care of...another 3 days of digging or more then
anyways...ill keep u updated!!! :thumbups: talk to u later!
hey elco...u got really nice tips in there!!!!..ill look in to that soons as i dig up the other part of my pond hehehe :p
oh man..im losing interest in digging..BUT I HAVE TO DO IT!!!...wish me luck
...ill keep u updated!
You can do it!
hehehe... i gave up everyone!!..but not to worry, i hired to gardeners to dig for me
..hopefully they are going to finish off diggin in ONE DAY! (or they say) they will be here in 4 hours ... cant wait to see my pond dug and finished
ALRITE!!!!.no just need to level up the land ..and all is DONE... stil gotta decorate and cement it all :| NOOOOO...i wanna see the fish lol..
Wow, that was a good idea to hire people to finish it for you!
yeh loz it was.. ijust saw how imposible it was..hehe, anyways...i seriuosly need serious help..i bought a bag of cement...
no wut exactly do i do with it
am real confused
You'll probably need a good bit of cement I would imagine....
Have you thought about what you would do if a crack forms in the cement and it leaks out water?
id put more cement in lol.....hehehe
I think that cement would be more costly than just using pond plastic or rubber.
And if you get a crack in it then you'll have to bail all the water out and let it dry then fix it...
I hope it doesn't leak for you though.
I can't wait to see it all finished.
Very good idea! Looking good so far. Cannot wait to see the finished ponds.
dad bought me sum cement too today...tomorrow ill dwecorate and put in cement...anyone got any helpful website on making cement, and sticking it on, and cement pools??????????
Your pond photos are great!! Good job! I can't wait to see the finished project.
Sharon
and aalso i forogt to ask...would i find PVC pond liner in Carrefour.coz its the nearest big mart there is in my city??
does ANYONE know how to make the paste from cement???
There should be directions on the bag of cement but if there isnt, get you a wheelbarrow or a tub of some sort and pour the dry cement into it. Get a shovel and a trowel and a hose for water. Start off with just a little bit of water and start mixing it with the dry cement. For forming to the sides of your pond you want it of a consistancy of paste. Be careful because once you add too much water there is no going back so add water a little at a time until you reach the right consistancy. You must not waste any time during this mixing process as the cement actually starts to set the minute you add water. It may take a time or two before you get it just right. Practice with just a bucket full the first time to get an idea of how wet it needs to be to spread but not so wet that it sags down the sides of your pond. Good Luck! Lemme know how it goes.
thnx!!!!...i thought i had to add water and sand, and some waterproofing micxture
but now i know..hehe...ill think i might do this tomorrow, BEFORE i get change my mind to buy some liner
...you sure that the mixture u made is waterproof?????
