Well, now that I have replaced my smaller 8 x 16 greenhouse with a Riga XL 14 x 20 greenhouse, I have decided to build my third pond and have it in the greenhouse. Unlike my 1600-gallon in-ground food forest pond, my greenhouse pond will be the same size as my small, raised patio pond of 425 gallons.

I installed the frame last weekend.

Today, I bought a small waterfall box, created a frame from western redwood from my original greenhouse tables, and tomorrow I will buy a couple of cedar boards to close it in. I think it will look nice and add a nice water sound to the greenhouse.





EDIT: After pricing the cedar boards at Lowes, I decided to pick up some new sanding belts for my benchtop sander. I still have some old stained/dirty redwood slats from the original greenhouse. I think I will use them and clean them up on the sander before staining. It will save me about 2/3's of the price.

Yesterday, I was able to get the old western redwood cut down and closed in the waterfall today. The wood was a bit further gone than I thought, but it came out well and has a rustic look after staining.







The waterfall will exit that top space. The bottom opening is to feed the tubing from the pump down to the filter.




Got out bright and early today. Put the liner in the pond and filled it. No plants or fish yet. I added some beneficial bacteria and will wait for the pond to cycle before adding fish. Plants...I need to do some repotting first. Think I'll take the rest of the day off.



https://youtu.be/e-maE2Ns48E

Moved some cat tails, dwarf bamboo, and a piece of my miniature lily to the greenhouse pond a couple of days ago. Today, the lily bloomed. Can't wait to add fish, but I have to wait out the nitrogen cycle.

Very nice. I really like your wooden frame.

What a difference the plants make. Even without fish i could sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and look at the pond.

Thanks, Paul and Jim.

The wood frame is from a company in Canada called Kim's Ponds. https://kimsponds.com/

This is my 2nd pond from them. I decided to get it unfinished this time, and used a top shelf tung oil stain. I am extremely pleased with the results.

We did put in 5 comets I bought from the nursery for 5/$15, and yesterday I put one of the small ones from the patio pond in there for a total of 6.

Between the greenhouse pond and the food forest pond, I now have 16 comets. The patio pond is now empty of fish. I want to drain it, sand down the frame, and put the same stain on it I used for the greenhouse pond.

Have you considered some Koi for your large pond? Their massive size would show great in a giant pond.

jpm995 said: Have you considered some Koi for your large pond? Their massive size would show great in a giant pond.

Yes, they would. Actually, I am not a big Koi fan. I am a fan of those dark orange comets. I like watching them grow. Granted they don't get as large as Koi, but I find them prettier.

That's the great part about your build, you can stock it with anything you like. I'm setting up an indoor pond in my new shed/Greenhouse combo and im stocking it with tropical fish. Crazy but i like it.

jpm995 said: That's the great part about your build, you can stock it with anything you like. I'm setting up an indoor pond in my new shed/Greenhouse combo and im stocking it with tropical fish. Crazy but i like it.

Can't wait to see pics, Jim. Please keep us informed. I love to see what other folks are doing and how they do it. It gives me inspiration, and I appreciate it!

Still a work in progress but here's it so far. Edit to add pond is about 6x4' and 18" deep except at ends which are plant 'shelves' about 9" deep. About 125 gallons.

Nice! What type of tropicals are you going to add? How are you going to heat the shed/Greenhouse combo?

Right now i have a small electric heater and a wood stove. The pond has 2 300-watt heaters. I just ran a 220-volt 60amp line to shed and will add a mini-split heater/AC unit. I think an 18k btu unit will work [shed is 200sq ft and GH is about 100sg ft. The problem is the GH is so inefficient it may be difficult to maintain 70 degrees in the winter. I have to come up with a way to better insulate the single pane GH. The wood stove will give me plenty of extra heat but if i'm not home i'm worried about fish/plants. Right now i have some 'glo' zebra danios, gloden white coluds and some dwarf Mexican lobsters. Was freezing last night [frost on lawn] and pond was 62 degrees this morning.

OOPS! Double post...

Keeping the gh at 70 during the winter is ambitious. I will be interested in knowing how you do. Get ready, it is going to be expensive. That's one reason why I am trying as many passive heat sources as I can. I wish I didn't have shale right under my greenhouse site. I would have put in a heat sink under the gh as well. In my last gh, I always felt like I was trying to heat my front porch!

Agree with the heating issue. During the day it stays pretty warm but nighttime will be a problem. The size of the mini split may be crucial. I'm guessing an 18k unit will be ok but it's just a guess. I have all kinds of crazy ideas like multiply poly sheets cut into panels i can pop in in Nov and pull out in April. Maybe sandwiched with bubble wrap for the roof with insulated curtains for the wall. I see Chinese GH's with a roll up cover that's 5-7 R value, but haven't had any luck finding ones not for giant greenhouses. The wood stove may be best bet. I get wood from a neighbor [his brother's a tree surgeon] and it might work as a supplemental heater to get through the winter. Then i have the reverse issue in summer. The pond itself may help regulate temps but it's probably not enough to make much difference.

Try all the "crazy" ideas. Some will help, some might not. I've been trying unique things out since 2016. Some have worked; others did not. It's a learning experience and part of the fun of owning a greenhouse. You are always tweaking. Creating removable panels with bubble wrap in between would definitely create another air space of insulation.

I also looked into those Chinese roll ups, but like you could only find them for very large greenhouses. It would be nice if someone offered custom sizes. I have seen, don't remember where, frost blankets that you can hang inside and draw closed at night.

Wood is a good choice. I've heard of many people successfully keeping their greenhouses heated with wood stoves. The only problem with wood is you have to tend it, and on a real cold night that may mean getting out of bed in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.

You will definitely need supplementary exhausting during the hotter months. In my old greenhouse I only had two roof vents. Luckily, I also had a front and back door that help ventilate the greenhouse. This new greenhouse has 4 ceiling vents, a front and back door, plus I installed a 20" exhaust fan with a 24" intake louvre that can change the entire volume of air in my new 280 sq ft gh in under a minute. In fact, I just covered both yesterday with insulation for the winter.

It's a very complex dilemma. You have to manage the heat loss at night long enough let daylight sun warm it back up. Then you have cloudy days. I have a full roof vent on my lean-to greenhouse but no other windows or doors. The shed long south wall is completely open to the GH and i can walk in the shed turn right and i'm in the GH. I'm guessing i'll need fans directed at the ridge vent to help keep temps down. I tried 30% shade cloth was not enough, will try the 40% one next summer. The shed acts as a heat sync for the GH but can only do so much. By January i should a better handle of what i need to improve.

These days I put most of my heat in the ponds in the greenhouse (multiple heaters per pond for redundancy) and use supplemental heating for the rest of the greenhouse as needed, since everything put in the pond ends up heating the space. Every year I threaten to put one of the new high efficiency mini splits into the big greenhouse, but so far have not.