Mary -

I agree with Holly - a lot of work and you have chronicled it very nicely. What a gorgeous pond and back yard you have. You must be thrilled....

Gorgeous!

Really beautiful pond! It fits in your garden wonderfully, truly an idyllic spot.

It really is very close to what I wanted considering a flat lot, wanting to limit trees to maximize sunshine on flowers, and at the same time have some trees to shade the pond a little. And yes, even though my back fence sits on a busy thoroughfare, I just let the sounds of passing cars blend in with the water falls. thanks for all the kind words. working out those pictures and forcing them in order was a bit of a trick for me but I really wanted to show the work involved when you have to redo. Pays to get it right the first time.

It came out really nice. Are you keeping fish in it? Plants?

Hello Ladies and Gents! I've enjoyed seeing your ponds, I haven't shown mine much attention in a while but once again ATP crew inspires me. Here is my little Koi Pond...






It's rather deep for Koi, four feet but it helps them keep away from Heron that come and dream of a snack.

RobertB

That's a beauty!

Beautiful Robert.

I have read that koi like deep. It gives them the opportunity to use swimming muscles they cannot use when the pond is shallow. How deep is your pond?

It is four feet and made of concrete, it has a special pond paint that makes it safe for aquatic life. The koi are healthy and the oldest ones are 8 years old so they seem to be ok with it. My latest addition is I added a home made filter system, a Skippy Filter, it works better than all the ones I paid out the wazoo for.

RobertB

What a nice setting. Just lovely. Tell me more about your Skippy Filter.

Beautiful!

I built a big pond in Calif and used a skippy filter as well. They work fabulously. I have a modified skippy on my hall pond here, the water goes up through limestone gravel and plant roots. That's the basic's of it, the water perks up through various filter media which can include plant roots. The bacteria that cleans the water grows on the filter media, the plants take up the ammonia from the fish poop and release oxygen for the fish. Works really well.

That's a good explanation! I have to add beneficial bacteria to the filter to keep it in good working order.

I built a small wooden porch over the tile one to hide the 2 inch diameter pipes.



The main part is a 100 gal rubbermaid container filled with what looks like scotch brite pcs. and green rubber webbing.

Water hyacinth is an excellent plant to help filter the water.

water stays clear and the fish are a happy lot!


I got everything I needed from a local pond supply place except the rubbermaid container which came from my favorite store on the planet....Tractor Supply!

RobertB

Great pictures, I googled Skippy Filters, so I got a good look at what they are. My water features are all pretty small so I just have a couple of small submersed pump/filter combos in them. The largest one just has a pump no filter. It has nice clear water but I do have string algae in that pond,

String algae is both a blessing and a curse. What I've discovered is that if you have some string algae, your water is almost always clear. Too much of the stringy stuff and it looks bad, the key is to keep the amount manageable and your water clear. Good luck, it's a delicate balance.

Just found this interesting thread and real enjoyed reading about ye'all's experience. I also planing to built a pond, but so far have fun with the natural pond with a waterfall in the mountain brook near my land.

And yet another view

And here's the neighbor's pond. General view of the system pond and pool.
Servicing in Spring
Servicing in June.

Very very nice, George. You said your neighbor breeds koi? Does he do this as a business or a hobby? What does he do with his koi fry? Does he sell them?

George your natural waterfall and pond are gorgeous!!! I love it. You simply need to travel to our side of the pond!!!