Building new pond - Question?

Question

1. I am building a large pond. 24 foot long by 15 feet wide by 4 feet deep. It is 3/4 full of water. I am placing water plants etc. How long do I need to wait before being able to add fish. Or do I need to go ahead and add chlorine remover?

2. What is the best method to hide the edges of the liner? Without getting alot of dirt in the pond.

Answer 1

Yes, you will want to use a dechlorinating solution particularly if your water company adds chlorimines to the water. Be sure your choice will treat both chlorine and chlorimines just to be on the safe side. After doing that, you simply need to wait long enough for the water to come to a reasonable temperature and to be sure that the pond equipment is working properly.

Since a pond will need to cycle just like an aquarium or any other artifical body of water, add your fish very slowly, only a few for the first month then slowly increasing the fish load over the course of a few additional months.

A good way to hide the edge and help prevent diryt from washing in is to use some of the dirt from the hole to create a 4-5 inch high ridge around the boarder of the pond UNDER the edge of the liner. Make it 4-5 inches high and 8-10 inches deep starting right at the edge of the pond and tapering down to normal ground level. This creates a gentle slope away from the edge of the pond so that water falling there or nearby will not run into the pond and bring with it dirt or other potential contamination. Use the extra liner to cover that ridge and then hide the liner under natural rocks. Avoid pavers and man made stones as these often contain high percentages of concrete which can alter the chemistry of your pond water over time (just one less thing to worry about later). For the same reason, avoid stones high in limestone. Slate and river rock are generally good choices for the stone surrounding a pond.

Feel free to email me if you have any addition questions concerning the construction of your pond

MM

Answer 2

1. Get your pond completely ready for your fish. Let it sit at least 1 week running on it's own. Make sure you have added a pond bacteria. The reason you need to wait is so the bacteria level will be concentrated enough to brake down fish waste when they come. Also, you want your pond to be full of water and the water temp to stabilize. What a shocker for the fish if it still feels like hose water. When you do add your fish, don't add them all at once. Add them in over a period of a few of weeks. This will help the bacteria keep up with the waste. You don't want your water to cloud. If you wait a few days before you add your fish, the chlorine will disapate on it's own. Put lots of plants in your pond. They also help break down the waste and provide hiding areas for your fish. Plants also turn CO2 into O2. Cutting down the CO2 will lessen the chances of your water turning green from algae.

*Chlorine remover is not as important as bacteria. Chlorine will disapate on its own over a few days when exposed to sunlight*

2. Try this for hiding the liner. You can get them at gardening or rock supply stores. http://www.britsintheus.com/marriednhappy/Pond%20from%20roof%20a%20April%2018%202004.jpg

Answer 3

Add Dechlor to the water. Unfortunately by popular myth, chlornates do not dissapate from the water in a matter of days it takes a matter of weeks. Call your water company and they will tell you chlormates take months to dissapate from water sources and is only added to tap water once every month or two.

To hide the edges of your liner, use stones or rocks or pavers. Ultimately using them to hold down your liner then stacking them is best.

Sounds like a nice pond!

Feel free to email if I can help further

Answer 4

1) yes you should add treatment to the water unless it was rain filled.
2) the best thing to line it with is rocks and potted plants.
3) you didn't mention a filtration system?
4) what will you do for alge control?