My small budget ponds

[Invicta]

Okay, in 2016 I sprung a leak in my small 'temporary' (which turned out to be not so temporary pond) No casualties but with the water clearly receding I needed to do something quick.

I took the opportunity to enlarge the pond. Its still relatively small but made the most of the space I had with the time and budget I had. Being somewhat overstocked due to the carnel activities of the goldfish a UV filter and pump were essential. I wouldnt keep fish without one unless it was a lake.

The rubber liners were approx eighty pounds each. When I say each... In 2017 I saw a new neighbour remove a wonderful pond so decided to do my bit for mother nature and put in a nature pond. All done in a day. Dug out a small raised area behind the garage and used the earth to create a wall with rocks.

The plants all came from the fish pond so little spent. The fish pond has Canadian pond weed and the nature pond has Hornwort. The rest is the usual lillys, Iris, frogbit, etc. The nature pond has turned out to be a delight. The lack of fish created a haven for newts, frogs, toads, tadpoles, water boatmen, pond skaters, daphnia, you name it. Best of all the colourful dragonflies and damselflies are wonderful to watch hoovering. Those that avoid the greedy frogs.

No need for a filter in the nature pond and I find myself topping up the nature pond with fish pond water to feed the plants. The ponds have developed their own cycles with a pea soup in Spring which clears quicker in the nature pond thanks to the hungry dapnia whom devour it in collusal numbers. I'm hoping the nature pond entering its third year will fight off the pea soup as its Hornwort has sunk to the bottom in great numbers and lies in wait for the warm weather to rise again.

The fish pond is healthy enough with no casualties I can recall in recent years apart from a Heron raid! I will need to reduce fish numbers this coming year though.

[TropicalFishForums]

[Invicta]

Pea soup.

[Invicta]

How it all started.. the small one with the leak

[Invicta]

The nature pond..
pea soup and then clear..

[plankton]

Very nice, I don't have the back to make a pond.

[Feliss]

great ponds! What is the plant with all the little white flowers?

[yorkiejeff]

they look great. how did you get rid of the pea soup? mine is green as. need something to keep it under control until i can get the filter up and running

[Invicta]

Feliss, The flower is;  saxifraga arendsii

https://www.florensis.com/en-gb/perennials/saxifraga/x-arendsii/pixie/white/
Easy to propagate by pulling off bits and slapping them where you want so handy to shape and spread how you want but it doesn't seed easily and appear all over your garden in unwanted spots. Flowers twice a year. Tough old plant too.

yorkiejeff,

There's many on Pond forums that will give you better advice than me, especially if your pond is green now, but the advice is usually along the lines of depriving the algae of its food source. Filters with UV lamps help but its best to mix and match and address the root cause. Nature one is easier - stick in some daphnia, and keep as much rotting debris out as you can during winter. The fish pond not so easy as the fish will eat the daphnia and the fish poo is food for the algae - so you need enough water plants outcompeting the algae. Strong spring sunlight promotes algae and until the other plants get going with their growth a short bloom of pea soup occurs for me. I just wait for the algae to run out of food in the nature pond, whilst in the fish pond I hoover the muck from the bottom of the pond in winter and let the UV do its thing zapping in the spring until winter.

[Stephen]

Nice ponds