Hi Gang, I'm absorbing tons of info here over the past several months, and it seems to be a great community! If you've seen my intro thread I apologize for the repetition but I wanted to be sure I am clear so you guys can tell me what you think.
This past spring my girlfriend and I bought a house with a tiny pond in the front yard. It's about .14 acres and it seems to go dry or close to it through the season. In the Pond 2 picture below you can see how high it can get, though I've never seen it within a foot or two of the rock at about 5 o'clock. I don't know if it was prepped to be a pond or if it was just a hole that was left to fill with water. I'm still learning how to determine a lot of those things.
My plan, is to make a swimming pond similar to anything seen
here, though using the existing shape and structure of the pond I have. Ideally, I can figure out how to keep water in it (just read all about SoilFloc, looks promising) and can bring in various beneficial plant life to help filter and maintain extremely clear water throughout. I'd like to have some critters living in it, right now it's only frogs, and lots of them, but a few fish would be cool too.
It's hard telling how deep it currently is, but my guess is maybe 6-8 feet when it's full. I'd like to deepen it a bit and maybe widen it a bit, but not huge amounts as there are now trees growing around it as seen in the Pond.jpg below.
I'm reading that gravel, strategic plants, and good water circulation can make all this possible with relatively little upkeep (assuming I can keep water in it and in comparison to a real pool respectively).
With limited knowledge and funds am I out of my league? I'm not afraid to throw
some money at it if it can work. My gf is very good with plants. I'm very good with swimming and minimally experienced with heavy machinery. Neither of us is afraid to work.
