Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Custom Built Swimming Pool Viable?

Hello,

I have always had the dream of having a game fish pond in my backyard. I am currently in college, so I'm just trying to plan ahead.

This is a childhood dream I will accomplish; however, there are a few restrictions.

1) It will need to be residential. I don't want to have to commute to paradise every day. I plan on moving to Arizona to see the project through when the time is right.

2) It will need to be versatile in that it can be a game fish pond, but if I were to die and my family were to move I wouldn't want them stuck with trying to sell a house with a game fish pond. I would like it to be easily converted into a swimming pool. Or I might have to move. I just think a house with a pond would be exponentially more difficult to sell than a house with a swimming pool. I just need the flexibility to convert if needed.

So I started thinking...

If i were to get the necessary permits to build a pond in the backyard of a residential property, why should I have to build it to function as just a pond? Why not have versatility?

This lead me to wonder if I could have a conventional swimming pool type setup, that is specifically designed for game fish.

I understand that the filtration differences between a standard pool and properly aerated pond may be significant, and I am willing to make any design changes necessary to compensate.

This is the type of pond and approximate size I had in mind. Just a standard sized pool. My parents have a pebble tech pool that is completely lined with boulders and queen palms for shade, and I thought it would be excellent to create a little desert oasis with a similar feel.


http://www.pebbletec.com/photo_gallery_detail.aspx?gallery=sheen

I would go out of my way to ensure the pool / pond is well shaded.

Has anyone attempted to do this with a good sized pool and were successful?

I would like to have great water visibility, and would budget around $200-300USD a month to maintain it (I'm not sure what a realistic figure would be, but I know that will be doable).

I am a real newbie and just want to pick some of your brains. I don't plan on starting the project for another 10 years or so and I don't want to have any surprises.

Better safe than sorry! I appreciate any and all replies.

-Garett

Hello, Garett, and welcome to the forum.

I don't know that anyone has ever explored the prospects of a convertible pool/pond here before. With perhaps equal parts audacity and ignorance, I will start discussion on same.

Certainly pools and ponds have several things in common:
1) They are (or at least can be) both holes in the ground.
2) They hold water.
3) They benefit from certain electrical, manual, and chemical maintainence activities, being much more useful and enjoyable if those activities are properly applied.
4) They tend to be expensive.

They also have several thing smost decidely at odds with each other:
1) Pool: the clearer the better, unless you swim with folks like me, Rockytopper, or Heybud's new neighbors (Sunil, Brettski, or whoever may supply photographic proof). Pond: dense (wrt most natural waterways) plankton, making relatively soupy water, promotes a larger population of fish.
2) Pool: We don't like things living or dying in them. Fish pond: things living and dying in them is pretty much the whole point.
3) Pool: Clean, clearcut, sterile sides and bottom would be preferred by most - concrete, steel, plastic. Pond: wild and wooly sides and bottom promote the most biomass. They may be plastic, but we cover them up with dirt almost as much to promote living things as to protect the liner from punctures.

While we might normally think of ponds as being larger than pools, several people here have ponds which are smaller than many swimming pools. Bruce Condello's newest pond is not very big (IIRC you could soak but not really swim in it), and like oher ponds Bruce and other folks own, is filled not with runoff precipitation but rather with well water.

Thinking over your convertible pool/pond problem, I think the pool aspect of it would be a little like a very small pond and a little like a big aquarium or aquaculture system. You could use the kind of hard, sterile sides normally associated with a pool if the fish were all artificially fed (pretty much like Bruce). Instead of pool filters and recirculators, it would need a biofilter to remove fish waste products from the water (and possibly periodic flushing with new clean water). The fact that it was "natural looking" like the pools you linked to would very much help it NOT feel like fishing in an aquarium (pretty much like Bruce)


I think the problem might be best approached from this angle of building a natural-looking pool and adding the items needed to process fish wastewater, artifically feeding the fish, and utilzing a put-and-take fishery with mostly non-reproducing fish. Converting to pool format would involve switching to pool water processing filters, etc. and a LOT of cleaning up of the basin (even if it starts sterile, there will be a lot of sediment introduce via fish waste, etc.)

Note that the number of fish in such a pool-sized body of water will be much less than in a "small" pond, but densities could be much higher, perhaps approaching those of a RAS system.

Garet, welcome to Pond Boss, thanks for posting.

You stated that a house with a pond will be exponentially more difficult to sell than a house with a pool. I disagree. Water features often add to the value of the house. Even if potential purchasers didn't want game fish then the pond could be converted to a koi pond also has wide appeal.

There is a member of this form, AaronM that has a game fish pond in Phoenix, Arizona. He even has reproducing Small Mouth Bass in his pond which is not supposed to be possible at his latitude. Hopefully Aaron will chime in here.

Wow!

That is really neat!

I wonder if Aaron would be willing to post a few more pictures of his setup.

Thank you both for your replies. I will be posting quite a bit over the years. I have a LONG time to plan before I get this project underway.

Welcome To the forum Dras

You said you where in school, What are you studying.

You are going to love the guys, here on the site.

A home with a small pond should be as easy to sell as a one with a pool.

Thanks for the welcome otto,


I'm studying animal science at cal poly in san luis obispo, CA.

2 1/2 more years, then I will be applying to veterinary school.

It is funny that people think that just because you are / want to be a veterinarian that you would scoff at the idea of hunting or fishing animals.

People just don't understand conservation and land management practices. I don't see a problem with downing a deer on private land so long as it is eaten. They are raised like cattle or other livestock for the dual purposes of being Trophies and Food.

Sometimes you need to thin a few animals so that the rest can thrive...

If I don't get in to veterinary school on my first application (I'm a realist, and don't have a 4.0 gpa like some nerds), I am going to see about a Masters in Biology at cal poly to kill time in the meantime while applying yearly.

(Because I don't want to have 6 months elapse while out of school. That would mean I have to pay back loans.)

I absolutely love seeing the pictures of peoples ponds and projects. I especially love seeing the kids holding their catches. I don't know why but it certainly puts a smile on my face.

I am sort of leaning towards maybe moving to Oregon when all my schooling is complete (10 years? LOL). I was thinking Arizona, but my girlfriend (Soon to be wife once we can afford our own health insurance... Maybe another year or two?) shot me down on the Arizona idea.

But gave the green light to Oregon. Something about teaching credentials...

This is good news though. Maybe I will be able to get some acreage and build a real, proper pond.

I know I'm thinking a little too far into the future, but I can dream can't I? And while I'm dreaming I might as well get a little bit of planning out of the way and learn a thing or two from you guys.

Welcome, Dras.

I'd like to make the following comments..

Read this link. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=10201&Number=109196#Post109196

Yes this is absolutely something you CAN do!

Otto is right. In my opinion, if you do this right it will be way more valuable to potential buyers than a swimming pool. EVERYBODY can have a swimming pool, but only a select few can have a four pound smallmouth bass in their backyard.

Ten years is too long to wait. Shoot for five.

5 Years,

I WISH!

I still have a minimum of 7 years of schooling left!

That is a nice thread Bruce!

I was wondering the logistics of going for an overly glorified Koi Pond approach, but the amount of water I would need to run through filters would be overwhelming if I wanted crystal clear water in a swimming pool sized setup, and would not be practical in a climate that goes through all four seasons.

I would spend too much time on maintenance. This has pretty much killed the swimming pool conversion type idea for me.

I am thinking that .25 to 1 acre might be doable. I guess it depends all on how well I would be doing financially.

The problem would lie in finding a property that is not more than a 30-45 minute drive (including traffic) commuting to work in the city where I could secure 3-5 acres of land for a reasonable price.

For the next few years I'll just ask questions and maybe chime in every once in awhile. I really do enjoy this forum.

Hang around whenever you can.