Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Newbie here with many Questions...

Good evening,

I live in South West, Florida near Fort Myers. The last owners filled it in with dirt and put astro turf on it to make a place for their dogs to go to the bathroom. (n)(n)(n). So we dug up all the dirt and found this(see image #1). So we went to Home Depot and rented a jack hammer and proceeded to do this. (See images 2-6). Now, this is what it looks like... (see image #7)

The pond measures approximately
Wider Diameter: 82 inches
Shallow End Depth: 13 inches
Narrow Diameter: 46 inches
Deep end: 20 inches
Overall Length: 18 ft

I used an online pond calculator (www.btlliners.com) to calculate it is approximately 900 gallons.

Now, my questions...

1. We want to turn this into a turtle/frog/fish pond with lots of live plants. [b]With that being said, what are my different options for substrates? Most importantly, the cheapest methods but still do a great job with allowing us to plant live plants? I have done some research from buying expensive plant substrate products to reading about organic soil and pea gravel. Just not sure which way(s) would be most cost effective as I have a large surface area I need to cover and do not want learn the hard way this time! LOL

2. I have 2x 2200 GPH pumps and 1x 1700 GPH pump, will this be enough to properly circulate the pond? 1x 2200 GPH pump will be feeding a waterfall feature and a spitting frog. 1x 1700 GPH pump will be feeding the fountain feature and the other 2200 GPH pump will have a filter attached to the intake and it will feed another waterfall at the other end of the pond. Does this sound sufficient?

3. With regards to turtles, frogs, fish and live plants... what breeds/species/types are recommended for this area and this size pond? (I understand that there is the risk of unwanted guests showing up and eating our pond friends so we installed a low voltage electric fence around the property and I will be installing a 10ft x12ft x8ft canopy over a majority of the pond. We will do our best to keep critters at bay.). The burnt orange canopy you see in the picture ended up being too small and not enough coverage so I will be installing a larger canopy tomorrow. The new canopy has a high enough clearance that will still allow for some sun to make it under. But even with the canopy, would it still be recommended to have a pond net over top of it?

4. What is the best mixture for the water? I have read that rain water is the best, is this true? I can easily provide it with plenty of rain water living in SWFL but at times of no rain... should I substitute with straight well water from the ground or water that has gone through the water softener?

5. What am I missing or not aware of?

Any other recommendations would be very much welcomed! Thank you all so much!

First recommendation is to throw the pictures on an on-line picture host site like imgur then put them here. The attach image part of the site isn't working and there is no time frame when it will be fixed.

Welcome to the forum!

Ohh ok thank you

Kelly,

Congrats on your new pond project!

This site is mostly geared to larger "fishing" type ponds. However, there are several experts on your type of pond. (I am NOT one of them.)

1.) As regards your water source: Yes, rain water should be very good for your usage. However, if you need to supplement during a drought, then tap water should be fine - if you let the chlorine evaporate out sitting in a kiddie pool or basin. Most of the chlorine should be out after 24 hours. The last trace should essentially be out after 5 days.

2.) As regards your soil/substrate: I think starting at the least expensive end should work fine for your project. Another option for you is to sink some plastic pots in your pond filled with soil. Start your plants that you fear will spread too much in the pots. You could certainly experiment by filling a few pots with cheap soil and a few with the expensive stuff. If your plants prosper greatly in the expensive stuff, then you can determine what is the best trade-off for your pond.

3.) As regards aeration: A very shallow pond such as yours is very easy to keep aerated because all of your volume is within 20" of the air/water interface. I believe your waterfall and spitting frog should be sufficient. (Unless you do something like load the pond with a huge mass of koi.)

The only other time I could foresee a problems would be if something killed off all of your plants, or the pond was filled with leaves or fronds. Decaying organic matter in a shallow pond could use up the oxygen in the water.

Finally, I would recommend being flexible on the "evolution" of your pond. Yes - do a good plan, but your plan will almost certainly NOT be perfect. I would do the initial design under budget, and then use some of the leftover money to fix problems as they occur. For example, if varmints do end up eating some of your pond animals or plants, then you will have to observe their sneaky methods and subsequently modify your defenses.

Good luck on your project. It sounds like something that should really flourish in your part of Florida!

P.S. After you get things established, we really like successful "after" photos on the forum. (Once the photo function is repaired.)

You are essentially koi pond size. When my dad had one, I built an under gravel filter out of pvc drilled full of 1/16" holes. Made a big rectangle with several cross pipes with T's and elbows. Buried it in sand blast gravel. We had the fountian pump pull through that. The koi loved it and reproduced several years. Keeping racoons from fishing in it was a problem.

The raccoons also fished my neighbor's koi pond - in the center of the city!