My Nano Pond!

[ir0n_ma1den]

I've had this pond for about a year and just realized that this is also the pond forum. I just got a new 450 GPH pump at wal-mart for $30 and it is great. I'm going to add a waterfall and some plants very soon. My pond is only 30 gallons, which is probably the tiniest pond you can get. My parents wouldn't let me get a big pond because it was too expensive and the earth here in Virgina is literally rock solid. Currently I have 2 tadpoles and 1 salamander.





enjoy

[James From Cali]

Awesome. I am wanting to set up a pond of roughly 50g's but we cant dig into the ground. Any ideas on how to pull this off? Its the kind of ponds from OSH, similar to yours.

[ir0n_ma1den]

ok,
why can't you dig??

I'll tell you my digging experience:

about the first 1-1.5 feet was rock hard red clay. This was the hardest part as there were some big pieces that i had to dig around and then pull out. That part took about 2-3 hours. The rest was really easy since the location was near my house , the next 1 foot of ground was sand! that took only about 25 minutes to dig. Then I had to shape the hole so my tub could fit in it. that took about an hour of trial and error. after that i just stuck it in, lined it with rocks, and placed the pump in.

hope this helps

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by ir0n_ma1den

ok,
why can't you dig??

I'll tell you my digging experience:

about the first 1-1.5 feet was rock hard red clay. This was the hardest part as there were some big pieces that i had to dig around and then pull out. That part took about 2-3 hours. The rest was really easy since the location was near my house , the next 1 foot of ground was sand! that took only about 25 minutes to dig. Then I had to shape the hole so my tub could fit in it. that took about an hour of trial and error. after that i just stuck it in, lined it with rocks, and placed the pump in.

hope this helps

Cant dig due to pipes. Its apartments. I was thinking of a decorative way to have it above ground but cant think of anything.

[ir0n_ma1den]

oh i see now. well if you can find a 50g pot with no holes, it might work. I have seen these pop up water gardens with a pump and everything. I saw them on an in-flight magazine on United airlines. They are pretty cool. Thats probably the best you can do with limited space.

[James From Cali]

Okay thanks. Great pond btw.

[arndogg]

Originally Posted by James From Cali

Cant dig due to pipes. Its apartments. I was thinking of a decorative way to have it above ground but cant think of anything.

just keep it above ground,no digging needed, and cover it in decorative stones or bricks from home depot.

[JenThePlantGeek]

You can use a half whiskey barrel or build a frame out of cinder blocks and put a liner in - that's what I plan on doing eventually!

[chaznsc]

Lowes is now selling a fiberglass version of the whiskey barrel. We have 3 planted in the front flower garden. It even has a rubber plug in the bottom so i bet its water tight.

[James From Cali]

Thanks everyone(sorry for hijacking your thread Iron).

[A Hill]

Originally Posted by James From Cali

Cant dig due to pipes. Its apartments. I was thinking of a decorative way to have it above ground but cant think of anything.

James just make a raised bed garden and put a pond in it.

ir0n_ma1den I know how that is, I can't have a pond because my parrents are worried about the neighbors kids drowning in it... (I'm talking at least 100gals more like 500 though.)

The worst part is that in my old house we had a nice decent size one... Ohh well once I move out

-Andrew

Btw, Those hostas look good! I like the variegated ones but those ones are nice but they really make your pond look small since their one of the bigger varieties...

[Mori]

I think I need a nanopond! I can't have a big one right now cuz of the drowning kid thing.

(By the way, stock tanks make great above-ground ponds. You can dress up the sides with decking if you want. I used drywall, slate, and moulding to pretty up mine, but it was indoors and had to match. Wasn't nano though...160 gallons is only nano to koi.)

[CampCreekTexas]

Isn't that NICE! I love the hostas, IM. Are the darker green plants in the bunch by the bricks also hostas? Are you going to plant anything else near it? If you made a bog when you make the waterfall you could use bog plants in there and it'd make it look bigger. But it's so cute as it is! I have lots of big ponds, but now I want a nano pond in the ground, too!


Like Mori said, stock tanks make great above-ground ponds. I have a few of them since I have small grandchildren that come visit a lot (don't want to worry about the drowning kid thing either). It's a great compromise if you're worried about that. And if you can't dig. Stock tanks would be great for apartment dwellers, too ~ no hole to fill back in when you move and you can take the whole thing with you. Here's a picture of my small one:

You can even get a smaller one than that for about seventy five bucks ~ it's 4' long by 2' tall by 2' wide if I'm remembering right. Check out www.tractorsupply.com for prices in your area.

And whiskey barrels do make great nano ponds. I had a few a couple years ago when I bought eight or ten whiskey barrels for planting some of my plants. I noticed that some of them were rather tight ~ just small cracks between the slats. So I filled them all up with water, gave them time to soak it up and swell up, then filled them up again ~ three held water! So I plunked some plants in them and a small goldfish from my other ponds to keep the mosquitoes away. Voila! I had little pondlets everywhere! Here's one on my porch (dogs are drinking out of it ):

[arndogg]

how many gallons do whiskey barrels hold?

My wife is thinking of putting potted plants around our backyard, and I'm trying to show her other alternatives.

[CampCreekTexas]

Oh, gosh ~ I don't know for sure. Twenty gallons maybe?