Building a Small Pond in the Garden
Written by Wednesday, 08 December 2010 00:00
In the very beginning it was a simple old tank. Once it went out of commission I placed it in the garden and rather than getting rid of it I decided to make it an outside tank. It was a good size tank and proved fun and interesting to care for. Then one sad day the front glass collapsed and it all ended with fish gasping for air on the grass and plants temporarily rehomed in an 'emergency' container.
When faced with such a mess one has to decide pretty swiftly what to do. I decided to make a small pond in the garden. There were two conditions though. Firstly there would be no digging as this was impossible given the chosen place for the pond. Secondly the pond had to be on the small side.
The resin-shell was 900 liters gross capacity and was supplied by Giardini d’Acqua in March 2010. Filling it was the same as filling a tank. We washed the sand, placed it in the shell, put the plants in place (all planted in pots) and pumped the water in.
Despite Leonardo's, Stefania's and my best efforts the result, almost expected I should say, was an ugly muddy pool. So muddy that it took effort to spot where the plants were.
The services of a dedicated pond filter were required (the sooner the better):
Once the filter started working the water improved pretty quickly:
The rest were left to mother Nature which, given time, changed our muddy pool into a beautiful water feature which is a truly attractive spot in our garden. While the pond was still new the walls were still shiny and looked artificial. They eventually got covered by a thin layer of algae which makes them more natural and pleasant to look at. The photos below were taken May to August 2010.
When we were setting up the pond the real challenge for me, which was also my goal, was to get beautiful flowers from thriving Nymphaea plants in a correctly kept pond. It has been a long, sometimes tiring, walk but we managed to do that: GREAT!!!
The technical support of the pond is quite simple. The water is filtered by an external filter (suitable for outside use) which has an internal UV lamp and is filled with filter media (sponges). The filter is connected with a pipe to a submerged powerful pump. The clean water returns to the pond through a second pipe hiting gently the surface of the pond thus oxygenating the water. This will be particularly important during the hot summer months. There are no lights or heaters in use. In this respect running the pond is far more economical than running a tank.
The filter has a switch-flow function and a manual pump in the canister. This allows the hobbyist to revert the water flow and squeeze the sponges using the manual pump. This action cleans the filter without the need to open it, which makes life considerably easier. The filter must be unpluged before being serviced.
Stocking the pond has been a challenge. Initially we introduced Koi carp but the pond proved to be too small for them. So we changed the carp for goldfish (Carassius auratus), two of which were previously living in the tank that broke and fish from our local rivers (either native or introduced). Our stock included Rhodeus amarus, Alburnus alburnus and Pseudorasbora parva. Of these only the Pseudorasbora parva settled comfortably in the pond.
We have also tried to keep sturgeons in the pond. Our plan was that the sturgeons were to be the jewel in the crown, so to speak. Sadly we were rather unlucky. We introduced a juvenile Acipenser ruthenus, commonly known as the Sterlet sturgeon. This is the smallest member of the Acipenserinidae family. Shortly after the fish jumped out of the pond and we found him when it was too late. I am still wondering why this happened. In any case I persisted and introduced a second sturgeon. This one simply disappeared. I suspect the culprit is one of the kingfishers that started visiting us and spending some time on the phone line running along the edge of the garden. Funnily enough once the sturgeons went all the kingfishers disappeared too. Presumably the other fish in our pond are not tasty enough for them!!!
Photos by the author.
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