Tiny, urban, no-pump pond

Here it is, the beginnings of my first attempt at a pond... Mahatma Pondhi.... Ahem. I suppose I will post my learnings and updates in this thread.

Situated near a young loquat tree, cassava, and coffee plants, oh, and my carnivorous fly trap, I have placed this pond under partial shade to reduce evaporation and keep any future gold fish warm. I felt I needed to urgently build this because my, now in poor health, American lotus were becoming cramped. I laid a small bit of big-box gravel at the bottom for them to latch onto after washing it about 20 times but it still left an unsettling amount of sediment. It is going to be a while before I add the fish.

Like a fool I placed the pile of dug out sand way too close to the perimeter... That will have to be fixed tomorrow when it stops raining. Then I can bury the overlay and lay down some attractive border rocks.

As for managing this without a pump, we will see how that plays out.

The local contracting crew came by to inspect my work when I went inside for a moment, they quickly flew away when I returned, I hope they were satisfied.

Hi Jeff, neat looking pond. How deep is it?
What are in the jars behind the pond?
Does your Venus fly trap catch insects? That plant is fascinating.
Good luck to you!

I am going to have to slowly empty and rework the whole thing.

That darn gravel from Home Depot had so much sediment in it. It’s tamed a bit as the days have passed, but it’s still cloudy.

It’s an ugly shape, I wanted to use as much liner as possible, it’s about 3x6’ and 1.5’ deep or so since it doesn’t freeze here. Emptying it will allow me to use rework a foot for a shallow end so birds can bathe which I forgot.

Always a learning experience.

Can anyone tell me, as a safeguard for water, once this freshwater natural pond is established, is it safe for drinking through a Berkey filter?

I’m slightly leaning toward adding fish as opposed to trying to attract frogs and toads, so that I can use their high nutrient waste water to give to my plants…

I imagine the beams are the “lowered” area, or perhaps the perpetually broken gazebo? That’s my family in a nutshell. They work like the average American, but they neglect so much as between a 9-5 and going to the grocery store everyday, they don’t have much time to do anything else because they don’t do anything for themselves, they buy every single thing they possibly can.

The perpetually broken gazebo and perpetually broken hot tub are not anything I can alter. I already tried to ask if I could turn the broken hot tub into a small pond. They would rather them sit there broken than turn the space into anything else. Hot tub has been broken for about 5 years. I love them but I’d like nothing more to leave this thought process behind and live on my own terms.

You got the walls really steep it seems. You will probably want to think about some sort of rock ledge so birds frogs etc can get in and out. Other wise looking good. These types of projects always seem to evolve as you figure out what you could have done different / better.

My brother made a very nice one of these at his old house. He had to redo the liner and the waterfall twice. He used a pump on his. That also changed several times but in the end it was really nice and he enjoyed the work. Good luck!

Joe Hallmark wrote:You got the walls really steep it seems. You will probably want to think about some sort of rock ledge so birds frogs etc can get in and out. Other wise looking good. These types of projects always seem to evolve as you figure out what you could have done different / better.

My brother made a very nice one of these at his old house. He had to redo the liner and the waterfall twice. He used a pump on his. That also changed several times but in the end it was really nice and he enjoyed the work. Good luck!

Yes, besides the gravel sediment I had said at the same time you commented that I need to add a banking and shallow area at least to the front… really messed it up.

Oh well, emptying a few barrels a day so I don’t get rid of all the new rainwater should allow me to alter the front.

Have you considered a small waterfall? It gives it a very relaxing aspect. And will move the water around a bit for aeration. Even a cheap solar pump.

I doubt you can keep frogs out so best to plan on them being there and having an escape path so the won’t drown trying to get out.

Are you planning for plant inside or around? My brother planted Canas around his and they looked really awesome.

I’m nosey on these type projects lol. I just think they are really great to bring some peace and relaxation. I’d really like to build one myself even tho I can see my large pond from the back porch it’s 120yards away. It would be nice to add one to the garden area.

I am willing to add anything that is solar and reliably made. The only reason it is no-pump right now is because I don't want to run an extension cord.

As for frogs... I had read on here that if I wanted to attract more frogs, I shouldn't add fish. That was why I had said that. Ideally, I want both!

Plants around, I am going to add some marshy plants after I amend the surrounding soil, if I can propagate Venus flytrap I'd like to add more around it, I have Job's Tears growing in a pot right next to it now, inside the pond you can see the small American lotus pads, I am going to go to a local preserve pond to get a bit of water in a mason jar to add as well as see if I can salvage a plant or two at the water's edge, hopefully some cattails.

After settling and rain water... I'm going to have to drain and remove all the rocks so I can get rid of all the tiny gravel that didn't work out and stick to the bigger pond pebbles I had also added, and get plenty more. I also have to make the surrounding trench a bit higher so no dirt flows into the pond. I am not sure what to cover the outer tarp with... I'd like a natural look but it might leave too much exposed. Perhaps logs if I can find any, coupled with a bit of mulch will do.

I now present Mahatma Pondhi Reincarnated (2.0)

No sediment, animal slope/bird bath

The pond has been in place for about a week. It's rained, and I added a small jar of pond water to it.

Is it safe to add some fish, because the mosquitos are getting out of hand.

I was thinking guppies because they can enjoy warmer temps… what do you think?

Exchanged some water with RO water. Added pond conditioner. Aerated it by dropping 5 gallon bucketfuls back in. Added a few more rock hides. Then it started raining.

They're still "breathing" frequently, opening their mouths somewhat rapidly, but I imagine it going from that nonsense tank to relative freedom is difficult. It's slowed down just marginally. They sat at the bottom for a while, they are now occasionally darting around.

Does anyone have any idea on how I can conceal the ugly tarp border? I had to create a mound, because the surrounding soil is just sand, no grass or hard soil to keep the tarp from being pulled underneath it. Thus the tarp border is basically a half circle... I cannot lay any sort of flat bricks upon it.

I decided to remove the fish because they weren’t thriving, it seemed. And they would get far too large for the pond at 1 foot / goldfish.

In the meantime I must’ve had a visitor. They look like toad eggs. Can anyone tell me, is this going to be problematic for a small pond in a suburban backyard?

I know this was its intent but seeing so many eggs it’s hard to imagine them all as toads (or frogs)!

They appear as the black dots in the photo, almost look like mustard seeds or some other type of herb seed.