Water Gardening: help please new pond!!!!!!!!!!!!, 1 by skidzgarden

skidzgarden wrote:
Moretz, I made my first (and so far only) water garden about 18 months ago. It's based on a preformed liner and only about 2 feet by 3.5 feet by 18 inches deep. I have 4 gold fish and it is in full shade. I really like the effect of a pond in the shade--very quiet and peaceful. TIPS: I don't try to grow any water plants in the shade and I do use the net to skim off leaves most days when I feed the fish--no biggie it just takes a couple of minutes. Also I put my pump in a plastic filter box I got from the pond section at Lowe's to further protect it from any debris. I built a small water fall to go into the pond so it's well aerated--that many fish in such a small pond might be a problem otherwise. We got through our first winter last year no problem--zone 7b--even with just 18 inches of water. We had many below freezing nights, but the flow from the waterfall kept everything icefree. I did raise my pump a little so I wasn't drawing the colder surface water all the way to the bottom. I thought the fish would be happier that way. One plus for shade--no algea problems. :)