Starting from scratch: Ideas and Liners?

We have built a new house and I would like to put in a small pond about maybe 6 x 8' for the water plants I already have and also to add some. Leaving the pre-molded pond with the old house when we move.
First, I would like to know about liners for ponds. The area we are moving to is all sand...no rock. I will actually take the rocks over there that I will need from here. I am thinking maybe 2' deep at the deepest and will probably need a 12 x 14' liner. A shelf around at least part of the pond at the 1' level for shallower plants.
I know that the thickness of the liner makes a difference and I don't want to sound stupid, but how do you decide which to use? Is the thinner liner just as good as thicker for sandy areas versus rocky ones?
I have added a pic. please don't laugh at my drawing as I just can't draw with a mouse!!!
This is the SSE side of the house. To the left not in the pic, but you can see a bit of shade from, the garage. Between the garage and house there is a breezeway. At the end of the first empty flower bed is the front door (Hubby calls it the back and won't actually be used a lot) and porch/steps. The wall behind the steps on the right extends out some where the house has its two spare bedrooms. So, there is protection from all day sun by the structure of the house. The house is a creamy color with avacado shutters and such. Hubby and I are not in to brass and glass.
I don't want a square or round pond...I have added one roughly in...as one idea. I have a banana 'Rojo' that I want to plant sortof in the space where I drew that in. Not really a Japanese Water Garden but similar as I will probably want some of my semi-shade woodland flowers in there too if they can take that much sun. OH...we also have two of the aged bronze looking herons that I would like to put there. They are maybe 1 1/2 to 2' tall.
Please take a look and give all/any advice you can share.! I would also like to post this over in landscaping for maybe some other ideas there!
The house is between the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in zone 7b-8.
TY
Deb

Gee, I never thought about the thickness, I just bought the liner (in the size I needed) at Menards. Not sure they even HAD varying thicknesses.

I guess in hindsight I would have checked to see what some of the kits were for the size pond I was building. My pond is 10 x 6, so pretty similar in size as yours. Aquascape's MicroPond kit includes 45 mil liner so I guess that is a good clue. But they also use a special underlayment and I just used landscape fabric…

I wonder if I even need underlayment since it is all sand with no rocks anyway?

I just put one down because I had lots of roots. We have sandy soil.

Your pond looks great! The ,property our new house is on was once a soybean field. No rocks anywhere over there to begin with and no roots in the lawn around the house for some distance. I have been reading about how to build a pond and have learned a lot. Our pond here at our old house is a preformed one. I want the new one made with the liner.
debbie

Yah, our first one was a preformed and I never really liked it because I couldn't get the rocks to look right along the edge. Never could really cover up that lip if you know what I mean.

I'm pretty happy with this pond. I'm considering something larger just so I can have a calm area for water lilies. But I never really wanted to have a HUGE pond. I've had some string algae on the rocks lately and that's been the only problem I've had all year.

you can go to my diary/blog for more pictures.

Great!! Thanks!! I was just reading in a Water Gardening book about not needing a pump and filter if you...can't remember the rest...age thing you know...will have to look it up again. I also need a calm place for my water lily. Still looking for a different colored one as I only have the white with the yellow center. Supposed to be pink but not much sun where it is right now.
I keep a few mosquito fish (Gambusia) in my pool to eat those up. Also said that Koi were really too large of a fish to keep in small pools and to use comets instead. If still want Koi, only one maybe.
debbie

I have four comet goldfish and two shubunkin for color. I'd like a koi, because I like how tame they get, but not sure my small pond can support them, just like you said. We had two in the old pond. They did okay.

I think you definitely want a pump so that you can have the lovely sound of water. We will add a waterfall and stream when we have more money, but right now we just have a 450 gph pump that sits in a filter box. Oddly enough it is staying way more clean than the last one I had, which I needed to clean every week!!! I hated that. Plus, this year ours was really cloudy after every rain. Then I removed the sprinkle head and put the pump on full speed and I never had that problem again.

I got some good advice from Beahive about a weekly clarifier too. We used one not too long after we installed to settle all the solids. worked great.

for me, the key to a good looking pond was that I had collected all these rocks and was able to hand place them. Not like when you just order a load of rocks.

My understanding is to keep Koi you need at least 1000 gals and 36 inches deep. Plus you have to have filtration because of the waste from the fish.
Also, and this might nix you plan to keep a Koi, Koi eat plants. When they are under 8-12 inches they wouldn't do too much damage but once they get big they will eat or ruin your lilly shoots before they reach the surface and stir up all the soil unless you use rocks in the pots. All that to say I love my Koi. I just keep the separated from my plants.
If you are building a new pond and want to keep Koi you could build it so you could do both.
Helen

Deb

If you really want waterlilies, try one or two and see how it goes. You may want to pick up a couple of inexpensive ones from Walmart before putting any real money into the waterlilies. I have both koi and waterlilies and every year, I have a nice display of waterlily flowers from May to October. I also have 21 pots of waterlilies, so I may not be noticing what could be eaten by the koi. Before you put your waterlilies into the water, make sure the top of the waterlily pot is covered with egg rock. The egg rock tends to be too big for the koi to pick up and spit out.

Give it try, you never know.....

carolyn...TY for the info! Actually I already have a small preformed pond here...Lowes style. I have one waterlily in it and it has bloomed every year now for quite a few years. The thing is, we want a pond at our new house and I don't want a preformed one. I have never put in the lined one.
No matter how far I dig down, there is going to be sand...no rocks! I looked at the waterbed mattress yesterday and the plastic is quite heavy. I think I am going to try it first. I had a TIA Wed. and I am only 55 yo. So right now, trying to take it easy a bit. Did dig a few more daylilies that were in not so hard soil and dug them with a trowel instead of a mattock!!!...that is what I was doing when I had the attack...with the mattock,,,then 6 hrs in the ER Th just because I was too stubborn to go Wed.

Deb - I hope you are feeling better. 55 is too young to be starting with that stuff.....

TIA!!! Dh had 3 of those and so he will be on blood thinner forever!! We were in Acapulco when it happened which was a night mare because no one spoke English. We saw a Dr who told us it was diabetic complication and a multivitamin deep IM will fix it. He had 3 daily injections but it happened 2 more times that we had to shorten our stay.
he had all test and found out that the arteries in his brain had narrowed and so he will be on blood thinners forever. Take it easy and i hope you saw a neurologist and had some tests. What were your symptoms? Take care. Belle

bellieg.. I had all of the tests they could do in the ER...CT scan, EKG,blood work ...and put on baby aspirin once a day. I have an appt. with my PCP in the am so he can tell me where to go! (LOL!)!!
Symptoms?? That was the scary part! I was just down the driveway with a mattock digging three daylilies I wanted to take to our new house. I finished and felt like I needed a short break as usual. I left my daylilies in the drive and started walking up to the back door. Before I got there I felt like I was going to collapse and was walking holding on to everything I could find and with my knees bent. I got in the kitchen and DH asked if I was Ok and I told him no. Then he was asking questions I don't remember, I was answering but had no reasonable thoughts or understandable words. Then I could make simple words and maybe 3 word sentences that were barely understandable. I sat on the sofa for about 15 minutes and was ok again. Being stubborn about going to the ER, I probably wasn't thinking the best either, I told DH I didn't need to go. The next day I knew I shouldgo when I was really thinking about what I was really like when I walked in that door.
My daughter and her family are here now ( it was already a planned trip) and the two of us went for a walk yesterday. We both have scientific interests in nature (how could she not...out with two parents since she was big enough to sit in the woods while we worked around her and by the time she was 12 yo, helping the TA's in the field teach undergrads!!) and it was good that she went with me...just in case...but I was fine ...I took it easy, sitting and looking at PLANTS of course while she was photographing wildlife.
Debbie

BTW...I potted those daylilies two days later and dug 4 more in softer dirt and with my trowel sitting down.

Yes you had a TIA and I would ask the Dr to do a MRA, this is for arteries of the brain. i am an RN but now retired 2 years ago.Problem with BP? cholesterol problem? I should not be asking this for people to read. Take care and i hope you have ll the tests. Belle

My BP is good on meds 117-128 and cholesterol was 115 the last Dr told me today he wants it under 70 now and has put me on Lipitor. I am scheduled for 4 more tests and in addition will be waering the heart monitor harness for 24 hrs I guess sometime this week. Will have to check what other tests...have them written down. Mostly arteries...one with contrast . Endocardiogram? Will have to check.
debbie.

Debbie,
I think thats an Echocardiogram - its an ultrasound of your heart and is checking for any abnormal structures in your heart. They might make it a stress Echo which means you will have to either run on the treadmill before the test or get medication to speed up your heart rate.
The 24hr test is a Holter monitor study to look for irregular heart beats or arrhythmias.
I hope you pass everything with flying colors. Good Luck.
Helen

It looks like your Dr has everything under control, just wait for results and you will be get referrals to specialists if needed.Your cholesterol is good.this is a good learning thread and perhaps should be started on another thread. Good luck to you. Belle