DH says I can have a small pond!!!!!

Ok now I need help!!!!

below is a picture of what he has dug so far but I am wondering should we go a lil longer since we can't go wider.
I am thinking of making a water fall that will come from over the top timbers and am guessing we will have to set it up so rocks hang over the timbers so not to get the wood wet and have it rot.

I have no idea the measurements on it right now I haven't gone out and measured it yet was cleaning my car today LOL

I know I want some plants in it ...water lilies my fav and I think he is thinking maybe some lil fishes but I know that all has to wait until it is done and set up and running first so it can get the water ready.
And yes I know there is a thread for water gardens but I am in Texas and we all know Texas is not like any other state so HELP me

Oh the liner he is planning on using the rubber roofing we have that has been sitting on top of the ground to starve out the bamboo roots LOL...will put the white side up of course and he is going to run electric around to it for the pump.

Hey, Mibus, I cannot believe you're getting a pond! I'm so happy for you! I wish I knew how to create and maintain a pond, but since I don't, I will learn from your thread. Just popping in to say Congrats again!
Goofy Alexandra

Thanks Alex

not that I know anything but he started diggin and I did get a "shelf " on each side but now comes putting the "liner/rubber roofing" in and need to figure out the pump and how to run things for the waterfall.
he is thinking submersed pump but heck if I know am trying to find stuff online to get a better idea on it all.

Phyllis

Lots of help on the "water garden" forum. Helped me put mine together.

How wonderful for you! It was apparent from an earlier post you made on another thread that you had given this some thought. You work fast! Got that DH wrapped around you finger, do you? It'll be fun for us to see the progress.

he works faster then I planned on this I was trying to give ti thought and plan things out then next thing I know he has a hole dug LOL

Well....don't stop him now......he's on a rolll...congrats!!!


"eyes"

yeah but other then lining it we need a pump in it so the plants will grow and not turn the water green and then the waterfall so i am looking on home depot and lowes to see what all they have hate to slow him down but this should be done right the first time.

well scratch this idea thanks for the good thoughts and everything but not gonna happen....the cost for pump, filter and liner will be more then he will want to spend let alone what I can afford right now to do it the right way so am filling the hole back in and forgetting the idea.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Phyllis, can't you do it gradually?

I have sat here several hours looking on line at anything and everything I can find about ponds and making them and supplies trying to find ways to do things that are less expensive to find a way to make it work to even start the process past a hole.

Heck my daughter just got engaged the weekend of the 4th and have no idea when a date will be set and what she is thinking of as to where to get married as she made the comment to my niece and I the end of June if nothing else she would get married in the back yard, but I figure it is at least next year. But it would be nice to have it up and running before then so I could get plants in and around it so it would look nice IF it were to take place here

Bless your heart. I second doing it piecemeal.

Check out the want ads, you may even consider placing your needs under a 'wanted' column in your paper. There maybe something on ebay, craigslist.

Consider a tabletop water feature. Those can be suprising effective. The prices of those have gone down and there's a nice variety.

You go girl.

I don't have nay place to put one for a table top or on a porch besides the German Shepard lab mix would send ti flying with her tail ..I already had to move my vases from Mexico to keep them safe LOL
I'm still looking at and for options for outside though

Phyllis,
Try looking for a used pump. A few years ago I found one on southeasttexas.co for much less than new. The pump was working in the people's garage pumping water for two cattle tanks where they had been keeping coy. They were moving and I got a deal.

Now, if I had just not put in a pond in my old house and left it there, I'd be set. I too am really wanting a pond.

Good luck!

Charlene

Mibus, maybe you can put in just a small pump at one end to circulate just enough water to come from a small spout type fountain or get one of the small solar pumps that float on top of the water and make a small splash back into the pond. Those are pretty cheap and Lowe's has them. The water lilies like still water anyway, so it would make sense to put them in one end of the pool and the small pump at the other end. I had a very small in ground pond and did this. I had a water lily, pickeral rush and creeping jenny in one end and a small statute with tubing through it to make the splash noise at the other end. You can get almost all this from Lowe's and should be able to do it for well under 100. I used a natural fiber (can't remember the name of it, but it'll come to me, something like barley straw) to keep the algae out. The pond wasn't large, but it added a lot to the yard. I had it where I could see it from inside and out and on the two days a year it was cool enough to have the windows open, you could hear it from inside too. It drew a lot of birds to the yard.

I hope you can get it done. Maybe a little at a time?
Crow

Char....I've been looking in the ads on Craig's list and the Tyler paper but the only thing I found was over by Dallas and they wnated over 200 for the set up.

crow thanks ...where ours would be you would be able to see if from in the house and with windows open when cool enough you would hear it from our bedroom so that would be good
waterlilies are a fav of mine ...my grandpa would always get me one from the lake when we went up to Wisconsin when I was lil ..shhhh it probably was a no no but I have loved them ever since.

I'm still toying with ideas but not gonna let myself get excited again over it until I know it is happening.

Mibus, don't know enough about ponds to chime in here. Tho there's two things you may want to research. 1) Those fish we were playing with at Blue Moon live without a pump or filter 2) Ask your hobby group about bamboo kinetic fountains (no electricity).

However you do it, don't forget that you need to keep the water moving a little, or else add mosquito dunks. I have water lilies growing at one end and the waterfall splash at the other. I noticed last winter that the lily end froze a little, so I've been adding dunks at that end anyway.

Phyllis, here is the pump/filter that I use. I had to jury-rig it a little to make it into a waterfall pump, but since my pond is nowhere near 1,000 gallons, it's strong enough for that. If you have a Petsmart nearby, they carry these in stock. There's also a smaller version that's a little less expensive. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755416

Tell me Ladies is there not a saying about women and not being able to make up their minds????
or is it about men????

Phyllis, I'm sorry....now you can understand why I'm not able to do mine until maybe next year. I need new liner (a huge amount for a 3,000 gallon pond) a new pump and filter, leaf skimmer, the cost can be astronomical...So sorry...

No Phyllis, it's about men!!! ;o) Women always know what they want!
I think that if you go baby steps with your pond, you might not notice the expenses (as they will not come all suddenly). And of course it would be a great place to have a wedding!

I used a hard plastic colorful kids swimming pool. It had to be replaced about every 4 yrs as it would get a small leak for a crack I suppose. I had koi till they got to big and jumped out without me even knowing they jump. Did it 3 times and don't have the back to get the gravel out of the last one. Plants cover it.
I hated to clean the pump filter with algae it was always clogged. I finally put a hoop house with shade cloth and that helped.

They say plants keep algae growth down and a water lily will shade the water. I want another but will use a liner or one of the hard black plastic ponds. If just for circulation of the water check out power heads that are for aquariums. Not sure one will do a waterfall.

Go a little at a time. You will be so happy you did not give it up even if it takes a year.

Ok, I still need to check my pond pumps etc. and see what I can pass on to you. But, I also want to give you a link to a group in your area that you can tap into for some free stuff you might need now or later.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TylerTXFreecycle/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
You can post a "wanted" usually after you post one "offered" item; but each group is different, just read the rules. I have gotten a lot of stuff this way and kept a lot of stuff out of the landfill too.

Well I'm glad to hear it is men can't make up their minds as I can prove it now and y'all are my witnesses to it.

I've stayed home since the weekend not going anyplace so today I said well let's go look at stuff at Hd and Lowe's just to see what is there and the prices as the sites don't always give the correct price for the area....plus I thought looking at the pet stores to see what they offered
We started at Lowes as it is the furthest way and figured we would work our way back towards home.
I knew Hd had a liner the size I needed for about 60. but I didn't want a beckett pump as I have read they don't last long at all.
while in Lowe's I showed him the make shift filter I was thinking of doing just to get started and it would be cheap...a small shoe size rubbermaid type box with a lid that we could run hose in and out of and put quilt batting or filter type material in and lava rock on the bottom but he looked in plumping and didn't fin d the type of attachments he wanted to make the box work.
He even saw the uv light for ponds and I explained why that was something that could be added on at a later date.
I was just looked at the need to get something going stuff .......................................................................
......................................................................................................Then being the turd that he is he says well you have the money to do it ...meaning some of the stimulus check ...........of course being the good wife that I am I replied " I'm not spending it this has to be a joint decision"...he then says well if we're going to do it we need to do it right the first time...............DUH where I have I heard that before ..oh wait that was me ...LOL
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Is it what I think it is? Good job Phyllis! These hubbies can be a bother sometimes, but they are overall OK!

well what do you think it is an ear irrigation set up with a really big plastic cover to keep water off of things LMAO

thought about it after I posted I better make sure you know I am just teasing here


This message was edited Jul 16, 2008 9:15 PM