What would you do with this pond ?>

I moved into my new house about 3 weeks ego and I am slowly tackling all of the projects I have set out to do. On my list is the backyard / pond. This home came with a built pond. Unfortunately the last owner riped a lot of the stuff off of it before he foreclosed on the house. There is no pump, the plumbing is messed up and a lot of rock is missing.

I have 2 options.

Use it as a pond and maybe have a few freshwater fish in there, maybe some water plants as well.

OR

Fill it up with dirt and make it into a big flower pot.

What would you guys do? My gf wants me to make it into a pond, but I never done anything like this before and have few concerns.

Dont want to do water changes, dont want to run a 200w pump for circulation 24/7, dont want to built a filtration system, dont want to scrub the algee off. Basicly I dont want to spend 1hr a day taking care of the pond. If it can be mostly self maintaned with just feeding and adding water I would do it.

 

We have an outdoor pond my dad made. It actually required 0 maintenance, at least for a while. We filled it up, put a fountain in the middle and added a couple of fish. The fish lasted for a little while, but were eaten by a crane. We no longer have fish in it, but it still looks nice. We do have to clean it out and drain it during the winter and the water is green right now from alage, but we don't care that much. There no fish/livestock in it.

 

How about a simple koi pond?Those are always cool without getting really complicated.

 

I would have to agree with Grinder37 Koi pond would be the way to go. Once you clean it up you will be able to see what is under that water.. or as you stated.. beautiful flower pot ;-)

 

So koi ponds require almost no maintenance ? There are no winters in Florida but last year it did approach 0 degrees Celsius, so would I need to heat it during winder months or no ? What about alage ?

 

I see a problem with koi pond. Doing a little research, those fish grow big and fast, not to mention require a lot of filtration. My bond is not that big, from the looks of it, maybe 150g. 200g tops. What about water plants, would that require a lot of work ?

 

I agree, that's way too small for koi. I have a pond and waterfall in my backyard and have some goldfish in there, as well as water plants. It's a lot of fun! The pond requires maintenance once a year, but I have a company come in and clean it out and do all that stuff. Usually in the spring before I get the waterfall up and running after the winter.

 

Clean it out really good, fix that front ledge. Fill it with water, get a pondmaster filter/pump in it and let it run.
Get some Aquarium plants and a few pons plants and let it run like that for a few weeks.

Then go get a few Koi, Shubunkin's, Comet and a few Mosquito Fish to keep the mosquito larvae in check.

Then I would sit back and enjoy all year long. I would not say that it is going to be no maintenance but it sure
will be low maintenance.

In Florida you would only have to worry about filling the pond once in a while, cleaning the filter once a month
or so and maybe cleaning the entire pond once a year. In the winter you don't have to worry about it
freezing like I do up here but even my fish stay in there all year round.

Post lots and lots of picture when you get it up to speed OK!

 

What kind of pump are you running for the waterfall? Are you using any kind of filtration for the gold fish or they dont really need any? How often do you replenish evaporated water?

Maybe I could use a spray bar of some sorts and circulate the water using quite one pump and use the bar as the waterfall.

 

Thank you for lots of useful info!. I like the pump you recommended and the fact that it uses only 24w of power. The fish that will eat masquito larva, will that also eat termite larva as well?

Another question, should the bottom of the pond be filled with rock pebells like in a fresh water aquarium ? Also should the pump be on a timer or should I let it work 24 hrs/day ?