Thread: Garden Pond Advice

Originally Posted by ceburat

If ok with you Buadhai we can continue here on making a pond or I can start a new thread. Up to you. Either way I/We need your advise. You seem to be the expert on Teakdoor on Water Gardens.

I am making the pond two feet deep and two meters in diameter. Using the black plastic linner that came with the bricks we purchased.

After I fill the pond, I understand that I should let the water sit for a few days to rid itself of chemicals. I will use plastic or ceramic pots turned upside down to raise or lower plants in the pond, if needed.

After that, what do you recomment as a second step? Add Fish? Add Plants? In what order? I plan to use goldfish, not koi, and some type of fish to control skiders.

What would be your shopping list, plants and fish, to stock up this pond? In what order would you add each item?

Where would you recommend purchasing these items in the Khorat area?

Any other advise you want to give.

Two feet deep is a good depth for the pond.

I've used the "tap water" here for ponds and have never bothered to let it sit. None of the fish I've bought locally have shown any sensitivity to the amount of chlorine in the local water.

What kind of plastic came with the blocks. There are two types of pond liner commonly sold here:

PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride. This is what I will use. It is less flexible than HDPE (see below) but it is reported to have better UV (ultraviolet) resistance. Also, it can be joined or mended with normal PVC cement.

HDPE: High Density Polyethylene. This liner is more flexible than PVC and therefore maybe more appropriate for a pond with square corners such as one made from block. But, it cannot be easily mended and is not as UV resistant as PVC.

You can sit most water plants in pots right on the bottom of a two foot pond. Probably no need to raise them unless they look better. Both lily and lotus would like to be that deep.

Water plants are available at a number of the nurseries at Khok Kruat. Unless your pond is very large, I suggest only one lily or lotus. They really spread out. You could also put in a papyrus or one of the other upright water plants.

You also should use some underwater plants. The best place to get these is at a fish shop. Ask them for plants that goldfish tend not to eat.

You can put the fish and the plants in at the same time.

For lotus or lily to bloom they need at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight or the equivalent. (50% shade all day.) But, if the surface of your pond gets that much sun you will have an algae problem unless you have plenty of underwater plants and maybe some floating plants such as Pistia (water lettuce) or duckweed. You can also use water hyacinth. All of these reproduce rapidly and have to be thinned quite a bit.

I hope that gives you a start.
As for fish, I recommend staying away from Koi. They are voracious eaters and produce too much nitrogen for a small pond. Try Comets (which stay under six inches) or any of the other smaller fish that are sold in the local shops.

Thanks.

My pond is round. I purchased the blocks further down the highway, about 18 kilometers out of Khorat. If anyone is interested I can get directions from my wife and post them here. 28 blocks form a 2 meter diameter pool, one layer. Three blocks high is one foot. Cost is something like 9 bhat a block. Self stacking--no cement needed.

I am not sure what type of liner I have. I will check that out.

I will try to post photos here later. I have never done that before, but, maybe a computer dummy can, if so, photos.

This is a popular thing just now, the interlocking blocks that are rounded so you can easily make a round pond. Looks interesting.

With a two meter pond I'd say one lotus or lily, a few other potted water plants and then lots of underwater plants. You can have a lot of fish in a pond that size.

Do you have a fountain or other water circulation?

Originally Posted by buad hai

This is a popular thing just now, the interlocking blocks that are rounded so you can easily make a round pond. Looks interesting.

With a two meter pond I'd say one lotus or lily, a few other potted water plants and then lots of underwater plants. You can have a lot of fish in a pond that size.

Do you have a fountain or other water circulation?

Nothing yet. I have thought about it. What do you suggest?

Originally Posted by ceburat

Originally Posted by buad hai

Do you have a fountain or other water circulation?

Nothing yet. I have thought about it. What do you suggest?

If the pond is balanced water circulation is not necessary to keep it clean. But, if you want to pay less attention to balance then aerating the water with a fountain or waterfall can make it easier. Go up to Dan Kwien and find a statue with tubing that will make a waterfall. You can get a simple pump and plug it in now and then for some nice sound and to help clear the water.

Originally Posted by buad hai

Originally Posted by ceburat

Originally Posted by buad hai

Do you have a fountain or other water circulation?

Nothing yet. I have thought about it. What do you suggest?

If the pond is balanced water circulation is not necessary to keep it clean. But, if you want to pay less attention to balance then aerating the water with a fountain or waterfall can make it easier. Go up to Dan Kwien and find a statue with tubing that will make a waterfall. You can get a simple pump and plug it in now and then for some nice sound and to help clear the water.

Dan Kwien. That's the name of the place/area where I got my block for building the pond. On the left side of the road just before Dan Kwien. Also on the other side of the road, up a little, they have quite a selection of block/brick.

I heard that cement as a liner is not good. Why? What is it about a cement pond that is not good? Something to do with the ph of the water?

If you use cement, how do you correct the problem?

The problem with cement ponds is the content of lime which will slowly leach into your pond and make the water go alkaline. In the UK a few years back now we'd sell a paint/sealant like G4 that'd you'd paint the entire pond with so the water would never come into contact with the cement but it would work out expensive to do.

Just done a quick search online for you though and read about a product that you can mix with the cement beforehand which'll neautralise the lime but never heard of that before so couldn't give you anymore info.

Bit of copy and pasted info from pond-doctor.co.uk for you.

This stressful highly alkaline water can cause fish to gasp at the surface, and if experienced long term, will stimulate fish to secrete excessive amounts of a milky protective film of mucus on the skin.
A likely cause of a high pH is the introduction of a highly alkaline substance such as run-off from new or untreated concrete or cement work. Builder's lime (calcium hydroxide) is an extremely caustic substance, and if left exposed or untreated on brickwork around the pond may cause the pH to rise rapidly.
There are two ways of preventing this problem from happening.
A. Neutralise the lime. Neutralising agents can be added to the cement or concrete during mixing. This reduces the hazard of alkaline lime running into the pond.
B. Paint all concrete/cement work with a sealant. A very effective, easy to use transparent and colourless sealant such as G4 can be painted onto surrounding rockwork. If used on a waterfall, it has the added benefit of waterproofing the feature. As the pond water does not come into contact with the alkaline lime, then the pH of the pond water will remain unaffected.

I guess one more alternative is knowing that after a period of time all the lime that could have leached into the water would have leached into it. So really you could leave the pond for several months (don't know how long it would take) let the water become totally alkaline with all that lime, then empty is, refill it and there shouldn't be any lime left in the concrete to raise the PH again.

There must be a few TD members here with concrete ponds that have taken none of these approaches though, be interested to know how those ponds worked out. Sometimes what you read and what you can get away with in fish keeping is quite different.

The other thing about a concrete pond is that many of them are done quite poorly; often with no steel reinforcing. As a result, when the ground shifts or roots grow the pond easily cracks and is difficult to repair. Look around and you're bound to see concrete ponds that have become nothing more than repositories for dust and dry leaves.

Yummy thread. May I also suggest a glass bowl of guppies on the balcony? I had a tube-shaped glass vase (maybe 1/2 meter high) for those colourful gups on my veranda. Added some rocks and plant cuttings (the regular vine ones). Made for a live decoration and nice to watch when musing. Also good for skitter control. Only needed to change the water every 1-2 weeks maybe.
Have guppies in fish bowls here. The pet shop and online folks said they would all die without aeration or temp control. Hogwash. They've had babies and the babies just had babies. They have no "ich" and are healthy (expect for the male I threw out with the water. Oops.)
Well, I cannot have a dog so I'm stuck with guplets. Miscounted, too. I have 11 fry, not 8. Uh oh.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Yummy thread. I have 11 fry, not 8. Uh oh.

Definitely need another male in there, if you are going to get enough for a decent meal!

"I have 11 fry, not 8. Uh oh"

How big does a guppy get? Does it take a long period to fry them?

Duan

Originally Posted by Duan Wan

How big does a guppy get?

Oh about 10 cm. really not worth it. A large red snapper from the market is only 40 Baht.