Planning A Pond
Wait! Before
you do any digging, or before you go out and purchase the
preformed pond (or liner), do the math. When I go out to buy
new clothes, I always try them on before I buy them. If I buy
an end table for the house, I measure before I buy. When I shop
for a new car, I want to see how it drives, how it handles, and
how much it is going to cost after they add all the little
extras. That’s what I’m suggesting you do when you decide to
install a pond. Figure out what kind of
fish/turtles/frogs/lilies, or whatever else you might like to
have in your yard. Look at the predators that will be visiting
your pond, too. You need to know what it will take to power the
filter, what size filter (and never scrimp on the filter), what
style you need to protect the fish or other inhabitants, how
deep it needs to be, whether you’ll need a permit from the town,
the cost of the rocks or boulders to make it really jump out at
you, and the plants to finish it off. MacArthur Water Gardens
has filtration experts to help you choose the right filter, once
you’ve figured out exactly what you want your pond to be.
I
like to look at the pond inhabitants first. If I want koi, I
need to plan a larger, deeper pond, with more filtration. If I
want a water garden with lots of colorful lilies, I don’t need
anything that deep, most likely do not need any town permits,
and very little filtration. If I want goldfish, I need to
figure if I want to stock the large-bodied fancies or the pond
carp and shubunkin. (The large-bodied fancies will come indoors
in winter.) If it’s turtles I really want, I will have to have
a barrier wall to prevent them from wandering away and into the
road. I also need much more filtration.
The
next consideration is how much of my yard I wish to dedicate to
the pond. If I have a large yard, I have no problem; just have
to figure where to locate the pond. But if I have a postage
stamp property, I’ll have to plan accordingly and most likely
forget about koi. And then, if there are water or electric
lines beneath the ground, I don’t want to dig them up.
In
the end, all the prep work will be very worthwhile. You will
have exactly what you want and be pleased with it for many
years!
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