Wildlife pond

looksee

I am mulling over the notion of making a wildlife pond in my garden. I have a suitable space and the size is only limited by the cost of the liner and underlay - I am anticipating approx 5m x 6m and a metre deep at the deepest. I've been reading up about it and watching diy pond videos on Youtube so I think I have an idea of how to go about it.

However I don't see taking power to it for a pump being feasible, any thoughts on keeping a wildlife pond clean without a pump? I can put in plenty of rocks and pebbles as bacteria surfaces, add oxygenating plants and possibly have a small solar pump, but setting up something that requires more than plug and play is not an option. Any thoughts?

Discodog

That's a big pool if it turns into a green soup mess. I have built a few ponds & I have always relied on filtration especially after finding out that the barley straw didn't work. I am sure that it's possible to get it balanced but I have never tried mainly because the ponds have been near to the house & in view.

You might be able to go the solar route but it won't be cheap especially as I use UV as a clarifier

magicbastarder

I've two ponds, never had an issue with them despite no pumps. They're not nearly as big as that though.

Only time I've ever seen people with that issue is when they've had fish in the pond.

looksee

Its the green soup syndrome I want to avoid, the pond will be out of sight of the house at the end of the garden.

looksee

That size doesn't seem too big in the space available, its a while since I measured it though and that might be the size of the liner, which has to be a good bit bigger than the hole. Would the size of it make any difference to the chance of it not staying clear though?

There will not be fish, I would like to see frogs and dragonflies etc but otherwise I'm hoping it will attract wildlife, we are about a kilometre to any water, even drainage ditches, so it would be interesting to see what might take up residence.

macraignil

I don't think a wildlife pond needs to be or should be as clear as a pond intended for keeping fish. I built one a bit smaller than what you are suggesting about five years ago and decided on no fish as I wanted the pond to host frog eggs and tadpoles which would be eaten by the fish. I have read that an annual removal of organic material to help keep the pond clear works to keep it tidy but did not bother doing any of that until just yesterday as for the the first few years the water was clear enough for my liking without doing anything.

The build up of rotting leaves over a few years (as my pond does have more deciduous trees near it than I think are recommended) I think did lead to more nutrients in the water and a lot of growth in the pond this year and although it still had tadpoles in it earlier in the year the growth of vegetation was so thick I no longer could see the water beetles or other types of pond wildlife that I had in the pond after a few weeks of building it when I used a bucket of water from an existing natural pond nearby to seed the new pond with the life needed for a healthy pond ecosystem. Gardeners world on the BBC last Friday suggested pond clearing as a job for the weekend. Posted a video of the cleaned water here in a play list that includes the early appearance of the pond from a few years back. Hopefully I will be able to post a video of some of the pond based wildlife that I have got used to seeing coming back over the next few weeks.

Happy gardening!

10-10-20

Great comments in here already. From my perspective I have a small 1 cubic meter pond with 7 goldfish and it suffers badly from single-cell algae as well as filament (string) algae. Both algae are feeding off the waste nutrient from the fish, so the balance is difficult to keep in order... except that I have an oversized bio filter which does a very good job of breaking the nitrite and nitrates down, and a UV filter to keep the single-cell algae (pea soup) down.

Anyway as pointed out above, if there aren't fish in the equation, then the system is easier to maintain in-balance but will need cleaning of leaves over the winter period. I also like to have a crop of pond weed that I can 'harvest', enabling me to pull out significant volumes of nutrients to try maintain the balance

The natural establishment period for a pond is around 2 or 3 years; that is to move from being pristine to having a good bacteria base as well as bloodworms/tube worms and water fleas and snails, etc. That period can be shortened significantly by introducing a good sample of mud from a local pond and/or river after around 2 or three weeks.

Having a good strong oxygenator in the center and masses of surface-area (coarse pond or river sand is good for that) as well as coverage from sunlight, is going to give you the best chance of achieving a clear pond.

looksee

Great, thank you for all the suggestions and tips, it sounds as though I might be able to maintain a reasonable pond with a bit of care. Agreed, I am not expecting crystal clear water, but I don't want one of those solid green affairs either.

I have to wait till the ground is dryer to dig it as it will mean taking a digger across the grass, but as soon as the opportunity arises I will make a start on it.

magicbastarder

is where the pond will be shaded? i believe that can make a difference.

looksee

No, there are trees - mostly silver birch - around, and a large red maple off to one side but the path of the sun has pretty clear access to the area. It was overhung by three willows, but they were the last ones in the garden, all the others had died or fallen over, evidently the land is not suited to willows (its really not) but the last three all gave up last summer - one just died in full leaf over a few days, one fell down in a storm and one got a large wasp nest in the roots, resulting in it half collapsing, so now they are all gone. There is a lot of potential for leaves going into the pond but I will deal with that as necessary.

The area is on a slight slope, so I will have to account for that but I reckon dug out soil can be used to raise the lower side.

blackbox

Expect the pond to get loads of algae in spring and don't worry about it. If you have plenty of waterlilies and oxygenating plants to provide surface shade it will go clear in the summer.

Preventing too many leaves from going in is also a help.

If you don't have any fish, you might get plagued with midges in late summer.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076090#Comment_122076090

If you don't have any fish, you might get plagued with midges in late summer.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. Then the trade-off with fish is the need to be fed, but also protected from freezing-over during colder periods. Maybe it's far enough away from the garden/house that it won't be an issue.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076090#Comment_122076090

i must be lucky - i only ever had to take maybe two handfuls of blanket weed out of the pond in the i think nine years it's been there.

currently dealing with an issue in the small pond in the front garden which clearly has a minor leak but which i simply cannot locate. rigid liner, which was a bit of a pain to install compared to the flexible liner.

stringed theory

I built a similar sized Wildlife pond a few years old using butyl rubber with overlay as well as underlay, all covered in a layer of earth so it looks natural. The first year the water was green due to suspended algae, but the oxygenating plants dealt with that. Nowadays, a green scum grows on top. This is "blanket weed" (another, self-adhering, form of algae) which is easily removed using a fisherman's net on a pole. The water itself is clear.

If you go the route of lining it with earth there will be lush vegetation around the edge so water will soak out in summer and you need to have a source to top it up. There are frogs which are rarely seen except when they congregate and lay spawn, maybe one day a year, and of course some biting insects counterbalanced by colourful dragonflies.

magicbastarder

you mean a green scum like you used to see in the canals?

i get plenty of duckweed in mine. easily skimmed off.

blackbox

Duckweed blocks the light from algae. Helps keep water clear.

looksee

Yes, the site is a good distance from the house, we already have mozzies - daughter got bitten yesterday!

Thanks for all the helpful comments, I am looking forward to doing it, this year's project.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076421#Comment_122076421

Yes, duckweed is the one that you want to encourage as it will keep the algae's (single-cell and string/filament) at bay by sucking up the available nutrients.

magicbastarder

you could go the whole hog and make an outdoor swimming pool!

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076666#Comment_122076666

i always try to keep some of the pond surface clear, just for a bit of variation.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076681#Comment_122076681

Er, no, there was a swimming pool (in manky condition) which has now been replaced by a sunken garden! Haven't missed the pool at all.