Lawrence,
I am still here!
My pond is around 3500 gallons...
Here I am building it....
Here it was finished....
It has now been in the ground for 10 years!
I am planning 2 major upgrades.
One will be this year right after new years. It will be the addition of a 6 to 8 foot high waterfall with 3 bowls in it for natural filtration...
One will happen next year when I expand the surface area of the pond... when I do that, a piece of glass will be placed into the side of the pond towards my Gazebo.... It will then have a 6 or 8 foot by 2 foot viewing window like an outside aquarium....
I have over 40 fish. half of them were born in the pond... 1 or 2 make it a year... most of the eggs get eaten and then the little ones you don't even see until they are about 2 inches and safe.... They spawn about twice a year every year.
the largest one is nearly 24 inches...
The number one thing I can say is add rocks and sand to the bottom of your pond... looks natural and is real good for filtration....
Add a waterfall for aeration.... also a great place to place plants... they grow fast and provide more filtration
make sure you surface skim....
Make sure you add an air pump with fine bubbles... I have an AT810... 810 Liters of air per hour 24 - 7.... I have 6 place valve body with 6 airstones around in the pond... the fish love to swim in it... it circulates the deep water (cooler) with the shallow water (warmer) and keeps the pond water moving... no stagnation = no mosquitos and no smell...
Other than that, I treat my fish like pets.. I handle them, touch them, and swim with them (the kids love that) our pond is about 4 feet deep in the deepest spots...
another piece of advice....
steep walls - keeps critters out....
Plants and trees and trellis's around the pond keeps predatory birds out....
Other than babies getting eaten that we never saw... I have only lost 5 fish in 10 years (knock on wood).... 3 died mysteriously.... found them floating (2 of them were original of the first 3 and were rather large so I have no idea how old they truly were)
The other 2 jumped out of the pond... Bummer.... they were 18 inches each and I found them a day later....
10 years.... One thing I can say is that my neighborhood and the people that come to see it like it... It truly is beautiful and very calming to listen too and watch!
