Backyard Waterfall/Pond

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rsmith179

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Looking to put in a small pond with a waterfall next year in my yard. Been all over the internet looking for "inspiration". Any of you guys have pics you'd like to share of your backyard ponds or water features?
 
A few years back I put in a small pond. I love it. The sound of the waterfall and a homebrew put me in a right comfortable mood.

Not a great picture, but here it is.

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There are a lot of pond forums out there on the interwebs.
 
That's beautiful! Yeah, I've been creeping through a bunch of those sites/forums, but just wanted to see the handywork of fellow homebrewers. Thanks again!
 
I don't have a pond but I have a small fountain I made in the back yard. The idea is to someday incorporate it onto a Greco-Roman themed pond.

No pix, but all you need is a gallon planter from Home Depot, a pump with fountain nozzle, a medium plastic planter, a 10 pound bag of pond stones and some epoxy.
 
Mine's nothing fancy at all. It's a figure 8 with a channel between them. I move the waterfall every spring, just because. I have several pictures of it as a work in progress in my gallery, and here are a few more:

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Cool pond Yoop'

I have what is probably a stupid question... what happens with the fish during the winter? "Upper Michigan", I would that that bad boy would freeze up solid.

I've kicked around the idea of something like this with koy but I don't know what I would do with them in the winter??
 
Cool pond Yoop'

I have what is probably a stupid question... what happens with the fish during the winter? "Upper Michigan", I would that that bad boy would freeze up solid.

I've kicked around the idea of something like this with koy but I don't know what I would do with them in the winter??

In my area, it freezes to over 8 feet down, so I bring my goldfish in (as do my friends) because I don't want to heat the pond. I keep mine in the living room and dining room, but my best friend just sticks hers down in the basement where it's pretty cold and they go semi-dormant for her.
 
cool... that's what I figured...

actually... I figured you just have fishcicles throughout the winter and tossed more in when spring came... but your way works too!
 
Tartar sauce!

I want a pond also, nice to know you can heat it though!

How do you keep the bacteria levels down, chemicals?
 
I don't have a picture but I did a waterfall no pond though thought about how nice it would be to have coy pond too. But with my grandson and Bear my Newfie hound there would be no fish left alive. Bad enough he thinks its a water bowl
 
Nice pond, Yooper – the fish and your bleeding heart look quite happy.

Winters aren’t terribly harsh here in Delaware, so my fish winter over in the bottom of a 3’ deep section of the pond.
 
It cost a bit, but not too bad since a lot of the stuff was "rescued".

All of the large beams making up the planter area came from a demo project. The large circular pond that makes the waterfall is an old satellite dish covered in roof sealer. A lot of the plants came from houses that the state bought to tear down.
 
Tartar sauce!

I want a pond also, nice to know you can heat it though!

How do you keep the bacteria levels down, chemicals?

I don't use any chemicals at all. Just a bio-filter and a filter in the pump (like a skimmer). There is enough water in there that the nitrates don't build up at all. One is about 3.5 feet deep, and one is smaller around but a bit deeper in the middle. I have no idea how many gallons of water it holds, but it's definitely enough for the goldfish (don't have koi), a couple of blue gills, and a few frogs that showed up.

Mine is very cheap and simple, and I drool over the more beautiful ones. I really don't want to do anything much in the way of maintanence, though, so I kept it very simple and easy. One of the great things is that when it's hot, it attracts birds like crazy. We have a big variety of songbirds coming in for a bath and a drink, and it's fun to watch them.
 
Now this is what life is about. Peace and liberty. Ponds and homebrew. Very chill. This was my indoor pond I had for about two months before I had to move.

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For the winter if you throw a trough heater in that is wrapped in a bit of screen it will keep a decent amount open. i live in minnesota and have never brought my four 15'' koi my catfish or numerous goldfish in for the winter, they go pretty domant and it looks pretty cool to see the open water and fish with the snow banked 2-3 feet on the sides... and the fish thrive, the first year i had the pond the i brought the fish in, two small koi a goildfish and my catfish and all but the catfish died
 
Holy Crap, LGI!

Can you give me a quick run down on how your filter system works? Our pond is about the same size as yours (probably smaller after I took antoher look) and SWMBO has to clean out her filter arrangement about every other day or so. It's a wicked PTA. She doesn't mind but it does add to the workload.

PTN
 
Oh my gosh, thank you for the inspiration! We had a large pine tree near our patio removed a few months ago. I think a pond to take up part of the wood chip/dirt pit would be perfect!
 
Can you give me a quick run down on how your filter system works?
PTN

Well, the main components are:

Settlement tanks (two 55 gal drums) The water enters these from a bottom drain in the pond, and the water level remains the same as the pond. It enters one, and passes to the next one where the pump pulls up the water. These need to be manually scooped out once or twice a year. Baby fish sometimes find there way into these. When they do, they usually grow at a much faster rate than those in the pond. I have to get them out and put them back in the pond, by which time they are too big to find their way through the bottom drain again.

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a three phase pump wired up to a variable frequency drive (not too expensive if shopped around for on ebay) This makes the flow adjustable, but more importantly cheap to run.

A UV filter (also easy to find on ebay) This is the long tube with a cable on the end. Bottom left of the photo in the previous post. This kills the algae before the water enters the filters.

Five 55 gallon drums (Free from Pepsi) Three are the ones in the photo in the original post. They have a false bottom 12" high and are filled on top of that with lava rock. The water enters the pipe at the top, which delivers it to the bottom. The water rises through the lava rock and exits to two waterfalls in the pond. All you have to do to clean these is open a ball valve at the bottom two or three times a year and the slurry and water is piped out over my hop plants.

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Oh yeah, I have also added an outside spigot to the outlet from the pump so that I can shut off the waterfalls and water the garden with the pond water.
 
~~~If I am giving you advice, I am most likely drunk.....It might be best to ignore it and wait for a real brewer to come along.~~~


I'm banking on the fact that it's 8:45 am and I'm probably the only one with an open bottle in front of me, and so I'm going to accept your plans as valid.

Hmmm. Already have the UV thingy. 55 gallon barrels are easy. Pump shouldn't be a problem. No readily available place to put the works but that can be worked out. Hmmmmmmm.

PTN
 
Oh yes, I almost forgot the gratuitious fishy pic! :D

fishsies.jpg




PS I just found out that I can buy floating catfish food (As above) at TSC for $15 for a 55# bag! It's suitable for fish over 5". I know it's not the correct food for koi, but hey, how different can it be?
 
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