Hello all, I'm new to ponds, well ish. And im after some lovely advice from you lovely people.
I'm just starting to look into ponds because we're re-doing the whole garden i am a marine nerd and that is my confession to you. pmsl.
Anyhoo. I want a deep (for me) pond. I havent decided how deep yet. But i have been reading alot on here and am getting concerned for the sides of my 'to be' pond.
How deep can i go into the ground before i start? I want a sloped side and i dont really want to have to get supports everywhere for the sides. My ground is rock solid and to be honest, i think we'll have a job getting to 120cm down.
So, how deep can i go before i need to support the sides?

Hi, welcome to FK I'm not great on ponds myself but have you seen the stickies at the top of the pond section? There's one here with some info about building:

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... hp?topic_id=25518&forum=8

I think I'd be inclined to look at some sort of support, the ground might be hard at the moment but that could change with the weather etc.

There was a similar thread recently, it might be helpful

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... hp?topic_id=32096&forum=8

Hi Zoe,
I'm afraid there is no simple answer to that question as it depends entirely on the ground conditions and the ground water table level.

I assume that you are intending to use a pvc or butyl Pond liner and want the sides of the new pond to be bare earth?

That may well be fine particularily as you are intending to slope the sides, but it does depend entirely on the type of ground and water table. My pond is approx 1200mm deep with 'earth' sides as I think you are intending.

A couple of things to be mindfull of:-
1) If your ground water table level is high then you may need a concrete base and brick sides to keep the ground water out (ground water can lift the liner).
2) If you are close to any trees or large shrubs you may need brick sides to stop the roots bursting through the liner.

Best thing to do is to dig a trial hole where the pond is going, and to the same depth or more, and leave it for a couple of days. If the sides of the hole don't fall in then the soil type should be OK and if the hole doesn't fill with water then you shouldn't have a problem with ground water.

One last point, remember that ponds can go up as well as down. Could you use some of the soil from the excavation to raise the ground level in the pond area so you don't need to dig as deep or take as much spoil away?

Regards

Iain

Thanks for that. I am now looking at doing an 18inch wall around the top of the pond. So it may now be 3 foot in ground and 18" above. I'm thinking, so far, that i may go for a 12x9x4.5 foot pond. Enough to start with me thinks. lol
Im getting a few quotes from brickies to do the wall. I hope its not too much money.

Zoe,
A few things to think about :-
1) will the brickwork be seen when finished? if not then you can use concrete blocks rather than bricks which is cheaper and faster.
2) When you build a brick wall you normally build it in the middle of a concrete footing, but you need to think about how this will effect your design. If you want the pond to have fairly straight sides then you will need to draw this to show your builder/bricklayer so that he builds it right. The other alternative is to incorporate the concrete footing into a planting shelf.
3) plan carefully how your cables and pipes will pass through the brickwork.

Hope that helps.

Iain

thasnks for that. i'll be certain to factor that in.

You may want to give Ian_clark's point 3 with a lot of thought. Nothing worse than seeing cables coming over the edge of a pond.

You may also want to consider laying a pipe underground to bring the cables to........
__________________________________________________

Concrete blocks are cheaper than bricks, you could even have them skimmed then painted. (I did)