Other people choose to build a pond in their home. If you are going to make a pond, this guide will prove itself to be pretty indispensable. Here is everything you need to know on how to build a pond :
There is a pretty deep quote out there that suggests that all of us are children of the sea. Everyone loves seeing fishes now and then. Some people have to find the time of the day to go to the local aquarium to see fishes.
Pre-requisites you should know about:
Before we begin building a pond, here are a few things that you need to know:
Ponds are expensive
The first thing you need to know before trying to make a pond is that they are expensive. It can cost anywhere between $3000 to $8500 per acre to build a pond. Though this does try to include the cost of rocks and fishes, it is only an estimate.
The price of a pond depends on various factors such as:
- Liner material – the rocks and other materials that are needed to make the exterior of the pond.
- Pond location – depending on where you live, the location can take a massive chunk of money out of your wallet.
- Size – the bigger the pond, the more the money you will need to sink
- Fishes & water – the main attraction of the pond: you can either spend a few dollars or thousands on fishes and water.
- Soil type – you will need to determine the type of soil for your pond too. That costs a few petty bucks.
- Labor cost – counting in the labor cost as well as the cost of machinery, it can be a big burden. Some excavations can take from $120 to $140 per hour.
- Electricity – though this is optional, wiring the pond for viewing and heating can be a big investment.
Do all sorts of research:
Before trying to make a pond, you should thoroughly research on everything related to ponds. Here are a few things that you would want to research on:
- Fish – there are over 30,000 types of fishes in the world. Choose your fighter depending on whether they can survive in the build pond you have.
- Size – what is the optimum size of the pond you want. Too small can make your fishes suffocate or look congested.
- Other things – think about the luxuries that you need to add in your build pond as well.
How to build a pond? A step-by-step guide:
Now that all the prerequisites for building a pond are done, let us discuss in steps how to make a pond. We will try to make this guide as general as possible so you can build whatever type of pond you want.
Step 1: Gathering the ingredients
The first step to making a build pond is to gather the ingredients needed. You will be needing the following things:
- Free patch of land – this is the basic ingredient. You can’t make a pond in air, can you?
- A plank – this will help you level the area to help build pond faster and more accurately.
- Pond liner – there are a lot of types of liners in the market. Choose one that is easy to work with and effective.
- Pond plants & fishes – you can’t really have an empty pond, right?
- Rocks – we will be using these rocks as the walls of the pond. Rock cleans water and makes it easier for fishes to swim.
- Sand – preferably builder’s sand, this will help you not only level the pond, but also make it comfortable enough to breath in.
Step 2: Cleaning the workspace
The second step in building a pond involves you cleaning the workspace to ensure the wildlife being comfortable. Mark the area that you need to use for a pond and ensure that no wildlife enters this place. You can use a plank or a marker to keep these pests away.
Step 3: Start digging
This is a pretty simple step: use an excavator or a spade to dig into the area. You can use a straight plank to ensure that area is level. Do note that the area needs to be level, or it could cause difficulty later.
Step 4: Cleaning up
While you are digging, you will run into rocks and creatures that live inside the soil. You will need to carefully remove them from the soil. We will be adding rocks later on in this guide to build pond, so don’t fret now.
Step 5: Put sand in
After properly cleaning the area, be sure to put the builder’s sand in. This will help you perfectly level the area and make it impossible for germs and microbes to survive.
Step 6: Dig a trench
After putting the soil in, you are almost halfway done on building a pond. The next thing that you would want to do is dig a simple trench around the edges. You can choose one side and drop the pond liner in. Be careful or you might damage the design of the pond.
Step 7: Fill the pond
Fill the pond up with the water. We don’t recommend using a hose as high pressure can cause the soil to disperse. The liner will stretch as you fill the pond with water. You are technically done with building a pond by now.
Step 8: Place rocks
Now that you are done filling the pond with water, the trench must have expanded. Fill the expanded areas with rocks to ensure that the water does not leak.
Step 9: It’s time for plants
In this step of building a pond, we will want to add plants into the pond for at least 2 weeks. This will help cultivate the water enough for fishes or water life to live in.
Step 10: Add in species
Add the species that you wanted to add after these 2 weeks or how you are advised by professionals. You don’t need to maintain the pond a lot as well.
Final Thoughts:
You are finally done with building a pond all on your own. We congratulate you on your efforts. We hope that this guide on how to make a pond was helpful to you. How do you feel having a build pond in your vicinity? Let us know in the comment section. If you want to make additions to this ‘make a pond’ guide, you are more than welcome to do so too.
