RDX
Member
I've been building ponds for the past few summers when I have days off from work. I really enjoy it and would gladly take it up full time if it paid like petroleum engineering.
I first started to build them in my parents backyard when I was in high school. I will admit that the first ones were pretty crude, but I learned a lot of things along the way. Eventually, people were asking if I would do landscaping for them. I wasn't terribly interested unless they wanted a pond/stream/fountain installed, but I ended up mostly doing general landscaping during the summers in college and few ponds.
Now that I have a good job, I don't need to do it for income anymore; so it's turned more into a hobby. Here are pictures of my most recent one:
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00074wu6.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00068tk9.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00067wi0.jpg
I started it about half way through the summer last year and completed most of it before winter. I just have a few other things to do this spring such as building a rock path, finish placing rocks around the top part of the stream, some lighting, and a little more plumbing. The rocks were all handpicked from rock piles in the area and hauled in with a tahoe (don't ask me how many trips that took), except for the largest 10 or so, which were loaded onto a trailer with a bobcat. To start the stream, I drilled a 2" hole through a rock near the top to create a sort of spring. The water flows down a 40 foot stream into a 2500 gal koi pond. The setup is about as low maintenance as it gets, with a very energy efficient external pump (does about 50gal/min), an auto fill and auto drain, an oversize bio filter with UV sterilization and an auto back flush.
Most of the plants were put in this spring, so very little is established. It should look nice by the end of the summer though. I'm about ready to start another.
I first started to build them in my parents backyard when I was in high school. I will admit that the first ones were pretty crude, but I learned a lot of things along the way. Eventually, people were asking if I would do landscaping for them. I wasn't terribly interested unless they wanted a pond/stream/fountain installed, but I ended up mostly doing general landscaping during the summers in college and few ponds.
Now that I have a good job, I don't need to do it for income anymore; so it's turned more into a hobby. Here are pictures of my most recent one:
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00074wu6.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00068tk9.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00067wi0.jpg
I started it about half way through the summer last year and completed most of it before winter. I just have a few other things to do this spring such as building a rock path, finish placing rocks around the top part of the stream, some lighting, and a little more plumbing. The rocks were all handpicked from rock piles in the area and hauled in with a tahoe (don't ask me how many trips that took), except for the largest 10 or so, which were loaded onto a trailer with a bobcat. To start the stream, I drilled a 2" hole through a rock near the top to create a sort of spring. The water flows down a 40 foot stream into a 2500 gal koi pond. The setup is about as low maintenance as it gets, with a very energy efficient external pump (does about 50gal/min), an auto fill and auto drain, an oversize bio filter with UV sterilization and an auto back flush.
Most of the plants were put in this spring, so very little is established. It should look nice by the end of the summer though. I'm about ready to start another.
