A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 DIGGING QUESTION HERE!!

Hi, am new to this post so please be nice ...i think u will , anyways am 16 years old, and i have already started diggind myself a pond, 7x7 feets,, problem is how deep should i dig it, and rite now i am about 12 inches at the deepest, how long would it take me to dig 3 feet, and how many small goldfish would a 7x7x3 pond hold?? also one more question? is it really neccesary to have a filter and a pump thingy??? or is there some way around it? as u can see...me bieng a 16 year old, i dont earn enough money...any digging tips ppl????ANY help would be deeply appreciated! thnx in advance

Can anyone help????really desperate!!!

Well you can dig it as quick as you chose to work. Its hard work indeed, but good for you! You are taking on a large task, and for it to successfully hold fish you are going to need a liner of some sort, and yes sorry to say a pump. The fish need it to circulate the water, you should also put in some plants for oxygen. I know some people who use the black plastic paper you get from stores like wal mart or lowes. Its usually like 6mm I would suggest you use the thickest you can find, its cheap. As for pump and filter, there is a great post here on how to make your own filter, but the pump is a cost. Mom and dad wont spot you the money for the effort your putting in. I know I sure would be willing to support my kids in such and endeavor. Its a great way for a kid to spend their time. As far as plants I am sure once you get that far some of us here will try to help with that issue, with your folks consent of course. I suggest you talk to mom and dad see if they can help you out with the cost. If you work hard and promise to finish the task I bet they will. Good luck and keep on digging! Also I dont know your weather but I would suggest 2.5 to 3 ft minimum for that length and width.

Some times it take awhile for someone to reply to your post, these arent like a chat room.

What kind of winters do you have there????? My pond book says that if you live where there are bad winters it needs to be 3 feet deep in the middle for the fish to survive. We have bad winters here and are planning to make the pond much bigger and much deeper in the autumn right before winter hits.

My pond isn't very big right now....it's about 6 by 4 feet and 20 inches deep........and I don't have a filter in mine.....I do use a solar fountain to help oxygenate the water for the fish.

Here's a link to my pond topic...

my pond

Oh, I have 4 goldfish(one died this morning), and about 12 mosquito fish, but one of them just had babies. That's a lot for a small pond, but it will be bigger soon. And I have 4 water snails and a bullfrog....The bullfrog found the pond by itself.

thnx a lot karrie, i was thinking 3 feet too but the ground is full of rocks, and the pump, i was just hoping to save some money, weather heres HOT! hm.. i suppose i DO need to spend money then hehe...

BTW, this is my pump.......

solar pump

Once you pay the inital cost of buying it you won't be paying more electric costs, but it only works when it's sunny and not at night.

The only thing my pond cost me was for the solar pump, fish, and plants. I got the liner for free.....

But you can make the pond without spending much money....

Good luck with the digging...it's pretty rocky here too.....no easy way around it either, just got keep digging it out!

thnk u loz...the coldest the winters get is 15 C, no frozen water AT ALL...hehe...oh also u mentioned u dont have a filter, wat if i arrange a way to put in fresh water every second day, would that keep the fish alive??? instead of using a pump??

My pond in Indiana didn't have a filter other then the one attached to the pump in it, and it did fine till we put in fish, but our fish mutiplied like crazy so a filter became necessary.

wut exactly does a filter do?? and wat if i arrange a way to put in fresh water every second day, instead of installing a pump would that keep the fish alive???thnx for ur help again

oh alos wuts a "Skimmer", and loz, where does all the water u put in thro the solar pumpp go? ??

A filter...well, it filters all the dirt stuff, fish poop, etc. out of your water to keep it clean. If you don't have a filter you will get some bad algae pretty fast. If you put in water every second day you are going to have a big expense in the conditioner that you have to add to the water to get the chlorine, etc. out of it, unless you have another source for your water besides the garden hose. Your fish can't live in water that has all those chemicals in it that they add to drinking water.


That's almost the size of the first pond I had.
I bought 5 little goldfish to put in it.
Those 5 fish had a LOT of babies in the spring, and now I have about 75 goldfish, and have had to build a huge pond for them. :rolleyes:
How Not To Build A Pond

hmm thnx mate!!!!really appreciate it!

My solar fountain pump just sprays the water in the air and back in the pond, to keep the water oxygenate.....still water is not good for the fish....

My pond doesn't have a shallow end for the fish to mate in so I haven't had golfish babies......the whole pond is 20 inches deep.

I top off my pond every single day in the summer because of evaporation.

When we make the new pond though I will be adding a filter and electric pump. I wish I would've done that with this small pond actually.

Have you thought about maybe just having a whiskey barrel pond?

HEY how come loz get her pond without a filte and a pump, but just a fountain???and u pretty sure my fish wont live in garden hose water??...is a filter one of those things u put in the kitchen??

by the way grey parrot ?? i read ur other posts and saw ur home made filter!!!...how can i make one??

and loz... a whisky barrel pond wont be fun at all!!! lol

ha too much reasearch for today..will check this site again tomoroow.very helpful ppl here ...ill gfo sleep now its 4:53 AM!!!!

i have a "whiskey barrel pond" that isn't a barrel at all. it is a plastic tub that is about 2 feet deep. i have 10 fish right now and a pump, but no filter. i am going to have to add a filter though. although, with enough plants you can get away with postponing the filter.

if my geography is right, you will have a problem with water loss due to evaporation if you don't have enough plants. and even then, you will have some. isn't Qatar considered an arid country?

as for the water, you need to find out if the water from your garden hose is treated with chlorine or chloramine. or if it is not treated at all (if it is straight from a well). if it is treated, you will need water conditioner, and you will need to plan the water so that you have some conditioning to add. if it is treated with chlorine, you can just let it sit overnight. if it is chloramine, you need to purchase a chemical for it. hope this helps.

thnx a lot...and yes qatar IS a very hot country, dunno wut arid means :p , by the way, "it is treated with chlorine, you can just let it sit overnight"???REALLY? i suppose ill have to add plants then...thnx for the help

hmmmmm....so a pump is not really needed too, if u put in water every day?? or find sumthing to keep the water moving???

OHH AND ANOTHER BURNING QUESTION!!!, DO I NEED A FILTER IF I GET FILTERED WATER VIA THE GARDEN HOSE, i just found out that water from our garden hose is ALREADY filtered... , i still dont get the job of a pump then :S, cya am gonna go back to some extensive diggin, arrgh these blisters are annoying!

you have to have the pump. it causes the water to mix with air, something the fish need. it is an absolute necessity.

and if the water from the hose is filtered, is is "treated" or "softened"? if it comes from a deep well (i'm guessing it does) or if it is piped in, usually chemicals are added to make the water taste good and/or to counter the iron and minerals that is usually in water. if the water is treated or softened, you will have to address that too, as the chemicals used to soften the water are bad for fish.

and arid means dry. desert like. one more thing, if you don't mind. it is easier to read your posts if you don't use all caps except for one or two words for emphasis.

Well a pond filter is really a good thing, it helps get rid of all the fish poop and other yucky things.....

Adding water once each day doesn't make up for having your water moving all day......the bubbles from a fountain adds oxygen to the water throughout the day.

And I'd get some pond plants...that is a good shady place for fish to hide, and it helps the ecological balance of the pond.