How to Build a Wildlife Pond: Part 6 - Planting, Hibernaculum and Finishing Touches

[SKExotics]

Job well done! I loved every installment!

[pondguru]

Thanks for watching. I tried to trim it down to just the important stuff, but there was alot of important information for this style of pond - much more than with a koi pond.

Thanks for sticking it out. lol

[billyarseface]

wow this was a great "How to" congrats. I would love to build a big pond in my garden and stock it with course fish. How big can one go before it becomes un feasible?

[pondguru]

The acheivability of any project is limited mostly by finances. I was lucky and called in a favour, located a nearby spring and grew all my own aquatic plants for my large pond / small lake - it didn't cost much compared to if I had contractors doing the work.

[billyarseface]

@pondguru I see, costs aside, is there a limit to the amount of pressure the lining can take? Without access to a spring how deep could one go? (do you have any videos of the making of your lake?)

[pondguru]

Water pressure isn't an issue provided the liner is properly supported and there are no cavities under it. My pond is approx 5m deep which is plenty deep enough for trout and probably way too deep for coarse fish. The only footage of the big pond is on a couple of camcorder tapes so I really should take them to a digital images place? to get them put to DVD so I can make a film of that.

[billyarseface]

@pondguru I'm sure allot of people would love to see you pond/lake. For coarse fish I meant roach, perch, bream rudd etc.... so the more depth the better guess. I really would love to do something like this but without access to a spring or river I'm just not sure if it is possible. I live in Ireland BTW.

[pondguru]

Some modern coarse fisheries are only 2 - 2.5m deep do depth isn't really too important. For trout, the deeper the better as they don't do too well in warmer water.

For a large pond / lake, liner would have to be joined on-site.

[billyarseface]

@pondguru I though as much. How would you join the lining? Using a blowtorch?

[pondguru]

You need special liquid to prepare the liner and adhesive. In a dish shaped pond it is much easier to doin than in a pond wit shelves and other features. For a coarse fishing pond which was lined, ideally you would line it, cover the liner in a layer of clay based soil then build your features / fish shelters on top of the liner so allow for this by having concrete pads under the liner if building islands out of blocks on to of the liner.

[SPARKYGUSS]

Outstanding series watched every step. If the BBC are watching, here is a star in the making. Thanks for all the tips and info, brilliant job. Cheers bud.

[pondguru]

No worries, man.

Yeah, with a very good editing team, some of my videos might make it onto one of the obscure satellite channels at 3AM. lol.

Will give you a call regarding getting out before the holidays are over.

[mssassytiff]

WOW very nice :]

[pondguru]

No worries, thanks for watching and appreciating.

[swivelgate]

Very nice Series thanks for posting it .Pond came out great .

[pondguru]

Thanks for appreciating. I won't be able to video my next few projects as my video camera has broken down and I'm financially embarrased at the moment so won't be able to buy another soon.

[jaimeabod1]

great!!!!!! I´m trying to build a 1000 gallon turtle pond and your videos are a great help!!!!!!!!! I´ll put about 12 turtles into the pond and I´m thinking about the next filtration system: 4" bottom drain------cetus sieve---------pump-------diy 55 gallon barrel (biofilter, maybe a trickle tower)-----------second pump--------uvc 55 vat-------waterfall. a question, better a diy trickle tower or a eazypod air? thank you and congratulations for your videos and channel.

[pondguru]

I would end to pick a trickle tower over anything from EA. While their filters are good, they are way over priced and you could make something as good for a fraction of the price.

Thanks for appreciating my vids, man.

[jaimeabod1]

@pondguru thank you very much for your advice. I didn´t know you´ve got a shop on ebay. do you send to spain? thank you again!!!!!!!

[pondguru]

Yes, I post worldwide. Just search for peat balls and you'll find me on ebay. I'm the only one who sells them.

[jaimeabod1]

@pondguru wonderfull.I´ve found your ebay shop. is there a list of all the products and prizes? thank you

[pondguru]

Just click on 'view other items' and they will come up.

[jaimeabod1]

@pondguru ok. I´ve found them. I´m looking for a cetus sieve, two 2500 gallon\hour pumps, uvc filter, a good filter media for two diy trictle towers. I´m beginning with my pond filtration system. do you sell these? thank you

[pondguru]

The only things I sell on ebay is what is listed - a few natural products for aquarium water conditioning.

[grahamh1967]

Just watched 1-6 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done with the vids and thanks for posting. I look forward to watching other vids youve done, Ive subscribed and will ponder through them as Im interested in simular activaies as you. Graham.

[pondguru]

Thanks for watching and appreciating. I've got another one to start on monday. The hole has been dug already so hopefully it will be as precise as this one. The next one will have really nice rocks around the edges and a cascade so there will be pump and filter to set up.

I'll film it and do videos in chapters again as there will be lots of different techniques to explain with this one.

People seem to like the more detailed approach to the videos.

[grahamh1967]

@pondguru I know how much goes into building a pond, I built one 11ft x 6ft x3ft deep It was big enough for me and the Garden but We moved house and ive not had a pond since. The pond, fish and the sound of running water was so calming after a busy day! Keep the vids coming m8 and Ill keep watching them. Graham.

[pondguru]

Hopefully they will find their own way there. In UK its illegal to move amphibians from pond to pond but it happens. When I was planting up, one of the large plants I brought from my house had a newt in it and there was a frog found by a guy doing maintenance on the school drains so there are two residents already.

[unlockwall]

in case no has said it thanks for making your videos 

[pondguru]

No problemo, I like making them.

[blackprince4]

cant help but appreciate the work you do!!!

[pondguru]

No worries, man.

Thanks for watching.

I'll continue the detailed approach next kob as it seems to go down quite well with viewers.

[12Achilleas]

nice video and very helpfull

[pondguru]

Thanks for watching and appreciating.

[Gritzaable]

you should make a revisit video in a couple of months time :)

[pondguru]

I will if I'm passing, yes.

[handsup115]

love it

[pondguru]

Thanks for watching and appreciating.

[ievolvedfrommonkeys]

i really enjoyed this whole series of videos. the end result is much nicer than any pond i've seen. i'd love to see the process of adding inhabitants if you get the opportunity and the time. would there be external filtration for a unit like that?

[pondguru]

I may add a bag of invertebrates but that would be it. Unless fish end up in there and the water goes green (requiring pump and filter) no filter will be added as it is meant to be 100% natural.

Thanks for watching.

[joshuamyler]

so its not a fish pond then?

[pondguru]

No, if the kids want to catch wildlife when studying the pond, no fish. Fish will eat most of the wildlife.

[joshuamyler]

@pondguru oh i see :)

[stevenfebus14]

filtration????

[pondguru]

Not in a dipping pond as the pump, no matter how good, will suck in wildlife. Once established, the plants should keep the water clear, as should daphnia which should bloom without the presence of fish.

[stevenfebus14]

@pondguru well that concept work on aquariums?

[pondguru]

Since fish eat daphnia, I doubt it but a quantity of water will sometimes go through a cycle of clear / cloudy / clear as invertebrates and infusoria live and die. I would always install a pump and filter in a pond if clear water was to be guaranteed. Same with an aquarium - really needs a filter.

[gullars83]

What types of amfibians do you think will end up in the pond?

[pondguru]

Probably only common newt, palmate newt, common frog and common toad to be specific. We don't have a wealth of different amphibians in England, esp. Northern England.

[MrMfloor]

what about filters?

[pondguru]

Plants and daphnia. No fish makes their job much easier.

[JUNAID187]

Wow it looks very nice !

Are you going to add any stickleback fish or newts ?

[pondguru]

No sticklebacks as they are destructive little buggers, newts will most likely find their way to the pond.

[lanegjones]

how many gallons is that pond

[pondguru]

At a guess, I'd say 1500?

[lanegjones]

@pondguru it sure is beautiful

[pondguru]

It will no doubt look alot better once the plants have settled. i will try to get back to it before the end of the year and do an 'revisited' video.

[asiandude666]

looking good..how long did this all take?

[pondguru]

7 days but that includes getting stone from the quarry (and some days weren't exactly a full day)

[0h4yd3n0]

just a questionbecause i no you do metal detecting when i was digging my pond out i found 2 bottles 1 of them has s.v tinwell south shields writen on it and the other is a small blue bottle with poison writen on it does enyone no what they are or what the had in or what they were used for?

[pondguru]

I'd guess the poison one was a tonic, strangely. The Victorians were keep on taking different poisons for some reason. Since I'm not a bottle digger I don't know what the other one could be but if you do an image search on google, find a similar / same bottle then follow the link back to the website / forum, you may find out.

That's what I do with obscure metal detecting finds or stuff I'm baffled by.

[dirtdrag]

i really liked watching this series to bad its over ....but it looks great

[pondguru]

There will be more, no doubt.

[pintius5]

Love the large rockery type structure, do you think that the rain will eventually erode it down to some extent, or will the roots from all the plants hold it together?

[pondguru]

Roots should bind everything together nicely in time but I suppose a little may wash off.

[Josh40996]

It looks really good quick question because its a wildlife pond, will you still be adding fish or are you leaving it and seeing what wildlife it attracts?

[pondguru]

No fish, just wildlife.

[95mnbvcxz95]

Good series well done

[pondguru]

Thanks for appreciating. There will no doubt be more to follow when I do different jobs.

[MrAznPride501]

Are you going to stock up the pond or are you going to get wildlife to go in naturally ?

[pondguru]

There's already loads of invertebrates which came with the plants but I expect it won't be too long before amphibians and flying insects / beetles etc. find it.

[MrAznPride501]

@pondguru How about fish?

[pondguru]

No fish in a wildlife pond, man.

[MrAznPride501]

@pondguru The school told me to buy koi for the pond but thats not a really good idea.