How to build a pond or garden pond?

You have always dreamed of having a pond in your garden and you have never dared to take the plunge. Know that this aquatic element will make your garden even more attractive and give it a very special atmosphere. Installing a water feature in your garden will bring you a lot of benefits. First of all, from an aesthetic point of view.

Then, you will import a very special fauna and flora. And this oasis will give you a lot of pleasure. But don't go too fast. A piece of water cannot be improvised. Its shape, its style, its aesthetics, its level of technicality will depend on your desires.

The natural type water feature - Between 1500 to 2000 euros

First scenario, you want to create a natural type of water feature in your garden with beautiful beds of plants and to guarantee clear water for this basin and to guarantee good health for the fish, a filtration system is essential. .

At the same time, we take advantage of the filtration pump to create a pleasant sound of water. To create this piece of water at home, which is about 5 meters by two meters 50. Count approximately a budget between 1500 to 2000 euros.

The Japanese-style pool - Between 4000 and 6000 euros.

Second scenario your garden is relatively large and sloping. Take advantage of the natural slope of the land to create a first upper basin which, by overflowing, will feed a natural-type waterfall, which will flow into a larger basin. So, in this case, the basin is Japanese style, with a large azalea massif in the background. We played a lot on minerals, large stones. There are also Japanese lanterns and in the pool, a multitude of large koi carp. If you want to build a pool like this at home, knowing that it contains approximately 30,000 liters of water, that there is a large filtration system and a large pump to have clear water and supply the waterfall, you must still count a budget between 4000 and 6000 euros.

The modern style basin - From 5000 euros

Another example is a more modern, more stylish basin, with vertical walls and above ground and only dedicated to fish without plants. You should know that the construction of a pond like this requires a large implementation, a large filtration system to guarantee clear water and very good quality water for your fish. Obviously, the construction of a pool of this type will require a much larger budget, which will vary and which will start at 5,000 euros, but which can go much higher depending on the volume you want to have.

A very nice little piece of water - Around 450 euros.

You have a small space. You are basically a plant lover and still want a water feature in your garden. Know that there is a way to do without a filtration system. It is the plants, mainly water lilies and oxygenating plants, which will help you to guarantee clear water. In this case, yes, of course, the budget will be a little more restricted since there is no filtration system, but it will still depend on the materials used and the size of your pond.

If you don't have space at all to create a pond, there are other systems to create a pleasant little water basin in a corner of your terrace. We are going to explain to you, step by step, how to install this very nice little piece of water in your home in a part of your garden.

The different stages of creation to be expected

If you have a small space to develop and you want to stay within a reasonable budget, the first thing is the choice of pool. So, I suggest taking this preformed pool of 750L and which is a reasonable budget, so less than 100 euros.

We will then start by choosing the filtration system. Technique is essential if you want a good result, and if you want to guarantee clear water all year round, a filtration system is essential for a small pool like this. We recommend a kit which includes a pump, a filter and a UV and which will guarantee clear water throughout the year.

Once the basin has been chosen and the technical part, let's move on to aesthetics. It would be important to be able to take a few flat stones to hide the edge of the pool. In addition, we offer a small pre-made waterfall to make a nice water noise that will be fed by the pump, pushing the water out of the filter.

For a small prefabricated pond such as this plus, the filtration kit, the waterfall and the stones, we have a total of around 450 euros.

So, you have selected a fairly pleasant and rural place to install this small piece of water. The layout is something very important and above all, its exposure. You have to think about it. A pool is not placed in the shade. So, we place it half shade, half sun. Then, you have to trace the shape of the basin on the ground. We remove the basin and start the hole. Then, the pelvis will be repositioned once or twice in the hole, so as to check that the hole is of the right size.

Then, we put sand in the bottom, or even better, possibly stabilized. We put the basin in place and we will backfill with sand or stabilized. Then, we will put the stones all around the basin in order to hide this black edge which is really not pretty. A good hour of work will have been enough to achieve this result.

The basin is installed, the stones are placed, we will first put the plants. It's easier to put the plants in place before putting in the water. Otherwise, we will mix the potting soil with the water and the pond will immediately be very dirty.

Plants, there is a large choice. Like terrestrial plants. There are a lot of aquatic plants. There are several hundred varieties and it takes budgets that are not exorbitant. Not to mention that the plants, on average, cost between 2.50 and 3 euros.

The small waterfall is super easy to install. You take one or two wheelbarrows of earth that you tamp well and you put the waterfall on the mound of earth so as to give it a slight slope towards the basin.

We have finished installing the aquatic plants and we have mainly put the plants with large development in the back, and the plants with small development in front.

At the bottom of the pond, bottom substrate is installed. It is a small porous stone that will first give you a clear bottom in the bottom of the basin and then allow the development of bacteria for the decomposition of organic matter.

Last step before filling this basin with water, we will first put all the filtration technique in place. Filtration consists of three elements.

• The pump,
• The filter
• And inside the filter, a UV.

We will first place the pump in the bottom of the basin. We will connect a pipe to it that will come to the place where we will put the filtration system. The pump will push the water through the filter and the UV and it will feed the small waterfall

The UV that is in the filter will prevent the water from turning green. In the filter, there are different filter materials. There are small stones for bacteria. There are essentially small foams which will stop all suspended matter.

Our piece of water is ready to live, so we will first talk a little about water. I suppose that for a piece of water, you need the most natural water possible. Rainwater is not ideal.

Rainwater is like distilled water. There is nothing. There are no mineral salts. There are no carbonates. To stabilize the pH of a body of water, carbonate is needed. So rainwater is not suitable. We'll take unsoftened tap water. If you have a water softener, great.

You can also use spring water or water from a borehole. Once the water is in its place, we will wait a little longer before putting fish in it. The water may be too cold. We could cause a thermal shock that would be fatal to them. In addition, inevitably, after a fortnight, we will have a peak in nitrites. And after the peak of nitrites, we will pass a peak of ammonia which are both very dangerous for fish. So, to prevent these peaks from being too high, we will introduce bacteria which will precisely allow the nitrite and ammonia peaks to remain relatively low. And in a fortnight, three weeks, we can put fish there.

And what do we do after waiting these 3 weeks? That's it, we install the fish?

Well, not yet. Before buying fish, take some of this water and have it analyzed in a specialized store. Have your Ph, your GH, your cache, your nitrites and your ammonia analyzed. And afterwards, you can possibly have the green light to put fish. If you follow these steps you will have every chance of having a nice pond, with healthy fish.