Welcome
Directory
Design
Features
Fish
Plants
Pests
Maintenance
Do-It-Yourself
Biography
Testimonials
Newsletter
Feedback
Sail RC
Size, Shape, Location
Other articles this section - Underwater Shape
Each page on this site is formatted for easy printing. You should be able to print your own hard copy with ease. All material is copyrighted so you may not reproduce it without permission.
You can put a pond just about anywhere, using just about any size and shape - I have even built one inside a home. But, let's be realistic, if you want a pond to balance in nature, you must give it a fighting chance. So, I have adopted the following guidelines as being the basic set of pond parameters.
Size
Size refers to the water surface area of your pond, not the depth. There is no upper limit to the size of pond you can build. But you will find there are two important factors affecting the upper limit. One is the size of the area you have for your pond and, two, how much money you want to spend. The bigger the pond the better, ecologically speaking, so build the biggest pond you will afford that will fit into the space you have.
Build your pond with at least
25 square feet of water surface area.
There IS a lower limit, however. You should be careful to build your pond with at least 25 square feet of water surface area. Oh Great!, how much is 25 square feet? The simple way to get an approximation of what 25 sq. ft. looks like, is to lay out a square measuring 5' on a side. When you lay out the shape of your pond, make sure you cover more ground than the 5' square.
Some people profess the mistaken belief that pond health is a function of water volume. Don't believe it. You can not make up for small water surface area by making your pond deeper. It'll never happen. Pond health and capacity are largely a function of water surface area.
The water's surface is the lung of your pond. Through it passes oxygen and other gases, plus sunlight. The smaller the lung, the more fragile the system. Sure you can build a smaller pond but it doesn't shake off problems as well. So, shoot for 25 sq. ft., or more, and watch Mother Nature smile!
Don't get cute with a pond design
that looks like a boomerang!
Simple Shape
The expense of building a pond is primarily in the perimeter. Economically, and practically, speaking, you should keep your pond shaped more like a circle, oval, or kidney. Don't try to get cute by designing your pond like a boomerang wrapped around a corner of your house or deck, or to look like the figure 8! If you do, you will spend a lot more money for a lot less pond and you will make the actual construction a nightmare. If you are going to build a pond get the Ponds Builtbyu package and you will get specifics of building shape into your pond without killing the pond or yourself.
See article on Underwater Shape.
Location, Location, Location
Please don't make the mistake of putting your pond in that awful place in the back corner of your yard where you can't get anything else to grow - and where you never go!
- Rule numero uno - "Put it where you are!". Can you see it from your favorite chair in the living room, or from your deck chair, from your kitchen window? Put it where you will enjoy it the most.
- Put it in a protected place - Don't put your pond in the front yard where kids will play in it, vandals will dump shampoo into it or dogs will gleefully splash through it. The best choice is close to the house in the back yard, as much out of view of passersby as possible.
Liability You should check ordinances in your area about pond security requirements (fences, etc.). Also make sure to check your insurance for protection if someone is injured in your pond. Small children are your main concern although I have heard of adults falling into ponds, too.
- Sunlight - You can place your pond in the shade or in full sunlight, or anywhere in between. There are two considerations. The first one is important. If you want to grow water lilies (and most people do), you will need at least 5 hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight per day for them to bloom. Period. Buying a water lily and not getting it to bloom is a real downer - and usually that happens because it does not get enough sun!
If you want lilies to bloom,
you must have five hours
of direct sunlight each day.
The second consideration is leaf fall. If you are in the shade, you are probably under trees. Trees have leaves. Even though leaves are not the problem many profess, they can be a nuisance. - Run off - It is important not to allow rain water run-off to enter your pond. It often carries pollutants that will upset the effort you have made to bring about ecological balance. I have actually seen people put their downspouts from the roof right into their pond - bad idea. You should also make sure that sprinklers do not frequently add a significant amount of water to your pond. You never know what is in that water!
Layout
The quickest and easiest-to-use tool is your garden hose. Just lay it out on the ground to the size and shape you like best and then let it sit there for a day or two while you look at it. Look at it from your deck, your living room chair, the kitchen window - in other words, look at it from where you will normally look at it. You will be surprised how many times you change your layout if you look at it for a day or two.
Measuring
When you have decided on the size, shape and location, you then need to measure it for a liner (see discussion of liners in Underwater Shape). First measure the longest dimension, shore to shore. That becomes the "length". Lay a 2"x4" or ribbon (anything straight) along the line you measured to get the "length". Now move along that line until you come to the maximum width on either side of that line when measured PERPENDICULAR to the "length" line. This technique is detailed with drawings in the Ponds Builtbyu package.
Add to these two dimensions (length & width), twice the depth of your pond plus at least 1 foot for edge overlap. Let's say you are building a 2' deep pond and the length is 7'. That means that the length dimension of your liner needs to be 12' (7' + 2(2') + 1'). If the width is 6' then you need a liner that is 11' wide.
| Tip: Contact your liner supplier to find out what standard sizes they carry. Then do the math backwards so you know how to adjust your pond size to get the most pond for the liner you buy. For instance, if you find a standard size that is 16' by 12' and you are building a 2' deep pond, then you cannot exceed a pond length of 11' or a width of 7'. Now you do the math. |
"Ribet"
Detailed instructions on building your
new pond are available on this site, click here.