Whiskey barrel pond anybody?

[Jared77]

So I've been wanting a pond since we moved and I had to leave it.

So knowing it's a VERY low priority to start digging and liner I thought I'd do a 1/2 whiskey barrel pond on the corner of the deck. I have a good spot for it, easy access to water, and electricity.

Keep it simple do a drop in liner, Simple biological filter with a pump that pushes clean water up to a spitter to get some surface agitation.

A dwarf water lily, some sort of submersible edge grass type plants to give it some height and help hide the hose to the spitter.

Maybe a couple of feeder goldfish to give it some movement and keep the Mosquitos at bay.

Wondering if anybody has one? Suggestions? Do's, don'ts etc?

 

[Smart Red]

We had one for a short time. It was our first water feature and put together a long time ago. Only had it for one season before we dug out a small pond. No bio filter, no drop in liner, did have small pump, a few water plants and goldfish. No suggestions. Yours already sounds better planned than mine.

 

[Jared77]

The drop in liner was what made me think it might be a worthwhile project.

Rest I started figuring out as I read up on them.

I'd love to have a big pond like 2,500 gallons dug that's fairly deep for koi, with lots of rock, a walking bridge, flagstone path, weeping maples, cherry trees, the whole picture. One of these days...

 

[Smart Red]

"Dream a little dream with me. . "

 

[digitS']

I think you should try for a little falling water sound, @Jared77 . I'm not sure what a "spitter" does. Maybe, it is enuf.

The next door neighbor had a little pond I could see from my yard at my old home. I did a good job of ignoring it, unconsciously. Well tended, some nice plants - I longed for the sound of water ... New home, low priority, but I even got a cast iron pump. Still didn't put it together. As I lost more of my hearing, there was just less reason to.

Steve

 

[Jared77]

@digitS' A spitter is any decorative piece that water flows through and arcs it back into the pond like the heron pictured below.

So any of the statues or structures that have a stream of water going through them is a spitter. The idea is to break the surface of the water for gas exchange, and help oxygenate it.

Plus it helps keep undesirable insects from congregating and hatching the next generation.

It's tough because my Mom went to Japan and toured some of the gardens there and many have very large ponds as the main feature. They have breathtakingly beautiful koi.

They are even trained that when you clap your hands they come to the surface to get fed. They can feel the rhythmic vibrations and are trained that vibration equals food. I saw the video she shot of it, it's really something else.

 

[digitS']

Back in the old yard,

I would have had my attention drawn to that heron every time I walked by. Yeah , I'm not kidding, I never looked or thought about the neighbor's pond for months at a time. Someone would mention it and it was always an "oh, yeah" moment.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I would like a small water feature thingy somewhere close to the house. I've thought about using a half barrel, or a pretty glazed pot....

Somehow it gets shuffled to the bottom of the project pile every summer. My sister gave me a pump for Christmas one year and it's been stored more or less on the top of things so I don't completely forget. Maybe next summer will be my pond year!

 

[Carol Dee]

@Jared77 I think you have a great plan already go for it.
We have a 1/2 whisky barrel as part of our water feature. The in ground 4 X 12 (2 foot deep) Houses the water plants, filter/pump and koi. Water is pumped to the old cast iron hand pump on the deck that drops water into the 1/2 barrel. Into which we have fashioned a spill pipe of copper tubing out the side. This drops into the upper pond 2X4 foot (1 foot deep) this water then falls over a flat rock back into the big lower pond . We love it. Usually we have lots of green in the upper pond to help as a bio filter. This summer it house 4 new smaller koi.

 

[Nyboy]

Not to rain on this thread, but what are you going to do for winter? break it down till spring or heat?