# I'm Looking for small pond ideas



## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm looking to build a small pond and would like to see what others have done. Got any pictures you'd like to share of your pond?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Small (about 50 gallon each), preformed, came from Lowes. Yes, evaporation can become a problem in July and August. You'll always find dead frogs on the bottom after spring thaw. And sooner or later the sound of running water will make you have to pee.....


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Our volcanos, hot springs, and hot tubs.

Water features on the Tortoise & Lizard Bash Railroad


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

This is what I did. It's a mini-pond. Used a cement bucket. Little waterfall powered with a pump. Not able to post pictures/ video this moment so here are some links: 

Video on Youtube: http://youtu.be/nyg6LbF5HwE 

Pictures of the construction: http://public.fotki.com/SmallGardenRailway/buildings--landscape/watermill--fall/


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## Nutz-n-Bolts (Aug 12, 2010)

Posted By Mik on 22 Feb 2013 10:14 PM 
And sooner or later the sound of running water will make you have to pee..... 



Hey Mik, that could just be all those morning cups of coffee you drank.









Todd, love the volcanoes is there dry ice involved with them?


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## Bob Pero (Jan 13, 2008)

I used a pre-formed pond from Lowes. I put rock around the edges so that you could not see the black plastic, and added ground cover and small plants.


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

I recommend a preformed one if your going to do a small pond. It is a lot easier.


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## iaviksfan (Dec 27, 2007)

Here is my pond. While not entirely constructed properly, it works, for now. Its about 6x12 and 40" deep at one end and about 24 at the skimmer. There are about 14 goldfish and some frogs vist once in awhile.

Constructed with liner.



















Greg R.


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## iaviksfan (Dec 27, 2007)

well that didnt work too well. still havnt gotten the hang of adding pics.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I made my pond in the shape of the letter "C". The dirt from the digging was used to make a mound between the ends of the "C". One end of the "C" was deep and the rest was sloped up to shallow at the other end. I put large flat rocks on the hill at the shallow end to form a water fall and a pump in the deep end with a short hose to the top of the falls. With the proper mix of cheap goldfish and some water hyacinth and another plant I can't remember the name of... (it was just a stick with small leaves and had to have a lead weight on one end to make it stand up on end and anchor it down ... it multiplied rapidly too!) I did have to filter the water a lot but that was done by running the pumped water into the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket with a square of a bed sheet over the top (5-gallon bucket gave lots of surface area to the sheet material). I only ran the pump an hour or two per night and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and had to change the sheet material anywhere from once a week to once a month, depending on algea growth over the summer. The fish kept the mosquito population to an acceptable level and the plands helped clean up after the fish. Unfortunately, the fish became food for the local sewer bears (raccoons) and I gave up after feeding them a couple dozen gold fish in a year. I removed the whole thing and built an elevated RR instead. Live Steam is more fun than fish.


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## HaBi Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

If you have the space, go BIGGER! Not really any more upkeep than a small one. Also it's like curve diameters - nobody says they wished they'd gone with smaller curves. 

the other Rodney


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Nutz-n-Bolts on 23 Feb 2013 05:20 AM 
Posted By Mik on 22 Feb 2013 10:14 PM 
And sooner or later the sound of running water will make you have to pee..... 



Hey Mik, that could just be all those morning cups of coffee you drank.









Todd, love the volcanoes is there dry ice involved with them?


No, it's done electronically. You can't even buy a block of dry ice for the cost of a mister. Plus, you get a light show. 


Ultrasonic Misting Units for Under $5


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

The "hot tubs" are the wishing wells from the Spanish Mission collection available at Michaels. The bases are left over Corian and the "vessel" to contain the water and mister is a 4" PVC cap. This shows how I did them. The brass pipe for the water exiting the first rock has a rubber tube pushed into the end with a very small orfice. This leads to the first tub and the water enters the bottom port and exits the top port to the next tub by gravity feed. This tub does the same to the lower "natural spring" in the rock. Finally, the rock feeds down to the river where the water rejoins that from the first rock.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By jimtyp on 22 Feb 2013 03:41 PM 
I'm looking to build a small pond and would like to see what others have done. Got any pictures you'd like to share of your pond? 

I did it backwards. I bought the pond first and then built the model railroad. 



I might have gone overboard on the pond. It's 7 miles to the far shore.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

Lake Platipi is a pre-formed fibreglass pond I bought on clearance at Sam's Club in 2002 or so. It included a pump and a fibreglass mountain with small ponds leading to a waterfall. 

I ran the trains behind the mountain for a few years, 'til I decided to run them under the mountain. I raised the mountain on a pressure treated lumber scaffold. I lined the scaffold with heave rubber liner, and now I've got about three feet of mountain! I found the pump would not work well with the increased height, (value engineering at its worst), so I bought a new pump AND filter combo to keep water clean. 

I put goldfish in it, but when they got "snackin' size" the raccoons found the pond. I've fought them off for years now. I buy small feeder goldfish. I like to see them swimming around. 

Now the pond is beginning to show signs of wear (cracking). When I have to replace it, I'll probably keep the mountain, but use pond liner to build a newer (deeper) pond to protect the goldfish. Oh, and make it a little larger. It's only about 2.5 feet by 4 feet and no deeper than about 20 inches. 

I'll upload some pictures, and then try to figure out how to get them to appear here!


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## James1 (Sep 17, 2013)

Hmm sounds great I like the ideas of the pond because never see the model train around the pool, anyhow but its good to see. Thanks for sharing this, but you used the simple battery train or some special one.


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

With ponds you should always put some stepped rocks in there so birds and other critters don't get trapped by the steep sides. They need some way of crawling out. 


Andrew


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## Ehilsan (Mar 28, 2014)

Yeah this is good information i like this actually i was in searching for this information and thinking to make a thread for this but i have no need to make any thread after read out this information anyways thanks for this and have a nice day


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## dmikee (Dec 27, 2007)

Ponds are mostly full of yucky stuff. The best solution is to buy a ready made and assembled "pondless" fountain/waterfall. OSH has several, but I found mine at KMart! For about $90 it makes a nice sound, can be lit, and only uses about 5 gallons of water. Instead of filtering and treating, just change out the water. No mess, no chemicals, no fish to feed, no algae, and no herons or hawks diving in for lunch. I built one into a cliff wall made of concrete and stucco and it looks like a natural waterfall.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

dmikee said:


> Ponds are mostly full of yucky stuff. The best solution is to buy a ready made and assembled "pondless" fountain/waterfall. OSH has several, but I found mine at KMart! For about $90 it makes a nice sound, can be lit, and only uses about 5 gallons of water. Instead of filtering and treating, just change out the water. No mess, no chemicals, no fish to feed, no algae, and no herons or hawks diving in for lunch. I built one into a cliff wall made of concrete and stucco and it looks like a natural waterfall.


 
My lake has a float switch to drain it after the 3x daily watering cycle. Like you say, no mess, no chemicals, no fish to feed, no algae, and no herons or hawks diving in for lunch. (Actually, I leave a small chunk of a chlorine tablet in the small "standing well" for the pump.)

But you have to texture and color the bottom to make it look natural.


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