"Dan" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Finally, after several years of waiting, I'm about to build
my first small pond. Most of our yard is heavily wooded,
however, I think I have a sutable, but mostly shaded, area
near the house for a 1000 gallon pond with a two foot waterfall.

This sounds a lot like my old pond.


I've resigned myself to battling with tree debris -- falling twigs,
leaves, and seeds -- in the spring and fall. I'm not a big koi fan
which is probably a good thing considering the number of raccoons, snakes,
herons, etc. in the area. However, I'm hoping for frogs
and with a large stream about a hundred yards away and a beaver
pond on the other side teeming with frogs (the sound is almost
deafening this time of year), I'm assuming that won't be a problem.

Yes, you'll have lots of frogs.


What about a gravel bottom in a shaded pond?

I would say absolutely no way to the gravel - it would be an absolute bear
to keep clean with all the tree stuff that falls in. My friend bought a
cheesy-looking plastic liner that had simulated rocks in the design. I took
the scraps from that and siliconed it in the very bottom of the pond. It
looked ok there, which was about 4' deep. It looked awful on the sides
though, at least on my friend's pond.

I've
heard both pros and cons, but I'm hoping that it will add a layer
of protection in case our 70 pound dog decides to wade in one day.

I had a rubber liner, with carpet under it, and a sand filed backfill. When
my 50 lb dogs occasionally slipped in and scrambled out, they did no damage,
but I thought I was probably lucky. The give in the rubber was pretty good
though.


Angela