"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
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The message
from "Spider" contains these words:

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
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The message
from "Spider" contains these words:

Hello everyone!

With some considerable help from my IT manager (RG), I've finally put
a
few
pics on the web for all to see. Try the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Spider.AAG

Nice ponds. Do they have a plastic lining or did you waterproof the
building material?

Janet


Thank you, Janet. There is no plastic lining. The base was cast in one
piece (it is 9-10" thick), then walling blocks made the walls; coping
stones
capped it. Then, before filling with water we used a bitumen sealant,
not
to waterproof it, but to seal the walls to prevent lime leaching into the
water. That sealant wore off in little more than a year, but the pond is
still water-tight, 15 years later.

Sounds just what I want. Did you use waterproof mortar and blocks?
I need a pond with a raised surround to discourage the dog from
sitting in it :-)


We used ordinary cement and walling block. My hubby (RG) has given some
technical detail below in this thread, so don't think me rude if I direct
you there :~), then there's little chance of me misleading you. The only
thing I don't think he's mentioned is the circuit breaker in the garden
room, which is essential if you don't want fried fish or people!
My experience of dogs is that they bounce and have no trouble getting over
walls, but you know your dog better than I do, naturally.


We kept fish for a few years (till the
local heron scoffed them) and they were healthy and happy, so we can only
assume the water was safe by then.

I'd like that (for wild pondlife)

Janet


That's why I wanted fish (I had Golden Orfe, btw), but I soon learned that
fish and wild pond life don't mix very well. I therefore chose to encourage
wild critters in the lower pond (where they could more easily reach it
anyway), and keep fish in the top pond. If you're not building a 2-level
cascade, then you could probably get away with sticklebacks or some other
small fish, so you'd have the best of both worlds. Any sizeable hungry fish
will eat tadpoles and dragonfly larvae, to mention but a few. In the lower
pond, I've arranged a 'beach' of cobbles to aid floundering creatures and
give frogs somewhere to hide.

Spider