Is it possible to argue that the contemplation of the water surface leads a person to tenderness, makes it possible to restore strength and peace of mind, allows you to escape for some time from problems. Often, not everyone has the opportunity to go to nature, but it is quite possible to provide yourself and your family a good rest if you build a pond in a summer cottage. The construction of even a small artificial reservoir will make the site design much more attractive. You should not be afraid that the construction of a complex hydraulic facility will not be possible - armed with some knowledge in the field of construction, to do with your own hands all the stages of design and construction work will be so difficult.

Content

1. How to choose a pond style
2. DIY pond construction - choose a place, size, materials  video
   • choose a place for a reservoir
   • pond sizes
   • what materials to use  
   • artificial pond on the site - construction plan
3. The construction of the reservoir, its main stages
   • make a drawing of the object
   • doing terrain planning
   • digging a pit
   • how to lay the film  video
4. Creek construction
5. Features of the fish pond
6. What water to use to fill the reservoir 
7. The microclimate in the reservoir must comply with the regulatory  video
8. What mistakes should be avoided when building a garden pond

How to choose a pond style

The first issue that needs to be addressed before starting construction is the choice of the style of the reservoir. The pond on the site must comply with the style of the country house and garden, support the concept of the landscape of the entire site. Depending on your preferences, the pond can be designed:

• in the Chinese style - with an intricate coastline, with an obligatory bridge and a stone lantern, a dream island with a lonely growing tree or a beautiful stone located on it;

• in Japanese - characterized by minimalism, surrounded by dwarf trees, having an extremely simple rectangular shape, decorated with a composition of stones;

• in landscape style - naturally fits into the surrounding nature, surrounded by vegetation, possibly - a composition of boulders and a path paved with flat stones;

• in the style of a regular garden - with distinct geometric shapes, without being surrounded by lush vegetation;

• in the avant-garde style - with clear straight coastlines, without excessive vegetation, allowing proximity to unusual shapes of glass, plastic or metal;

• in the landscape style, the most picturesque, allowing you to arrange an arbitrary shape of the reservoir with stones and vegetation growing in the area or exotic, with a bridge and paved paths around it;

• in a formal style with a rectangular shape of the coast or round, emphasizing the beauty of the lines of the house located not far from it, with paths from a terrace board and a bridge of the same material;

• in a cascade version, the most complex in construction, but very picturesque, creating a soft murmur of water a special atmosphere of comfort in the garden.

Do-it-yourself pond construction - how to choose a place for pond construction and determine its optimal size, materials

In order to minimize the problems that arise during operation and ensure its maximum life, it will be necessary to choose a location for the location of the reservoir, taking into account the recommendations of specialists.

choose a place for a reservoir

It should be borne in mind that green algae develop much more actively in a pond lit throughout the day, which leads to blooming water. Consequently, a shadow must fall on the territory chosen for placement, at least for several hours a day. The placement of a reservoir in the shaded area of \u200b\u200bthe garden will also be inappropriate - decorative plants planted near it will suffer from a lack of light.

A good option would be to locate a pond near the recreation area with a gazebo, barbecue or barbecue stove - vacationers will always have the opportunity to admire the amazing beauty of the water surface. It is advisable that the southwestern side of the pond be exposed to sunlight for approximately 5 hours. Large shady trees located near the reservoir will pollute the water with crumbling foliage and twigs.

pond sizes

When constructing a pond with your own hands on the site, you should know that its optimal size can be about 3% of the total area. But if the plot is small, 6 acres, then even 18 square meters. m may turn out to be inadmissible luxury.

At the same time, the creation of a small pond on its own is much easier, it will take less physical effort, and the cost of materials will decrease. For this reason, the main criteria for resolving the issue of the size of the pond can be considered:

• your financial capabilities

• the working capacity of the creators of the future reservoir,

• the harmony of the combination of the dimensions of the pond with other structures on the territory of the site,

• compliance of the reservoir with the design style of the site.

The depth of the pond is designed depending on the functions that will be assigned to it, the pond should have a depth of three degrees:

•   the first - for planting coastal plants
•   the second - for shallow plants such as water lilies,
•   third - providing a safe wintering of fish.

You should not achieve a very large depth of the pond - it will be enough just to equip about a fifth of its area with a depression of about one and a half meters (this is somewhat lower than the depth of freezing of the soil in winter), it is here that the fish will winter.

what materials to use

There can be many options for using building materials, their choice mainly depends on the financial capabilities of the owners of the site. If we talk about the construction of low-budget and pre-fabricated, then we can mention the option of using a finished container made of plastic, but if a capital construction is planned, the best option would be to build a pond with a concrete base. It is the most costly in terms of money and time, in addition to digging a foundation pit, construction of formwork, reinforcement and pouring it with concrete will be required.

In practice, a plastic film is often used to waterproof a pond.

artificial pond on the site - construction plan

The construction of a pond on the site will require the use of special equipment, first of all, it is a pump for pumping and filtering water. If it is planned to build a budget pond, then the use of a moisture-proof film will be a rational option for waterproofing. It is this method of building a reservoir that will be considered in this article.

The construction of the reservoir, its main stages

make a drawing of the object

First we draw up a plan diagram, on it we indicate the depth of each of the curtains and their sizes. You will also need to draw up an approximate scheme, according to which the decoration of the reservoir will be carried out. The more carefully the design is completed, the less errors and misunderstandings will arise in the process.

It will also require you to think about how to ennoble the pond on the site - at this stage we determine on which of the components of the water composition it will be possible to focus on - maybe it will be some unusual plants, stone or sculpture.

doing terrain planning

When designing, do not forget to provide a sufficient amount of space on the ledges, curtains for planting. You should also provide a place to place each of the functional elements of the arrangement of the reservoir.

To outline the boundaries of the pond on the ground, you can use ordinary sand, a rope or a long watering hose. Further along them a solid line outlines the contours. Be sure to make sure that the banks of the reservoir are at the same level. For measurements, you can use either the water level of the desired length, or the usual half-meter level, superimposing it on a long board connecting the opposite banks.

digging a pit

In accordance with the marked lines, dig a pit. Having dug a hole to the depth of the first tier, the borders of the curtains are marked and only then they continue to dig a depression to the next mark. Having reached the level of the second tier, they note the area that the deepest part of the reservoir will occupy and dig a hole in the pit.

Considering that digging a large pond area will require considerable physical effort and time, it may be a rational decision to attract professional diggers or rent a mini excavator.

If the site is in low or wetland areas, then you should prepare for the situation when liquid begins to accumulate at the bottom of the pit. In this case, you will need to use a special pump for pumping water with the inclusion of solid and suspended impurities. The pumped-out water can be drained into a trench excavated not far away.

After finishing digging the pit, by measuring, determine the surface area and find out the dimensions of the waterproofing film. Do not forget to add around the edges of the film about half a meter of material for allowances.

When digging a pit, a lot of excess soil is formed - it can be used with benefit. For example, to build the base of an alpine slide or a decorative slide to create a stream flowing into a pond.

When buying a film, you should purchase the same amount of geotextile - laying it under the film will prevent possible damage to the polyethylene by the roots of the plants. Instead of using geotextiles, you can use second-hand linoleum or roofing material to get savings. Sometimes sand is poured into the pit and rammed.

how to lay the film

The construction of reservoirs in the garden always requires the implementation of waterproofing works, they should be approached with care. After laying a layer of geotextile (linoleum, sand), a film is carefully laid in the pit. A shallow trench is dug around the perimeter of the pond and excess film is placed in it so that it can hold well, covered with gravel. A warmed film will be better placed, therefore it is advisable to choose a hot summer day for work. The softened film will smoothly bend around each ledge in the pit.

The edge of the pond can be strengthened with beautifully laid natural stones, decorated with a boulder of an unusual shape or a composition of several stone fragments.

Plants prepared in advance are placed in plastic containers and placed on tiers intended for them. The bottom of the pond is laid out with rubble or stones.

After completion of the preparatory work, you can fill the pond with water.

At the same time, it will not be superfluous to take the meter readings and remember how much water is needed - in the future this will help to choose the right pumping equipment for pumping water and the volumes of chemicals that are used to process the liquid in the pond during operation.

Creek construction

Creating a stream flowing into the pond will help to rid the pond of the problem with stagnation of water. the source of the stream should be higher than the water level in the reservoir, for example, on a hill built from surplus soil. Water supply will be organized using a submersible pump. You should think carefully about masking all the components of the water supply system; the mouth of the brook can be decorated with beautiful stones, pebbles, and handmade clay containers. The submersible pump is installed at the bottom of the pond, a pipe system is pulled from it to the source of the stream, while a pressure treatment filter is necessarily installed in the system, it works more efficiently than the flow filter.

The pond is ready for operation. Next, periodic maintenance will be required: prophylactic treatment of water, purification of water from debris, control of algae reproduction. For the winter, plants grown in containers are removed from the water and taken to the basement.

Features of the fish pond

To ensure the normal content of fish in the pond and to be able to fish, it will be necessary to determine the type of fish suitable for breeding in a cramped environment of a small reservoir. The most unpretentious to the conditions of crucian carp and carp, in an artificial reservoir for the cultivation of two dozen fish you need only 1 cubic meter of water.

The optimal dimensions of a private pond are about 1.5 m deep with an area of \u200b\u200b25 square meters or more. The advantage of such a reservoir is the rapid heating of water to 24-25 degrees - the temperature is optimal for the life of fish of the carp family. At a temperature of a dozen degrees lower, the appetite of the fish worsens, and a decrease in their growth activity is noted. Overheating of water to a temperature higher than 30 degrees is also dangerous.

If the owners have a desire to breed crayfish in the pond, then they will need to lay old ceramic containers or pipe remains on the bottom - such a shelter will be required for the crayfish for the molting period.

What water to use to fill the reservoir

Experts say that any water can be used to fill the pond, including tap water. But after filling the pond, one should not immediately release fish into it - it is better to wait until the water warms up and microorganisms multiply in it, i.e. she will become alive. To speed up the process, you can add at least a few buckets of water from an inhabited pond to well or tap water, or simply throw it on the bottom of clean mowed grass.

To ennoble the shores of the reservoir in which the fish will be bred, reeds and willows are planted.

The microclimate in the reservoir must comply with the regulatory

Since living creatures will be settled in the pond, care will need to be taken to create the proper microclimate. The desired fish breeding medium should have a neutral acidity of about 7-8 pH. If the acidity is below normal, a calculated amount of soda solution or a portion of limestone is added to the water. Samples for acidity should be taken in different parts of the reservoir and at different depths. If the use of additives will give only temporary changes, then you have to look for the cause of the change in acidity.

Before releasing fish into a pond, it is necessary to balance the temperature in the tank for transporting fish and in the pond - otherwise the fish may develop a temperature shock, in some cases it causes mass death of fish during the day.

What mistakes should be avoided when building a garden pond

We examined how to dig a pond on a site, recommendations to help avoid the most common mistakes when doing work:

1. You should not use stones of the same shape and size to design a pond - such a solution will reduce the decorativeness of the pond and give it a dull appearance.
2. You should not make the pond very deep, justified depth, even in the case of fish farming, is within 2 m.
3. You should not be afraid that the land for growing plants will pollute the water, in such a soil a large percentage of clay, which prevents its erosion by water. In addition, actively developing plant roots will contribute to soil strengthening. However, containerized landscaping has its advantages - it makes it possible to quickly rearrange plants and thereby transform the appearance of the reservoir. But the container method of plant maintenance negatively affects their development and inhibits growth.

Author: Sergey and Svetlana Khuentsov

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