in UK..I decided the best way to have a natural looking pond was to visit my local angling lake and borrow some of their plants ,iris lily pond weed and several flowering "weeds", and also a good scoop of bottom mud n sludge to help natural little critters get a foothold.. a year later and the plants need a prune every now n then.. the water is full of fauna from a dragon fly larvae(only saw 1) millions of tadpoles, all sorts of tiny water critters.. I feed the fish,5 goldfish and 2 perch, infrequently as they seem to find lots of natural stuff in situ.the perch will eat worms from my hand tho which is cool, dangle a worm and they smash it like wannabe tarpon

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

Great stuff 👍👍

About to build a pond soon thanks for the tips cheers

The information I’ve been desperately searching for! Thank you !

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Wonderful information! Thank you!

Thanks very much! I have an existing pond and your advice is wonderful. Vermont, USA

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

I’m glad the video is helpful 👍

Fantastic, as usual! Didn't know you are a plantsman as well, though should have guessed considering the abundant, lovely plantings you show in the videos. We learn something new with every video, thanks 👍

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the kind words mate 👍

Gave me some really good ideas for the pond I'm planning. Basically going to plant out an existing swale but also incorporate a natural ephemeral styled pond and water cascade. In such a way that the pond can go dry or I could keep the pond filled or I can have the water circulating through the system. Having an unlined basin in the swale right before it overflows into the lined section of the pond

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

Awesome 👍

I built a retention pond to stop a rain water river from flowing through the middle of a very old barn. I ran a 24 inch pipe under the barn. I didn't plan the pond, I just started digging in the North Carolina clay. There is a lot of water that flows through it when it rains. All of the water from the roof of the barn plus a few acres of land. It is becoming a habitat. Thanks for the video. It covered a good deal of what I have been thinking about.

@MrThatguy333

8 ай бұрын

does it stay throughout the summer?

@scorpohead

7 ай бұрын

@MrThatguy333 oh yes, a half inch of rain probably raises the pond a foot. I bet 3 acres of land flow into my little 1/8th acre pond. I have a valve where I can drop it down about 16 inches from full. One good rain and it is full. I built a bog filter this summer. The pond is full of fish and turtles. Im thinking about building a little water tower from an old 500 gallon oil tank so I can save more water when it is raining. To supply a clean up sink in the barn/shop. So many ideas! Most will never happen.

1 Like great video always best fun to watch so much to learn from you.

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

I’m happy you find the vids helpful 😊👍

Thank you so much for providing such fantastic information and instruction! We would like to make a duck pond and are trying to figure out if there’s a viable way of making a natural-style pond despite the challenge of added waste and their propensity to eat everything. Your videos have been invaluable for helping us learn, plan, and prepare realistically. It may take us a few years, but your guidance will make a big difference for our family and friends. :)

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

I’m so glad you’re enjoying the videos. I think you can achieve your goal just oversize the filtration and make sure is designed for easy maintenance. I’d love to hear how it turns out once you build it 👍

@Whywondermous

2 жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds Very sound advice. I just found your Building a Large DIY Bog Filter video and am taking the oversized filtration advice to heart. We’re not sure how many ducks we’d hope to have at any one time and are trying to design an easy to maintain system that offers room to grow.

Great "Lessons Learned" advice! Geotextile over clay with gravel on top is a real winner. This made me wonder about clay/geotextile/cheap pavers. Maybe 2 layers of cheap pavers overlapping each other to minimize gaps with fine sand just to fill any gaps between the pavers. My thinking is you could swim/wade in it regularly with no worries regarding messing up the clay layer. Especially if you used larger pavers. Thank you! :-)

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

I’d love to hear the results if you give it a go 👍

@ianbrown9578

2 жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds It's in the master plan but is many years away! :-)

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

I was the same. It’ll happen 👍

Hi Kev, I might be your biggest fan! hahahaha (from South-Africa). I would like to get your opinion and advice on something. I am building a semi natural pond. The whole pond is on a massive natural rock. I needed to build a 5m long dam wall where the rock was to low. the dam wall also doubles as a path along the pond. I would like to put a type of soil against the dam wall, so that it can slope in to the water, and make the damn wall kind of disappear, and then also have soil ontop of the damn wall, and have plants in all around that slope going in to the water. The solid that I dig out is river sand, with bands of clay in between. I started separating the clay and the sand as I dig it out. so now I cant either use the clay or the sand, or should I use something else? I would like to still have clear as possible water.

@Ozponds

2 жыл бұрын

G’day Gerrie. Sounds like an epic project 👍. I wish I could give you some personal advice but I’ve never personally tried something like this. I can only offer what I’m thinking would be best. Because you want clean clear water I feel like the sand if it’s washed really well might be the better option. The clay, I feel is going to release lots of nutrients into the water. I know here in Australia it’s recommended for people with clay dams that want excellent water clarity to add a geotextile over the clay. You could cut some holes to allow plants in and that would hopefully consume some nutrients. The geotextile would also help keep everything stable until the plants establish. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful to the #1 fan in South Africa. I’d love to hear what you decide and how it all pans out 👍

Hi really thankful to all your videos I also have koi pond your videos helped a lot regarding filtration Now I want to make 20 by 30 feet mud pond and 4 feet deep For fish to eat What are your advice before starting such project to keep fish healthy and organic

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

My main advice would be not to overstock it.

@tzenophile

9 ай бұрын

@@Ozponds If fish are healthy they do tend to overstock themselves.

I have an half acre pond my yard is kinda a bowl and hilly so it stays full pretty much year round. Can't really do an over flow, also is it a problem having a ton of trees around it dropping branches into the water?

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

It’s not ideal. But it does happen in nature.

You are so correct. Instantly I was like. That water is going to get algae. Have you tried a electric free pump with bubble stone? Maybe you could get an inlet air pipe put on the outside earth of the pond and feed it through the stone which in turn releases fresh air into the pond. A half U bend pipe with some form of filtration system (for air inlet only), feed into the stone from the solid earth side of the pons allowing the bubbles to release through the stone inside the pond. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for sharing. Peace and Blissings

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

That’s a very interesting idea.

@carralumsden8853

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds Thank you. There's more to it however someone will certainly have the answer. Peace

What is the liner called that you mention? Something textile?

@Ozponds

3 ай бұрын

Geo-textile. Non-woven

Ozponds/Kevs, hiiiiiii u so cute ♥ and i like ur Natural pond w/out pump???

Any tips on how to seal a pond without liners? Hopefully low cost and not using stuff like Bentonite clay or other commercial stuff (which are expensive in addition to not being available here)

@Ozponds

Ай бұрын

No sorry. This is my only unlined pond.

@Norbingel

Ай бұрын

@@Ozponds ok ty! I've had very limited success looking for ways to create a natural pond without liners in terms of sealing it enough to hold water. Once I get that, I'll be able to apply everything else I learned from you

I'm afraid my pond is doomed. The pond is lined and topped of with sand because the horses drink from them and their hoofs will otherwise puncture the liner. We have a combination of clay and sand surrounding the pool and in the summer a lot of that dust falls in the pond. In the fall and winter there is a lot of run off. And ofcours the occasional manure. We have now fenced of a large part of the pool so plants will have a chance to establish but the water is still very very brown. I already applied flocculant and sludge busting bacteria but it doesn't help. Oxigenating plants under water die withing days, but the water bursts with insects. No frogs though. The water level varies so not many plants are suitable. We don't have any power so a filter is not an option either. Will floating plants be able to save this pond or is this never ever going to be okay ever again? :(

@Ozponds

11 ай бұрын

Too many things working against you. Just try and fix one thing at a time.

@linseyvanochten2926

11 ай бұрын

@@Ozponds Yeah you are right. I'll just slowly add more and more plants and hopefully they will be able to bring balance.

Is it possible to explain in Turkish under your videos?

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

I have auto captions enabled and it seems people watch the videos in different languages. But I’m not sure how it all works.

@knyghtryder3599

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds I agree though if you could study a bit of Turkish, it would be helpful!

Have I lost any part or the pond is just water and some plants? To not have problems with the nutrients and then it being consumed by algaes you need life in that pond Creatures that will eat those decomposing materials that goes to the pond, bacteries and plants to consume the amonia from the decomposing and so on If it's just water and a few plants, it becomes a pain to keep it

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

Of course there’s aquatic life. Invertebrates, snails, tadpoles, fish bacteria and micro organisms.

@itfaria

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds that"s nice brother :D

Wait but how the hell do you keep the water in the pond with no liner

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

How does a lake hold water? A natural pond needs an inflow.

@taylortisaac

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds ok, so like a hose or something?

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

No more like a natural spring or positioned in a catchment area.

@taylortisaac

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozponds dang :\

Do I hear a chicken? I swear I do.

@Ozponds

Жыл бұрын

Yes. We have them roaming around.

You missed the elephant in the room how to seal the natural pond

@ankushagnihotri

Жыл бұрын

I'm sure when he is talking about a pond he knows that the pond part of it is actually there to work with. If there is no seal to it. It's not exactly a pond is it. It's just a hole.

@osar2870

Жыл бұрын

I have a naturally dense clay soil so I think adding some store bought bentonite clay to the bottom to add some extra sealing protection should work well, I haven’t started yet just researching though