What Is Involved In Building an Outdoor Goldfish Pond?

With a little ingenuity and effort, you can build that goldfish pond outdoors that you always wanted right in your own backyard. All you need to do is gather together a few buddies to help you and a cooler of cold drinks, and it’s a project you can often do in a day. Supplies you will need for the project include: shovels, a pond liner & underlayment, a rope, coping stones and decorations, plants, a recirculating pump, and a filter system.

There are several different choices available for your "goldfish-pond-in-a-day project. The first things you’ll need to do is choose a site for your pond. Here are some tips for where to place your pond.

The site should be near your home or another power supply.
It shouldn’t be at the bottom of a slope, because of possible chemical runoff from gardens and lawns.

The site should get at least four hours of sun each day. Keep away from shady areas.
It’s better to stay away from trees altogether. Leaves and debris falling from a tree are going to clog your pond and cause you a lot more maintenance.

Now that you’ve found the perfect location, you need to decide what size and shape your goldfish pond is going to be. You need to make the pond large enough so that the goldfish have room to swim around. You’ll want to plan some different depths in your pond, just like there are in pools in nature. This makes for a more natural look and feel.

If you live in a mild to moderate climate, you should make your pond at least two feet deep. In colder climates the pond needs to be deeper. You need to make sure that your goldfish have at least 12-16" of water space to live in below where the ice will freeze during the winter.

Digging the pond is the hardest part of the project, and you’ll be glad you invited your friends to help. Lay out the shape you want, and hand out the shovels. You’re not just digging a hole, though. Around the outside edge of the goldfish pond there needs to be a ledge that is approximately one foot wide and one foot deep. You also need to dig a slope towards one end that will accommodate your waterfall.

The final step in your prep work is to position the external pond filters and optional pond skimmers. They need to be placed and leveled. Dig a ditch from the skimmer to the external pond pump as well as one from the pump to the waterfall.

The first thing you’ll add to the hole you prepared is pond underpayment. Underlayment is a lining material that you can cut to fit and even piece together with tape. Its function is to help keep the pond liner in place. After you’ve got the underlayment where you want it, it’s time to add the rubber pond liner. Put it into the hole and position it where you want it. Then smooth out any folds you can. Don’t worry if a few folds remain. You can iron those out later.

After the liner is in place, it’s time for the real fun to begin. Now’s the time to add the waterfalls, and streams. You need to place them to flow directly into the pond. The pond liner should rest against the pond filter. Secure a stone to the liner using mortar or expandable foam. This will serve as a deterrent to the water flow and cause it to cascade over the top of the stone. Automatic waterfall!

At this point, all systems should be go. Using the instructions provided with the materials, hook the liner to the skimmer and put all of the pipes into the proper position.

This final step in building your pond is to decorate it to look the way you want it to. You can use coping stones to make an outline around the pond. Lay them slightly higher than the edge of the water, and carefully tuck all ends of the pond liner behind them so that it doesn’t show. You can just lay the stones if you feel they are heavy and stable. Otherwise, add a little mortar to keep everything in place.

Make everything look as natural as you can. Add some shrubs around the edges, but not enough that they will obscure your view of the pond once they grow. Save plants to add later after the water is in the pond. You can even make a mini-beach by adding cobblestone and gravel.

Fill the pond with water to within a few inches of the top. Make any adjustments that are needed. During the time the pond is filling, you can add or remove wrinkles as necessary in order to everything look nice. You also should add a dechlorinator which will remove the chlorine from the water.

Add the gravel and plant root plants into it. Put in the plants immediately after you fill the pond. In your plantings, be sure to plant plenty of Anacharis, a plant which acts like a filter and fights algae. Water lilies are also nice, because they provide shade for the fish. Finally, and this may sound funny to you, add packaged bacteria to the pond and filter.

Wait several weeks for your pond to season before adding fish. The pond needs to develop the right balance of bacteria and nutrients the fish will need in order to survive. When time is up, introduce your fish to the water, and your goldfish pond will be ready for you to enjoy.

Do you want to learn more about water garden plumbing? Water Gardens Guide is your source for helpful information and products such as pond kits and pond water treatments.