Welcome to Shimon's pond site !

I started planning the pond, stream and waterfall - in 1998.

The 2400 gallon, 18 feet by 11 feet by 3 feet deep, natural design pond
is fed by a 20 foot stream powered by a 2600 gph internal pump.
I also use a 24 hour timer for this main pump.
My pond has steep sides with no plant shelves that invite raccoons.

The sunny weather in Israel (there are almost no temperature extremes),
provides a wonderful environment.
With weather like that, i can stock my ponds with koi, goldfish and a wide variety of plants.

This web site includes pictures and details of the entire construction process.
I also included pictures of the fish, plants and gate.

Here are some tips I used in the process of installation.

First of all, you should outline the area for your pond (you can even use a garden hose) in order to get an idea of the future pond.

Making sure that the edges of your pond will all be in the same level is also important,
otherwise you'll end up with high sides of the liner (as i did .........).

If you locate your pond in an area with trees or where rocks work their way to the surface,
you have to line the bottom of the hole with something like newspapers and/or old rugs to protect the liner.
It acts as a buffer between the weight of the water pressing down
against anything that might work its way up/under/through the liner.

Also make sure that the pond would be deep enough - especially if you intend to keep Koi inside.

Finally, a rule of thumb: "The bigger - the better". No matter how big you make your pond, after a while you'll probably wish you had made it bigger.
Another advantage is that the more gallons, the larger the buffer for environmental changes.
(It warms/cools slower, allowing the fish time to better adapt).
Remember- it takes the same time to care of a large pond as a small one.

Another rule about filters - The filter(s) can only be too small, not too big.
Generally, the more filtration, the more life you can support.
If your pond is in direct sunlight, it will generate a lot of algae
and become nearly opaque without a good filtering system.
The filter i have is based on lava rock. I also added plastic rollers.
The surface area got covered with "good bacteria"
which breaks down the ammonia from fish waste and eat the algae.

My pump is located at one end of the pond. The water is pumped through
a filter which is made out of a fifty gallon plastic drum,
and discharges down a beatiful rock into the pond at the other end.
If you do that, you'll need to put a liner behind and underneath the rock or the stones,
to prevent leakage. (or cement them in place, or ....).

As a matter of fact, it's two ponds with the big one higher than the other,
with a stream connecting the big pond to the small (old) pond,
which acts as a settling filter.
It is very shallow with dirt and gravel in the bottom and lots of plants.

The most important thing you shouldn't ignore,
is a ground fault interrupt outlet for your electrical stuff.
You'll be using electricity to power stuff, some of it immersed in water
so if you ever get a short, it will save your life.