Estimate on price - building a pond

I live in Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Let's say I wanted to build
a pond outside for koi and water plants. I'd be willing to do all of
the work myself, soo ... how much would it cost? I know this depends
on how big it's going to be, so let's say big enough so that it doesn't
freeze over the winter (to keep the fish alive). If that's even
possible, anyway. Presumably I'd need some sort of lining material, the
fish, the plants, and a pump. How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

"Cyde Weys" wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Let's say I wanted to build
a pond outside for koi and water plants. I'd be willing to do all of
the work myself, soo ... how much would it cost? I know this depends
on how big it's going to be, so let's say big enough so that it doesn't
freeze over the winter (to keep the fish alive). If that's even
possible, anyway. Presumably I'd need some sort of lining material, the
fish, the plants, and a pump. How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.
==============================
A simple hole in the ground with a liner, a pump and filter to start you
off - around $1,000.00 to $1,200.00. Plants can be bought on sale late in
the season. Join your local pond club and you'll probably get more for free
than you want. Or they can run you another $100.00 for a few starter
plants.
--
Reel McKoi.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

I made my pond for under $200.00.

pond kit from Home Depot. Rocks from a garden centre and plants from a
nursery. Fish from local pet store.

Ok the pond is only 8 X 4 X 2.
No filter but a pump for a waterfall.
Fish are feeder goldfish.

The whole point here is don't be afraid to start small and build your
way up as you learn.



Cyde Weys wrote:
I live in Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Let's say I wanted to build
a pond outside for koi and water plants. I'd be willing to do all of
the work myself, soo ... how much would it cost? I know this depends
on how big it's going to be, so let's say big enough so that it doesn't
freeze over the winter (to keep the fish alive). If that's even
possible, anyway. Presumably I'd need some sort of lining material, the
fish, the plants, and a pump. How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

"Cyde Weys" wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Let's say I wanted to build
a pond outside for koi and water plants. I'd be willing to do all of
the work myself, soo ... how much would it cost? I know this depends
on how big it's going to be, so let's say big enough so that it doesn't
freeze over the winter (to keep the fish alive). If that's even
possible, anyway. Presumably I'd need some sort of lining material, the
fish, the plants, and a pump. How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

There are so many variables, not to mention your
own interests and preferences, it's impossible to
guess a price before you've made some decisions.

It's a good idea to buy one of those inexpensive
Ortho books on how to build a garden pond. That
will tell you what kinds of materials you can choose
from, taking into account your local weather
conditions. They also have information on fish.
Once you make your decisions, then you can check
on local (or online) prices for materials.

The Ortho and similar books can be found in
any large bookstore and home project stores
like Home Depot and Lowes. They cost
around $15, and are well worth the price.

Gail

How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.[/color]

Yup, find out what you are getting yourself into, before you go into
detail about cost.

Questions like, what are koi, what do they eat, what are their growth
rates.

How do they cope best, between the extremities of winter and Summer...

What sort of problems can be expected keeping koi, for example coping
with disease, disaster, breeding...

Consider the low density route (low cost, few fish, big pond) and the
high density route (very expensive, machine intensive)

How much work is involved...

A few other subjects you may want to consider... water gardening can
be a very useful stepping stone before making a big leap into keeping
the most demanding of big pond fish.

An armful of books on water gardening, pond keeping, fishkeeping, koi
keeping may save you a lot of grief which is usually associated with
leaping into buying koi, before finding out what to expect

A shovel might be a useful next step, to start pecking away at digging
through the Winter months

If you have the space and the inclination, a pond for koi can be as
simple as buying a rather largish pond liner (100'x40'), and digging a
couple of cubic yards a day, for a couple of months



Regards, andy
http://tinyurl.com/o8ax


--
adavisus

"adavisus" wrote in message
...

How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

Yup, find out what you are getting yourself into, before you go into
detail about cost.

Questions like, what are koi, what do they eat, what are their growth
rates.

How do they cope best, between the extremities of winter and Summer...

What sort of problems can be expected keeping koi, for example coping
with disease, disaster, breeding...

Consider the low density route (low cost, few fish, big pond) and the
high density route (very expensive, machine intensive)

How much work is involved...

A few other subjects you may want to consider... water gardening can
be a very useful stepping stone before making a big leap into keeping
the most demanding of big pond fish.

An armful of books on water gardening, pond keeping, fishkeeping, koi
keeping may save you a lot of grief which is usually associated with
leaping into buying koi, before finding out what to expect

A shovel might be a useful next step, to start pecking away at digging
through the Winter months

If you have the space and the inclination, a pond for koi can be as
simple as buying a rather largish pond liner (100'x40'), and digging a
couple of cubic yards a day, for a couple of months[/color]
==============================
All of this information can be found online, including right here. No need
to buy books if one is on a tight budget. ;-)
--
Reel McKoi.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 08:15:53 -0600, "Carol-Ann" wrote:


"adavisus" wrote in message
...

How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

Yup, find out what you are getting yourself into, before you go into
detail about cost.

Questions like, what are koi, what do they eat, what are their growth
rates.

How do they cope best, between the extremities of winter and Summer...

What sort of problems can be expected keeping koi, for example coping
with disease, disaster, breeding...

Consider the low density route (low cost, few fish, big pond) and the
high density route (very expensive, machine intensive)

How much work is involved...

A few other subjects you may want to consider... water gardening can
be a very useful stepping stone before making a big leap into keeping
the most demanding of big pond fish.

An armful of books on water gardening, pond keeping, fishkeeping, koi
keeping may save you a lot of grief which is usually associated with
leaping into buying koi, before finding out what to expect

A shovel might be a useful next step, to start pecking away at digging
through the Winter months

If you have the space and the inclination, a pond for koi can be as
simple as buying a rather largish pond liner (100'x40'), and digging a
couple of cubic yards a day, for a couple of months
==============================
All of this information can be found online, including right here. No need
to buy books if one is on a tight budget. ;-)[/color]

I'd say do the initial research online for convenience and a variety
of viewpoints. Ponding doesn't have to be expensive, but if $15 is
going to strain the budget, I'd suggest some other project. The pond
'world' doesn't need another poorly designed, poorly constructed pond.

PlainBill

"PlainBill" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 08:15:53 -0600, "Carol-Ann" wrote:


"adavisus" wrote in message
...

How much would I expect to pay? And
there's probably other stuff I haven't thought of, seeing as how I
haven't done this before.

Yup, find out what you are getting yourself into, before you go into
detail about cost.

Questions like, what are koi, what do they eat, what are their growth
rates.

How do they cope best, between the extremities of winter and Summer...

What sort of problems can be expected keeping koi, for example coping
with disease, disaster, breeding...

Consider the low density route (low cost, few fish, big pond) and the
high density route (very expensive, machine intensive)

How much work is involved...

A few other subjects you may want to consider... water gardening can
be a very useful stepping stone before making a big leap into keeping
the most demanding of big pond fish.

An armful of books on water gardening, pond keeping, fishkeeping, koi
keeping may save you a lot of grief which is usually associated with
leaping into buying koi, before finding out what to expect

A shovel might be a useful next step, to start pecking away at digging
through the Winter months

If you have the space and the inclination, a pond for koi can be as
simple as buying a rather largish pond liner (100'x40'), and digging a
couple of cubic yards a day, for a couple of months
==============================
All of this information can be found online, including right here. No
need
to buy books if one is on a tight budget. ;-)[/color]
===============================================
I'd say do the initial research online for convenience and a variety
of viewpoints. Ponding doesn't have to be expensive, but if $15 is
going to strain the budget, I'd suggest some other project.

## I have several pond books and can say I learned MORE online than from the
books. Our first pond was put in according to a Tetra Pond Book (a year
before we got online) and the information was awful. We have to redo the
berm on this first pond as we did the larger one this past summer. There
was little mention of soil types and how to stabilize the berm - and almost
nothing about predators.

The pond
'world' doesn't need another poorly designed, poorly constructed pond.

## Which you can make quite easily following the advice in some of the books
out there. The pond world doesn't *need* any artificial ponds at all for
that matter! LOL!!! :-) Ponds are fun, a hobby and certainly not
necessary for the world to go on.

Some people are on tight budgets and that should be considered - not
everyone has a 6 figure income.
--
Reel McKoi.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 08:15:53 -0600, "Carol-Ann" wrote:

snip

Or you could do as Carol Gulley / Reel McKoi does and just slitther
around behind the local quickie marts and strip malls and rip off
their shipping containers to use for small ponds.........


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

More pictures for ideas:

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Defrosted~
Tri-Cities, WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website