HOW TO BUILD ALL NATURAL POND WITHOUT LINER |LOW COST+MAINTENANCE |BIG BACK YARD WATER LAKE HABITAT

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In this video i show you how i turned a water pit into an all natural pond without pond liner. This pond requires very low maintenance but some local conditions have to be met for it to function. Thank you for watching, feel free to subscribe or comment if you have questions.
transcript: hi there, I'm Carl the landscape guy and today I want to show you how I converted this back yard water pit into a 3000 square foot all natural pond. Now in a pond you want to try to keep the water level as constant as possible. The water level in this pit was fluctuating by about 2 to 3 feet depending on the weather. Rainwater would fill it up, especially during the winter months and during a hot summer there wasn't much water left in there. This situation was really unsightly especially since the main line of sight in this back yard is right on the water pit. In order to minimize the water level fluctuation, I started by connecting the pit to the closest rain water ditch. For that i used about 250 feet of pvc drainage piping, 6 inches in diameter. The pipes were installed on a slope that way the water from the ditch would flow into the pit. I chose only a small slope for the piping so that if the pond is filled up, water can flow backwards into the ditch not overflowing the pond. In addition to that, I connected the rain gutters of the house to the pipe to use existing water as efficient as possible. After these preliminary works I started cutting off all the grass, bushes and little trees about 15 feet around the edges of the pit. Now I could start re-modeling the new pond edges. Since no pond liner is used and all water in the pond will be rain or ground water there will still be small water level fluctuations. That's why I took away the sloping terrain and created a steeper edge. With this relatively steep edge even if the water level fluctuates the water surface will stay about the same. With this 2 ton excavator it took me one day to finish the pond edges. The pond has a depth of about 6 feet. An all natural non liner pond only works on sites with fine soil like clay or loam which has a low co-efficiency of permeability or it also works if you have a high ground water level. Natural wells or brooks around a backyard make a perfect supply for natural ponds. Now it's time to flatten the soil around the pond and plant the first water plants. If you don't want to spend money on water plants you can go to local lakes or rivers to get regional plants you like. If you do so don't destroy natural wildlife habitat. Take only small plant offshoots, they will spread in their new habitat. If you want to put fish in your natural pond that's ok but wait until plants have grown and don't put too many fish in. Since it's a natural pond I didn't add any pumps and filters and I put in about 10 fish. If you feed the fish keep in mind that all nutrients put into the water will have to be clarified by the pond itself. If you add too many nutrients, algae will grow and the fish might suffer. I decided to add a few Stones and one bigger tree stump from the woods with moss on it. This use of regional materials helps to create an all natural character of the pond and improves its appearance. It helps to add only one or two eye catchers, otherwise your eye doesn't know where to look and it doesn't have the effect of creating a harmonic atmosphere . With this pond we look at a low maintenance level. Each fall I cut the grass and plants around the edges and that's about it. I hope this video was informative and helpful for you. If so I would appreciate a "thumbs up". Feel free to subscribe for more videos on ponds, brooks, waterfalls and other garden stuff. Thanks for watching, I'm Carl the landscape guy, good luck with your project and see you next time.
#naturalpond #backyardpond #pondbuilders

[@ryanquigley3830]

I have literally no desire to build a pond, but I've reached an unimaginable level of boredom during quarantine, so here I am. Thankfully, I find this whole process incredibly fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

[@77Avadon77]

Emphasis on the add very little fish because of the ammonia they'll produce. Also you can put in barley straw which you can find online or at feedin irrigation stores. Barley straw kills algae and removes co2 buildup, which helps your fish. Barley straw is basically the organic equivalent of a UV electric clarifier.

[@danm8004]

Algae isn't bad, but ok.

[@timslee2573]

If Morgan Freeman came back as a white pond dude....

[@MichaelThompson-tk4nw]

I really enjoyed the video, i retired two years ago from a life time of building custom homes and I'm getting ready to build my wife and myself her dream house about 16 Miles out of Town on the farm i grew up on

[@sonofeloah]

I would build a small water fall that is powered by a small solar powered pump. At the base of the fall would be gravel so there is little erosion. and onto that bed of gravel, fresh water clams. They eat whatever is not eaten by the fish and eat the algae that would cloud the water. Also too, the waterfall aerates the pond and make for healthier ecosystem and fish. Water would stay clear and plants and fish would flourish. Oh yes, a cool water guppy called the "mosquito fish" is a must to control mosquitoes.

[@FelonyVideos]

Mosquito haven!

[@visualkeirockstar]

it would be nice to have a property that big.

[@MrRedforman1]

Liners really aren't necessary for ponds like this anyways. If you're putting in fish, put in some grass carp. They'll help keep the water clean without having to add a filter.

[@itseli4831]

Can you bout triops there

[@myoneblackfriend3151]

Genius idea connecting the rain gutters too. I am gonna have to watch more of your videos.

[@TUSSCANNY]

I'm New here today. I loved what you did to the pond. Sure wish it wasn't so expensive to build. I love watching nature and looking out into my backyard at the birds and squirrels at my back porch door. They fly in for their birdseed and a drink from the birdbath. A small fishpond would just be the icing on the 🎂. I've had everything from black snakes 🐍 yuk, to large white Florida water birds. Even hawks and sandcranes. Don't know if I spell it right.The hawks are pretty birds but they sit on the fence waiting to catch a squirrel for lunch. Many dove come everyday. There're three raven that come everyday to get a drink and seed. They also fly in with food from a restaurant that's not far from us, just to wash off a bone or two then feast. I used to run off some of the birds that I know hunt the squirrels and even a bird or two but I just gave up. You learn by watching them.the squirrels and birds 🐦 eat next to each other so why run them off. We just put the seed on a couple of flat sidewalk stone and let them go at it. The squirrels fight to show who eats first. The babies have to wait. I like watching the cardinals feed their babies went they leave their nest. Sometime it's like a darn zoo but it gives this old housebound granny and gramps something for our enjoyment. Right now there's a dove taking her bath. I thank god for nature.

[@supershenron9162]

I have a a natural stream on my property so I dug out my pond in a pre-existing basin excavating it to where the deepest end was 12ft after rocking it in and the shallow end was 4ft i built 2 feeder streams one going downhill to the pond, the other leading uphill from the pond back to the stream so I could naturally fill it and deal with any run off going back to the river further upstream. I made sure the main feeder stream was 2ft deep so any fish could come thru. This was about 6 years ago and even though I have never added a single fish to the pond it still has fish in it that moved from the creek and even some that where actually born there! It took my nearly 2 weeks to finish but its 100% self sustaining almost as if it was always there :) if you have a stream on your property I highly recommend doing it this way! Very rewarding aswell!

[@san379]

a friends farm has a great hand made pond to hold water to water the feilds when its dry.. he pumps it into the field.. the pond is clay on the bottom and holds water great.. when its full its great to play with the kids in it.. he built a mudslide for them too..

[@samualiam9981]

3:45

[@billybassman21]

Very nice! A friend of mines grandparents built a small pond when they built their new house on the property of their business. They ran a pipe from their well and fed constant well water. Well, before they could add any fish a big flood came and caused the bayou to overflow and flooded the whole property. When the water went back down the pond was stocked with fish and turtles. We ended up releasing my gulf coast soft shell turtle in it. I plan on building one when I build a house in the country.

[@TrehanCreekOutdoors]

Very useful. Piping in water from other sources is a great idea I haven't considered. Plus your tip about how to control the surface area size was also helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[@johnpalermo2422]

Very educational. And very resourceful. Great job!

[@sbluewave2989]

Thankyou soo much ..carl..

[@ddbears3686]

I really appreciate this video you are the only one to tell us how deep it is a lot of us like to watch this because were fascinated with man-made natural ponds also how deep they are but if we wanted to go swimming I would like to know how deep it is and if there’s leeches and all that jazz fish love it