Dream pond build| Underwater footage

This is an underwater look at my most recent pond the one I call my dream pond. Its a recreational style pond about 4ft deep. I built it using all DIY filters to save money. There is a playlist of how this was built and how much it cost. • Dream pond build
The pond is stocked with 20 Rainbow fish, 10 Southern pygmy perch and 10 Southern spotted purple gudgeons. They were all babies when they went in so hopefully as they grow and start to breed we can get lots more underwater footage of them.
If you want to learn more about building your own pond on a budget check out my website ozponds.com and subscribe to this youtube channel.

[@visgotti]

Thanks!

[@azizshaf9935]

The water looks clear and clean..your diy bog filter works brilliantly...good job

[@Ozponds]

It’s working a treat so far 👍

[@MrJoecat3444]

Thank you so much for you informative video's. You have inspired me to build my first pond. I am about half way done, so the yard is in quite a mess and the wife thinks i have lost my mind. But i know she will be blown away at the end results. It was your information on DIY Bog filters that got me interested. Again Thank for all of the information you provide. Joe B. US. Missouri

[@Ozponds]

Happy you’ve been inspired Joe 👍. The messy part is the worst! I always think I’ve lost my mind. But so worth it in the end.

[@firstnamenlastname]

That is a beautiful pond 👏

[@Ozponds]

Thanks mate 👍

[@firstnamenlastname]

@@Ozponds thank you for making the video, I know it must not be easy to film underwater. Very cool 🦎🐟🌊

[@Ozponds]

I tried earlier this week with goggles. Made a big difference I was able to find a school of rainbow fish. If I get time I’ll upload the footage mid week 👍

[@firstnamenlastname]

@@Ozponds thank you so much my friend, that sounds awesome!

[@scottdaniels3033]

No idea why I enjoyed this update so much, but I really did. Looking good!

[@Ozponds]

Thanks mate. I had fun swimming around 👍

[@hazumiNoru]

Holy moly. Amazing how you can produce such a wonderful result just from diy & not even having a crew. Love from Malaysia, 🤘as someone who can only afford an apartment in big city I am so darn jealous with your yard. Ive only got a 4 foot goldfish aquarium. 😂 Anyways that dye which honestly made your pond looks weird initially somehow later made the pond looks much nicer with the greenish tint in the water. 😍

[@Ozponds]

Thanks Hazumi. Yes the dye was a bit of a debacle, I’m happy to say it’s all natural now. Although from a distance the water does have a really nice colour.

[@fossphur]

It's unreal how long that blue colour has lasted, it doesn't seem to bother any of your inhabitants.

[@Ozponds]

I actually like the blue now. I can see all the way to the bottom. I wouldn’t mind keeping it this colour. Yes the dye is perfectly safe for the tadpoles, fish, snails, shrimp and anything else that calls the pond home 👍

[@MikeyDreamerLam]

Such a beautiful pond you have there Kev, the water is so clear and everything looks so bloody awesome 👍👍👍.

[@Ozponds]

Thanks mate. I’m really happy. 👍

[@thetravellingtrekers8959]

Love your ponds Kev, thanks to you and your channel we now have a lovely pond at home again. We do have koi (we are in WA) so it will be interesting to see how the load goes. So thanks again for the inspiration 😀

[@Ozponds]

Thanks Kerry and Trev. That makes me happy to hear. 👍

[@Lwimmermastermetalart]

First off I have to say your videos are simply the best! There is so much information out there sometimes it gets overwhelming. I’m sorry to admit I’m an idiot for not researching more before I built my small pond with a waterfall. First I KNEW better but forgot to put liner under my waterfall. I’ve been chasing leaks and it’s down to a little but I give up at this point. I’ve fooled around with filtration . I still can’t get sparkling clear water. Now I’m getting so much algae as well. Its somewhat a protected area without blistering sun all day. I do have quite a bit of rocks and bio balls . The kit was from Half Off Ponds. It’s nice overall. I recently added a few plants. I have a spitter and air pump. Things were pretty good but not yet perfect. I’ve been adding concentrated powdered bacteria . It still hasn’t seemed to be doing it’s job. I’m getting a lot of algae and I’ve added algaecide thats not supposed to affect the good bacteria. All in all the Koi ( 4-5 inches) seemed happy and jumped at feeding time. Swam around good. Loved swimming against the water flow. I’m careful to use detoxifier for when my sprinkler system adds city water. Now in the past several days I’ve lost my fish. They were at the top trying to get more oxygen. WHY? What have I done wrong? What should I do ? I need to get this thing right before I add more expensive fish. I’m so frustrated . I just ordered some of that flox stuff that’s supposed to coagulate and clear water. It works in my pool . This has been a nightmare and I’m really ready to just give up, or start all over again. I’d like it bigger of course. I’m thinking this time I’d do a bottom drain as well. I think my skimmer / filter pump assembly will still be ok but may add an additional pump as well. I really like your ideas for building cheap filters. I think your spot on there. I don’t believe you need to purchase a ton of expensive stuff to be successful . Any help at all would be greatly appreciated . Thx for all you do. Wish you lived next door LOL

[@Ozponds]

😞 no good Lee. Sorry about your fish. So there’s a few things that stick out to me. You mentioned using an algaecide. I’m guessing where you live it summer (it’s winter here in oz). You also mentioned the fish were gasping for air. In summer when the water is warm it can’t hold as much oxygen. The fish need oxygen. The bacterias and organisms need oxygen. Algae and plants produce oxygen during the daylight. When all the algae died it ripped a heap of oxygen out of the pond. I’m guessing on this occasion that was your issue. Of course it’s hard to be certain diagnosing problems in a comments section of KZbin. But I hope it helps you. I believe the video I have scheduled this weekend is one on warm water and oxygen. Hope it helps 🤞

[@Lwimmermastermetalart]

@@Ozponds thank you so very much for you rapid reply. I’m thinking too this is what did them in. They were doing great till then. I was more concerned about using the correct algaecide as to not destroy the bacteria but didn’t realize doing it would take out the oxygen. Obviously they were struggling . Very sad but only had for about a month . In fact I didn’t even name them yet. I simply love Koi. Also Tiger Oscars I used to have 35 years ago. ( yeah I’m an old timer lol) . So my next question is just what can I do now to keep the water from turning green. Anything other than the obvious things like plants , limiting direct sunlight and still adding beneficial bacteria. I’m guessing it’s going to take more time to colonize enough. What are your thoughts on putting some lava rock on the bottom? And yes to answer your question it is summer here and I live in SC . I’ve also added another air stone. I’m guessing I just need to live with algae because to kill it all off I’m eliminating the much needed oxygen. Lessons learned the hard way. My first few fish I lost was because I put too much fresh tap water in without using a detoxifier. Because of the leaking waterfall I was always putting in fresh water. My spitter sprung a leak and really ran it down and I was stupid to try and fill it right away. I’m learning. Unfortunately the hard way. All that being said I think you are simply the best. There are loads of videos out there and loads of very expensive products. But you my man nail it and on a budget . Kudos . Thanx again! I’m a subscriber !!!

[@Lwimmermastermetalart]

Not to go on and on but one last question. When you notice a koi is in distress and struggling to get oxy is there any thing you can do to save them quickly? Transfer to a bucket with good water and a bubbler? Thx again !!

[@Ozponds]

I like adding rock and pebble to my ponds because it adds surface area for the bacteria. More surface area= more bacteria. You’ll notice none of my ponds are green. That’s because I have good filtration (usually a bog filter) for the bacteria to colonise. I also under stock my ponds so not too many fish. Having some algae on the rocks is beneficial- it will take in nutrients, fish will graze on it and as you’ve learnt it adds oxygen throughout the day.

[@Ozponds]

I’m not a koi expert (they are actually illegal to keep where I live). But my go to would be to aerating the pond and possibly lowering the water temperature so it holds more oxygen.

[@axolotllifeaquatics4492]

Have you thought about adding shrimp to your ponds. They are great little cleanup crew's

[@Ozponds]

Yes I added shrimp first.

[@blakehawke7898]

Hey Kev! Love you videos mate. They really helped us with a job installing a beautiful pond and stream. It’s been about 4 months and we are starting to get some algae like you in the stream with the warmer weather. We have manually removed a bit and also installed a few more plants and added a bit of beneficial bacteria. Do you have any suggestions to keep algae at bay? Cheers!

[@Ozponds]

It’s just part of the pond maturing process. You could try diotomix, but it’s just a cycle the pond needs to go through. Eventually the pond will find a perfect balance. It might get worse before it gets better.

[@samchanning22]

Great update Kev the pond is looking great really like the shade of blue the water is, looks tropical 👍 have you added anymore dye of is this still from the first dose?

[@Ozponds]

Thanks Sam. Still that first dose. I really like the colour it is now.

[@Owais221b]

being Australian, you've a quite understandable accent

[@Ozponds]

😂 thanks ..I think

[@VinylUnboxings]

Have you considered adding shrimp? I added some feeder ghost shrimp to my pond, and some survived for months. They'd do even better with all these rocks,

[@Ozponds]

I did put shrimp in. I’m not sure on how they are going as I’ve not been able to find any. But there’s loads of crevices for them to hide in.

[@TylerTervooren]

It looks better with every update, Kev. Meanwhile over here, I'm getting about an hour of productive work done every other day between frigid rain storms. Your channel inspired a lot of the features and techniques I'm using on mine, so can't thank you enough for being such a great resource. My wife, on the other hand, probably wishes I'd never found you. Ha. She'll love it once it's done, though. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask-what animal is making that sound in the background of all your videos. I don't know how to describe it. Almost sounds like a car horn on autotune or something. Is it a bird? I've never heard anything like it.

[@Ozponds]

😂 my wife thinks I’m crazy as well! But everyday I see her just staring into one of the ponds smiling. There’s nothing better than being around water! I’m pretty excited to see yours finished. I’m not sure what the sound you’re referring to is but it would be a bird or frog. We’ve got lots of magpies and rainbow lorikeets, the banjo frogs have also been prolific.

[@NaturebyGus]

Did you use a pond colorant? Too blue in my opinion. Thanks.

[@Ozponds]

Yeah. That’s a long story. There’s a whole series on how this pond was built. I don’t like the blue either.

[@Acoustix77]

Cool footage!! Maybe you can answer some questions again :o) I have quite a few string algae in my pond at the moment. I'm wondering if the pondsoil I put in the plantbaskets are the cause... Should I get them all out and replace it with gravel? Or do you think a bog filter can even it out?

[@Ozponds]

String algae is a difficult beast to tame. In a new pond, even with a decent filter it can still cause issues. Time is the key. It’s the bacteria, the organisms and plants all working together. I’ve found that in new ponds diatomix or nualgi can help. Both products encourage diatoms which are the base of the food chain. You can try removing the soil but I think until the pond matures the issue will persist.

[@visgotti]

a bunch of pond gatekeepers on reddit always yelling 'YoU neED a BoTTom DRaiN" but your ponds seem perfect without them. Any thoughts on why people on forums seem to adamant about having a bottom drain? I think I remember you mentioned putting an aerator at the bottom of your pond to help mix up the water at the bottom, that's what my current plan is because a bottom drain seems like such a headache to do right.

[@Ozponds]

I think it depends what you want from the pond. Many dedicated koi ponds will have bottom drains. This is because the pond will have a very heavy fish load and the pond owner wants to easily remove fish waste. I keep my ponds more in balance, it’s not just for the fish, it’s for other wildlife also. Added bonus is I don’t need a bottom drain. I’ve got nothing against them, it just depends what type of pond you ultimately want.

[@visgotti]

@@Ozponds makes sense thanks

[@paulivanoff1516]

great stuff You got any info on design impact of water flow You know models for creating flow and eddies?

[@Ozponds]

Some videos on flow rates for filters and streams. Creating eddies is unpredictable, I don’t have any exact models for that.

[@blaircox1589]

Did you add a blue pond water colouring to the water for this one? I see them advertised to reduce the light pentration and limit algae.

[@Ozponds]

Yes I did. And I over did it. There’s a vid when I first did it and instantly regretted it.

[@mantis40]

What native frogs have you identified breeding at your pond?

[@Ozponds]

I know we have the banjos and southern brown tree frogs. That’s all I know for certain.

[@meghammond717]

All up how much did it cost Kev

[@Ozponds]

Just over $10,000. I have a cost break down video. I can’t remember the exact amount.

[@LampWaters]

What's ditomix?

[@Ozponds]

Diatomix is a mix of different minerals that helps promote the growth of diatoms. These are a source of food for phytoplankton, which are then a source of food for other aquatic life. The idea is that the diatoms outcompete algae.

[@LampWaters]

@@Ozponds would you consider this for a swim pond with no fish... minimal plants.

[@Ozponds]

Possibly. I’m still trailing it in my pond. I don’t want to fully endorse it until I’m satisfied that it’s worth it. If you already have the pond and you’ve got algae issues it’s worth a try.