What To Use For A Duck Pond And How To Keep It Clean??????

[underdown]

Where did you get your electric pump and how do you set that up

 

[underdown]

How was the pond vacuum? We have the same pond and getting ready to set it up. Need help with filtering and drain system though

 

[Ramblin Rooster]

Great thread!!

 

[bibkel]

After searching for an easier solution to the kiddie pool dumping and getting sun damage......I found it works to use cement mixing pans found at lowes and home depot! I have two small, and two large.
Extremely easy to dump, easy for them to get in and out, and so far the sun has not damaged them, even though they are black! I found them in the cement aisle....Great Idea that actually works!

I still will have a pond at some point!

Here is Christmas the pilgrim, and Charles the Sebastopol, he would try to climb in with her, and she would get out and into the other tub. Repeat about 10 times before she allowed him to have his way with her.

 

[furbabymum]

I have a leaky pond but this is what I prefer. It's a super sized dog kennel. Easy empty. Works just fine. Kids love it too!

 

[Serenity Lane]

Hi everyone! I'm trying to figure out what I should use as a duck pond. Last year I had 6 then 5 Cayugas and I used this kiddie pool..

Unfortunately I lost the remaining 5 ducks

and the pool has cracked. I now have eight 6 week old khakis and next week will be getting 5 more Çayugas and 5 Pekins (not even hatched yet). A friend has offered to give me a pool like my blue one but its round. I am going to attempt to repair the crack in my original pool.. We'll see how that goes. So last year with the 6 then 5 ducks, my pool had to be drained every 3-4 days. I will have lots more ducks soon and would rather not waste that water if I can help it.
I found these on Craigslist for a really good price..

They are brand new and the guy has 2 of them. My property is pretty level but we recently purchased an older backhoe so making a hill shouldn't be a problem. I was thinking to purchase one or both basins and install them uphill from my garden so when I drain the pool (or pools) I can water the garden. I would of course put a drain in the pool(s) and pipe the water so it runs into the garden but not in a way that drowns my plants.
My main concern with buying this basin is that it is only 11 inches deep. I'd hate to buy it because it's a good deal, spend all of the time and effort to install it, then regret it and want something deeper. For that, I could use the kiddie pools (both have drains) temporarily, then get a deeper pond. The rest of the basin seems to be a decent size, roughly 7 1/2' x 5 1/2', even if I had 2 of them, that should be enough surface area, it's just the depth that concerns me.
Anybody have any thoughts in this? What would you all do? I'd hate to rush into anything because I've got spring fever, but I don't want to miss out on a great deal if it could work well for my ducks.

 

[feasel]

Think very seriously about building in a drain. My ducks put a couple inches of mud and muck into the bottom of their pond every week. Pumping that dry enough to clean out with a pump is easier said than done.

I trenched in a 2" drain pipe running down hill from the pond before I put in the pond. 40 feet of two foot deep trench was a lot of work, but I am happy I did it every time I open the valve and drain the pond. All I have to do is wait for it to drain and then shovel out the remaining muck. Anything other than a heavy duty chopper pump would choke on the muck, which means that I would not be able to pump out all the water, which would make cleaning out the solids nearly impossible.

It cannot be overstated that ducks will completely crap up any container of water that you give them in a very short time.

We have built a pond, did not put in a drain, do not own a pump! We are learning on the fly.




Though it looks big in this photo, our pond is very small so I'm thinking that maybe fortnightly we can siphon the water out with an automatic siphon pump (into a water barrel, ready for watering our plants) and then scoop out the gunk at the bottom (for the compost bin).

Is this scheme utter madness? The pond is about 1 x 1.5m and .5m deep with a ledge... the ducks love it and you are right: they have completely crapped it up in no time at all.

 

[bibkel]

I still have the original cement trays I posted about and it's been over 2 years.
I also scour craigslist for cheap things I can use for my babies....I found a pond shape, which sat in my yard for 3 years before I skipped the Mr. Man part and simply set it up.
I found broken up cement and had a teenage boy put it where I wanted. Now the pond is above ground and has concrete chunks around it along with blocks also found on CL-and some pavers. Most of that was free. I made the front have a slant so they can waddle their cute butts to the water and swim and dive and do what ducks do. I have a video in the middle of getting this done with geese also have a great time.

Now, I have to block them off so I can get ground cover to actually cover some of the concrete. I will go back to the trays when we start getting rains, and will plant sedum and thyme mostly, and give it time to root before they get full access again. I will give them maybe an hour a week during that time.

I got my filters from Amazon, and one is a biofilter, water goes in the top, and out the bottom, which is then going to a waterfall of sorts with another layer of filter.
The biofilter has an overflow spout, and the pump I have is too strong, so I aimed it back into the pond. I have a cute turtle with a spout that I found on CL (never pay $20 at the store) and it will eventually be part of the setup and overflow-just cuter.
I tried to put hyacinth in there, that lasted less than a day.

My first pump went out, but I didn't expect it to keep up with the demand. As it is, the filters have to be rinsed lots and I already need new material. Ducks poop A LOT. I was draining the water while I tried to work out the pumps, and I tried a vacuum (that failed miserably). My hydrangea that I planted this summer closest to the pond....it is thriving!

Now, I can use the hose coming from the biofilter and water the other stuff planted near the pond. I kept it long on purpose, to allow the water to fertilize my garden.

I don't think you can get away with draining once in a while, but the pump I got seems to suck up all the blech on the bottom and spit it through the biofilter. I know stuff is getting by that because the waterfall also gets mucked up. This is the first time I have been able to not drain the pond weekly;I am on week 4.

 

[bibkel]

Here are a few shots of my pond, mid-install.

 

[JJpuck]

Here are a few shots of my pond, mid-install.

What type of pond is this? I've been trying to find a durable preformed pond for my 5 ducks but I haven't been able to find one that seems sturdy enough. This one looks really strong and quite big! Could you offer any more details about where you got it and its description?