The Pond Digger Forums

HELP! HELP! OUR POND IS A DISASTER!Submitted by Murrieta, California

Our family has dreamed of having a natural looking beautiful pond filled with koi and decorated with nice plants.  Since we are a young family limited by money, we have done what we could to build this dream.  However, our pond needs HELP!  It is a disaster. The pond we have now is definitely not well built.  I initially bought my husband a small pre-formed pond as a Christmas gift nearly three years ago.  His love for koi and our lack of money led us to build an extension to the existing pond using pond liner.  Because we had no idea what we were doing, we did what most people would do...we guessed!  The result has been that there are several problems with our pond:

- Our pond is not one pond, but two ponds and it is very obvious.  Not only is this unpleasant to the eye but the koi are not able to swim from one section to the next.
- A piece of unsightly wood serves as shade.  During the hot summer months our koi try to hide in the flaps of the liner but they don't fit.  Needless to say, the wood doesn't look too good.
- Water leaks our from our pond!  To connect the ponds we overlapped the pre-formed pond with liner.  The liner always lifts up causing water to leak out.  We constantly need to refill the pond using buckets.  The buckets allow the water to sit and dechlorinate before we put it in with our pets.  (This is a very difficult thing to keep up with when my husband is not home.)
- There is no access to trim the bushes next to our pond.  The bushes are in between our pond and the fence.  Not only is this a sight for sore eyes, but leaves and debris fall into our pond causing even more maintenance.

Essentially, our pond not only poorly built, but it is causing this fairly young family with two young kids A LOT of extra maintenance.  The old style filter needs to be cleaned weekly, we need to add water by bucket nearly every day and we continuously need to pick up debris that falls from branches we can't reach.  In addition to all of this, our pond looks horrible.  It is obvious that we did it ourselves:
- The black liner shows through because we have very few rocks and/or plant shelves.
- Our border looks very make-shift...dare I say, "cheap".  In some sections you can see board and old clothes that we used as a cushion underneath the liner.
- The rocks we used in an attempt to make our border look pretty consistently fall into the pond and do little to hide the liner underneath.
- The plants we used around our pond in an attempt to make the area look attractive do not match anything and are overgrown with weeds (partially due to our limited access to them).
- The power source is very visible and dangerously located.

Basically, we have to admit...we are stylistically challenged.  We need you, at Exotic Aquatics, to HELP US OUT!  It is obvious by looking at the pictures that we need help and we need it BAD!  We have seen your work. Although we are from Murrieta, we consistently use your website, took a "Tour for the Cure" and my husband even traveled far to attend the "Build a Pond Day."  We would be extremely grateful if some of your style, class and functionality were added to our yard.  Should we receive this honor we would relax and enjoy our new pond and we would undoubtedly share your work with other water enthusiasts that we know.  

We are a young family of four.  My husband works hard and stressful hours in a law enforcement job.  I stay home to teach and rear my own children as well as two additional children.  our son is three years old and our daughter is 2 months old.  This makeover would not only improve a yard, it would improve our lives.  We plead with you to consider our request for a pond makeover.

-  Do it for my husband who needs a peaceful and calm setting after a long day at work.
-  Do it for our son who can sit by the pond for hours and feed and admire our pets.
-  Do it for our daughter who stares at the water and goos and gahs as the water trickles down.
-  Do it for me so that I can experience the calmness of a beautiful pond rather than the stress of a high-maintenance undesirable looking pond.
-  Do it for our all of us so that we can be proud whenever family and friends come see our water feature.
-  Do it for our family so that we can have a place to share and grow together.

If nothing else...do it for the KOI.  They NEED a new home.  A clean home with space, shade and the beauty and comfort they deserve.

We thank you kindly for considering our request and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Murrieta, California

From what I hear they can use all the help they can get! hehe

HELP! HELP! HELP!


THANKS so much for your consideration!

Help! Help! I'm a beautiful koi nicknamed "Tiki" (by my owner's son). The turtle, frogs, catifsh and other koi are squeezing me out of my home!!

If I had a dime for every time my little nephew (3yr old) said "lets feed fishies" or "look turtle's hiding" or "where's froggie" I would be rich. He was born loving animals and the outdoors, just like his daddy. I have never seen him more excited than when he is out next to the pond. Every time I go visit, he takes me outside to show me how the koi have grown. He insists I join him in finding "yucky worms for the fishies". So there I am, digging in the dirt with him.

My baby niece is just as he was when he was her age. Her crying always stops when you take her out to the pond and she sees the bright colors of the koi and hears the water trickling down the tiny waterfall.

Unfortunately, the poor pond needs sooooo much work. Because of its poor construction, it requires constant maintenance, which requires a lot of time - which neither my poor brother, nor my sister-in-law have! I remember when my brother was deployed to Iraq, I would drive over an hour just to help my sister-in-law with cleaning the pond.

Now my brother is in law enforcement, but works long hours while my sister-in-law works HER long hours trying to juggle a teaching day care, keep all their pets in good health, keep the house from falling apart, and manage to spend a waking hour with her husband. I can't believe how they have managed to keep this going. If it had been MY pond, I would have given up a long time ago!! It would have been too much work for me - and I'm single and have no kids!! They work soooo hard to keep this pond-dream alive.

Any person can tell, just by looking at the pond, that it is in DESPERAT need of a make-over. But more importantly, anyone who knows them can tell you that no other family is more deserving.

It has always been my brother's dream to have a big, beautiful pond full of koi and turtles and plants and waterfalls... My sister-in-law has always made every effort to help him make his dream come true. With my niece and nephew now adoring the pond, it's become a family dream. Every Christmas, forget the toys and essentials, the wish list is all about the pond. The only time I see my brother completely relaxed is when he's sitting by the pond. It's as if nothing else exists...

It would be a dream come true for them to have this make-over. They may not have time or money to take vacations, but to them, just sitting out there, all together, enjoying a beautiful pond of their dreams is a vacation in itself...

They have always had to work so hard for every little thing they have, it would be so nice to finally see them get such a wonderful gift... their dream come true.

Several years ago, when I was asked to come over and look at the new pond they had just built "all by themselves", I was excited for them because I knew it had been their hearts' desire. It wasn't exactly what I expected.
Does a hole in the ground with a plastic at the bottom and filled with water qualify as a pond? As time progressed the much improved pond consisted of adding stones around the edge to hold down the plastic which was always flapping over into the water. The so called waterfall is a plastic rock look alike with a black tube hanging over the top. No kidding, they really used an old board to give the koi some shade during the summer.
Even though this is the most pitifull pond anyone has ever seen, I guarantee that there are no other koi, turtles and various critters that frequently visit this water hole that are more loved and better cared for. Please improve on the conditions of these kois' home. This pond's makeover would give you the biggest challenge and this is the most deserving young couple you could ever meet.

I love my husband with my whole heart. I live to see him smile and he does the same for me. One of the things that makes him the absolute happiest is for me to go outside and sit next to him as we look at his fish,.... oh I mean KOI. (My husband has taught me the difference.)

I have to admit that before I was married, that is not what I would have typically considered my idea of a good time. For the longest time I din't understand what was so exciting about fish in water... But I get it now. It is a place for us to sit together, relax and unwind. Just to see how calming having a pond has been to us and the joy that it brings our children, his dream has become my dream. A large beautiful pond with wonderful KOI.

Right now we have a makeshift UGLY looking pond! Please help us out. We would be eternally greatful.