Puddle Pond is 3 years old now and the maintenance is minimal, 5 minutes a week. When you have to shut it off to remove the filters and media to hose off, its maybe 15 minutes. You have to have beneficial bacteria on hand which lives in the media. We used perm rods in the media bag but you can use lava rocks as well. Then theres periodic algea issues that are controlled with chemicals and the u/v light. The u/v light is crucial to pond health. You have to learn your fish diseases and insects that are preditors. Start with .26 cent comets from petsmart. let them grow, see how you do, then add $4.00 koi. The same fish at the pond store are $15.00. They grow so quick! Last year Saki was 3 inches and its now a good 8 inches. All but 1 of my comets where hatched in the pond and I have several females full of eggs again. The lifecycle in the pond turns often. Either from over heating, disease, stress, or critters taking them. Our biggest problems in the first year were from a heat wave. It stressed the fish badly. Then we had the Heron come 2 years in a row. Its very peaceful to have the pond, and windchimes outside. I love it out there. The cost from the pro's is a mark up on your supplies and labor. Trust me, you can do it yourself! Just PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! If you fail to plan, plan to fail with this project. You will make mistakes but you will learn from them. Just cover the big issues first and you will be ok. I can walk you through most of it.

Im not sure how much the electricity went up but it wasnt much at all. A few dollars. Its been so long now I forget. But Im sure i didnt break the bank or I would have remembered. I think its equivelent to adding a lightbulb in your house.

Missi, I think I have pics of us digging the hole and everything. I have to look but if I have them Ill start a photobucket so you can see what we did!

Missi, I found the pics. Heres a link for you. I hope this helps. I thought I had pics of the hole but I guess not. These will at least show you what is under the rock and what the waterfall is made of. You will see what we had before the pond. It was just a bird bath in that corner. The white chalk mark is the shape we wanted. We played around with shapes by using the garden hose. Once we found the one we liked we chalked it with paint.

fourbabies/pond - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

That is just beautiful Leigh! What a treat! You guys are amazing!

WOW! It is really neat to see the 'before' and 'after' of where the pond is! And look how teenie tiny those koi were! I also really love the waterfall (filter??) How awesome. You have inspired me, Leigh!