10 Tips On How-To Spice Up Your Pond Design

So you have your backyard pond design completed and installed. Here are some tips on how to customize your design, whether it be with different foilage options to different fish, or coloring your pond with underwater lighting changes. There are many ways to make your professionally installed pond look entirely different. Let’s take a look at some of these options together; some can be installed by you, and some must be installed by your certified aquascaping contractor.

Tips:

Surface pond plants

Surface pond plants must be chosen carefully to provide a pleasing effect. These pond plants must not overhang the edge of the pond nor clog filters and pumps. Plant small flowering varieties in pots or planters, one plant per pot for best results. For unplanted areas, use evergreens: Junipers and arborvitae work well together.

Underwater pond plants

Underwater pond lighting

Waterfall / streams / rills

Pondless waterfall/pond design with recirculating stream

A pondless water feature can be used to make your pond more interesting; the waterfall will spill over some river rocks or small boulders onto some river pebbles creating a gentle sound of running water, making your pond even more soothing. This is also done without an extra pond at all! A pond design like this can be installed on some level land where you would like a pond but don’t have enough yard space or too much yard slope for one. The stream bed is built into the side of the yard, with special pond liner fabric underneath to prevent erosion leading down to the pump below which sits a custom spillway-style pondless waterfall. This pond design option gives you all the pond benefits with none of the pond footprint.

Surrounding Trees

Planting trees with color in mind will help your overall aesthetic. This can flow over onto the next generation! Be aware that nearby trees can root into your pond system, and that’s never a good thing. Apple trees and various fruit trees are great because they can also add value to your property. Of course avoiding pond plants that can become invasive and pond fish like koi and goldfish (and all types of pond fish for that matter) will help keep your pond system healthy.

Introducing Fish

If you’ve decided to put some interesting pond fish into your pond design, be aware that certain colors or color combinations on pond fish can make them more attractive as well as the size of the fish. Tropical pond fish like lotus and water hyacinth are great because they provide shade, pond plants and surface area for oxygenating/dissolving gases; also they aren’t very hungry. Be aware of some basic rules about pond design with using different kinds of bottom feeding and top eating fish together- there is a science to pond design, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Garden pond/pondless pond fountain with LED lights

Water features like the one in this pond design are always great enhancements to any backyard pond! The water flows over some natural river rocks into a pond-style planter, then runs through an underwater bed of cascading LED lights before trickling down onto another layer of river rock and into the pump below. This is just one example of how you can use LEDs instead of regular pond lighting; what’s even better is that this style of lighting has hardly any wiring involved at all. Color options are available for these kinds of pond designs while achieving various effects like bubbles or rainbows color fade changes depending on your pond room color automatically changes colors to make each pond design unique like pond stones and other pond ornaments.

Koi pond/pondless pond with waterfall and recirculating stream

Koi pond fish are very colorful; they’re also top garden pond pick for a water feature because of their big size (they get quite large) and low feeding requirements. These pond fish like warming waters, so the sun is always welcome in your backyard pond design! The moving water from the waterfall offers plenty of aeration which keeps oxygen levels high for healthy pond plants too. This is just one example of how you can use an underwater fountain in place of a traditional pond pump with filter system.

Rocks

The final pond design tip is to remember that there are no limits. You can always make your pond bigger or smaller depending on preference and the layout will adapt to any space you have for it. It’s all up to you how it will look!

Thanks for reading at Meyer Aquascapes! We hope you’ve enjoyed our post on garden pond design. Please leave a comment below if you liked it or have any questions. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for stopping by!

10 Tips On How-To Spice Up Your Pond Design

10 Tips On How-To Spice Up Your Pond Design

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