How to Add a Pond, Step 3: Add the Water Circulation and Filtration System

The Happy Ducks are getting a pond and they are thrilled. This post and the others in the add a pond series are brought to you by smartpond®

If you have been keeping up with the Happy Ducks new pond you will remember from the last installment of our how to add a pond series from smartpond® that the hubby has reached the point of inserting the liner. Once he had that in it was time to add “the guts” to the pond; the pump, the filter and the waterfall. All of the pieces that make the pond work.

He read the directions – I KNOW! – and set to work getting everything up and running. The first step was to get the pump ready to go so he had to set it in the right place in the pond.

It was placed in the deeper section of the pond so as to help with keeping the water circulating. The pump attaches to the filter and the filter attaches to the waterfall. It’s connected with tubing.

Of course as he was working he was not unobserved. The goats enjoyed this project as much as the ducks I think even though they are not getting anything out of it. They were certainly always watching the proceedings. While I pretend to guess what they are thinking, I really never know for sure!

After he had the pump set in place it was time to make sure the waterfall was in place and level. This did take some time and it has settled a bit and needs to be readjusted but the hubby said he knew this was a possibility. After he had the waterfall all level and ready to go he could finish by setting up the filter.

There is a UV system in the filter to help keep the water clear. (I will cover some other water clarity issues in the next post.) Once he was done with the waterfall he covered it with the pieces of slate to make it look more attractive and appear more a part of the rock surroundings we were creating for the pond area.

Once he had everything connected it was time to add some water; enough to cover the pump. Then we could plug it in and see how it worked!

It is strongly recommended that you get an electrician to handle any issues you have connecting your pond to your electrical system. The hubby put himself through college as an electrician’s helper so he was comfortable dealing with this for our situation.

Once the pump was covered with enough water, it was magic time….

…and everything functioned! It was really exciting to see that after all of the hard work that went into the pond! Once the Happy Ducks heard the running water they started quacking and they immediately came over to see what was going on.

They are very water obsessed birds. One Happy Duck has gone broody and is sitting on a nest right now so that is why you are only seeing three ducks. It will be fun to have ducklings – assuming they hatch of course. It took a bit to fill the pond; the hubby estimates it holds about 540 gallons of water.

The Happy Ducks already approve.

There will be one more post showing the final fill of the pond and the addition of a decorative stone border. Then I’ll have a video of the Happy Ducks swimming in their new duck pond. I can tell you that they already love it and they quack their thanks to smartpond® for bringing it into their little duck lives.

Please go to smartpond‘s website to find ideas for layouts, to ask questions and find some great DIY projects. You can use their pond calculator to figure out what you need for your specific pond project.

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Be sure to check out the other posts in this series:

An Upgrade for the Happy Ducks – We’re Building a Duck Pond

How to Add a Duck Pond, Step 1 – Dig a Hole

How to Add a Duck Pond, Step 2 – The Pond Liner

How to Add a Duck Pond, Step 4 – The Decorative Rock Border