Wanting Barrel Pond.... N00bs Q's

[The Walrus]

My grandpa and I have been deciding on building a pond that would be roughly around 400 gallons (US).

THE THING IS!!!
I'm going to be a junior this upcoming next year, and was planning on building a pond for my senior project (if it was allowed). But the thing is if I built the pond now, then I probably won't be able to make another pond as big as the one I built before, which would be lame if the smaller one was used for the project.

When I told my grandpa this it kinda bummed him out, but then we we're thinking about getting a BARREL POND

This way will have a lil summer pond project and we'll get that [pond~feeling] already when we do the big one.

My questions are!!!!------

A. Preparation...... liner or no liner?
B. Will Plants cancel out filters? What kind of Plants should i get. (no experience with pond plants)
C. Fish..... I already know I will be getting a couple of goldfish, will a Dojo/Weather loach be safe?
D. Will the ponds and inhabitants be all year around?

( SORRY FOR THE LONG READING)

 

[koimom]

My questions are!!!!------

A. Preparation...... liner or no liner? For a Barrel I think you are definitely going to need a liner...

B. Will Plants cancel out filters? What kind of Plants should i get. (no experience with pond plants)
I use a combination of a top fall that has a biological filter (Japanese matala mats) with water hyacinth, water lettuce, Iris, and water grasses (forget their names) to help filter and aerate the pond. This is on top of using an Ultima 6,000 filter with 80v UV lights to keep algae down. Our pond is 3,600 gallons, though, so you'll probably not need such big guns!

C. Fish..... I already know I will be getting a couple of goldfish, will a Dojo/Weather loach be safe? Good question; where do you live and what's the weather like. In Southern California I don't have any freezing issues, just shade issues. If it's very cold where you live you would have to bring you goldfish inside to a large wintering tank.

D. Will the ponds and inhabitants be all year around? Again, depends on the weather and what your conditions are yearly. Our weather tends to keep everyone around except for rainiest, coldest, gloomiest days...

Keep letting us know how it goes for you!

 

[The Walrus]

well i live about a 1 1/2 hour north of Seattle

weather is weird here...

in Fall it can get pretty warm and if its cloudy it has a nice breeze... and rains alot when its closer to winter

in winter it rain alot and be windy... and once every year the temperature can get to 20 degrees F...
it can snow like for a week... but it rarely happens now

in spring it can get hot and rainy

in summer it can get very hot.... this summer it got to the 90's for about half of the summer

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

well i live about a 1 1/2 hour north of Seattle

weather is weird here...

in Fall it can get pretty warm and if its cloudy it has a nice breeze... and rains alot when its closer to winter

in winter it rain alot and be windy... and once every year the temperature can get to 20 degrees F...
it can snow like for a week... but it rarely happens now

in spring it can get hot and rainy

in summer it can get very hot.... this summer it got to the 90's for about half of the summer

If it snows or freezes at all during the winter (no matter how long it lasts), dojo loaches are not a good idea, and some types of goldfish cannot tolerate freezing temps too.