Ponds Gone Wrong | Backyard Ponds - Episode 2 - (Part 1) 

Not sure how I got here, but I ended up watching the whole thing even though I have no plans on getting a pond lol. It's like watching a reality TV show. Good to see your company so passionate about doing ponds right. Certainly gains trust.

I like that you show these videos with a focus on doing it right without having the "only professionals should do this work" attitude. As a homeowner, I will research and get a good feeling for doing work before starting. Videos like this are informational without being condescending. Thanks for sharing!

This is better than any reality show. wow....good job

Always like coming back to this channel. It’s amazing what some people do and what some people accept!

Good job!! U like your work. I've been doing this 22 years.

This is a must see video for anyone hiring a contractor to build a pond. The idea that this pond was originally built by a professional convinces me that absent fraud, the homeowner accidentally retained an outhouse port-a-potty firm. What is extremely helpful is that Pond Digger will tell you (a) where the immediate problems are in reference to specific design issues - my fav is the toad sitting in the waterless waterfall filter; (b) what happens by virtue of biology and physics if you just dig a dirt hole. Great work fixing up this ugly duckling. You rock!

Ahhh this reminds me of when you rescued me from the pond I had built. It is wonderful having a real working ecosystem, Koi that grew from 1" to 23"s, watching dragon fly's grow from pupa to flying wonders....It's all in the hands of people who know what they are doing...Eric is that guy!

Here is one for Ponds Gone Wrong. First thanks for taking the time to read this. About fifteen years ago i had a great idea and went to my neighborhood ABC Hardware store and rented a Backhoe. I was able to save delivery charges since they were around the corner. Back to story, In my yard i picked a spot and began digging. This whole in the ground is (9( nine feet deep, (10) ten feet wide and (12) feet long. I took landscape lumber and put in each corner. Then took plywood and made a frame, connecting to the pressure treated post. I put in the underlay then the liner. You know everything was looking good, i put in fish and boy did they grow. The liner is near the end of it's life and two problems came up. First i think the ground shifted because two of the sides look like they are buckling in. When i look at the brick work i see it is not level. Second where i have the water fall, at the base i have a feeling that it sunk into the ground. Where as before i could have the water level right up to my slate, now when i try to get it at the bottom of the slate at a platform where i am standing i began to see water infiltrating the area. Third for the longest time i was thinking evaporation was doing me in when in fact it must be a whole in the liner. Reason why i am thinking this is because when i fill it up it goes right back to this same spot. it is about five inches from the top and it stays there. My water was getting green because when i made the hole it was in direct sunlight, my fault. Should have done some research before i started. No skimmer (i know) what can i say. The other day i drained the water to the point where the fish were just about on there side, i then filled it back up and about six hours later i took a look just to see a fish dead under the water fall. First one in Years. Took it out, gave the others some food and went in the house. The next morning a fish about twelve inches long by seven inches wide by six inches high was dead under the water fall. Did some checking and from what i see is the water over time gets polluted but to a point where the fish adjust slowly to it. By doing a massive water change the way i did is what did them in. What do you think. Since this liner is at it's end i want to change it out, install a skimmer, have shelves and over all make it a little larger. Also it is in direct sun, also don't know if you have ever heard of wrighty, i constructed his filter system on my pond. I think i now have to wait for the system (nitrifying bacteria) to kick in). My Problem is what do i do with the fish? Some are around six to eight pounds and i have about twenty fish. I am lost. I don't want them to die. These fish are in the pond all year long. Even winter. Hope you will give some recommendations. keep up the good work only wish i would have been able to see your channel before i started. God Bless.

I’m maintaining a small pond that came with the house, I’m from nyc and I have learned tons from your channel...thank u thank u thank u

lol that giant toad gave me a mini heart attack!

this is why i build a straightforward, old school rectangle cement pond.. by myself..

I built my first pond out of concrete mortar and cinder blocks about 1 foot below and 3.5 feet above the ground (so 85 percent of the pond is above ground) at 4.5 thousand gallons the highest point is over 6foot for the water fall all tiled with slate free standing concrete shelves that make caves big pond flows into little pond to create skimming and second water trickle into smaller pond used thoroseal not one leak its been 5 years since the day of completion I built it for a fish store on commercial property designed and built by me of course there knowledge of skimming and filtration was very useful...

Video is very nicely done and very informative. Thank you.

what a joke! totally got ripped off! Nice to see a real pro (Eric) came in to do it right! Love your videos Eric wish you were in WI I would hire you 4sure!

I love how you found the problem right away, it's a shame the person called themselves " professional"

Ok.. so I made a few mistakes nothing that I can't fix tho.. man thanks again ur a pond hero.. u do such a great job and I can actually sit and watch the videos and understand what I need to do with out falling asleep hahaa !! Thanks again.

An Epidemic Plaguing America

What a disaster. I feel so bad for the home owners. But they are in great hands now. The Pond Digger will make that yard a little slice of heaven for the koi and home owners.

That is one good looking truck

Awesome vid, I'm hooked. Can't wait to see ep 2

I bet that puddle smelled horrible lol

Awesome job!!!

Nice truck!

u should invite the installer to let him know his mistake

I gagged when he pulled out the filter @ 3:22

Ha! Love the new episode series idea. Shows me exactly what not to do

Right out the gate the skimmer seemed too high and the waterfall too low. The second issue is the homeowner has to be taught to clean the filters every so often to keep the water flow going. Without water flow you have algae, excessive bacteria and even odor. Overall looked like shabby work. A waterfall pond will add value to your home, so invest the money and get a quality pond. You should not be seeing buckets, hoses, DIY filters etc near the pond. Its supposed to look natural. Great video.

This sadly looks like everything wrong with my (estimated) 2500 gallon pond that I inherited from previous owners at my home. It looks to be the same situation, a DIYer "professional" built it for them, and it is just full of issues like those in this video. The coping rock issues, pump issues, grading issues, overflow issues. I've learned a lot in my own research that by now I feel like I could build something better easily, but sadly lack the time and money and the ability to house our rather large Koi while doing the necessary work.

Wow, makes me not sure I even want a pond after this video, thankfully I watched part #2 first! ;)

From the looks of these videos your second Hobby after ponds is Powerstrokes. All your ponds and trucks look great though!

Good vid as always.

Wow... I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a pond installation just to have it turn out like this.

great job fixing it!

Poor fish...

That's awesome😎😎😎

that's one messy pond. you should recommend some contract guidelines, i.e. tennis courts must be flat, if the contractor makes it wobbly, it's lined out in the contract... there should be pond contract rules too :D

That waterfall thing looks like a plastic snow shovel thing

Very cool! Love the vid!

I hope you're still around when I need my pond done...

Very good

Ponds gone wrong. And there are no shortage of them.

Holes Filled with Water Gone Wrong. Fixed the title for you

Cant wait for the next upload!

Dude. I literally just dug a hole, thew in a liner, put down some river rock from my local Creek bed, filled it with water, slapped in a cheap Amazon pump planted some plants, and it ended up better than this. I had never built a pond and did minimal research. All I figured was "big fish tank". It's been 6 months and aside from some minor thing, I've had zero issues.

the owner of the home also stated that the supervisor smelled of urine and bourbon, and that on several occasions he was spotted near the back yard profusely throwing up yelling " DEAR GOD WHY ?? WHY ME FUUUCCCCKKKK"

I thought my pond is awful...this is worse! The water looks like sewage pond water! :S

OMG! The fish were in the skimmer!!!! All the while that they put the fence up!!! Dying! :( sheesh!

OMG I hate fences too!!! Get a guard dog!

If I ever get a pond, I’m gonna need a fence because my dog loves to swim

I just love all your videos!!! As I have mentioned before, I built my own turtle ponds and everything was going good until this summer when we got a algae problem but had never seen this type before. The you post this video and blow me down, the same algae is floating in this pond. The confusing thing is, you mentioned it was lack of oxygen in the water but we do have a very good waterfall from bog filter and oxygenated water. The only thing I can work out for my pond that is different from last summer (when we had no problems and pond was well established) is, we have no floating surface plants as the moment (duckweed etc) and feel that these plants help to oxygenate and shade the water, so maybe we need to get some asap. By the way, I'm in Australia, that's why I'm talking about summer right now:) Can't wait for part 2 of this and all your future videos.

I see this all the time .a so called pro charging good money or even underbidding just to get the job.so someone who has always dreamed of having a pond ends up with a nightmare...an expensive one.i am a do it yourselfer but have built for other people.the difference is i have a conscience and couldnt take advantage of someone just to make a buck. Im no pro but i always take natural physics into consideration and have always had good results.love your vids ,and always use them for reference.keep making peoples dreams come true.peace from southern california...

Landscaping companies who want to add "Pond Building" to their services is one of the problems in the industry... We have even rebuilt water features built by "Certified" contractors who have no clue in what they are doing. For the customer, do your research and make sure you choose a company that has the experience and can show you photos, etc... of their work.. Alan Koontz, Owner, Carolina Pondscapes, Inc..

tfw I made a better pond when I was 16 xD This is gonna be really helpful for my next pond project. Thanks

that big wall in the back ground would be good for outdoor enclosure.

Looks like they didnt maintain their pond either

"We don't wan't the pipe to be shown" but then he fucking pulls it out even more.

It'is good and nice

could it also be that the home owner wasn't caring for the pond? I mean it was constructed poorly but the home owner could have also cared after it better just my opinion.

I've never built a pond by my god I could do a better job with 2 hours of research lol

Even I can see that pond was built by an idiot. I could've done a better job just using some common sense. Lol Great video.Subbed. Looking forward to 2nd part.

"I was showing the gardener that we were going to have the pond and he said "we do that"" There's your problem right there... In my old home I also had a gardener that claimed he could do absolutely everything. An undersized pool pump, and tree stump in my front yard later, I learned that he just wanted the money for the job, regardless of whether he could actually do the job or not. If your satisfied with your gardener's job at gardening, that's great. Doesn't mean they're landscapers.

Awesome work guys, just stunning, amazing! How long did it take to rebuild the pond, and how much do you guys charge for a project like this one?

This is completely outrageous disaster compared to the first episode!

Hi The Pond Digger! I am in southern New Hampshire and it is October 7 and I just spotted a frog living in a bucket of weeds I left out in the garden too long! I saw the series on how to build a pond and I think I will do it. What can I do now to help the frog over winter until I build a proper pond for him? Or her? Can I just bury the bucket - one of those white buckets - for the winter? Thanks, KJ

"The waterfall isn't creating Oxygen..." LOL.

that truck tho

looks like something johnhuff would build. .

that surface skimmer still worked xD just needed cleaning

I'm thinking about building a pond but I don't have a large garden. I don't actually have a garden at all could I use a large plant pot and a carrier bag and what kind of natural nature could one expect to frequent my small pond?

never got to see the finished pond ....gutted !!

nice ,, does pond has the outlet,, where dirty water can be drained off thanks

ok so I have watched your show and I like it very much. I posted a while back that I would like to see more shows.I finally wanted to see if you could do a small show on something I have been wanting to build and Mabey you could show how you would do it the correct way. It's like this: I want to build an above ground garden but incorporate my three tear plastic liner ponds and have it be like a creek but water the plants of my garden. all recycling back to the pond where I would have pond fish no bigger than an inch. ponds sizes are 75 gal, 15, and a 5gal. I grow mint, water melon, bell peppers, and tomatoes. right now anyway. can send pictures to an email.

Do you recommend painting the liner with black flex seal

Mosquito breeding pond lol

are there more of these videos going to be available soon. I've watched the ones you posted. I like them for educational purposes not for what happened to the owners of each. I'd like to see more. thanks.

the only thing i have to ask though, the filters not being clean, would that not also come back to the owners not cleaning it? i used to clean a pond at a local school at least 1 a month and there was never that much build up on the filters. to me, that just looks like a lack of effort on the owners for not cleaning the filters out. unless they are meant to be like some no-cleaning required filters.

I wonder how many stones and rocks were begging not be casually dropped into the water

Who the hell designed this?!

What's funny is that my gardener did the same thing. Oh, I can make a pond for you. Disaster!

Hello Eric, My skimmer has developeda crack in the bottom over the winter, can i repair it permentily with something like bondo for fiberglass?

Great ideas. The only issue I have is that when finished, the pond looks sort of artificial, with too many types of rocks, steps etc and lacks a natural look one would expect from a professional installation.

This blows my mind that someone paid to have this done. We are not pond only guys, but do 7-10 a year and take our time and go by the book. The underbidding by other "pros" is a huge part of the problem we deal with. But that is why so much of my work is coming behind other "pros" and repairing their work. Sad.

Hey do you accept interns? I'd love to hang around and fiddle with the stones and stuff. Free of charge, LOL.

Nice

Their dog looks like that evil kind thats always snarling.

Skilled labor isn't cheap. Cheap labor isn't skilled.

i have a big man made pond thats pretty big. i know there is fish and an gator in there.....ive been thinking about somehow circulating the water to prevent alge build up and provide more oxygen, what do you reccomend........anything i do must be DYI

Wish you could help save a grandparents pond, so they can care for it and enjoy it.

hope all is working now!

Can I get mesh over my pond at night to stop predators eating my fish?

How did fish get sucked into the filter Reservoir!?

Initial thoughts of the pond: "That's ugly af. A professional designed that?"

ThePondDigger Hey man, love your channel, just wondering, what do you do when it rains like do you put a cover over your ponds or are they generally build under a shelter?

Hopefully whoever did this mess was reported to the Better Business Bureau or some authority.

Reminds my of Amy’s Baking Company idk why

I have a pond with no liner we just built with some farm equipment found a good spot using dowsing rods and dug worked good for over 10 yrs but the last 2 years it has completly dried up after a big rain last year there was about 2ft of water so i put a few catfish in it thinking i could keep them until i got more to eat next day it was completly dry. Is there any way i can fix this?

Woah what truck are you driving/in

Hell they could have used a kiddie pool, that original pond is a bad joke Jesus

Do you fix ponds in Long Island, I have wanted a pond for 15 years, since we bought our house, So My oldest daughter and her husband tried to put it together as a birthday gift. It looked really good but now my Koi's are swimming in cloudy green water. Due I love them for tiring I bought my Koi's inside and put them in a 100 gallon tank . Please tell me what to do so that I may enjoy my pond outside and my Koi's have more room to swim. Thank You Theresa

the first sight or impression when i see that so called pond is nasty like seriously they call that a pond? more of a mud pool😂 i wonder how much they paid for it