My neighbor's koi pond gave me an idea for a cheap water feature

I was over at my neighbor Dave's house in Phoenix last spring, and he had this little pond with a pump that just recirculates water. It cost him like $60 at a hardware store, nothing fancy. I went home and built one from a half wine barrel I found on Facebook Marketplace for $30, just added a small pump and some rocks. Has anyone else tried building a backyard water feature on the cheap without going full contractor mode?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarc1226d ago

nah man I used to think those little pond setups were just for people with too much money and time. bought into the whole "you need a proper liner and filtration system" thing. but then my buddy threw together one of those half barrel deals with a $20 pump from Home Depot and honestly it looks sick. been running for two summers now with zero issues. swapped out the water once when it got funky but that's it. totally changed my mind about what counts as a real water feature. sometimes simple really is better and cheaper.

karen36126d ago

oh dude I totally get that! my husband built one out of an old stock tank from Tractor Supply for like $50 and it’s been sitting out there for almost four years now with just a cheap pump and some rocks. I was skeptical too but honestly it’s the best thing in our backyard and the kids love watching the little waterfall noise. sometimes you just gotta ignore the fancy rules and go for it, right?

wesley_jones26d ago

@oscarc12 basically nailed it, my first barrel pond I built for 40 bucks total and it lasted three years before the barrel rotted out. I'm the kind of guy who kills a cactus by overwatering so the fact that thing ran that long is a miracle. Dave's $60 setup is probably smarter than my cheap half barrel but hey, you can't argue with 40 bucks.