We replaced a swimming pool with an eco wildlife pond.

When my wife and I bought a property in Kleinmond two years ago, we embarked on multiple projects to create a home we dreamed about. Both the house and the outdoor spaces required work. Initially, we restored the swimming pool to a functional and safe condition and then proceeded with projects to transform the garden into a sustainable environment. Projects included building composting structures, an earthworm farm, a well-point, irrigation, chopping down alien trees, planting indigenous bird-attracting trees, a vegetable garden and a herb garden.

After our second summer in the moderate climate of Kleinmond, we realised that the swimming pool is seldom used, wasting water, electricity, requiring chemicals and on the odd occasion, trapping frogs. I spent some time researching how to convert the pool into an ecofriendly pond. We are both passionate about fauna and flora but are by no means experts on the subject. The final product, as displayed in the pictures, includes:

1. Concrete cut to enlarge pond size. The fibreglass shell was removed and donated, as it was too deep and small for our design.
2. The sand filter from the pool was replaced with an elevated bog filter (wetland filter). Water is extracted from the bottom of the pond with a submersible pump and pushed through a PVC manifold buried under 13mm gravel, 30cm deep, and then returns to the main pool, after supplying nutrients to bog plants. The gravel and plants strip out nutrients to prevent algae from growing in the pond.
3. The main pond contains fish to control mosquitoes.
4. Water is aerated with two waterfalls cascading down rocks.
5. The submersible pump circulates water, with the flow-rate sufficient to supply both the waterfalls and bog filter. Solar pumps do not have sufficient energy for the required rate but running the pump of 100W is a huge saving measured against the swimming pool pump at 750W.
6. Perimeter lighting is 5 x 10W solar lights.

The main pond contains shelves at different heights, allowing for different types of pond plants. The deepest section is 90cm, with a cave for the fish.