The Pond Calculator and Water Garden Estimating Service also featuring 'the pond problem troubleshooting guide'.

Starting out on a water garden project can be a daunting affair if you have not done it before. If you don’t find it daunting and you haven’t done it before then that is the time to get worried. You are obviously not aware of everything that needs to be considered before you start. This section is really what you should look at before you do anything else. If it serves only to reassure you that you have got everything right then there has been a good job done.

The above diagram taken from the book by Peter J. May called Designing and Creating Water Gardens, shows all the aspects of a water garden that have to be considered. It then shows how those aspects are connected to the actual goods that you need to get in order to create your water garden. All these things have to be considered in the one over-riding factor - the BUDGET

There is nothing worse than getting to a stage in the project when you realise that you have forgotten something that should have been done before. But the main shortfall for even experienced landscapers is on the budget. So many water gardens have been started with the effort, skill and consideration akin to the Renaissance craftsmen creating the Villad’Este water gardens, and seemingly with no expense spared on materials. Then comes the financial crunch towards the end of the hard landscaping, and what gets the short fall on the finances? The plants, and you end up with a bleak water feature and not a water garden, with either cheap rampant plants that take over in no time or a few sorry soggy things that look lonely and lost and seem too nervous to perform.

If there is bit of cash still in the budget towards the end then you can really give the pond what it needs, plenty of plants. If you really do manage to get this bit right, the blanket weed or algae problem need never arise. So you can see that even at its most simplistic level, the effort and finances that go into putting a water garden together have their dividends further down the line.

So here you will find a page of links that will take you to calculators on this site and other sites that will help you with the creation of you water garden, and if there problems in the future, they will guide you a through troubleshooting checklist to pinpoint causes and give you a cure or solution to the problem. There are some more super ones on the way that will be particularly useful to landscapers who build water gardens all the time and need to know exactly how how much the costs will be and also how long it is going to take. So 'Bookmark' this page, it will be useful.

Rapid estimating tool for liners, pumps and filters.

For those of you who want to see just how big a liner you will need for the hole you plan to dig and what sort of pump and filter system you would want for that size of pond – even bearing in mind what is available locally or at you favourite store, then the pOndbOt(tm) is for you. This seems a simple machine but it takes more into consideration than even the manufacturers do themselves when their pumps are working with filters. For instance, how often do you see on the side of a pump box the performance figures relating to the length and bore of hose that you use.

Another liner size estimating tool for specific shapes and informal shapes

LaBrake's Garden Path and Pond Llc has a number of calculators for liner estimates that are fun to play with if you want a second opinion on your liner size.

Pump flow Calculator

This Pump Flow Calculator can be found on the Water Gardening Direct website along with other useful tips another pond volume calculating tool.

Pump Flow Calculator and Pump Selector from Frederik Jacobssen

Free Pond Pump Selector that shows you how much water a pond pump will deliver under given circumstances (just enter head of water, hose-length). This is very good and unbiased.

http://www.pump-demo.com/free.html
 

Filter Calculator for Oase gravity filters.

Here is a Filter Calculator for Oase gravity filters from water-garden.co.uk. They also have a handy chart with a built in pond volume calculator.

Pond Volume Calculator and measurement conversion and temperature conversion

This calculator is aimed at the koi enthusaist who still doesn't know how many gallons his pond holds, but, hey, he needs to medicate and its in litres and the dose is in cubic centimetres. Well Antonio's Koi comes to the rescue

Pump Cost Calculator + conversion calculator + pond planning calculator

A calculator for the true cost of your pump is an eye opener for many people new to water gardening. You can see that that the 'bargain basement' pump that often comes at a quarter of the price of a more efficient energy saving pump an often work out more expensive just by the amount of power it consumes even if it was to last as long as the more expensive pump. This neat little collection comes from www.aqua-topia.co.uk.

Pond Fish Disease Chart

Here is a handy Pond Fish Disease chart from Waterlife.co.uk to help with a diagnosis when things go wrong

Pond Fish Feeding Guide

Nishikoi have a fish feeding guide for Koi that not only tells you what sort of food you should be feeding and when, but precisely at what temperature the water should be.

Calculators for Pond pump performance and costings

If you thought you knew everything about your pond pump and how it is the most suitable for your pond, then look here and think again. This will tell you things you didn't think you needed to know and will save you money from the minute you look at it.

Practical water gardens Microsoft Excel Free Pond Calculators

You Must Have Microsoft Excel to see these programs

Complete Pond Pump Selector is a Microsoft Excel file to help you calculate anything about pumps.
Volume & Weight Conversions, a file to help you convert all sorts of different units easily.
Waterfall Flow Rates is to help you work out flow rates for your waterfall
Flowrate Conversions translates flow rates from gallons and cubic metres to litres and other units and vice versa
How Many Fish For Your Pond helps you avoid overstocking your pond
Koi Food Economics helps you save money on koi food
Pond Volume: Regular Shapes helps you calculate pond volume of regular shaped ponds
Pond Volumes: Irregular Shapes helps you calculate pond volume of irregular shaped ponds
Running Cost: Your Pump. Work out the running costs for your pump
SaveMoneyRun2Pumps. Here's what you need to know to save lots of money on pump costs
Short Fat Pipes Are Best. Use wide diameter and short run pipes for best results
Size Your Pipe. Learn to size your pipework correctly