Red Green wrote:

wrote in
:

hi,
At my place of work they had some flowerbeds which they turned into
small fountain / ponds.. They dug them up, put down liner and rocks,
installed a pump then hid it, put in a drain if the water gets too
high and it was done. Looked easy and Im going to do the same in my
backyard. I had a thought, why not make the basin a bit deeper, maybe
the size of a hottub, then I could jump in it from time to time and
cool off in the summer. Would I need a special filter for this? does
anyone sell a standalone heater and jets to make it a hot tub pond?

One word on this:

FrogsFrogdungAlgaeRottingleavesSnakesBirdcrapSnal esSlugsDeadinsectsDeadrodentsPollenDirtDiseasePond scumEtc

These are all good things as a pond is an balanced ecosystem. Keyword is POND.

OTOH- in a *balanced* ecosystem nature [or man] filters the water
mechanically, or with vegetation. 'Natural' pools are gaining in
popularity & there is more and more being written about how your pool
filter can be a patch of vegetation rather than a toxic soup of
chemicals.

I have swum [swimmed?] in some pretty icky looking rivers and ponds
and I have mucked through some of the greenest, poopiest water in the
world without ill effects. Rice growers live in the paddies. Frog
poop won't hurt you. A veggie filter will keep the water clear.

I'd rather swim/'cool off' in a private, not-so-crystal-clear pond
than *any* public pool, any day of the week.

Jim