pools

Hi all, not sure which topic heading to use for this question but here goes. Do you think it is feasible to turn a swimming pool into a wild life pool?   Has anyone done this?  With what success please? 

I saw this done once on a TV programme. The owners made a range of steps on the pool sides so creating the levels for planting but kept a strip down the centre of the pool so they could still swim in it. They lined the pool sides and newly created steps with upside turf and the filled it with water, leaving it to settle for a couple of weeks, and filled it with pond plants, which they could plant dirctly into the turf. By the time it appeared on TV It had been established for about a year and looked fantastic.

Just googled for "convert swimming pool into pond", and amongst other things, came up with this link....

http://www.theswimmingpondcompany.co.uk/faq.html

Hi Tim, thanks for the info and the swimming ponds look great but my idea is to cut down on work not to create more.   What I was hoping to do was chuck in a load of bricks, stones etc and then some water lilies to create shade, add a few oxygenators and hope for the best.  I thought I might add a filter but not like the one we use for swimming.   I don't know what to do but I would like to get rid of the swimming pool.

I don't possess a fixed swimming pool, but I can't see a garden swimming pool being of much practical use, in our climate. It would seem to require a lot of maintenance work - for very little return.

I had a large above-ground inflatable pool, once. One Summer it was used on just one occasion. It was a waste of money, and space. I got rid of it and put the area to better use.

Converting a legacy swimming pool to a more natural pond is an excellent idea.

On our previous BBC forum, one of the forum members had actually done this conversion, and had made a wonderful job of it. They posted some photos. I think they spent quite a lot making their conversion. But huge expense isn't absolutely necessary.

The two main elements that you need are - something shallow to stand some plants on, and also some way for any creatures to climb out. Whatever supports the plants, together with the plants, would suffice for that. Something like a raft, made of wood, might work; I'm not sure. Or possibly something like a couple of packing crates.

pansy2 wrote (see)

...What I was hoping to do was chuck in a load of bricks, stones ... I thought I might add a filter ...

I would not have filled a pool with 'a load of bricks and stones'. Retaining depth is useful to prevent the bottom from freezing. And a filter is quite unnecessary for a natural pond.

Bear in mind too that it's very difficult to revert a pool back to an ordinary garden simply by filling it in, because there is no drainage, and water cannot drain away.