Upcycling an Old Spa Into a Fishpond/Fountain

by Stephen Taylor

4 Materials

I wanted a Fishpond in the garden but decent size ones are really expensive -- so time for a bit more upcycling!!! I didn't take too many pics (doh!)
Edited with added night pic

upcycling an old spa into a fishpond fountain

I started with this Ugly as Sin spa pool, another TradeMe bargain at $20, was very heavy and had a bit of a disaster when it fell off the trailer 5km from home when a ratchet strap broke, but all the bits i needed were undamaged. Wifey wasn't impressed (more junk!!) - It takes about 1000 litres of water.

I stripped off all the fittings and blocked all the holes with expanding foam and 2 part epoxy.

Then I dug a big hole...

I put the pool in the hole and leveled it (took several attempts). If you don't get it level it will look awful. At this point I also put in electrics for the pump.

Bit of a jump now! So put wire rebar mesh over the top and bricked around it (lots of brick cutting).

I made the fountain from tiles on a wood frame and filled with expanding foam - the tiles were free end of line from a tile warehouse scrap bin.

I had the rebar and bricks left over from the house build.

The sun tile at the front was given to me by my dad who passed away shortly before I built this.

Put in a pump with UV light on it and added plants (the pots are zip tied to the rebar to allow decent growth)

I added 10 goldfish and some solar lights, and here it is finished job. (And the wife is a lot happier with it now!!)

Added a night picture - unfortunately one of the lights needs repairing, plants have grown a bit too!

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3 of 18 questions

Dka27519972 on May 20, 2019

Is that the recirculating pump in the middle? Is there another way to do this without it? You have done a great job with this, but the tower in the middle spoils the view, in my opinion.

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Sheree Peck Hemann McClellan on Jun 04, 2019

just wondering why the rebar across the top of the pond?? I have had
trouble with the neighbors dog going for a dunk but the most heart breaking was
when I came out and found my fish that were 3 years old had become snacks
to a coon.

3
Lisa O'Brien on Jun 04, 2019

How do you replace the pump? Sometimes they stop working.

1

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6 of 240 comments

Mary on Nov 10, 2020

This is a wonderful idea, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I've seen more and more of these types of projects. 20+ years ago a friend used an old satellite dish (the huge ones) as a small pond in her back yard with goldfish. One day she heard a splash and to her horror the neighbors small child had fallen in, slime had accumulated on the sides and the child being on her stomach was having difficulty getting up and nearly drowned. Her husband immediately removed it. In our area if you have a pool you need a fence, it's the law, but there is nothing mentioned about ponds or other water decorations. As most of you know children are very curious and extremely quick, had she not been standing near her kitchen window to hear the splash the child would had drowned, the parent had just turned her back for a moment, but that is all it takes. Like I said these are beautiful and I don't want to invade someone's post with gloom and doom but please be mindful of where you locate your decorations, it really only takes a split second.

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- Stephen Taylor on Nov 10, 2020
  
  As stated, this is covered by rebar mesh which would both support a child's weight and also prevent falling in, the mesh square size is about 4 inches
  
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- Mary on Nov 11, 2020
  
  The attention to the safety details in this project are amazing, I was referring to the many water features I've seen that have not gone to those lengths. Also a 4 inch square is not small enough to keep a toddler or other small childs foot or arm from going through and them being caught. Again this is not an attack, it is not personal, I am trying to save someone the grief my friend suffered, the nightmares so bad they sold their home, the looks from the neighbors and how a young mother almost lost her child. In the last 10 years 3 toddlers have lost their lives in fish ponds and water features in our area. If this post is offensive I will delete it. The work done here is beautiful and creative and I am going to show it to my husband, we would up grade the 4 inch mesh to something tighter or surround it with a decretive fence. It is deep enough to leave the fish in year around so they hibernate in the bottom of the feature, it is an excellent way to reuse an old spa.
  
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- Stephen Taylor on Nov 15, 2020
  
  No offence taken Mary, we have grandchildren and would be mortified if they came to harm, hence the pool, spa and ponds are fenced/ lockable lid/ covered with mesh, but you can't have a world risk sanitised for everything. We also have on the property a small rainwater duck pond (which is 14+ feet deep and slippery as hell as it is plastic lined ) and by NZ law this doesn't require fencing (however it is) such are the vagaries of the law (I have been caught out in it trying to recover semi drowned ducklings and had to crawl out on my hands and knees as the plastic/duck poo is like trying to stand on ice with greasy shoes!! 😂)
  
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Marc on Feb 19, 2021

Stephen, I have just purchase a fiber glass soaking tub to do the same as you. It has two holes. One to drain and I assuming the top one was for the water facet, or overflow drain. My thought the drain hole would be used just for that atatched to small French drain pipe under ground, The facet hole to run the pump cord into the the tub. How do you suggest, I secure these holes as not to leak? My thoughts on the pump cord will be going into the tub from the underground to hide the pump cord.
Thank you for any and all suggestions. My email is Creekfall@aol.com (Marc)

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- Stephen Taylor on Feb 19, 2021
  
  I filled the holes with expanding foam which seems to have done the job (no leaks 5 years on) I also drilled a small overflow hole about 4 inches from the top of the shell so that the pond doesn't overfill when it rains
  
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