Design a pond, size the parts and show the client in five minutes.
Sketch a pond over a backyard photo or a drawing. PondTools works out the volume, picks the pump, skimmer and filter, puts a price on every line, and turns the design into a photoreal image and video of the pond in the client's yard.
What PondTools does
Plan it with AI or by hand
Describe the pond in a chat or trace it yourself over a photo or drawing. Set the depths and shelves and turn it around in 3D.
Get the exact volume and parts
PondTools calculates gallons from your shape and depths, sizes the pump for the head it will run against, and matches the skimmer and BioFalls to that flow on Aquascape's own ratings.
Show it in their yard
Take a photo at the visit, set the scale from a distance you know, and draw the pond where it belongs. Then generate a photoreal image and an eight-second video of it.
Map a whole lake
Trace the shoreline on a satellite photo and estimate the lake bed from the USGS LiDAR survey. You get depth contours, gallons and acre-feet without a boat or sonar.
Arrive with everything
The six things kits leave out, from dechlorinator to a fill valve, are sized and priced for the same pond, along with boulders and gravel by the ton.
Dose from the real volume
The salt, treatment and water-change calculators all start from the volume you measured, so the doses fit the pond instead of a guess.
Who it is for
Pond contractors
Quote the job on the first visit, with a picture of the finished pond and a parts list you can order from.
Homeowners
Plan your own pond, find out exactly what to buy, and see it in your yard before you dig.
Lake and pond managers
Map a lake from satellite and LiDAR to get its volume for treatment, without putting a boat on the water.
How a job goes
Plan
Trace or describe the pond and set its depths and shelves.
Get the details
Volume, size, kit, pump and rock all come out of the drawing.
Imagine
Turn the design into a photoreal image and video in the client's yard.
Send to the client
Share the design, the picture and the priced parts list in one link.
Quotes that hold up on install day
A pond 22 and a half feet by 20 and a half feet, two feet deep at the bottom, holds about 1,940 gallons. PondTools gets that from the drawing, picks a kit large enough to line it, and estimates 7.1 to 11.5 tons of boulders for the edges and the waterfall.
The same drawing becomes the parts list. The price you show the client is built from the same lines you will order from your supplier, so there are no surprises on either side.
From the PondTools blog
How many gallons is my pond?
Length times width times depth gets you close. Here is why close is not good enough.
The six things pond kits leave out
Foam sealant, dechlorinator, starter bacteria, netting, silicone and a fill valve.
How much salt does a pond need?
A tenth of a percent is a common target. The hard part is knowing the gallons.
Mapping a lake without a boat
How PondTools estimates a lake's volume from satellite photos and LiDAR.
Questions
Do I need to measure the pond first?
Not to start. You can trace over a backyard photo after setting the scale from one distance you know, or over a satellite view, and refine the measurements later.
Which equipment does it recommend?
The parts list uses Aquascape's skimmers, BioFalls, pumps and liner, sized on Aquascape's published ratings. Dealers can show their own prices.
How accurate is the lake mapping?
The shoreline and the ground around it are measured. The lake bed is an estimate from the slope of the surrounding land, using a method the EPA published in 2011, so treat the depth as a planning figure.
Can I send the design to a client?
Yes. Share a link to the design with the picture and the parts list, or download them.