Blagdon Affinity Grand Octagon Living Water Feature Patio
Blagdon Affinity Grand Octagon Living Water Feature Patio Pool Pond, with Inpond 5-in-1 3000 Filter Pump & UV Clarifier, LED Sotlight, 3 Fountain Feature Heads, 1 Planting Basket – Large
From the brand
Making water gardening dreams a reality.
Our personal enjoyment of this hobby has driven innovation, creating some of the most unique technologies and products for ponds and water features.
Blagdon treatments are produced in the UK in our own factory. Our team works closely with manufacturing standards agencies such as the VMD to ensure we meet all relevant legislation and have confidence that we are providing the best treatments for the job.
| Weight: | 2.1 kg |
| Size: | Grand (Large) |
| Dimensions: | 84.4 x 41.4 x 29.8 cm; 2.1 Kilograms |
| Model: | 1054485 |
| Colour: | Light Gray, Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Dimensions: | 84.4 x 41.4 x 29.8 cm; 2.1 Kilograms |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | Grand (Large) |
I’ve never had anything like this before, it’s a real focus in the garden. Comes with everything you need for a first time fishpond.
A wee bit fidgety to build, but we looked at setup videos which helped. Once built it is very sturdy and my fish are living their best lives now
Admittedly, it’s a little expensive for what it is but the effect if fantastic, all my family love it.
I ordered this and it arrived (not in new condition and had missing items) some of the supporting beams wouldn’t even fit as they were longer.
However the seller arranged collection of the item and I purchased another one which came in as described and was easy to put together. It looks beautiful and even though it was frustrating to have to return the first one this one arrived in perfect condition and we love it.
Brilliant purchase, bigger area and magnified portholes are great for seeing all the fish. Construction was okay took about 2hrs, instructions were adequate also Blagdon’s video helped. Fits neatly into small garden, pump options, flower basket and waterfall add to a great buy.
I paid a 230 discount for a damaged box.
Okay I hear you say that’s a big discount for a damaged box
There was a bit more than that, there is a label on one of the port holes that can’t be removed.
The liner holding bolts don’t fit , thank goodness for cable ties but over all a lovely little pond.
Looks fabulous on my patio.
Instructions were not as clear as we were lead to belive but once up and filled with water its lovely.sadly we put 2 of the window port holes in upside down lol and hadnt realized till it was full of water so we left it alone.we had our first 3 kio carp taken by a heron so it has a net on the top of it now.its lovely to sit and listen to when done
Please ensure that you unpack EVERY LITTLE ITEM before you start assembly. Not easy to assemble but the reward can be great. The package I had delivered was unfortunately tampered with. The light part of the pump had been used or at the very least returned. There was tell tale tape around the cable that was not part of the set, clearly someone had tried to thread the cable through a wall before returning it! The box was slightly damaged but at the time I paid no attention to it forget it at your peril!!!!
Now that it is assembled and on the decking I’m happy with it but it was a bit of a pain to assemble and I never managed to get the plant holder to stay clipped in.
That isn’t an unreserved recommendation though – it needs a LOT of work to keep it looking nice and the pump working properly. The in pond filter unit takes up approx 50% of the area of the base of the pond which means that a large portion of fish poo and general muck either lands on or gets drawn into the filter. This seems to overwhelm it and, during the summer in particular, the pump pretty much much grinds to a halt every 1 – 2 weeks. This means the filter needs taking out, cleaning and the pump unit flushing through with a hose. Then it’s great again, but it’s a time consuming, dirty and unpleasant job. A friend bought the larger size version of this pond (which is what prompted me to get mine) and he doesn’t seem to have the problem to the same extent so I think it’s largely a result of how much of the base of the pond the filter takes up – in a larger area more muck would settle around it than in it!
The water also evaporates at an alarming rate in the summer too and it needs topping up every week (not a problem Blagdon can do anything about of course, but worth bearing in mind in terms of maintenance levels). Lastly, the porthole windows go green with algae very quickly when the sun is on them, and again scrubbing them clean is a weekly task. I’ve only ever cleaned them with the official cleaning cloths Blagdon produce and they were fine for 18 months, but in the last 6 months they have started to scuff slightly, leaving them looking a little cloudy even when clean, which is a bit annoying as it’s lovely to see the bright colours of the fish when the windows are properly clear.
In summary, these ponds are a nice addition to your garden but if I were to buy one again I’d go for the larger size, otherwise be prepared to spend a lot of time maintaining it!
We bought our Blagdon Affinity Octagon Mocha Weave pool at the end of June. We’d seen the pool up and running in a local garden centre a year ago and nearly bought one. But thought it maybe an impulse purchase. So we waited and 9 months later still wanted one. And we are glad we now have one in our garden.
The quality is very good and it was fairly easy to install / set up with good instructions and a bit of patience! Value for money wise it is well worth the investment. The sound of the water flow on our patio is relaxing and having live fish to look after and watch is just lovely.
The only negative I have is that the set up does not come with plugs. For a pond that cost in excess of 400 it is worth the criticism on here.
If you are thinking about buying one and cannot decide if you ant to spend the money all I can say is that you will not regret it. The initial outlay is long forgotten once you are up and running.
A quality product.
When this arrived I thought somethings missing box is not big enough, so I couldn’t wait for help to assemble, I’m 76 with arthritis in hands and fingers., so I set about doing it myself. I’ve got to admit it wasn’t easy and it took me about 3hrs to assemble outer layer the screws we’re the hardest for me but I managed. Left liner until next day, now that was not easy to clip liner onto hooks but I eventually got there, set it where I wanted it, I already had a barrel pond with 4 fish in so I emptied that one, filled the new one up and I am really happy with it in fact I’m sure the fish are enjoying it as they are always at the windows as if their looking out. If you read about the pond it says only one planter and no plug fitted. One very happy customer now that it’s built.
It wasn’t the easiest to put together on my own, but got it done in a couple of hours (with waiting for the panels to warm in the sunshine).. but DO put the fleece down first.. you assemble it upside-down!
The liner doesn’t sit straight down the walls, so I can’t put the plants that sit on the bottom into the corner and have had to put in a couple of bricks just to keep them in place and stop them sliding further into the middle. I’ve used S-hooks to hold the marginals pots, hooked into the pre-drilled holes, rather than buying extra clip-in blagdon holders.
It’s taken a couple of weeks for the water to become properly sparkling clear, without addition of anything. My water came from water butts, and was pretty murky to start.
Can’t wait to get the fish in and see them swimming about.
The instructions was not clear, no plug on filter or light which I thought would be included with the price of 400 now have to go and buy to get it up and running, outside rattan easily threaded when putting together, don’t put it up when you have children around you they think it’s a paddling pool
Just thought I’d share this, the pond has been in place for six weeks now and has attracted many admirers. I cleaned out the filter yesterday – easy to do – and at the same time I wiped away the algae that had covered the unit. I paid special attention to the sensor and the LED bulb, since then, the light has not been on almost 24/7 and the bulb is brighter. Just a tiny thing but worth knowing.
Excellent points.
Idea for a water feature or pond for small spaces . Excellent instructions.
Everything is marked with labels so it’s easy to know what goes where .
The only down side is the special tool to put the locking clips in.. its sharp and cut my hands using it. It can be so hard to lock them in place. You need to think about smoothing the sides on the tool to make it better .
Would I buy the pond again ..yes I would and recommend it to family and friends
My fish will go in, in a cpl of days after the live bacteria and declorinator have a chance to create the proper environment etc. (Again these can be bought from a local aquatics centre or Amazon.. Both cost around 19 together and last ages)
As for assembly, I did it on my own as a middle aged female in a cpl of hours. The ‘view’ products seem to be the ones causing installation issues but not this one. The instructions are unclear in parts so I would recommend watching the You-Tube videos if you struggle.
So far I genuinely can’t recommend this product highly enough
That said, everything was fine and working. It’s filled, planted and has fish in. It’s also ideal for my situation where I can’t dig down.
So I have now bought myself the Grand Octagon 700 Litres which is big and perfect in every way, ( but please don’t keep Koi Carp in these ). Apart from the poor performing included Pump which immediately got sold on.
Something to note about the lighting system on the included Pump. The Lights have no On / Off switch, it should be noted that fish need to rest as well during night time or they will suffer Stress.
I have now purchased an All in one 9000 Pump compared to 3000 supplied with more powerful 13w UVC compared to the 5w supplied and loaded this with filter bags full of AlfaGrog media for effective removal of harmful Ammonia and Nitrite to less harmful Nitrate. Since the Bacteria that converts the first two can grow on any surface. But the Bacteria to deal with Nitrate, requires conditions to grow within the media and takes considerably longer to establish. Most suppliers do not take the Nitrate problem serious enough, relying on the owner to undertake regular weekly water changes to lower Nitrate levels in the Pond or Aquaria instead.
Pond is so easy to assemble and I have included instructions from the supplied manual in this review.
In addition I have also purchased 2 x Affinity Waterfalls connected to a ‘Y’ 10mm pipe connector.
In the centre of the Pond I have installed a 90L upside down cube aquarium also referred to as an upside down pond that provides extra swimming space to the fish and looks brilliant.
From past experience of these I would certainly recommend the Pond Heater for those freezing temperatures as the Pond is not deep enough with the sides exposed to the freezing conditions outside which may cause fish deaths.
Otherwise Great Pond but poor performing included Pump.
Arrived early on the prescribed day, set out all the components and laid out the underlay, decided this was not large enough for construction so laid out our camping mats. Bgan by trying to push together the top rails and had to resort to the workshop to reform several of them so that they sat home. However on putting the uprights in place the whole thing fell appart. NOT what the video showed!!!!!
Resorted to a peice by peice build.
One brace peice was only partialy drilled but soon remedied. The rest of the construction was easier until I came to the FEET. These were very badly formed and melted so had to put them through the workshop again.
The whole BUILD took 4hrs 2hrs of which were spent on the top rails.
A nice addition to the garden living area and I will get lots of enjoyment out of it.
The video on youtube should be re worked with more detail of construction.