Putting in a "Real" pond this time

Pockets

Pockets

@PoorboysWorld.com
So with everybody making fun of me about my little fella pond, and more importantly no real way to filter the water so the fish were suffering, I decided to build a rather large pond to sit by and have a beer and cigar while watching my beautiful fish swim around =)

I did not remeasure after the expansion but it's large haha and over 3.5 ft deep. Thank god for having a pickup truck that is all I gotta say!

The hunt for filtration began and I was quickly intrigued in the Helix Life Support Systems Helix Pond Filtration Helix Pond Filtration .... these systems are at the very top for pond filtration and skimming, the skimmer even won pond product of the year in 2012 when it was introduced. The Bio-Mechanical Waterfall Filter is a fairly new product at less then a year old and has captured the eyes of most every pond fanatic. So I decided to purchase them for my pond! It uses a very large amount (270 lbs.) of Lava Rock as a nesting spot for beneficial bacteria. Lava rock is very porous so there is a large amount of surface area on them for the bacteria to grow. It also is the first of it's kind with no touch cleaning by injecting air under the lava rock and causing it to "boil" and loosen up the dirt, than just open the drain and back flush it with pond water and your good to go.

I want to throw out a very large thank you to Eric over at Pond Supplies and Waterfall Construction, Koi Pond Supply, Pondless, Pumps, Filters, Algae control, Barley Straw, Pond Care, Fish pond Design & Installation and their instructional videos that they put up on YouTube here ThePondDigger - YouTube (if any of you are thinking about doing a pond watch these videos!)

So with materials purchased it was time to dig!

I laid out the outline with a garden hose and started to outline it .... keep in mind it has changed as I expanded it to what it is now







The rocks that were coming out of the hole ... they don't call my county Rockland for nothing haha







With the hole dug I placed the underlayment into the pond (this is a barrier that prevents tree roots and rocks to puncture the .45 mil EPDM liner)



This was with the liner in and the first time I filled it up



Now you wouldn't think it but rocks are expensive!! So I found a local construction site that just happened to have lots and lots of rocks for me to pick up after hours ;)









I had to make about 4 or 5 truckloads of rocks from this place

This is filled up to one level down from water level so I could walk in the pond ... I also have since taken out the monkey bars and expanded the pond further to them.



Here is the monkey bars removed (yes I drained the whole pond took the liner out and underlayment and expanded the pond)



With the liner back in it was time to use all those rocks and line the sides of the pond with them ... I have a new appreciation for every rock wall that I see!



Beginning construction of waterfall



Just picked up these three spillway stones from the rock-yard at 7:30 this morning .. had to make two trips as they were just too heavy for my truck!








So that is where I am at at this moment in time ... thanks for reading and if you have any questions or other picture requests I'd be more than happy to try and answer them or take some pictures.
 
Thanks guys!

It will be very nice to say in the end that I did 95% of it all on my own ... my dad helped me dig for like 2 hours then my friend helped me move three rocks but other than that I've done it all on my own from digging to moving the rest of the rocks and loading them up
 
Pockets !
That is beautiful work !!! I love water features and water falls tastefully done.
At the house I used to have we put in a beautiful multiwaterfall Lawrence Halprin inspired water feature that was absolutely beautiful and the sound of all the different waterfalls was amazing ! Very soothing and just perfect to the ears and the soul.

You are doing great ! Have you figured out how you are going to filter the big stuff out of it? We had a big plastic 75 gallon tank buried close to our water feature that had 2 really long metal skimmer baskets in it and pump that pushed the water up to the feature was at the bottom of this tank.

A zillion leaves from all the massively tall timber fell in there during fall and eventually I found a really nice netting material that was big enough to cover it during winter and keep all the leaves out of it until Spring when it all came back to life again..

Some water features need to have chemicals in there to keep the water clear unless you are going to use fish in there.

I had a sprayed in hard liner that reminded me of what they do for truck beds. It was great and never leaked or had problems..

Not even cheap but the beautiful sounds and the calming effect it had on anyone nearby was so, so, worth it.

When I get my life back together again, I am going to get another one ! Once you have had one, there just isnt any other way, right ??? :)

Congratulations ! I know those rocks !! Mine was pretty much all Montana Slate huge Slabs, and the pond at the bottom was filled with smaller smoother really pretty stones that had to be removed regularly to get the dirt that ends up at the bottom out.. Yeah, a lot of stone moving is going to be part of your life !! I love this stuff !

DanF
 
Stokdgs said:
Pockets !
That is beautiful work !!! I love water features and water falls tastefully done. Thank you!

At the house I used to have we put in a beautiful multiwaterfall Lawrence Halprin inspired water feature that was absolutely beautiful and the sound of all the different waterfalls was amazing ! Very soothing and just perfect to the ears and the soul. The local pond supply store said that a pond is a much cheaper psychologist haha

You are doing great ! Have you figured out how you are going to filter the big stuff out of it? We had a big plastic 75 gallon tank buried close to our water feature that had 2 really long metal skimmer baskets in it and pump that pushed the water up to the feature was at the bottom of this tank. It has a top of the line skimmer on it ... I'll have to get a picture of it when I get home .... but that will take out the major floating debris. It also houses the 5200 gph pump

A zillion leaves from all the massively tall timber fell in there during fall and eventually I found a really nice netting material that was big enough to cover it during winter and keep all the leaves out of it until Spring when it all came back to life again. I just put the net over it this morning! Cleared all the leaves out and threw it ontop .. .even thought it is not full it's just less of a headache later on.

Some water features need to have chemicals in there to keep the water clear unless you are going to use fish in there. It will house koi and I have all the necessary natural beneficial bacteria to keep that water at it's best clarity =)

I had a sprayed in hard liner that reminded me of what they do for truck beds. It was great and never leaked or had problems..

Not even cheap but the beautiful sounds and the calming effect it had on anyone nearby was so, so, worth it.

When I get my life back together again, I am going to get another one ! Once you have had one, there just isn't any other way, right ??? :) Agreed

Congratulations ! I know those rocks !! Mine was pretty much all Montana Slate huge Slabs, and the pond at the bottom was filled with smaller smoother really pretty stones that had to be removed regularly to get the dirt that ends up at the bottom out.. Yeah, a lot of stone moving is going to be part of your life !! I love this stuff ! I'm picking up the rocks for the bottom this weekend it's going to be a choir to keep them clean!

DanF
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan! I appreciate the comments :yourrock
 
Looking good. I've been wanting to build a pond in the backyard but we moved to Charlotte from Long Island and the dirt in my back yard is a mixture of clay and shale. It sucks to dig in. To plant bushes and trees I literally had to use a pick head axe to help break up and remove some of the boulders out of the ground and broke numerous shovels. Hell at this point I would be happy with your puny version. If I do decide to do it I will definitely need to rent a machine.
Off topic: Are you a fireman? Spotted the strobes and dash light in the pics. Before moving I was a jolly volley in Suffolk.
 
neoflex said:
Looking good. I've been wanting to build a pond in the backyard but we moved to Charlotte from Long Island and the dirt in my back yard is a mixture of clay and shale. It sucks to dig in. To plant bushes and trees I literally had to use a pick head axe to help break up and remove some of the boulders out of the ground and broke numerous shovels. Hell at this point I would be happy with your puny version. If I do decide to do it I will definitely need to rent a machine.
Off topic: Are you a fireman? Spotted the strobes and dash light in the pics. Before moving I was a jolly volley in Suffolk.
Click to expand...

Thanks and yep I'm a FF and an EMT (two separate things around here)
 
Got a lot done this weekend for the pond and the fish were introduced this morning to their new home!

Almost done with the rocks



All done with the rocks and filling



Almost full!



All filled and second make shift waterfall completed (waiting on Uncle to free up a mini excavator to place the waterfall rocks)



Came out this morning to pretty clear water. Added beneficial bacteria yesterday and water conditioner so I decided it was okay to add the fish ... with the temperature very close to their tank that they were in now it was the perfect time for a transfer



All 12 happy to get to a new home





So getting extremely close to it being done at this point and got the fish in to start getting ready for the winter water temperatures

-Chris
 
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