1st Pond, 2nd Attepmt

[myswtsins]

So someone stopped by and laid thousands of eggs apparently cuz we had 1000s of tadpoles! There were SO many...but they have dwindled substantially since turning on the pumps I know, I know it is the way of life! Most likely bullfrog tads as that is all I have seen around the pond as of now, have at least 6 in the pond.

Frogs

Got some hyacinth, it has had flowers everyday since we got it too!

But back to the work! We missed a lot so I am going to fast forward through these. We placed the edge rocks around the pond and laid out the stream liner for a flow test run. We had no idea what 3100 gph looked like so we weren't sure how big to make the falls and such so this gave us a good idea. It is quite a bit of water

We then took the liner out of the stream area and dry fit our waterfall rocks together. Why? Because we had some LARGE rocks to place and wanted a solid idea how they were going BEFORE putting them on the liner. Skip ahead, I had 2 friends come over to help with the biggest rocks and we got the falls installed.
1st and 2nd fall being built, that large rock is 40"x25"x12" and my father got it on the trailer by himself, without any tools! Phew!

Supervisor always on duty!

More fast forwarding past a whole lots of work and the falls are foamed and running! Pictures don't do much, I know. I will make a video when this rain stops.
Overview

1st and 2nd, which we have tweaked since this photo, much more water going over the left side of the large rock now.

3rd Falls

Skimmer falls (not foamed yet)

All the stuff the skimmer collected in ...30 mins maybe an hour. Cotton is just there to get some of the oily residue that came off the rocks..even though we cleaned them super good!

Pretty much caught up again. I will get better pics and videos when it stops raining, to give you a tour.

 

[myswtsins]

Alright, I look forward to the pictures. It kind of makes sense no that you explained it. Hey how do you run air through the soaker hose?

Sorry I was hoping I had better touring pictures but I don't. lol The soaker hose is ran to a manifold with 1 pipe going to the top of the bog where we unscrew a hose cap and attach an air injector thing we made (to blow out the hoses in winter actually but it works for this) then we just hook our air compressor to it and let it run. We only plan to run air for cleaning but this could easily be adjusted for continuous air if desired.

 

[j.w]

Wow this is great stuff to watch you pull together. Gonna be a wonderful pond and filter system to say the least!

 

[RobAmy]

Great job, looking really nice

 

[addy1]

Looking good, love the rocks!

 

[myswtsins]

So I sorta finished the pond just completely failed at updating this thread. So I'll just get right to the photos and let you ask any questions you may have.

Overall finished for 2014

Another angle

Another...

Main pond

Falls

Falls

1st Falls with newly added wood (probably changing to a different piece tho)

2nd Falls (before new wood lol)

3rd Falls (right side only, dont seem to have one with the mini staircase in it)

4th falls entering pond. right side then left side

5th Falls leaving the main pond. this is my skimmer

6th Falls? This is where the bog water re-enters the pond. Tucked under the deck

Bog

1st lilies

Fauna

Falls at Night

Decking at night. Added more landscape lighting after this...need more recent pictures

Added a total of 23 goldfish in 3 batches, a bit more then I would have liked. All free from a neighbor who due to illness could no longer keep them. They range in size from 3ins to 12ins. One has a swim bladder problem and is living inside for the time being, no luck fixing her tho. All 22 fish were accounted for the spring so 1st winter, check!

We had a very cold winter and had to turn off the pumps for a few weeks when the water started running OVER the ice. The air pump kept a hole in the ice all the time tho.

So, moving forward!
~CLEAN! Already rinsed out the stream bed but the main pond has SO much algae from the winter. I was shocked how much grew. And it is the long, stringy, slimy stuff.
~Lift lillies closer to surface and reattach the dragon cause the it broke off from the ice pressure.
~Adding wood to the landscape the help soften the stone and naturalize it more.
~Finding a better cover for my pump vault. Big flat slate is so out of place and quite heavy.
~Adjusting the skimmer rocks. Come up with a better setup really.
~Maybe start the firepit/sitting area next the pond

 

[j.w]

Looks fabulous!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

~Adjusting the skimmer rocks. Come up with a better setup really.

Please explain!

 

[sissy]

Love the deck and the bridge over the stream and love the rope idea it makes it look very beachy or nautical all you need is a boat bar .

 

[Tula]

Wow, you have worked really hard! It is a beautiful pond, stream, water falls and bog. Love the decking and decor.

 

[myswtsins]

Thank you everyone. It was so much work and I can't wait to relax on the deck!

Please explain!

Where the water from the skimmer pond flows down into the rocks gets a lot of stuff stuck in the rocks. Raking it out has also displaced a lot of rocks. I want to figure out a way to make the area where the leaves collect more efficient, maybe something I can removed and empty just like a skimmer basket BUT still look natural. or did u want an explanation of how the skimmer works? lol

 

[addy1]

Very nice!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thank you everyone. It was so much work and I can't wait to relax on the deck!


Where the water from the skimmer pond flows down into the rocks gets a lot of stuff stuck in the rocks. Raking it out has also displaced a lot of rocks. I want to figure out a way to make the area where the leaves collect more efficient, maybe something I can removed and empty just like a skimmer basket BUT still look natural. or did u want an explanation of how the skimmer works? lol

Very familiar with skimmers. Almost 20 yeas of design/build. Your answer is what I suspected you meant in the earlier post. Negative edge skimmers, though a nice idea, have a tendency to clog resulting in overflow and loss of water. A standard skimmer mechanically filters the water in two (2) ways: First by the use of a debris net/basket to catch the large debris and Second by the use of a filter pad to catch the smaller bits. In a negative edge skimmer both of these are eliminated leaving the surface rock to catch the larger debris and the gravel voids to catch the finer particles eventually clogging the entire skimmer basin. With a standard skimmer its empty the debris net/basket and rinse out the filter pad..simple. With a negative edge it is impossible to clean without shutting down the entire system then flushing and re-flushing the skimmer basin. Negative edge applications are great in areas with minimal leaf drop etc,, but are frankly a disaster in areas with considerable woody growth such as trees and shrubs. I stopped installing negative edge skimmers almost 10 years ago because of this inherent problem.

 

[myswtsins]

Very familiar with skimmers. Almost 20 yeas of design/build. Your answer is what I suspected you meant in the earlier post. Negative edge skimmers, though a nice idea, have a tendency to clog resulting in overflow and loss of water. A standard skimmer mechanically filters the water in two (2) ways: First by the use of a debris net/basket to catch the large debris and Second by the use of a filter pad to catch the smaller bits. In a negative edge skimmer both of these are eliminated leaving the surface rock to catch the larger debris and the gravel voids to catch the finer particles eventually clogging the entire skimmer basin. With a standard skimmer its empty the debris net/basket and rinse out the filter pad..simple. With a negative edge it is impossible to clean without shutting down the entire system then flushing and re-flushing the skimmer basin. Negative edge applications are great in areas with minimal leaf drop etc,, but are frankly a disaster in areas with considerable woody growth such as trees and shrubs. I stopped installing negative edge skimmers almost 10 years ago because of this inherent problem.

Yeah no one mentioned this BEFORE I installed it tho lol. So no tips huh?

 

[Lisak1]

We have a negative edge skimmer - pretty similar set up to yours actually. My patented clean out method - power washer sprayed down through the gravel. Takes 30-45 seconds and it's clear for another season. Our water pools a bit more over our gravel, so we are able to use a net to skim larger debris.