Building a 8'x10'x5' deep pond into basically solid rock 6" under ground

[aviator79]

So I am digging one now on a side hill. I just finished building a wall in the back yard. There was one rock that was near the bottom of the wall that I wanted to get out and as I dug around it I realized the rock was pretty big. To get it out I had to get another out and then I saw that I could get another and another and somewhere along the line I decided to build a pond into what is basically solid rock. Been using my air hammer with a chisel bit, crow bar and 3’ heavy pry bar, shovel and hands. Some of the rocks I have been pulling out weight 400 or so pounds as this is CT. Many are small 10-20lb and the bulk is chunk that I just break up and shovel out. A few I have had to use a hydraulic press to get out, which I got at harbor freight.
The pond is about 8'x10' and 5' deep with 1' abover ground in the front as it is on a hill. To make the front height match the back I will use the rocks I pulled out. I havent decided how to do the liner on these, either it will just go up the inside and be held in place by the weight of the water and have an overflow, or it goes over the top of the rock, which are then coverd in flat rock, which will not look as natural. So along with that I also have to fugure out if I can have my filter on the other side of the wall I built, which will put it at like 30+ feet away from the pond and up like 10' in elivation. Can a pump handle that along with the 5' of depth of the pond. I was going to make a 55 gal filer and have it gravety feed back to a waterfall.
Anyways here is some pics showing some of the rocks I got out:

 

[aviator79]

 

[aviator79]

 

[aviator79]

 

[aviator79]

The wall:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNHDlo5bM2Too

 

[aviator79]

 

[aviator79]

 

[aviator79]

 

[Robyn]

First off... hire crazy eddie from the old muppet show to dynamite that bugger! LOL

On the bright side...you will not have to pay an arm and a leg for edging stones! (I always try to look for a possitive spin...can you tell that I have a degree in marketing?LOL)

 

[aviator79]

ya, thats whats nice. I bult the whole wall with free stones and now have a ton more. Here is a pic of what I have dug so far. Almost done:

Looks like im going to need an 15x20 liner. I think its at least 1000gal now???

 

[DrCase]

When they dig my yard up in a few hundred years thats what it would look like. :icon_mrgreen:

 

[Stouty109]

i gotta tell ya man that enough rock to make a guy re consider if he still wanted to build a pond their. Nice work i probably would have given up and did a above ground pond. i gotta give u props nice work and its looking like it will b a sweet looking pond cant wait to c it done

 

[aviator79]

Ya, I know I realized thru the process that I was obviously a little crazy. Ive been working on it almost every day thru the nights to midnight many nights and thru the rain, which we have been getting a lot of. Its took me about a month to get it to this point. I worked on the rocks on the left side there for a while and couldnt get them to budge so I switched to the right side and hand a break thru and was able to get them all out as show. Now thinking of going back to try to move the ones on the right again, but worry they are just too big, thou if I cant get them out I will have to cement around them somehow to get a smoother edge. I am redooing my basement soon and already have the wood so I will be able to rip the carpet up from there to use to line the pold with.
Do I need underliment along with carpet?
What pump do I need to handle pumping 40' horizontally and 15' vertically to my filter?
I was given a pool pump that I may incorperate as a skimmer as it is pretty high flow but I figure I need a bottom pump primarily that goes to my filter.

 

[jameskoi]

OMG!

Impressive yet insane at the same time. For the love of fish.

I like!

 

[Oldhead]

Well look at it this way, all that labor getting the rock out saved you about 1000 dollars. You won't need to buy any rock to outline the pond.