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

[stroppy]

i dont think ive ever seen anyone work so hard at building a pond .... i think you deserve a meddle !!!!
and if i were closer to you i would let you have some of my scrubbies :icon_smile:

cant wait to see this pond :banghead3:

 

[aviator79]

wow those rubber mats are a good find.. how convenient!! for free go 2 or 3 thick with them.. alot of added protection..

Ya there is a pallet and a half and a shopping cart more of them. I assume they are just trash. I was likely going to get more of them I just hope somone doesnt yell at me for taking them. Im not sure what they wer as they had zippers on them. They were by the post office but if they were not trash im sure they would not have just left them there.

i dont think ive ever seen anyone work so hard at building a pond .... i think you deserve a meddle !!!!
and if i were closer to you i would let you have some of my scrubbies :icon_smile:

cant wait to see this pond :goldfish:

Thanks. I cant wait either. Im going to a dave concert next weekend and leaving for a week trip to NC the first week of Aug. I really want to get it going before I left but not sure that will happen and not sure if it is a good idea to let it run for a week without me there. And if I put a couple starter fish in it for the filter wouldnt I need to feed them? Well I will just take it a day at a time so I better go get out there. A trip to Target to get a ice coffee and a trash can just cost me $300 and I didnt even get the trash can! I hate shopping.

Also I couldnt fine a 2" bulkhead fitting at lowes. I guess I will have to go to the plumbing supply store. They didnt have heater tape either. I figure I better wrap the drain pipes in it up to where my ball valves are. I want to run it all winter. I need to figure out a heater for the tank as well im thinking so I can put it in there now as I wont want to take it apart. Jeez I wonder about the lines coming from the pumps...will I need to insulate and heat those as well. Sort of a pain...
Oh pics from today from the work I did last night

 

[DrDave]

Use a 2" shower drain. It does the same thing and instead of $50, they are about $5. My plumbing supply charged me $48 plus tax for my first one, then I found the drains at Home Depot.

 

[aviator79]

Guess the rocks are staying there now. 2 bags of cement. Going to go to the top today and cover with a rock to make it look like another solid rock. I hope this comes out nice.

Use a 2" shower drain. It does the same thing and instead of $50, they are about $5. My plumbing supply charged me $48 plus tax for my first one, then I found the drains at Home Depot.

I was looking at that and figured I could get it to work. Jeez. I just wansnt sure how to do it in terms of the pipe coming out the top of it as I will need it to do. I will go take a look at the ones I have here and see how I will have to do it.
Thanks.

 

[DrDave]

Looks like you have a quarry.:goldfish:

 

[DrCase]

You are colder than me ...but when i run my pipes they are all on a slope so they drain out when i need them to ,,,
I take my ball valves off the bottom of my filters in the winter and just use a rubber cap..

 

[Stouty109]

the pond is looking awesome its really coming to gather nicely

 

[aviator79]

You are colder than me ...but when i run my pipes they are all on a slope so they drain out when i need them to ,,,
I take my ball valves off the bottom of my filters in the winter and just use a rubber cap..

In the winter I will only be running the main pump and I don’t think I’m worried about the 1-1/4" line from the 1900gph pump where it comes from out of the pond to the tank because of the flow thru it. I will insulate it in some foam rubber insulation. If I needed to shut it down if it was going to get too cold the water would all drain out of that line and then I would have to pump the water out of the tank assuming I figured out a way to cap off the drains. My issue is that I had planed to have the drain lines permanently hooked up and buried and inaccessible until the ball valves 4' or so from the tank. I was thinking I could put heater tape and insulation on them and it would not cost me much to run in the winter, thou it is just silly to have to do really. My liner will be in the way in terms of being able to gain access to the bottom to put plugs in place. If some how I could have the inside of the pipe that goes into the drain pipe (bought 90* smooth 2” fittings) be threaded and then have pugs that I could insert from the top that were glued onto 2” pipe. I will have to have access holes in my grate and it will be a bitch, but Its all I can think up so far. I will have to see if such a thing can be made. I’m thinking so with a different 90* or an ID threaded extension between the drain and the 90*.

Or I have ball valves directly under drains with long crazy extensipns that I somhow route out the side and if something ever goes wrong im Fed.

 

[aviator79]

OK, scratch all that because its not going to work. There is no internally threaded male pipes only female which obviously do not fit into the shower drain female ends. I have figured it out thou. The tank will be on 4 cinder blocks, 2 cinder blocks tall on the left and right sides. The 2 shower drains will be installed close to the center of the tank and I will connect the ball valve directly to the shower drain with a short 2" pipe and the smooth 90° directly to the ball valve and the drain valves will come out to the left as planned where I dug a ditch using my heat gun and sand in the pipe to bend it as needed. I will also bury 2-4" pipes above the drains that line up perfectly with each valve T-handle and make 2-3" pvc pipe valve extensions (slotted at one end to fit over valve) as 2" at 4' long may not be able to handle the torsion from the torque required to turn these. I will put a piece of 2" in the slotted ends which will be slotted also to make sure it centers on the valve, drill a few little holes and use tiny bungee cords to keep them on the valves. Then my stream/small waterfalls off the fines filter can still be built easily on top of this stuff. Just have to make sure the 4" tunnels or the tank do not settle to the tools do not line up to the valves. This is how my original design should have been, just never really planed any of this out. Just figuring it out as I go, but im glad I thought about this problem before I installed it all and had the pipes crack open this winter and I would have had to shut it down and fix it next year.

Use a 2" shower drain. It does the same thing and instead of $50, they are about $5. My plumbing supply charged me $48 plus tax for my first one, then I found the drains at Home Depot.

For the 2” shower drain to bulkheads, how did you seal the pipe in the top end? On mine if I grind the little tabs away (at the bottom of the upper portion) that prevent the 2” from going into it, then I can stick a 2” pipe in there and glue it in place pretty good. But Its not going to be completely rigid like the bottom which has a real female end. Im not worried about it, but want to know how you do it.

 

[aviator79]

A couple of update pics...sorry they suck. I quit after falling down for the second time when I spilt that wheel barrow. I dont mind working in the rain so much but can be danderous after so much everything is slippery as the soil is really clayey.

 

[aviator79]

 

[Stouty109]

so is the water lvl guna b at the top of the rock wall ur doin, if so are they guna hold it in place? Its look great tho if their was a award for pond building id make sure u got one. great job so far man

 

[DrDave]

This looks like this is going to be a rock and dirt or clay pond with no liner. Is that your build? If it is, I'm curious as to how the water will maintain its level unless you have a natural stream to feed it. We have some folks here that are lucky enough to have streams feeding thiers. Sure makes filtering easier.

 

[Smirf1405]

Great job so far!!!
How long have you been busy with it now?
Will look great when it's finished

 

[aviator79]

so is the water lvl guna b at the top of the rock wall ur doin, if so are they guna hold it in place? Its look great tho if their was a award for pond building id make sure u got one. great job so far man

The front rocks are taller than the ones on the side. The water height should be about the height of the rocks on the side. I sort of wish all the rocks would be level with the water height, but I also like the way it is like an arch and the front rocks are great to sit on with a fire in the fire pit.
Thanks

This looks like this is going to be a rock and dirt or clay pond with no liner. Is that your build? If it is, I'm curious as to how the water will maintain its level unless you have a natural stream to feed it. We have some folks here that are lucky enough to have streams feeding thiers. Sure makes filtering easier.

It will be lined.

Great job so far!!!
How long have you been busy with it now?
Will look great when it's finished

I started around 2 months ago. Thanks.

So here are some pics I took this morning.
The rocks on the right now have to angle up to the wall bottom level height. I am doing it that way because if the I were to have kept it level, the bottom rock hight would have been so high it would have blocked the flower farden in front of the wall.