Construction of The Hawkins' Family Pond

[randythawkins]

From this past 3 day Labor Day weekend I got only about 1 day's worth of pond work done due to the stupid rain. Man, we have gotten so much rain this summer it is ridiculous. Regardless, I did make some good progress...

I drug out some bags of concrete and poured a sloped bottom in the settlement chamber tank. First I marked a 1.5" line around the outside.

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And then I mixed and poured.

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It may not look like it but there is a pretty good slope. Now whatever settles in the bottom there will be persuaded towards tank's drain.

Previously, when I mortared in the rocks around the top of the pond wall, I used some boards as spacers so that there would be a gap along the inside for tucking the pond liner. With a little bit of tugging those boards came out just fine and the rocks seem securely fastened.

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Then I focused on getting the pump connected.


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The skimmer will be housed in a small wooden structure. I went ahead and placed 2 of the 4 posts that will be used for that structure. These 2 posts needed to go in now, before I add water to the pond, because they will secure a strap which will assist in preventing water pressure from pushing the skimmer outwards.

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Then it was back to the pump and its electrical.

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I did not get far on that before I realized that what I planned to do would not work. The box is not deep enough to hold all the wires I need to connect together. As I did not have the parts I would need, and did not what to make a trip to the store at that time, I moved on with throwing together a temporary return feed.

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This feed will be removed later after the waterfall is built.

My goal for the weekend was to have running water and I was only a few steps away from that. Other than the electrical stuff, all I had remaining was what it takes to get a liner installed. The top half of the inside of the wall it cut and chiseled concrete which left many sharp points. I knocked off what I could with a hammer but as an additional measure decided to wrap the inside with carpet pad. Some sticky spray in a can is what it took.

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At about this point rain started to move in and I had to abort. I was able to get the entire inside wrapped with the pad and not a moment too soon. I quickly covered everything with a tarp as I did not want the pad to get wet (and soaked and heavy and pull loose from the wall).

Next chance I get to get out there I will place pond liner along the bottom and up the exposed sides, throw the liner in, connect the BD and skimmer, and then get the electrical done correctly. At that point I will be ready to get the hose out and start filling it up. I was very disappointed that I was unable to get to that point but not much I could do about it. :/

 

[sissy]

cement wont stick to those stock tanks it will crack ,I know I tried it .After just a week and it was cracking .I didn't use it to slope I used it for weight since it was a shallow stock tank .Just thought I would warn you .I just wanted to use it to keep plants in a little water .I was using it for my lemon grass starts and since I was given the tank I figure it would be good for that .I wanted them to stand up straight in there pots with a couple of inches of water around them .

 

[randythawkins]

cement wont stick to those stock tanks it will crack ,I know I tried it .

Thanks Sissy. Yea, concrete cracks but I am hedging that it won't be an issue for me. I don't expect it to stick and, if it does crack, not to move too much. I do expect some cracking at the area near the drain and I will remove those items as needed.

I will keep an eye on it and note anything I see here..

thanks again.

 

[randythawkins]

I managed to squeeze in a few hours this past weekend and get some things accomplished...

First I re-worked the electrical. What I had initially started with would not work as the outlet box was too small for all the wires I needed it to contain. So, I added a separate junction box.

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Now I have a set of outlets which is always hot and another set which is controlled by the switch at the top. This switched set is what the pump will be plugged into (In addition to the manual on/off switch I wired in a sump pump float switch which will also switch off power to the pump should the water level run too low.)

Last time I was out working on the pond, right after I got the carpet pad attached to the walls, a heavy rain quickly came upon me. I did not want the pad to get wet as I was afraid it would get too heavy for the adhesive to hold so I grabbed whatever I could find and made this web so that a tarp could be supported.

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As I removed the tarp yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that my makeshift cover had worked and everything was intact. I did a little last minute leveling around the BD with some sand.

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The underlayment went in next.

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Since the pad was attached only at the top and the bottom part was just hanging I was able to tuck the underlayment between the pad and dirt wall and it stayed in place just fine.

Finally, the part I had been waiting for for weeks - the liner. I purchased a 25'x25' EPDM liner from a local Koi supply store and that liner is unbelievably HEAVY. It took everything I had to carry it to the work site and unfold it. Once it was unfolded I marked the center as a rough reference point and carefully dragged it into the pond. (And, by 'carefully' I mean very very very carefully.)

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It took some time but I finally got it roughly placed where I wanted it and aligned everything for connecting the skimmer.

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And then the BD.

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The sealant I used, LOCTITE® PL® S30 POLYURETHANE ROOF & FLASHING SEALANT, says it is functional after 3 days so I decided to recover the pond with the tarp since there is a good chance of getting rain during that time.

Next on my To Do list:
- Make the final electical connection at the breaker box
- Start filling with water and, while doing so, tuck fold the liner and, finally, trim and tuck the top part in the rock gaps.

At that point I will have moving water and can start my cycling!!! WOO HOO!!!!

 

[addy1]

Nice! Your pond is looking great

love that loctite stuff, use it all of the time.

 

[randythawkins]

I finally got water in my pond and the system running!!!

But first gotta get the liner lined with straight lines...Saturday morning started by removing the tarp from the pond (which was placed there to protect my new loctite seals around the skimmer and BD from random rain showers until the loctite had cured). My plan is to have a counter-clockwise rotation of water so intentionally made all folds so that the water current would ride over the folds instead of into them.

That went much quicker than I expected. I was very excited about the next step - actually adding water - but I held off and double checked everything just to make sure (didn't want my excitement to cause me to rush something and make a mistake) but things looked good so...

And here is video.

I want to give a little warning here...I am very excited about reaching this milestone so this posting will contain MANY pictures and videos. I do not mean to overwhelm anyone and I do apologize but, like a proud new daddy showing tons of baby pictures, I just want to share and share and share...

Once everything was full and running I did some inspections and found that there were a few minor leaks hear and there but nothing I could not handle. My biggest fear was what I would find, or not find, the next morning after it sat all night. Fortunately, the following morning I found that the hole was still full of water and everything still seemed to be working well.

For a couple of years I have had this little 'pond' sitting outside my garage door.

I was excited that I FINALLY get to move these plants into their new home.

Over the years, from time to time, I would find a small frog in the small pond and this morning proved to be the same. After getting the plants out of the small container my wife caught this little guy and placed him in the tank with the other plants.

He seemed happy but later that evening he was no where to be found. :/

Here is a view of the area.

With all systems check I decided it was time to trim the liner.

y design was to tuck the liner under the wall's top rock.

And here is the completed trimming/tucking.

Here is another shot of the area.

Here are some more videos. With the first one...as the pond was filling I had the BD's valve closed. During construction dirt had gotten in the BD pipes and is visible here when I opened the BD's valve for the first time.

You can also see in that video that I have good circular current. Here are a collection of videos taken over these 2 days.

As Fall is almost upon us my next task is to build the net frame which will set over the pond and keep leaves out. Stay tuned for that.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[Nepen]

LOVE it!! that's a beautiful pond The fish will love it too, are you planning on adding fish?

I used the window screen to catch the leaves, easy to remove when I dont need it.

 

[addy1]

Very nice! mr frog will hop back

I just net out any leaves, to difficult to put a leaf proof net over my pond(s)

 

[randythawkins]

LOVE it!! that's a beautiful pond The fish will love it too, are you planning on adding fish?

I used the window screen to catch the leaves, easy to remove when I dont need it.

Thank you. Yes, I do plan on adding fish. Would get them tonight if I could but need to wait a bit and start small. As for the window screen, that is a good idea but I am going to take a different approach. I have seen lots of pics of netting laid over a pond but I do not like the idea of leaves piling up on top of the water. My approach will be to build a type of dome with PVC pipe and attach the net over that. That way when leaves land on it eventually they will be blown off and down to the ground. I have a design in mind that will make it light weight yet sound enough that I will be able to pick it up and set it to the side. That is the plan...we will see what happens.

 

[randythawkins]

Very nice! mr frog will hop back

I hope so. My hesitation in believing that is with the height of the tank off the ground - will they venture that high? I could see them getting into the pond given its low level on one side. Hopefully they will be able to get out if they do.

BTW, we named the frog Kermit.

 

[addy1]

With your pond, that would work nicely

 

[addy1]

I hope so. My hesitation in believing that is with the height of the tank off the ground - will they venture that high? I could see them getting into the pond given its low level on one side. Hopefully they will be able to get out if they do.

BTW, we named the frog Kermit.

I have frogs in our deck pond, they have to a: hop up stairs b: hop up a 3 foot height to the deck or c: fly in ...... then hop up a 18 inch side of the pond to get into the water. They will get there some how.

The edge near the pond is built up enough the frog will make it back

 

[randythawkins]

I found a deal on craigslist for some rocks so an early Saturday morning trip netted me this pile.

These will be used for the waterfall.

My next task was to build a net cover for pond. I first assembled the bottom circular part on the pond wall to make sure I had everything sized correctly.

Then I carried it over to the driveway where a flat surface would aid in my efforts (and I was less likely to drop anything in the water). I also made the modification for the skimmer box.

So far none of the joints are glued so I used rocks to hold things in place. Before gluing I measured all of the cross distances to make sure it was truly circular and then I glued these pieces together.

Next I made this thing....

It will go in the top center of the structure. All of these pieces are glued except the Ts. I did not glue then as I did not know what angle they needed to be (they will get glued later).

Here I have a lower cross member in place upon which I attach the small circular component.

Next came another lower cross member and a bunch of angled pieces. I had a general idea of how I wanted to attack this part but most of it was trial-and-error and figuring it out as I go.

Couple of cans of black spray paint...

Time to attach the net.

And that is as far as I have gotten at this point. The net is attached to the smaller circular part and I am starting to stretch the sides tight and attach to the larger lower circular part. I have been dragging my feet on this as I want to figure a way to be able to flip part of the net back allowing me direct access to the water without having to remove the entire cover. I have a few ideas in mind but nothing has worked yet. Hopefully this weekend I can get that puzzle figured out and get this cover on the pond as leaves are starting to fall.

Thanks.

 

[Nepen]

I like what you did there. I may have to steal your idea

 

[randythawkins]

I like what you did there. I may have to steal your idea

Thanks. The biggest driver of this odd-looking netting device is that I did not what to simply lay a net over the pond which would let the leaves float on top and make for a nasty removal later. Keep in mind that is exercise on a theory...I am hoping that leaves that land on the net will eventually be blown off. I should be able to slide it around but it has too much flex if I try to pick it up, by myself, from one side in an attempt to place or remove it over the pond. When I moved it around for painting I had to carry it from the center with me standing in the middle of it. If I tried to move it by standing on the outside and picking it up...well, I didn't get far as I felt it was flexing too much. So, once done it looks like I will need an assistant any time I need to place or remove it.