Going for it! phase one 12,000 gallon pond.

[GBBUDD]

I answered two posts with the same questions both taking some time to type. I enjoy Building with my hands unfortunately typing does not give me the same creativity and reward. though i like helping others piece together there dream. Guess that stuck with me from being a General contractor all those years. I put together a video grouping with some impressive builds but i can never find it so i Know how to find my build so here's a few links on some of the best videos i have found for planning a pond build. First step get the concepts down as to what you want to see in your pond. how much maintenance do you want to do what are the benefits of one over another . i Meant to have this in the posting but i guess it got deleted with the video input .

 

[Lisak1]

The planning phase is the one too many people skip right over. Then we see them here with the "well, I dug a hole... now what do I do?" questions.

Understand what makes a pond function well before the shovel ever hits the ground. I know some people love tinkering with their pond, but I prefer to tinker on paper and in my head first. Get a solid plan, work the plan, move on to the next thing!

 

[GBBUDD]

This is how i have my set up with my pond, bog , negative edge and cistern . I have tried to do this on the computer but the cheap little programs i have are horrible.
a. Is just shy of 3000 gallon cistern Where a very small circulating pump of 300 gph that just keeps the water in the cistern circulating back into the pond. the small pump allows the water to be chilled by the underground area on a hot day, or even warmed in late fall.

b. Is a debris catch made of non woven fabric to catch leaves sediment etc. It is designed to over flow if not cleaned out in time where it then falls into what many would call the pump vault where the water makes its way through 2-4" stone and falls into the cistern .

c. This area the Mrs labeled as Last chance if a fish does happen to go over the negative edge from the pond they fall into a 3 foot deep pond . it's rather small about 4'x4' where there is an aquablox at the bottom of this area that is buried under 2-8" rock this helps to keep large debris like leaves from getting sucked into the pump. and the water is a foot deep giving the fish an area to swim in until he is returned to the pond.

d. Is the main pond 6 feet deep with three circulating jets from the main external pump and the small cistern pump

e. Is the bog where the main pump pushes about 5,000 to 6,000 gph to the bottom of a 6 to 7 foot deep pit where it dumps into a 24" double walled culvert pipe , There it is alowed to settle the water is pumped toward the wall and not across the pipe this way the energy is removed and there is more displacement then there is flow. The water then comes up through cut slots in the culvert and passes through 4-6" river rock about 10" thick where it then enters the second chamber with the aquablocks. same idea no flow but is more displacement from below. where it then passes through 3-4" river rock to a layer of 1-2" river rock and then the final foot plus of 3/8" pea and 3/4" river rock

f. i did not draw that I have two bottom drains that go to the main external pump it would have made for too many lines this way and that. it goes from the pond to the external to the bottom of the bog.

Did I mention I lover over kill in filtration ? But this design was far more then that, this was a design was for where I could travel for weeks or months on end and not have to worry about the pond. pushes the water and the world goes round and round..

he pump

 

[GBBUDD]

The planning phase is the one too many people skip right over. Then we see them here with the "well, I dug a hole... now what do I do?" questions.

Understand what makes a pond function well before the shovel ever hits the ground. I know some people love tinkering with their pond, but I prefer to tinker on paper and in my head first. Get a solid plan, work the plan, move on to the next thing!

And the most important part of all Its a very familiar saying for any carpenter MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE!!!!!!!!! AND SAVE LOTS OF MONEY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[GBBUDD]

While these pond builds below maybe out of reach or desire for many you can get some great ideas in these videos,.

Some very impressive pond builds

https://whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TOMbsvXjX8 ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc36HtktJD0

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[Donna Saverino MI]

Thanks Lisa.
By next summer it will be complete and
by that time I have this project completed I'll be selling my house and move on, Ct has lost there minds

Can you share why you want to start all over? Are you sure you have it in you to do it again?

 

[GBBUDD]

This was my first pond build and i enjoyed doing so immensely. I have always love creating and Nature and this was doing both. I learned a lot over the last few years . I f i was a patient guy i would have researched longer before i pulled the trigger. While the original design truly worked better then i could have hoped for .Almost doubling the over all foot print within a year or two changed the flow and how well everything worked. The original skimmer is no longer used at this time , will i use it again yes. The circular flow i had in the pond worked very well where a leaf would drop in the pond and it would move with the current and 9 out of ten times was sucked into the skimmer after 2 rotations around the pond.
With the original design as well I wanted the fish to have a place to hide both from predator's , the sun and a place to be protected while they slept for the winter. Big problem there I didn't think about I would be one of those predator's trying to catch them with a net. As they multiply and grow so fast in three years you can go from 30 -8" fish to 40- 6" fish and 30 -18" fish in a year or two. And with a 6 foot deep pond and a fish cave, a fish Tunnel and multiple boulders with gaps around them goooooood luck trying to catch them. So i made "DEAD POOL " a branch off the pond where the depth is 30" or less and has a narrow opening where i can feed the fish in this area. While they feed I take a piece of plywood cut to size and shape and close off DEAD POOL from the pond.. This way i can catch who ever it is i need to without spending hours and hours of futile attempts. From there is the negative edge that drops down to "last chance " from there and then the cistern while this works flawlessly. it does not have enough pull back to the main pond like i had with the skimmer. as there's no rotation toward the negative edge. Don't get me wrong filtering and clarity are great And the negative edge pulls three times as much as the skimmer did. It's just the negative edge is 20' from the main pond . I spend more time pulling laves off the bottom then i ever did before in the pond. Can i have the skimmer working again yes. But i travel A LOT and the skimmer is the weak link to the system as far as it needs more maintenance then anything else. If my waterfall had been facing the opposite direction the flow would have worked where the circulation would have rotated right toward dead pool and the negative edge would have pulled the rotation right in. Unfortunately the two character boulders that i used to the sides of the falls are probably 3,000 pounds and another 600 for the waterfall stone it's self no small undertaking to move it or change the direction. but like i said everything works just fine I just love when it all works the best it can be..
I would have gone with another row of Mafia blocks to raise the bog another foot and a half . Or at a minimum i would have liked to have ordered a over sized liner in the bog so if i wanted to raise it latter i could have just unfolded the extra liner.
I also would have made more areas where the water got on the outside of the edging boulders so i could plant more bog plants along the edge ow they would not have been fed water from below but they don't need that to live we just feed from below to filter the water.
I probably would have made the stream deeper as well so i could have had a trout or other fast flowing loving fish.
I would also like to move the pump right next to the bog as the bog it 7' higher then the ground level below . have a stream or pond come down right to the foot of this area and have literally a complete circle where the waters start and waters end of the journey is about 4 feet apart and 7 feet in height. Greatly reducing energy costs to push the water from end to the beginning . gravity flows about 35 feet to the pond turns and drops a couple times and flows back to the beginning point 7 feet lower then it started. It probably sounds minor in many ways but i have always been a bit crazy with my fish ecosystems when i had aquariums.
I find little else as soothing and relaxing as sitting next to a waterfall and a pond the fact that it is now in my back yard can not be beat.
While i am not 25 years old any more and can not muscle things the way i use to that's not entirely a bad thing as i prefer to use equipment now and that means BIG BOULDERS and to me there's nothing that screams natural looking like big boulders in the pond .

 

[cas]

Teehee... you should see my list of things I want to do over!

 

[addy1]

Teehee... you should see my list of things I want to do over!

I am happy with my ponds.............other stuff is getting attention

 

[GBBUDD]

The big question right now is it to be In this country or in another. And the more these idiots keep seeing the world as tip toe through the tulips. The more im heading far and away.

What just because I have 8 excavators, 6 skidsteers, a loader, 5 vac trucks , 4 hoe rams, multiple trucks and trailers and 60 guys on site I don't know why you'd think that. @brokensword

 

[GBBUDD]

Contrary of what many may think from that last statement is that i am not an operator while i have had some hours in the seat of an excavator. I have not done it for a living or anything even close. Have I dug a foundation or two yes. There not hard to learn as anyone can rent one. I will say this keep the idle low / most equipment have the turtle as showing where low throttle is. This will make all actions of the excavator slow/ this is critical in the learning curve. Once you get use to the controls you can thick about adding throttle which gives more power to all the excavators actions including how fast it moves. that is where most accident's happen. so keep it slow until you master it.

 

[brokensword]

wasn't no stinkin' turtle on my shovel, damnit...

 

[GBBUDD]

Lmao . Maybe not but compared to my shovel my ttortous won that race over yours. Lmao to funny

 

[addy1]

i always run my tractor on turtle mode, with our slopes I prefer to have that edge of slow running. I do crank up the throttle when running on flat land.

 

[brokensword]

i always run my tractor on turtle mode, with our slopes I prefer to have that edge of slow running. I do crank up the throttle when running on flat land.

why am I getting the feeling there's a lot of turtle shaming going on right now??? tsk tsk tsk