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

[addy1]

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

lol I love turtles! I sure don't run our mower in turtle speed. But the tractor for sure.

 

[TheFishGuy]

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 .

holy what the..... this was your first pond!!!!!

 

[brokensword]

holy what the..... this was your first pond!!!!!

didcha read his equipment list? Lessee, you're 13...gives you a few years until you reach @GBBUDD 's age and once you get all his gear, you're good to go for YOUR first pond. Oh, wait, you jumped the gun, didn't you? Guess you'll just have to struggle along like some of us with your lil shovel...heh heh

 

[GBBUDD]

holy what the..... this was your first pond!!!!!

I am a builder i have built all kinds of things some conventional some crazy some rewarding some you want me to build WHAT. YES THIS WAS MY FIRST POND BUILD i have made water proof roofs we called the reverse boat where the sides were all high and the roof had a drain so i figured what's the difference. So now you know why i am not afraid to add a cistern or the negative edge retaining walls with mafia blocks its all the same principles. No matter what i have built if it was not visually pleasing i found little enjoyment. So the pond was crazy enjoyable.

 

[GBBUDD]

I keep trying to get a accurate easy to see picture of the whole layout and before the plants started to bloom i figured it was time for an update. The clarity is the best yet after a winters nap at the beginning of the 4th year

 

[j.w]

Lol, Sh*t's Creek! I loved that show!

 

[GBBUDD]

Lol, Sh*t's Creek! I loved that show!

Never saw the show, when I put the addition on last year as I was describing it to the wife we came up with dead pool! shallow area in which I could catch the babies each year as that's where I feed the fish now and the area has a narrow opening and is only 24 to 30" deep. And from there is the negative edge where the water drops a foot into another small pool like 6'x6' and that's called sh#ts creek it's the last chance if the fish go over that then they are in trouble before the go to the cistern. where there is no room other then for fry due to the aqua blocks matrix

 

[cas]

Perfect picture! I love being able to view the total pond. And it's nice having the description of the different areas.

 

[MajorDan]

I keep trying to get a accurate easy to see picture of the whole layout and before the plants started to bloom i figured it was time for an update. The clarity is the best yet after a winters nap at the beginning of the 4th year
View attachment 137058View attachment 137059

awesome pond! love your design too.

 

[GBBUDD]

Thank you @MajorDan

 

[Lisak1]

Excellent view! While the "naked" pond may not be the best looking, it's the best way to see what's what. Plants create the mystery that hides all the details!

Do I see some spare room there BEHIND the pond... haha!

 

[GBBUDD]

I haven't had time to finish what i started last year due to travel and work . Here is a video of the Naked pond without all the plants blocking views. I'll finish the cistern falls which was just named HELLS GATE where the water drops from sh#t's creek where the falls from the negative edge drops out of Dead Pool Greative and twisted aint that a pair .... Heres THE VIDEO

 

[Tula]

Beautiful and so expansive !

 

[GBBUDD]

Brought the pond up out of hibernation, fired up the 12000 gph pump I thought the water had done pretty good considering there was no filter for 3 and a half months. After a few hours the water was again noticeably clearer then it was, love that bog. And I love the garden spicket I cut into the supply line hook up the garden hose refill the pipes and turn the breaker on all done.

 

[GBBUDD]

I figured out today when I was removing some obstacles that were blocking the circulation as I turned the return jets around to push any debris that falls in the pond toward the opening of Dead Pool "the narrow opening to the expansion" water is sucked in with some force. But once it enters Dead Pool it slows down as the area widens and deepens. I noticed alot of leaves in this area as they seemed to settle before going over the negative edge. This is a good thing very easy to vacuum out this area and anything that does make it over the negative edge it has a overhanging lip before it falls over toward the cistern Hells gate where one last trap for fish , frogs and leaves before the fall into the cistern that could be miserable if a fry got in there and grew it would not take a koi long before it gets trapped in the spaces of a matrix block.