Thanks for all the quick replies guys. You are all very helpful and awesome!
Here are a couple answers/thoughts to some of the questions:
1) I do have an extra underlayment between the rocks and the underlayment plus a bunch of other stuff. So it goes:
earth > 1inch mortar skim coat on upper portion> carpet > underlayment > liner > underlayment. It is probably hard to tell, but it is there! I was very nervous about stabbing the liner at all, so I figured it was worth an extra ~$150 for peace of mind. I was also nervous about chipmunks eating a hole in the liner, so I mortared around the top half of the pond all the way around (just a 1 inch think “shell” if you will) to keep them from messing it up. I also got a ton of scrap carpet from a friend. The bottom portion where I’d be rocking the tall vertical wall does not have the mortar or carpet… The one inch concrete could create a problem as it will crack if it is sandwiched in a secure it maybe fine.
2) I was thinking the ~48 inches would need some kind of rock to help with the structural integrity and not have the clay walls collapse in a bit. I live in Oregon (south of Portland) where it rains a lot. I was thinking the clay will turn to mud pretty darn quick… And you are probably correct but for small rocks to stack 4 feet high the walls should be angled back so much that they are laying in the angle but resting against the lower rock or they could create a wave from the weight of the rocks above and colapse.
3) I got 14.5 tons of class 100 granite rock delivered to rock the pond. Most of it is 20-100 pounds, but I do have some which are likely 150 – 200 lbs, but I think they will be too difficult for me to lower into the pond with just my wife, son, and me. I was going to save these for the upper shelf or around the border. I have a super-small yard, so I sort of am locked into using all this rock now at this point (at least I feel that way mentally). I understand you will NOT be able to see a lot of it ~40 inches down once the algae grows a bit.
check 4:17 minutes and seconds in the video
and i would strongly recomend Aquascape videos and atlantis garden and tussey landscaping for how to build a pond before you continue . There are many ways to build a pond as you will see i didn't take too much of my own advice and follow those folks with the video but i did in practice i went with large boulds as you saw in the blog . i do have 4 and 6 foot walls but i also had 3 and 4 foot tall boulders an i stacked rocks behind eachother locking them in. and if you are realy thinking or a swim pond then i'd watch about 40 hours of you tube videos both on how to build and completed builds for ideas and ticks. i would also think about your now project as a bog and build the pond. thats would keep a good size pond nice and clean .Look for a blog here some seriously impressive pond builds.for ideas
4) I am planning to build a separate swimming pond on the other side of the yard sort of as a phase #3. I can do this one differently, and perhaps do cinderblocks with rebar and stuff under the liner if need be. But, we may try to swim in this one a bit if it can be done safely. The idea with the black foam is you could perhaps at least walk on portions without stuff collapsing or it would hold everything together so rocks wouldn’t fall into the pond.
5) I plan to make a suction grid with a 3 inch main pipe and 2 inch branches under 6 inches or ¾ inch river rock and have it flowing with air-lift. So, if any of the small/medium/large rocks do fall, they would just be falling on that bed of gravel. I could not figure out a effective uplift using air through layers of gravel .
6) I do plan to put in some Koi and Shubunkins. Phase #2 will be a 10 foot by 15 foot by 12inch deep bog – so this will help with the filtration. good size for sure i myself would go a bit deeper then 12 as many plants can send roots that deep i'd go just below what they can reach but many have 12" and i am not expert. just my two cents
Is this whole plan a disaster waiting to happen, or do you think I can make it work safely for family using it for some swimming (with the fishes) and will it be safe for the fish??? there are easier ways with some shovel work to work with what you have but like i said id lean toward that being the bog iif i was doing a swim pond