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Looking good! Send the rain this way we are just a chances of rain.
Michey1st's Maryland Pond Upgrade Thread
- Thread starter michey1st
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Well, there's bad news, good news and more good news.
The bad news.... somehow my 9 foot wide hole ended up only being 7 feet once we accounted for the ledge and the sloping of the sides =/ I totally didn't even think to measure until the liner was in and we started to fill. The berm and trying to estimate water lines and stuff threw me for a loop and I lost sight of the true measurement. Totally kicking myself, but at the same point in time, we were positively SICK of digging so I don't know if I would have done anything about it anyway.
The good news is that the liner is IN!!!!!!!!! We filled it up to our rock ledge, and filled with water, that comes to 500 gallons. Kind of a bummer, really. BUT BUT BUT, we have so much extra soil, we are going to try to leave a plant ledge (the ledge we currently have) and build another ledge for the rocks. We just have to make sure it doesn't mess with the waterfall.
The other good news is that I have a TON of extra liner, and the Mr. agreed that in a few years, we can go bigger (once the soreness from this dig wears off ;-)
We got this flow meter to stick on the end of our hose, and frankly, i'm SHOCKED to see what 500 gallons looks like. It makes me realize that my middle pond is probably only 200 gallons, and our old preform was likely only 75 gallons. GEEZ! This flow meter is my new best friend - and only $15 on amazon.
Live and learn! We were out there for 10-12 grueling hours today. Looking forward to a day of NOTHING (except for rain) tomorrow. Addy, i'll send some your way!
Will post pictures tomorrow... i'm too pooped right now, lol!
The bad news.... somehow my 9 foot wide hole ended up only being 7 feet once we accounted for the ledge and the sloping of the sides =/ I totally didn't even think to measure until the liner was in and we started to fill. The berm and trying to estimate water lines and stuff threw me for a loop and I lost sight of the true measurement. Totally kicking myself, but at the same point in time, we were positively SICK of digging so I don't know if I would have done anything about it anyway.
The good news is that the liner is IN!!!!!!!!! We filled it up to our rock ledge, and filled with water, that comes to 500 gallons. Kind of a bummer, really. BUT BUT BUT, we have so much extra soil, we are going to try to leave a plant ledge (the ledge we currently have) and build another ledge for the rocks. We just have to make sure it doesn't mess with the waterfall.
The other good news is that I have a TON of extra liner, and the Mr. agreed that in a few years, we can go bigger (once the soreness from this dig wears off ;-)
We got this flow meter to stick on the end of our hose, and frankly, i'm SHOCKED to see what 500 gallons looks like. It makes me realize that my middle pond is probably only 200 gallons, and our old preform was likely only 75 gallons. GEEZ! This flow meter is my new best friend - and only $15 on amazon.
Live and learn! We were out there for 10-12 grueling hours today. Looking forward to a day of NOTHING (except for rain) tomorrow. Addy, i'll send some your way!
Will post pictures tomorrow... i'm too pooped right now, lol!
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fold your extra liner under it will wait for you. Or pick one side to expand with and pick away at it..............I am a glutton for punishment.
Neat that it is full and it does help to know the amount of water you have, one thing I would have been interested in when we filled ours. No real clue, by size somewhere between 8000-10000 add all the other ponds and most likely hitting around 12k maybe.............. But I don't add salt don't treat with chemicals so no real need to know.
Neat that it is full and it does help to know the amount of water you have, one thing I would have been interested in when we filled ours. No real clue, by size somewhere between 8000-10000 add all the other ponds and most likely hitting around 12k maybe.............. But I don't add salt don't treat with chemicals so no real need to know.
Here are some catch-up pics from the weekend.
We put in a step-down area to make getting in and out a little bit easier. Here I am tamping down one of the steps:
And here's the finished hole!
There's a ledge all the way around that will support stacked stone and rocks. You can see the edge pretty well at the bottom of the pic.
I thought we took some pics of the carpet, underlayment and liner going in, but can't seem to put my finger on them right now >.< So, let's skip ahead to Sunday! We put in 500 gallons of water (up to the ledge) and repotted my lilies (many, courtesy of Addy!). In hindsight, I potted them wrong so need to redo them, lol.
As of this picture, we are at around 28 inches deep at the deepest. We plan to bring the water level up at least another 6 inches, keep the existing ledge as a narrow plant shelf (i'll put some 3-inch cobble I happen to have a ton of on this ledge, and use those to anchor plant roots), then make a new ledge to stack our edging stones on.
The round part in the top right is a niche for a DIY skimmer, but there's plenty of liner left over for if I decide to do a "real" skimmer that exists outside the pond. I have a pretty neat idea in my head on how I can rock something like that in, but that's a project for another day, month, or year, lol.
Since Sunday, we've added about 3 inches of water due to rainfall (hooray!) it should make finding the level for the rock ledge pretty simple. But with rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, not sure how much of that we will be able to accomplish. Our next task is to work on the waterfall to see what I higher water line will do to things, then add rocks to the perimeter.
And, for some flower pron, here are some roses from our front yard doing their thang. These were planted by the previous owner and are now in their third year. They are FINALLY starting to put on an impressive show. I've been a little bit underwhelmed with them up until now.
Knockout Roses going crazy:
Some drift roses:
We put in a step-down area to make getting in and out a little bit easier. Here I am tamping down one of the steps:
And here's the finished hole!
There's a ledge all the way around that will support stacked stone and rocks. You can see the edge pretty well at the bottom of the pic.
I thought we took some pics of the carpet, underlayment and liner going in, but can't seem to put my finger on them right now >.< So, let's skip ahead to Sunday! We put in 500 gallons of water (up to the ledge) and repotted my lilies (many, courtesy of Addy!). In hindsight, I potted them wrong so need to redo them, lol.
As of this picture, we are at around 28 inches deep at the deepest. We plan to bring the water level up at least another 6 inches, keep the existing ledge as a narrow plant shelf (i'll put some 3-inch cobble I happen to have a ton of on this ledge, and use those to anchor plant roots), then make a new ledge to stack our edging stones on.
The round part in the top right is a niche for a DIY skimmer, but there's plenty of liner left over for if I decide to do a "real" skimmer that exists outside the pond. I have a pretty neat idea in my head on how I can rock something like that in, but that's a project for another day, month, or year, lol.
Since Sunday, we've added about 3 inches of water due to rainfall (hooray!) it should make finding the level for the rock ledge pretty simple. But with rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, not sure how much of that we will be able to accomplish. Our next task is to work on the waterfall to see what I higher water line will do to things, then add rocks to the perimeter.
And, for some flower pron, here are some roses from our front yard doing their thang. These were planted by the previous owner and are now in their third year. They are FINALLY starting to put on an impressive show. I've been a little bit underwhelmed with them up until now.
Knockout Roses going crazy:
Some drift roses:
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Looking great, I chopped my knockouts back this year they were huge
tbendl
T
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It's coming together!! And wow on the roses, they look great, do you do anything to them?
For the first two years, I trimmed back the roses to around 6 inches or so in early spring. This year, I did not -- left all the "old wood" intact to try and give them a little more volume. That *may* be why they started impressing me this year, lol.
The knockouts are positively HUUUUUGE and taking over. Going to have to give them a trim. The drift roses are still kind of spindley -- nowhere near as robust as the knockouts, but they look much better than in years past.
Only thing i've done to them, other than the aforementioned haircuts which I didn't do this year, is I have started giving them aquarium and pond water. Only done it twice this season. Otherwise they have been on their own!
The knockouts are positively HUUUUUGE and taking over. Going to have to give them a trim. The drift roses are still kind of spindley -- nowhere near as robust as the knockouts, but they look much better than in years past.
Only thing i've done to them, other than the aforementioned haircuts which I didn't do this year, is I have started giving them aquarium and pond water. Only done it twice this season. Otherwise they have been on their own!
tbendl
T
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Well whatever you're doing or not doing keep doing... or not doing it. 
UPDATE TIME!!!!! After we filled the pond up the first time, I really wasn't all that thrilled with the volume and all the wasted liner. So, after a heart to heart with the hubs, we decided to take a little extra time and do it over. Total waste of water but otherwise I would have been disgruntled and angling for a redo next year.
SOOOOOOO we spent yesterday and today fixing my noob mistakes and went from this:
to THIS!
Hard to tell from the pics, but this is a VAST improvement. We ended up doubling the gallons by taking out the 6 inch berm all around , adding 3 inches to the depth, getting rid of the lame skimmer niche I had built (lol) and digging out more towards the middle pond. SOOOOOO we are now at 1000 gallons! (actually, we are at 0 gallons because the flow meter I was using reset after 999.9, lol)
We will add our rocks all around and build up the berm behind them on 2 sides to account for the slope. Then proceed to add another few inches of water. I cannot tell you how relieved I feel to have taken 2 extra days to get it just perfect. We will be tucking away all the extra liner to possibly expand in the future, but for now, I am quite smitten!
Next up, possibly tomorrow but possibly not depending on the company we are expecting, we will start to work on the connecting waterfall (soooo excited for that part!).
One question for all you experts, how long before I can transfer my fish? Right now they are in the middle pond, which will connect to this one via the to-be-built waterfall. I know the beneficial bacteria is there and working in where the fish currently are (guess I need to do a water test just to confirm my parameters). I have an aerator running in the new pond to help stir things up and I also added some dechlor and beneficial bacteria. By my reasoning, there's already good bacteria and plants doing their thing in the bog and middle pond, so adding the new pond to the loop shouldn't be too traumatic for the fish, right? Assuming, of course, the temps are equalized and I gradually introduce them to the PH. What do you think?
SQUEEE!!!! Im so happy!!!! lol!
SOOOOOOO we spent yesterday and today fixing my noob mistakes and went from this:
to THIS!
Hard to tell from the pics, but this is a VAST improvement. We ended up doubling the gallons by taking out the 6 inch berm all around , adding 3 inches to the depth, getting rid of the lame skimmer niche I had built (lol) and digging out more towards the middle pond. SOOOOOO we are now at 1000 gallons! (actually, we are at 0 gallons because the flow meter I was using reset after 999.9, lol)
We will add our rocks all around and build up the berm behind them on 2 sides to account for the slope. Then proceed to add another few inches of water. I cannot tell you how relieved I feel to have taken 2 extra days to get it just perfect. We will be tucking away all the extra liner to possibly expand in the future, but for now, I am quite smitten!
Next up, possibly tomorrow but possibly not depending on the company we are expecting, we will start to work on the connecting waterfall (soooo excited for that part!).
One question for all you experts, how long before I can transfer my fish? Right now they are in the middle pond, which will connect to this one via the to-be-built waterfall. I know the beneficial bacteria is there and working in where the fish currently are (guess I need to do a water test just to confirm my parameters). I have an aerator running in the new pond to help stir things up and I also added some dechlor and beneficial bacteria. By my reasoning, there's already good bacteria and plants doing their thing in the bog and middle pond, so adding the new pond to the loop shouldn't be too traumatic for the fish, right? Assuming, of course, the temps are equalized and I gradually introduce them to the PH. What do you think?
SQUEEE!!!! Im so happy!!!! lol!
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YEAH! glad it all worked out for you and what is two days................
and it looks great! You can tell by the lily pots in the bottom that the pond is bigger.
If the temp and ph are close when you add the lower pond into the loop all will be fine, you are not adding fish load you are actually adding a good amount of water, like a huge water change.
Last night, we transferred the fishies into their new home (it took us about 2 hours to catch all 9 of them , wiley little buggers! )
Looks like we did the transfer 1 day too late because our largest goldie somehow disappeared between Tuesday night and Wednesday night =( We had the pond netted, but there were gaps in the edge coverage because we were rushing to put the net on due to oncoming rain.
I'm still hopeful that something spooked her and she'll come out eventually. None of the other fish were spooked at all (usually after an attack, they all go in to hiding for days).
Once this construction is finished, i'm going to get a camera of some sort so I can keep tabs on them and learn from my mistakes. It's all just speculation at this point.
The good news is everyone seems to be swimming around and exploring. They look so tiny in their huuuuuuge new home!
, wiley little buggers! ) Looks like we did the transfer 1 day too late because our largest goldie somehow disappeared between Tuesday night and Wednesday night =( We had the pond netted, but there were gaps in the edge coverage because we were rushing to put the net on due to oncoming rain.
I'm still hopeful that something spooked her and she'll come out eventually. None of the other fish were spooked at all (usually after an attack, they all go in to hiding for days).
Once this construction is finished, i'm going to get a camera of some sort so I can keep tabs on them and learn from my mistakes. It's all just speculation at this point.
The good news is everyone seems to be swimming around and exploring. They look so tiny in their huuuuuuge new home!
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Fantastic!
We are sitting here watching bald eagles, herons, egrets, with no worries! No fish to protect.....of ours
Nice deep ponds well should call them lakes.
We are sitting here watching bald eagles, herons, egrets, with no worries! No fish to protect.....of ours
Nice deep ponds well should call them lakes.
Sounds great. Would love to see photos of your finished project.
Thanks Logan! It will be awhile before we are 'finished', but I plan to share all the gory in-progress stuff along the way. We try and do a little bit every evening after work, but now that the fish are in their new home, I kinda wanna just enjoy the dirt, exposed liner and ghetto, rockless waterfall for a few evenings, lol.
Didn't accomplish a whole lot yesterday, but we did put in the fountain part of my pump to give a little extra noise while the waterfall is being worked on:
That floating log thingy is a big ole piece of cork intended for terrariums (bought from amazon last year). I embedded some creeping jenny on it to see how it takes.
We've been experimenting with different waterfall rock treatments, but since the middle pond and the lower pond have 2 different liners, I think we are getting wicking between the two as this morning, I think our water level is down a little bit. I expected this (and hope) wicking is the culprit, as last night, a sharp rock was dropped on the liner while we were "playing" ... no hole that we can see, but i'm paranoid, lol.
Y'all also get a photobomb from our fish! 1:00 position right near the water hyacinth. I think they've been munching on newly-laid frog eggs as the fishies are swarming the hyacinth this morning!
That floating log thingy is a big ole piece of cork intended for terrariums (bought from amazon last year). I embedded some creeping jenny on it to see how it takes.
We've been experimenting with different waterfall rock treatments, but since the middle pond and the lower pond have 2 different liners, I think we are getting wicking between the two as this morning, I think our water level is down a little bit. I expected this (and hope) wicking is the culprit, as last night, a sharp rock was dropped on the liner while we were "playing" ... no hole that we can see, but i'm paranoid, lol.
Y'all also get a photobomb from our fish! 1:00 position right near the water hyacinth. I think they've been munching on newly-laid frog eggs as the fishies are swarming the hyacinth this morning!