My 5,000 Gal Pond Build In Photos

[DoDad]

Don't quote me but I was told its about 6" x 20' unrolled.
If it were me I wouldn't put any media except the pad in the skimmer.
BTW did you put a drain and overflow in the skimmer?

 

[koikeepr]

We are putting the holes in the skimmer in the next two days. And I do want to put the overflow pipe in the skimmer, yes. Tell me exactly how you plumbed yours. I remember it was a standing pipe. How big a pipe do you use? 1.5 inch?

I'm plumbing my skimmer with 3" pipe from the side wall at the lowest point of the side. I can't plumb it from underneath because I've got pipes from the TPR running there, and I've got the skimmer seated on block. So, I am plumbing from the sidewall all the way down. So, I would need to do the same with the overflow pipe. I'm assumbing I can put a little elbow in it so that it stands up? I could also just put pop a hole on the upper side wall of the skimmer as well, I guess, and just do a horizontal opening instead of a standing pipe.

For the big matala, I was talking about that for the filter, not the skimmer. In the skimmer I'm just replacing the pad it comes with, with the matala. I have a small piece of matala left over from my barrel, I just don't know if it's big enough for to replace the savio filter media. I'll have to measure it, but I think it's a tad small since I cut it and used part of it for something else.

 

[DoDad]

In my small pond I put a 1 1/2" pipe for the overflow. It was cut to to mach the fill line on the weir faceplate. I also have a 2" going to the pump and a 1 1/2" that goes to waste.
In the big pond there is a 4" that will go to a cetus, overflow and a auto fill.

 

[koikeepr]

I'll do a 2" pipe then coming out at the top part of the skimmer then--right at the water line. I've got some 2" male and female conduit I can screw together to make it work.

 

[koikeepr]

Here's an update on the pond build. On Wednesday, I excavated an area to place my sieve so that it would be at pond level and also fit my new Wave II pump behind it. Need to build some kinda cover to protect both.

On Thursday we set the Savio skimmer and bricked in around the neck of it. Shortly a paver stone will run across the top of it so you will just see the mouth opening. The soil underneath it has been compacted, and the skimmer is sitting on two blocks. You may also notice two pieces of rebar sticking up that are keeping it clamped straight up so it won't tilt back in case the soil settles underneath it. I have not yet popped the holes in it for overflow and to go into the plumbing line, but here it is:

We finished filling in all the cells in the blocks with cement. This thing ain't going anywhere:

This is the back wall where the waterfall and 2 spitters will go. There's the 25" fastfalls sent to me by DoDad. It fits in perfectly into that hole, and a block face will go in front of it so that you just see the opening. The block to the side of it has one cell hollowed out in the back so that the piping to the waterfall can be plumbed in.

You might be asking, well, you've thrown up that back wall, where the hell is your liner going to fit? We had much debate over this matter, and with rain coming I didn't want to have the liner in, and also didn't want us stepping on it. So, what you may see if you look closely is a channel where one inch of mortar has been dug out where the staggered back wall starts to go up. That is where we will use locktite insta-grab adhesive and push the liner in there. We will then lock it in with a thin piece of metal so that it doesn't come back out.

The whole pond will be sheathed in slate to cover it. On the back wall, a piece of slate will go several inches below water line so that it appears to be fully covered in slate even on the inside. Sweet! Hope it works out.

Friday I got my delivery of 1/2" poly strapping (9800 feet) that I ordered from Ebay for $40 for my Rubbermaid 150 gallon stock tank. Here's the box. If y'all are always wondering what strapping is, you can actually see some on the box itself. It's that poly tape that holds a box together when you are shipping something heavy. Makes for a great, cheap filter media. Just be sure to buy the embossed/textured one.

I picked up the stock tank Saturday. Gosh darn, the thing is huge! I went to the Tractor Supply Co to get it. Was $125, and I had a $5 off coupon I found on the web. Loaded it into the back of my Toyota RAV4 and off I went. I'll be plumbing this shortly, and will take detailed pics on how I do it.

Tomorrow, we are having beautiful weather, so we'll resume work. Sadly, on Tuesday, rain is expected--so I'm not sure if I should put the liner in. It would be easier to do liner and then tile, but we may have to do it in reverse depending on what the weather gods say.

Stay tuned.

 

[stroppy]

that is going to be one fantastic pond !! :0)

 

[undrtkr_00]

Looks great. Keep the progress shots coming.

 

[DoDad]

Matala makes the filter that goes in the Savio.

I want to replace the sponge that comes with the Savio, and was thinking a green matala for that.

Do the rounds actually unfurl to open up into one huge long sheet? If so, what would the dimensions of it be?

 

[koikeepr]

We had a super productive day today with the pond. We put in the carpeting and underlayment first. In the meantime, I had the liner laying in the sun so that it became soft and pliable. The thing weighed 200 pounds and was ridiculously hard to move, but three of us managed to do it with the help of a dolly.

The underlayment was hard to maneuver and didn't fold very easily, so I was worried about what would happen with the rubber liner. However, much to my suprise, the liner was very workable and easy to work with despite it's 25x30 foot size.

We got it in there, and Wendell the guy who is helping me do the build made fantastic corner folds. I can't believe how perfectly neat they came out despite all the excess material. He told me it's because he has this napkin folding book and he just thought of the liner as one big napkin. LOL!

We cut the holes and set the rings/screws for the bottom drains and the TPR's too. You can't see the BD's here in this photo, as they are covered by a remnant piece of liner so that no dirt or rain would enter. Surprisingly, that part when really smoothly and we had no trouble at all finding the screw holes. We slathered everything up good with P&L Roofing Sealant to make a waterproof seal.

Tomorrow, we will cut out the weir frame on the skimmer. The liner is sagging a little bit on that far wall because we have not yet attached that to the skimmer. But you can pretty well see how neat the job is.

The liner has not yet been glued to the concrete block. I just have my capstones sitting on top to hold things up at the moment. Tomorrow, we will glue down the liner to just cover 2-3 inches of block and the rest will be left clean so that we get a clean bond to the capstones on the block. We will be using Versabond from Home Depot to get that job done. You can see one of the TPR's under the waterfall on the right of the photo above.

We also managed to wedge in the fastfalls waterfall today and block it up. We knocked out the holes that will accept the 2" pipe that will be the two spitters flanking the waterfall. I'm not doing anything fancy here, just some ABS pipe that will come out of a nice piece of slate mosaic tile on the diagonal. I tried looking for a spitter cover that I liked, but was failing to find anything with a 2" wide opening. I can always pop something on later when I have the time to search for something appropriate. Below, you can also see that TPR again. We have no yet poked the hole through the liner there, but the flange is set and lathered with P&L ready for the hole.

We're unsure about the weather tomorrow. They are calling for thunderstorms, but they may be in the afternoon. We are hoping to start the day by gluing down the liner over the top, setting the cap stones, and finally sheathing the pond with slate. We think we can do this all in one day tomorrow if the weather cooperates. If so, we will be completing as much of the plumbing as possible on Wednesday. I am hoping we can begin filling the pond by Friday or Saturday perhaps.

 

[nigil]

Looking good!

 

[jason081180]

He told me it's because he has this napkin folding book and he just thought of the liner as one big napkin. LOL!

LOL i think i need to read that book as well that's just amazing.

its cool to see how similar my pond is going to be to yours. I'm going to do the same thing with my spillway as you did. but mine will be custom made and coming from my stock tank. I would love to have spitters and will have to think if there is a way to incorporate them in my plan. Again looking great and look forward to seeing more.

 

[koikeepr]

Looking forward to seeing yours come to fruition jason.

I really wanted to get one of those fancy lit up colorfalls, but at $250 bucks, I decided to put the money elsewhere. I can always do one in a few years when budget allows should I want to. I'll just use some strategic (and cheap) landscape lighting for a similar effect. If my hubby knew exactly what this build was costing us, I think he'd flip his lid!

 

[nigil]

You could use the light ropes till then. My neighbor uses those instead of underwater lighting, within his waterfall. Looks really cool and is cheap. He has used the same strand for three years without any problems. Just a thought. Keep up the good work

 

[koikeepr]

hmmm! what an interesting idea! I happen to have one of these strands that I've never used, and I'm pretty sure I remember they were waterproof!

how exactly does he do that? Has he stuck the strand lighting inside the waterwall box itself? Please do give details on how he's got it set up!

I happen to have one of these strands that I've never used

 

[nigil]

It is set up in the waterfall. It is situated just before the lip (add more for light effect)and he took the extra portion and aligned it with his rock, so there is light seemingly coming from under and behind the rock. looks great at night.