New member in SoCal

[MoonShadows]

Yup...a few perils there.

 

[Usman]

@zeuspaul I am going to be constructing my raised pond...if the snow ever melts!...and I am planning to use block to build up one side where the ground is a bit lower and create a ring around the pond that I will fill with p-gravel. Are the blocks you used the 11.5 in. x 7 in. x 4 in. Pewter Retaining Wall Block for just under $2 a piece that can be purchased at Home Depot or Lowes? They are the same ones I am looking at. I like that look.

i was waiting for ur pond , u told us it is due in feb ? so its coming soon , excited

 

[zeuspaul]

Yes it is on a slope. It is about 18+ inches drop from one side to the other. The top side is dug in about 18 inches and the lower side is about on native ground. I wanted to avoid a lot of digging as I wanted to avoid damaging a lot of roots of the native plants. I thought I was far enough away from the native ceanothus. I had no idea their roots wandered so far and shallow and ended up destroying more than I anticipated.

The retaining wall blocks are 50 pounds each. There is a lip on the bottom of each block which is designed to keep the block from moving out. As @MoonShadows noted that is what causes the inward offset.

The dirt on the inside was placed to protect the liner and helps stabilize the lower level. There are large rough gaps between the blocks and the dirt fills those gaps.

 

[MoonShadows]

i was waiting for ur pond , u told us it is due in feb ? so its coming soon , excited

I'm waiting for the 2 feet of snow we got last week to melt! The few mild days in February and March lolled me into the idea that I would have it up already. The 5 big boxes are still sitting in my dining room! On another note, I already have 3 sarassa comets in an aquarium just waiting to move to 425 gallons.

 

[MoonShadows]

@zuespaul, I think you are taking a big chance, but will be very happy for you if it works the present way.

 

[Lisak1]

Did you fill the blocks with anything? We've used those retaining wall blocks before for projects and the base blocks are all hollow so you can fill them with sand or dirt to provide stability.

 

[zeuspaul]

I have purchased blocks similar to these from Lowes before and they had cavities in them that you could fill. The blocks I got from Lowes for this project look very similar but they are solid.

 

[Usman]

Yes it is on a slope. It is about 18+ inches drop from one side to the other. The top side is dug in about 18 inches and the lower side is about on native ground. I wanted to avoid a lot of digging as I wanted to avoid damaging a lot of roots of the native plants. I thought I was far enough away from the native ceanothus. I had no idea their roots wandered so far and shallow and ended up destroying more than I anticipated.

The retaining wall blocks are 50 pounds each. There is a lip on the bottom of each block which is designed to keep the block from moving out. As @MoonShadows noted that is what causes the inward offset.

The dirt on the inside was placed to protect the liner and helps stabilize the lower level. There are large rough gaps between the blocks and the dirt fills those gaps.
View attachment 98025

bro as far as i experienced , nothing happens to a tree if partially roots are cut and they seem pretty far so its not there main root , beside that you can multiply them and plant more of them around so if it dies you will have more of them
believe me water pressure is more then we expect and if even one block slips or breaks , all will burst out and can injure people around too if any one leans on to its border and mistakenly moves a brick , liner will try to make a gap between bricks and will try to come out of it lol i have created a horror movie but worried need to b careful , if you can gather soil and built a damn around it , that can help it a bit

 

[PondMutt]

frog pond southern calif .. looks good to me , i think this bricks might hold

all out there , suggest rainwater harvest and the biggest cistern you can manage , discretely or not ,, the more water you can put in the system the better
quite an art to installing liner , please use rubber {EDPM ] heavy gage .. my thinking is that when you have big flaps of liner folding around one should tape and seal them , if you do not lots sediment gets in the flaps and goes anaerobic .. not to be desired
put some kind of bottom drain in there [does not need to be a hole in the bottom , retros work good] . siphon out to some kind of settlement tank , , then the muck that settles in the main gets pulled to the subsidiary settlement , and when you wish valve off main from subsidiary and muck it out.. .. this is a design problem to be solved .. i am unsure if i am properly communicating the principle , \
you will wish to disturb the main tank as little as is possible yet have the ability to muck out // .

water seeks its level they saY AND IT IS TRUE . .
i think you need a subsidiary and similar designed water containment in proximity
minimum 10 % of the primary ,, all at the same level .. the settlement .. this sett;emet might be narrow and deep or wide and shallow , imperative it has a bottom drain [ not retro[ a real BD [ dump to waste .. waste could be a garden plot or the yard , but gonna be lots of high energy stinkin slum from there ..

principle is ,a bd from the main goes to the settlement , pump pulls from the settlement through bio reactors and clarifiers and feeds to the main via artfully designed falls and trickles [ i just use pipe out fall but i .]. water and slum is pulled from the main to the settlement , slum settles water pumped to main from settlement . settlement could well be a nice water feature , but ,, from time to time , it must go off line and MUCKED OUT . ..

does this make any sense at all to anybody .. .. the image is quite clear in my mind

 

[sissy]

I used those blocks on the outside wall of my pond but the inside wall is concrete block filled with clay soil .I got mine from lowes