New pond build and landscaping started

[hamstermann]

The water usage is a bit higher than I expected, I'm on a water meter so that will cost a bit.

I was surprised by that as well. I thought the water usage for my pond would be the same or less than running sprinklers since I live in a desert. As it turns out, I used twice as much water in July this year as I did in July last year, which was before I had my pond. Evaporation has been terrible for me - I'm adding at least a couple hundred gallons every 2-3 days just to keep the pond full. Nothing around the pond gets muddy unless the sprinklers have run, so I don't think I have a leak - just good old 100+ degree Fahrenheit days.

Can you just dig a well wherever you want where you are? I thought about doing one here, but groundwater is too deep for simple DIY and there’s a lot of red tape to do it legally.

It's expensive to have it professionally drilled too. A few years ago I was thinking about buying some raw land and trying to live off-grid there with a well, septic system, and solar power. The well would have to be 200-300 feet deep and you had to get all sorts of approvals and applications and tests done before they'd even let you start drilling, then you had to pay lots of money - the deeper the well, the more you paid - and you couldn't even be sure you'd hit water where you chose to drill. Between that, the rules about septic tanks and their placement, and the washed-out road at the top of a steep cliff to access the property, we decided to just stay were we are in the suburbs.

 

[GaryMoz]

how much bigger is the new pond? is the rdf up and running ?

It's a bout 10 times bigger, It's just about all up and running, I just need to get an air pump and install that and put a lot more plants in the bog filter. I'll post few more pictures in the next day or so.

There are a few refinements I can make. I want to make a new screen foe the filter, the current is 70 microns and I want to put a 120 micron screen on it to increase flow through the filter. Put a a better float valve on to control water level. But yes it working just about as designed. I can't wait to get more plants in to hopefully clear the water

 

[GaryMoz]

would appreciate some info on the rdf , not much has ever been mentioned about them on this site that i have ever seen

I purchased a second hand Filtreau Hf30, this is a new version of it https://filtreau.nl/en/product/filtreau-drum-filter-hf30-gravity-pp/

This is quite a simple one, but it was all relatively simple to install. You need to get it at the right height for your water level and then just balance the water flow through and the pond water top up rate. you can adjust a internal float sensor to to govern how often it does a wash. But it's quite basic, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work on them, I drilled a third inlet on mine so I could take water from my intake bay.

They are expensive for what they are, especially as I am only using it as a prefilter for the bog, hence buying one second hand, mine cost £450. I'm yet to see how reliable it will be, if it does the job but breakdown a lot a may just need to get a better one.

 

[GaryMoz]

I was surprised by that as well. I thought the water usage for my pond would be the same or less than running sprinklers since I live in a desert. As it turns out, I used twice as much water in July this year as I did in July last year, which was before I had my pond. Evaporation has been terrible for me - I'm adding at least a couple hundred gallons every 2-3 days just to keep the pond full. Nothing around the pond gets muddy unless the sprinklers have run, so I don't think I have a leak - just good old 100+ degree Fahrenheit days.

It's expensive to have it professionally drilled too. A few years ago I was thinking about buying some raw land and trying to live off-grid there with a well, septic system, and solar power. The well would have to be 200-300 feet deep and you had to get all sorts of approvals and applications and tests done before they'd even let you start drilling, then you had to pay lots of money - the deeper the well, the more you paid - and you couldn't even be sure you'd hit water where you chose to drill. Between that, the rules about septic tanks and their placement, and the washed-out road at the top of a steep cliff to access the property, we decided to just stay were we are in the suburbs.

I think 100+ Fahrenheit would evaporate a lot of water. I found a calculator on line and there is a few contributors to the amount of evaporation, obviously heat, higher winds, low humidity and surface area. So even in England, it got upto 30ltr an hour, around 8 us gals.

The water level is a bit different for us, around 4ft deep and we hit water, although I'm not sure if it's the real table or not as we have clay so water could just be trapped on top.

 

[hamstermann]

I think 100+ Fahrenheit would evaporate a lot of water. I found a calculator on line and there is a few contributors to the amount of evaporation, obviously heat, higher winds, low humidity and surface area. So even in England, it got upto 30ltr an hour, around 8 us gals.

Yeah, that fits.

The water level is a bit different for us, around 4ft deep and we hit water, although I'm not sure if it's the real table or not as we have clay so water could just be trapped on top.

4 Feet deep would be a LOT easier for digging a well if it really is water level and not just a water pocket. Must make it miserable to build homes, etc. in though. Are most homes just given a cement slab foundation rather than a crawlspace or basement, then?

 

[GaryMoz]

Yeah, that fits.


4 Feet deep would be a LOT easier for digging a well if it really is water level and not just a water pocket. Must make it miserable to build homes, etc. in though. Are most homes just given a cement slab foundation rather than a crawlspace or basement, then?

We don't do crawl spaces at all, the majority of houses have concrete strip foundations, then with either solid concrete slab floors or or beam and block floors

 

[GaryMoz]

I fitted the air pump today, a Jebao MA80 it runs 80 lpm. It's connected to two bottom drains, It's way over powered, like two volcanos erupting under the pond, I've have a bleed valve to let off excess air, it works but does make a lot of noise.

I thought with bottom drains being 1.5m down I would need a bit more pressure, but no.

So I think I will sell off and get a weaker one, they Jebao do a similar pump PA45 45 lpm so I think I will try that. I never worked out the difference between MA and PA range, they both seem the same. The plus, the PA45 less power.

 

[GBBUDD]

theres three basic types of air pumps the diaphragm and the piston , the piston being much stronger and longer lasting hands down. the third is newer and i do not know about its reliability but it is not for koi toilets . this is a medical device that will actual get the oxygen levels in our water higher that the water can normally handle. now here's the difference the bubbles are almost non existent. you can see your fish completely next to no surface agitation and how do i know this. one of mu supplies that i have ben spending a lot of time at recently just added one and i will tell you what . cheap bubble machines watch out. i get a video of a pond with both running separately.
i get it i started with a 120 way more than i needed stepped down to an 80 and it too is more than enough for a 12 bladder down 6 feet. i do use the 80 to pump air in the winter to both keep the opening in the ice in the pond and a air pipe dumpping into the snorkel for the winter to keep the water from going stagnant

 

[GBBUDD]

I fitted the air pump today, a Jebao MA80 it runs 80 lpm. It's connected to two bottom drains, It's way over powered, like two volcanos erupting under the pond, I've have a bleed valve to let off excess air, it works but does make a lot of noise.

I thought with bottom drains being 1.5m down I would need a bit more pressure, but no.

So I think I will sell off and get a weaker one, they Jebao do a similar pump PA45 45 lpm so I think I will try that. I never worked out the difference between MA and PA range, they both seem the same. The plus, the PA45 less power.

got to get a video of your pond with the fish swimming around

 

[GaryMoz]

got to get a video of your pond with the fish swimming around

you can't see the fish at the moment the water has gone green and the plants in bog are to immature at the moment to remove it. They are starting to remove some but they have a long way to go. I've been told I just need to be patient .

I also can't see how to put videos up on this site, looks like i have to put them youtube or somewhere and link to them

 

[GBBUDD]

you can't see the fish at the moment the water has gone green and the plants in bog are to immature at the moment to remove it. They are starting to remove some but they have a long way to go. I've been told I just need to be patient .

I also can't see how to put videos up on this site, looks like i have to put them youtube or somewhere and link to them

Yes exactly put the videos on you tube then copy the address to the text box

 

[GaryMoz]

Yes exactly put the videos on you tube then copy the address to the text box

I will do, I'm away for a few weeks, so I hope the rdf and bog filter live upto the expectations of being low maintenance.

Daughter is at home in case there are any problems, also have a security camera that captures the pond, so I'm checking that every so often

 

[GaryMoz]

Pond update.

The pond has been up and running for about 10 weeks , we have been away for the last 4 weeks and only just back. We did have a problem with pond 3 days before we got back (using security camera to spy), for some reason the the pumps were not working so I got my daughter to turn it all off.

It turned out we have lots of rain, the water level was up and this was causing the drum in the filter to catch and stop turning. I found the cause and fix it earlier today.

So this is what it's looking like now.

The pond is about 1.5 m deep and over 20000ltr, the bog filter is 1.3m deep and around 8000ltr

This is the pump room, currently very wet, I have the pond overflow is too high, so currently the excess water overflow from the drum filter.

So I have few tweaks to make, but overall I really pleased, most things are works as they should be, the water has cleared, a month ago he water was like pea soup, the intake bay and circulation works correctly. The oversized intake bay really seems to work.

The biggest problem is I can't quite get the flow rate I wanted through the drum filter. I think I can improve the flow by making a drum filer screen with larger holes.

Below are some photos

 

[GBBUDD]

You got to feel good being able to sit pond side enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Off to the right of the falls are you going with the wood or stone.
On the side of my bog I used 3 inch tap cons and killed into the unwinding through the liner and basicly hung the thin rocks then cap with another.

 

[GaryMoz]

You got to feel good being able to sit pond side enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Off to the right of the falls are you going with the wood or stone.
On the side of my bog I used 3 inch tap cons and killed into the unwinding through the liner and basicly hung the thin rocks then cap with another.

Cheers, we have lived here for 23 years and have sat outside more this year than any other time.

I had thought to clad it with wood. But I think I will stick pebbles and stone on the top and we hope to train the plants to grow over the pebbles and down the wall. If that doesn't work I may look at hanging small plant holders from the top. So the whole wall gets covered in foliage