New to the forum and building my first BIG pond...

[DrCase]

I put a ribbon of mortar around the edge to hold every thing level and in place

 

[mikecoscia]

We have a skimmer also, this is my first pond in a freezing area, so just need to remember to purge the lines so you don't have pipe freezing, breaking issues.

I have also heard the skimmer needs to be empty of water.

We are trying to set ours up so we have one purge opening to draw the water from the lines, if we turn off for the winter.

I am using that flexible pvc, it's supposed to be able to handle frozen water in the lines. That being said I will prob purge them, just have to figure out the best method. I may have to leave the falls running because it is the filter, the skimmer I can shut off though.

 

[addy1]

well next spring we will know if we did right! either be smiling or crying...........

 

[DrDave]

Put a drain valve at the lowest point for this purpose, if you don't have a low point, make one.

 

[DrCase]

Any pipe i put in ...Is on a upward or downward grade ..I want it to empty when cold weather sets in .and i pull the cap

 

[addy1]

With our slope we have no problem with having a grade!

 

[mikecoscia]

Put a drain valve at the lowest point for this purpose, if you don't have a low point, make one.

Any pipe i put in ...Is on a upward or downward grade ..I want it to empty when cold weather sets in .and i pull the cap

Good Idea, I will do that.

I was ready to shoot myself today, the skimmer was too high. Had to drain the pond halfway, which only took about 30 minutes, an than another 2 hours to dig, pull the skimmer out, dig some more, and lower it a few inches. UGH. Hopefully third time is a charm and it's good now...lol. Left the hose running after that to fill it back up. Between needing to water the grass in the heat and this pond, I am afraid to see what my water bills is going to be this quarter. Ah well, all worth it in the end.

 

[addy1]

You should have raised the pond..............lol

That sucks, we all have had to redo things.

 

[mikecoscia]

You should have raised the pond..............lol

That sucks, we all have had to redo things.

Haha, I thought about it, but it would have been like 10" above ground level at one end....lol.

 

[DrCase]

Just adding a concrete block and you would have been almost there on the low side

 

[mikecoscia]

Some progress, looks like the skimmer as at the correct height finally. The water started to clear a bit, I was able to see the rocks on the first shelf, but after working on it all day it got cloudy again. I am starting to think I should of just built a dam mud pond, I prob have enough clay in the soil for it. Hopefully it clears to the point where I can at least see a foot into the pond, otherwise I may just have to live with cloudy water.

Anyway here are pictures from three days ago...

As you can see the skimmer is much lower than it was.


For the past 3 days I trimmed the liner back and added the rocks to the edge.

Now I wanted the water line to com up over the rocks slightly, so I raked away about an inch of dirty under top edge of the pond. Folded the liner in an L shape. The back of the L was around 2-3" high and the cut end of the liner was the bottom of the L. So the rock's back edge supported back of the L and the covered the cut end, make sense? I than pushed some dirt to the edge of the rock so if you where looking from above you would see the rock and behind it a black line which was the top of the folded liner. Once my yard is graded I will place river rocks over this to cover it up. I tried it out in one spot, here is what it should look like when done.

So hopefully it will come out okay. The skimmer's overflow is about 1 - 1 1/2" away from the water line now, and there is enough liner behind the rocks to handle another 3" of water or so. Going to work on the falls today and possibly the skimmer.

On a side note I got all my 2" flexible PVC for the falls and skimmer. Also got a big frog 5500gph pump and they send me two of them by mistake . Have no idea what I am going to do with the second one...haha. I was told to use 3" pipe with it even though it has a 2" outlet, something about less wear and tear and better performance. Not sure how true that is, but 3" pipe is massive! Not sure if I want to use it. Guess I will have to see how the 2" performs.

Ah well time to go to work.

 

[addy1]

Nice job, doing like I am picking away at it! one step at a time.
Your edging should work just fine, I have done something similar.

 

[mikecoscia]

Nice job, doing like I am picking away at it! one step at a time.
Your edging should work just fine, I have done something similar.

Thanks addy, appreciated the comments . I got very little accomplished today, except learning a lesson and wasting some money. I HATE flexible pvc. It's a pain to work with and for whatever reason it would not glue into regular sch40 fittings like it is supposed too. I tried three types of glue just for the hell of it. Nothing held. I don't know, so I gave up and used barbed fittings, and I think I might even trash it and get the regular no kink pond hose. It is so much easier to work with and WAY more flexible.

I'll have to see if I can sell this pvc crap I didn't use on craigslist list or something.

Ah well, I did manage to glue and clamp the liner to the waterfall box....lol.

 

[addy1]

Nice, we still have a long way to go before we get the sucker running, hope to get at least the pump plumbed to start circulating the water. This has been one big job, but still enjoying it. Fitter than I have been in years! lol I just hauled rocks today, one rock at a time.

 

[mikecoscia]

LONG few days. Built the water fall with rock, and filled in gaps with foam. Also filled the pond up to the top and water was running off around the edges instead of the over flow...ugh. So I raised everything around 5 inches or so. What a monumental task to take all the rocks off, add dirty, and put all the rocks back. If it is not good enough now I will drill a new dam overfall on the skimmer...ugh.

On a positive note, all the edges are higher the the ground so no run off after raining spilling into the pond .

Today I bought some garden edging and ran it all around the pond and filled in with river pebbles to cover the liner. There is no way I am going to have time this season to do the second waterfall in the shallow end. I am exhausted and burned out at this point, so I'll just throw in a fountain or something to keep the water moving on that end. Instead of posting pictures I took a short video. Not sure if you can purchase videos in the forum, but here goes....


[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]bwnmQgdHDDk[/MEDIA]"]

What do you think?