OK, we wanted to upgrade, so we went from a few hundred gallons to about 6,000 or so if my poor math skills are right.
Here is a pic of our old pond. It's not a very good one, but it's the only one I've got that I can post here right now. The reason I'm posting it is to show the hard liner that split this past winter and the green crud that we fought constantly on the side. I understand we'll have some, but this thing really produced lots of it. I'm hoping that moving to a larger, deeper pond and moving to a larger pump and filter system makes controlling it a bit easier.
Here is out JAck Russell Terrier, Scout, "smelling" of our koi. He loves doing that. He blows bubbles with his nose under the water. LOL
And here is the result of me being left unsupervised, home all alone with a backhoe!! It's about 13 feet wide, 25 feet long, and 3 feet deep. It has a step in the near end to make getting out easier.
Here is the liner, 20' x 40', initially going in over the underlayment. Here, it still needs to be brought completely down into the hole and the bottom smoothed (mostly), and fitted to the corners in this picture. At first, I thought I had ordered WAY too much liner. I was surprised, however, at how much the excess disappeared after fitting it a little better into the hole. I forgot about taking a picture of the liner after I fit it in better until it was half full of water.
Finally getting the water added. We were trying to move quickly as it has began really raining hard here. We knew it was coming, and I didn't want my hole to fill in in the heavy downpours. We made it. We have a heck of a long way to go, and I keep changing my mind about some things, but it's starting to look more like a pond than an idea in my head!!
I ordered the liner a little too long so that I could have some left over to use as runners for a waterfall and possibly a small stream. I left plenty on the sides, too, because I have a few ideas about using some of the dirt we dug out to raise the sides up a little bit. You can't see it in the pictures, but to the right of the new pond is a deck that I'm going to tear out. I'll use the lumber to build some things to use around the pond and then I'll lay some stones or pavers to make a patio the goes right up to the edge of our pond. I'd like to build a small pump house of sorts to house the pump and filter. For tonight and this following morning, it's raining and I probably won't get too much done on it. We don't have the pump yet, anyway. So, in the mean time, I'm building a floating island out of some pool noodles and a basket. My idea is to line it with mesh and then use some sort of ground cover to grow over the edges to hide the pool noodles. We'll see how it turns out. I started it after pricing floating islands. If it turns out OK, I'll post it up in the DIY forums.
I can't wait to get this thing on the way. The more we get to work on it, the more I get into it and look forward to it. I guess I have a new hobby/ addiction. I think if I lived in town, I'd lay odds that I wouldn't need a lawn mower. I'd have the whole place covered with rock gardens with ponds and pathways running everywhere!
Here is a pic of our old pond. It's not a very good one, but it's the only one I've got that I can post here right now. The reason I'm posting it is to show the hard liner that split this past winter and the green crud that we fought constantly on the side. I understand we'll have some, but this thing really produced lots of it. I'm hoping that moving to a larger, deeper pond and moving to a larger pump and filter system makes controlling it a bit easier.
Here is out JAck Russell Terrier, Scout, "smelling" of our koi. He loves doing that. He blows bubbles with his nose under the water. LOL
And here is the result of me being left unsupervised, home all alone with a backhoe!! It's about 13 feet wide, 25 feet long, and 3 feet deep. It has a step in the near end to make getting out easier.
Here is the liner, 20' x 40', initially going in over the underlayment. Here, it still needs to be brought completely down into the hole and the bottom smoothed (mostly), and fitted to the corners in this picture. At first, I thought I had ordered WAY too much liner. I was surprised, however, at how much the excess disappeared after fitting it a little better into the hole. I forgot about taking a picture of the liner after I fit it in better until it was half full of water.
Finally getting the water added. We were trying to move quickly as it has began really raining hard here. We knew it was coming, and I didn't want my hole to fill in in the heavy downpours. We made it. We have a heck of a long way to go, and I keep changing my mind about some things, but it's starting to look more like a pond than an idea in my head!!
I ordered the liner a little too long so that I could have some left over to use as runners for a waterfall and possibly a small stream. I left plenty on the sides, too, because I have a few ideas about using some of the dirt we dug out to raise the sides up a little bit. You can't see it in the pictures, but to the right of the new pond is a deck that I'm going to tear out. I'll use the lumber to build some things to use around the pond and then I'll lay some stones or pavers to make a patio the goes right up to the edge of our pond. I'd like to build a small pump house of sorts to house the pump and filter. For tonight and this following morning, it's raining and I probably won't get too much done on it. We don't have the pump yet, anyway. So, in the mean time, I'm building a floating island out of some pool noodles and a basket. My idea is to line it with mesh and then use some sort of ground cover to grow over the edges to hide the pool noodles. We'll see how it turns out. I started it after pricing floating islands. If it turns out OK, I'll post it up in the DIY forums.
I can't wait to get this thing on the way. The more we get to work on it, the more I get into it and look forward to it. I guess I have a new hobby/ addiction. I think if I lived in town, I'd lay odds that I wouldn't need a lawn mower. I'd have the whole place covered with rock gardens with ponds and pathways running everywhere!
Also, my wife and I almost totally change the pond about every year. IN the past, it has pretty much been her thing and I just helped her some. Now though, I'm really getting into it and it has become much more my project than hers. Because we are both now doing so much more with the pond, I'm sure we'll be changing things more.
