Requesting Feedback: Seeking Guidance for Successful First-Time Pond Build

[GBBUDD]

6 ox is still on the thin side imo. 8 Oz is what I prefer and even then under boulders I double it up.

The key to pending is circulation, quality food, not over feeding or over stocking. Maintenance. good filtration. And GOOD OBSERVATIONS. ADDING FABRIC INSIDE WILL TRAP FINE SEDIMENTS but that's not enough to make the pond fail. It will get saturated the pond will have microbes and such move in and call that home.

 

[combatwombat]

Any downside to adding underlayment on top that anyone is aware of?

Downside is finding/repairing leaks when you can’t closely inspect the liner with the fabric over it. But, of course, the fabric helps prevent leaks from occurring.

 

[ChiDIY]

As I wait for the underlayment and my body recovers from moving ~14K lbs of dirt out of the ground, into my alley and into the dumpster over a few days I'm finishing some other tasks:

Yesterday I:

• dyed pvc that will be visible in bog filter black
• hooked up rain barrel to downspout and bought fittings to attach it to the top-off/float valve. Its connected to one of 5 downspouts on my house and I wasn't sure how much rain goes to it but last night with some minor rain the 55 gal barrel was 75% full. Might add a second overflow barrel to help stock up on water for top-off
• finished installing electric box next to skimmer

Today I'll figure out the overflow solution - a few open questions:

• where to install the overflow in the skimmer box?
  • Using a 1" bulkhead
  • plan is to install so the internal opening about 1" above the waterline (the skimmer instructions provide no guidance on this)
  • install a 90° elbow on the inside of the skimmer that I can turn to adjust the overflow level. this will allow me to adjust the overflow from 1" above water line to ~3" above waterline by simply turning the 90° elbow
• where to run the overflow water?
  • maybe dig a hole or trench, lining with landscape fabric and filling with rocks.
  • maybe route it to the trench I dug for my electric and line that with fabric and fill with rock. Seems strange to route water to the trench that I have my metal conduit & electric running through but waters going to get to it regardless and if its designed for quick drainage it might be better than if it were surrounded by soil. I used metal conduit btw because Chicago code doesn't require it be buried as deep and I'm sick of digging.

Overflow seems like a simple enough problem to solve.


In other news @CometKeith invited me over to his house to check out his pond! It was super helpful to receive a design overview of a well thought-out pond and hear how it evolved into its current state over time. Beautiful mix of plants and fish. He lives about a 5 minute walk away from my house; Chicago is a very large place geographically so to have someone reach out from the area and end up being a neighbor is great. Thanks Keith!

 

[cas]

He lives about a 5 minute walk away from my house;

How cool is that!

 

[ChiDIY]

Day one of rocking complete.

Going well but working with the aqua blue is definitely a challenge. It's very heavy, difficult to move and get in to place. I'm getting close to the waterline where I will be placing the bulk of the aqua blue so I'll be trying some different things to work with it over the next few days.

I might try splitting some of it to shape with wedge & feather. If breaking it up into smaller & lighter pieces is feasible I think I'll be able to better work with it. Not sure how hard it'll be to drill.

Today I'll be seating the skimmer and connecting all the plumbing, placing some more rocks and leveling the bio filter tub if I get to it.


For the outflow on the bio-filter I'm thinking spillway based on feedback about pipes being prone to freezing.
Here's my plan:

• cut spillway out of side of the stock tank
• fabricate 2 brackets for inside and outside of tub out of 1/4" abs or hpde plastic sheeting
• fasten everything with stainless steel hardware. bracket -> liner -> silicon -> tub ->bracket

My concern with this approach is how much it will weaken the structural integrity of the tub if I cut the top of one end. I'm hoping to make up for this with the brackets but may introduce a weak point that splits when the tub is filled with rock & water.

 

[GBBUDD]

dyed pvc that will be visible in bog filter black

i don't know why your using pvc liner but i would revisit that decision.

Don't cut the rounded over lip on the stock tank make your cuts below . Create a slot for the water to run out from like 4 Inches tall

 

[j.w]

Maybe he meant Hdpe liner not pvc?

 

[ChiDIY]

i don't know why your using pvc liner but i would revisit that decision.

The liner is epdm; I was referring to the visible portion of the pvc piping that will bring the water from the pump to the bottom of the stock tank bog filter. Here's a pic of some of it - wanted it to be less visible and dying it is cheap & easy.

 

[ChiDIY]

Don't cut the rounded over lip on the stock tank make your cuts below . Create a slot for the water to run out from like 4 Inches tall

Great idea! That should keep the structural integrity the lip provides while creating a large enough hole to prevent freezing issues in winter. Something more like this:

 

[j.w]

The liner is epdm; I was referring to the visible portion of the pvc piping that will bring the water from the pump to the bottom of the stock tank bog filter. Here's a pic of some of it - wanted it to be less visible and dying it is cheap & easy.

View attachment 159415

The liner is epdm; I was referring to the visible portion of the pvc piping that will bring the water from the pump to the bottom of the stock tank bog filter. Here's a pic of some of it - wanted it to be less visible and dying it is cheap & easy.

View attachment 159415

Oops that's what I meant Epdm

 

[GBBUDD]

If cutting at all i would look for a rubbermaid tote . few come even close in strength

 

[ChiDIY]

I've started building the waterfall and I'm unsure of where to place the liner to reduce water loss between the levels.


I've placed the frame stones and spillway and leveled the dirt behind it a couple inches lower than the top of the spillway to create the next pool up the waterfall.

Here's an example of one way I can think to structure the liner:

• add stone around pool
• pull liner up on outside of stone and backfill with dirt or another stone
• pull liner up between pool stone and frame stone from the level below (in this case the pond)
• fold liner to go below spillway stone

The pic below illustrates this approach using bricks for ease of visualization. This approach seems like it would work but having the liner lifted behind both of the frame stones then pushed down in the middle for the spillway seems awkward and like it might not work well.

I'm rewatching videos on waterfalls but haven't seen a clear explanation of exactly how to handle this yet. I'll use waterfall foam on this but don't want to depend on that to prevent water leakage.



In other news the pond is progressing well; getting better at using gravity & leverage to move and place the heavy stones.

 

[YShahar]

Looking good! The waterfall is definitely fairly consistent with the oriental character of the garden. One way of structuring the upper pool behind the waterfall is to dig it out a bit more and build up a berm all around the pool, such that the soil is above the water level. Then you can bring the liner up and fold it against the berm and line it with rocks. The top of the rocks should be above the liner fold and the fold should be at least a couple of cm above the water level. Later on, you can hide the liner fold with river rock, bits of drift wood, moss, or whatever.

The berm will also help to naturalize the water fall, since in nature, the stream would be at a low spot in the terrain.

You probably already know this, but just in case...don't cut the excess liner after finishing the edges. Rather, live with it for a while, let it settle, and only once you're sure you like it and that it's not going to settle further--only then, cut off the excess. Alternately, you can leave the excess liner under the soil to allow the planting of water loving species or moss. Just be away that you'll lose some water doing this.

 

[GBBUDD]

Doesn't look like your going to have all that much hight between the upper pool and the falls I would not rely on overlaping I would seam the two pieces . If uncomfortable with seams we have a sticky in the Forum pond construction.
That looks to be the safe bet to me . The rest of the falls looks great the character rocks create the horse shoe effect yo catch splash and the liner is behind them all the way around nice work .

 

[ChiDIY]

One way of structuring the upper pool behind the waterfall is to dig it out a bit more and build up a berm all around the pool, such that the soil is above the water level.

Thanks! This makes a ton of sense. I think my issue is I piled the dirt up on an angle from the stock tank bio filter down to ground level on the left side.

In the pic below:
- The white line is the rough angle of the waterfall mound. Because of this the left side of the pool has no berm and just drops off.
- The orange represents how I think I need to adjust the mound. I think this will allow me to build the pool down into the mound and have a berm on both sides that butt up against the back of the frame rocks on the left & right side of the falls into the pond.