Starting New, Doing it Right!

[Jason]

Wow DoDad, That is a nice size pond! Im not too worried about mine considering how small it is, If all goes well, then Im sure other people on here will consider the same as it will be much faster to build and to dry!

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

Keep us posted on how this works out. Always wanting to learn something new.

 

[sissy]

I found block in Martinsville that is 12 inches high and has a lip on each inside and outside edge and they are 16 inches long by 10 inches and that just fits over the block with the lips .It fits over a concrete block so may try .Glad I did not buy them would have hated to have them in the truck when it broke down .He said it was from extras left from a city project for the veterans garden they did a year ago .There was about 300 of them and I only need about 36 of them .

 

[Jason]

Ok, so getting started on it now this weekend, still waiting on the Underwriter to approve before we close, hopefully tomorrow

Bought some 3M 5200 Water Sealant (Strongest stuff I could find)

Cut out 7"x7" Black 1/8" thick Outdoor rated plastic for the bottom of the Spillways and Two 1" Tee's. I vector cut the holes out smaller than the Barbs on the fittings so the pop through but can't back out.

I cut 1"x5" slots in the Edges of 2 cinder blocks for the aluminum spillways I am making.

Here is the cut cinder blocks with Custom Cut Filter pads.

Here is one inside the block, It is the same Dimensions as the ID of the block but I cut them 1/8" larger to keep them tight.

There will be 4 of these pads inside each of the 2 cinder block spillway feeds along with a 5th White higher density pad not shown.

Here are the 2 Spillways I made out of a High Gloss Brushed aluminum sheeting, They are 4.875" (4"7/8") and .5" tall side walls

I glued the 1" feeds to the 7"x7" plastic bottoms and glued them to the Bottom of the Cinder Blocks as well as the Aluminum Spillways.

Thats it for this weekend, After we close on the house I will be able to get over there and start the build!

 

[JohnHuff]

Just a thought. I was chatting with my son yesterday when looking at our pond and I remarked that if I were to build a custom pond, I would build a rectangular one instead of a square one so that I could reach in to the middle if necessary.

 

[addy1]

That 3m stuff is great jason, works wonderfully. Let it dry well before moving it around.

Mine is rectangular, it is nice to be able to reach the center of the pond from the sides.

 

[Jason]

John and Addy, Thanks for the Advice, Im going to make it smaller now, like 4.5'x6' so I can reach the middle if need be! It will work better for room too. I set up the Blocks last night and we closed on the house so the build will begin tonight! Im 5'11" so I should be fine with those dimensions, thanks again, that slipped my mind

 

[sissy]

congrats are in order .

 

[JohnHuff]

Will your pond be partly below surface?

And just to throw a wrench in the works, if I had carte blanche and could really do what I want, I would do something completely different. I want to make the water feature an environment not just for me but for the fish. I would do several smaller ponds instead of 1 big one, connected together. This way, the fishes would have the opportunity to live in several habitats and not just one big one.

Imagine if your house was just one big room. Wouldn't that be boring? Much better to have several rooms. You can even customize the ponds.

Then a small lazy river, maybe not more than 1 foot or 1.5 foot wide connecting them so that my fish could enjoy swimming in a river. Just have the whole feature go in a circle so that the waterfall starts it, the water flows through a few ponds then ends up in a final pond where the pump pumps it back to the top of the waterfall.

 

[timvz]

That construction glue is pretty strong stuff. I've used it in my backyard and it has held up well for five years now. Use it liberally. I would compare price to cement & rebar, though. The glue I used was not cheap. Interesting idea putting filters inside the cinder blocks!

 

[Jason]

update, coming along! I know what you mean john, this is just the patio pond, the large backyard pond will be here soon lol.

 

[sissy]

busy bee since you closed on the house .

 

[archimedes]

Looking good, and congrats on the new house too.

I know from previous experience that those blocks are not all a consistent size. It's not a problem when working with mortar, any slight deviation can be corrected with the mortar. How much of a problem did you run into with that using the glue?

I'm guessing with only three rows it wasn't too bad?

 

[Catfishnut]

Jason,

You have a very nice design going there. However, I wish to urge you to spend a little more money and fill your block wall with concrete and some mesh or rebar. You really cannot take into account just the mass of the water to calculate the outward force against your pond walls. The pressure of the atmosphere applied to the surface of the pond is going to act as a hydraulic piston with a multiplication factor.

Since water is not compressible, the foce of the atmosphere pressing down on the water's surface has to be distributed out to the sides and bottom. The atmospheric pressure at seal level is 14.7 PSI. So you have to multiply that by the surface area of your pond and add this force to the force of the mass of the water itself pressing out against the side walls.

Obviously, the pressure of the atmosphere is applied to the pond walls from the outside, pushing inwards as well. This conteracts some of the forces at hand, but it is only in equilibrium if the pond is empty. Then the pressure from both sides is equal.

If you fill the pond with water, you are going to amplify the forces exerted outwards because of the fact that water is not compressible. Therefore, the force against your outer pond walls are much greater than the force of just the water alone.

Think of it as a round ballon filled with air and a round balloon filled with water. The ballon filled with air remains pretty much round, that is because the air inside is compressible and the pressure of the air outside is equal all around the balloon. However, the balloon filled with water flattens out and pushes outwards, sideways. That is not all because of the weight of the water alone. That is due to the fact that water is not compressible and the force exerted from above by the weight of the atmosphere is pushing down on the top of the balloon. The water balloon cannot expand downwards and it cannot contract or compress into a smaller "round" shape so it expands sideways.

Fill a balloon with air and place your foot atop the ballon and apply your weight to the balloon. What happens to the sides of your balloon? That will show you that the forces of the weight of the atmosphere are going to press outward on your pond walls.

Your above ground pond is shallow and small, so your block adhesive may have sufficient strength to withstand this pressure, However, if it were my build I would fill the blocks with concrete and sticks of rebar or some reinforcing material - like chainlink fencing or chicken wire for reinforcement. You wouldn't have to fill every void either, just go every other one to tie each block to the next.

This is just my opinion and I may be wrong, but I'd rather see your pond hold up after you fill it with water then take a chance of it pushing the walls out. Even with the adhesive, there is a thing called shear forces. You are going to be dealing with shearing forces with your pond wall construction.

Think of these forces like two magnets. If the magnets are stuck together, is it easier to pull them apart by pulling them straight away from eachother or is it easier to slide them apart in a sort of sideways manner? Think of the adhesive on your blocks in this way.

Gordy

 

[timvz]

What!? Atmospheric pressure? The atmosphere presses on both sides of the wall and cancels out. Only thing they need to worry about is a 2 or 3 foot column of water. Could still be significant, but probably not.