The pond dig has begun!

[taherrmann4]

Yeah I built my pond with an easy way out, a sloped area that gradually descends from about 8" down to about 30", but can't use it. It's too dangerous very slippery once all the algae and stuff gets on the bottom, slid on my a$$ one time and just about busted my head on a rock on the side. So now I just climb down from the side or I get the wife to go in and I can pull her out.

 

[addy1]

LOL taherrmann, mine is sloped with flat step like areas, can't really see steps, but you know they are there when walking into the pond.

 

[CountryEscape]

My sister had a deep straight down side pond (old silo casing, actually) in WI, and when she moved to AZ, and built her pond, she had steps made. She is the one that recommended the steps, and I'm very thankful for her! I would have had to use a step stool everytime I got in and out, after the roots were cut out that is. And, the original reason I made them is if a small dog or cat falls in, they should find the ledge at least. I guess the steps will be underwater to help them much. I hope they stay out, though. I made the ledges about 18" from where the top of the water will be, hoping that will deter any raccoons. Probably will put a stone there for a small animal to sit on until help comes.
Here's another idea my sister had, not sure I want to deal with it, though. She is HIGHLY recommending a concrete block wall on the waterfall end, stacked from bottom up to the lowest ledge of the waterfall, rebar pounded into the ground, and then concrete poured in the blocks. I say I don't need it. She says her waterfall has shifted and she wishes she had done it. Your opinion on that suggestion, please?

 

[CountryEscape]

BTW, my waterfall is not going to be all rock on the sides, but rather rock bed, rock edges, and then plants on the sides of the mound. That way I won't have to gather that many more rocks. So, unlike her waterfall which is very wide with rocks on all sides, mine should not be near as heavy as hers is. I just think it's overkill, but those with more experience are the ones I am listening to. She goes on and on about carpet, then underlayment, and the liner, and of course I have to put sand on top and/or below everything! Geesh!!! Like I said, I think maybe her AZ ground i.e. rocks, is what is making her so extra cautious. I have soil and clay. Of course, there have been numerous rusty nails, pieces of glass, and roots, and I will be careful to cover anything I see, and things I cannot see and assume will be there to work up in time ...

 

[addy1]

lol, My pond in arizona, stream, waterfall pond, no concrete blocks, no shifting. In illinois, you have freezing like we do in maryland, you just need to be concerned with the heaving of the ground due to the freezing. The one side of our pond is a dirt berm, it has been very stable, through freezing, heavy rains etc.

You could do your water fall with a dirt mound, tamp it hard, then build your waterfall.
With the tamping you will be making it firm.

My waterfalls, stream, pond is all just dirt walls here in maryland so far very stable no shifting. We have had snow, freezing weather, heavy rains and all is good. It is all build on a steep slope.

I did not use any sand here or arizona, but under linement for sure, the liner I used can be put on raked dirt, but we have way to many rocks here for that, so I used carpet pad. A little dirt with rocks is our soil, arizona was clay with caliche.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, more questions! Here are pictures from last night. Still trying to figure out how to do the bog. My idea was to put it on the curve inset of the pond. In other words, make the pond continue on almost a straight edge instead of inside curve, and make that the bog area, where I can filter the water from the skimmer into the pea gravel (do I have to cut the liner to have pipe go in from bottom, I assume, or can I bring it in from top, direct it to under pea gravel?) and come up through gravel and plants, back into the pond. BUT, I'm having a hard time deciding how to get it back to the pond! I'm, using landscape stones (red stones) for the outside wall, 2 layers. I could use 3, then 2 on the inside of the bog area, or 2 and 1 on the inside/pond side of the bog. I guess the water would flow out, as it would be coming into that area and have to go somewhere! Would it be ok if the fish could get into that area, or would they eat the plants?
I have to level everything tonight. Going to string it out, add or remove dirt under the stones, and hopefully I will end up with a fairly level pond. We will see. Thankfully in this regard, my yard is fairly level already. I have a pipe I lay across to level side to side.

 

[fishin4cars]

OK, more questions! Here are pictures from last night. Still trying to figure out how to do the bog. My idea was to put it on the curve inset of the pond. In other words, make the pond continue on almost a straight edge instead of inside curve, and make that the bog area, where I can filter the water from the skimmer into the pea gravel (do I have to cut the liner to have pipe go in from bottom, I assume, or can I bring it in from top, direct it to under pea gravel?) and come up through gravel and plants, back into the pond.
yes you can, This is actually probably the best way as you can bury the pipe all the way to the edge and where it comes up and over the side it would be easy to hide, Might not be a bad idea to add a valve at that point too, That way you have more control on how much water your sending up through the bog.
BUT, I'm having a hard time deciding how to get it back to the pond! I'm, using landscape stones (red stones) for the outside wall, 2 layers. I could use 3, then 2 on the inside of the bog area, or 2 and 1 on the inside/pond side of the bog. I guess the water would flow out, as it would be coming into that area and have to go somewhere! Would it be ok if the fish could get into that area, or would they eat the plants?
They can go in it but being that shallow it will make them more prone to predators. My suggestion would be to move some of the extra dirt from the dig there and slightly raise that area for the Bowl/bog. this will allow for a drop back to the pond, small mini water fall. use the liner in the bog too, they make a tape that can connect the two liners, you'll want the bog one to to overlay down into the main pond so that you can seal the two below the water line, this will help in preventing the water from back flowing back out between the two liners.

I have to level everything tonight. Going to string it out, add or remove dirt under the stones, and hopefully I will end up with a fairly level pond. We will see. Thankfully in this regard, my yard is fairly level already. I have a pipe I lay across to level side to side.

One last thing, underlayment does a great job, your primary place of concern is where all those roots where, they need to be covered well, If the tree is still alive that made them probabilities are that some of the roots will try to form there again, I would cut them back as far as possible then treat with some type of root away product to try and kill the root back. also the dirt mound where the water fall is going. Stomp pack and walk that hill as much as possible to get that area WELL packed. heck drive the tractor over it if you can. That is the one place I see problems in a lot of ponds. Ultimately you want more than you need there well packed and then go back and gig out the water fall feature, You do not want to put the water fall feature in and then start trying to back fill, that dirt will not be packed into the original mound and that's where most shifting will occur. Also in area, where there is moving water, Stream/waterfalls/Bog overflow to pond. be sure and leave as much extra liner attached as possible. Fold it under or something, I'm sure Addy will back me up on this one, It's far better to have extra liner there and not need it then to find out you have a low spot and not enough liner to fix a issue later on.

 

[addy1]

OK, more questions! Here are pictures from last night. Still trying to figure out how to do the bog. My idea was to put it on the curve inset of the pond. In other words, make the pond continue on almost a straight edge instead of inside curve, and make that the bog area, where I can filter the water from the skimmer into the pea gravel (do I have to cut the liner to have pipe go in from bottom, I assume, or can I bring it in from top, direct it to under pea gravel?) and come up through gravel and plants, back into the pond. BUT, I'm having a hard time deciding how to get it back to the pond! I'm, using landscape stones (red stones) for the outside wall, 2 layers. I could use 3, then 2 on the inside of the bog area, or 2 and 1 on the inside/pond side of the bog. I guess the water would flow out, as it would be coming into that area and have to go somewhere! Would it be ok if the fish could get into that area, or would they eat the plants?
I have to level everything tonight. Going to string it out, add or remove dirt under the stones, and hopefully I will end up with a fairly level pond. We will see. Thankfully in this regard, my yard is fairly level already. I have a pipe I lay across to level side to side.

Ok I think I understand, on the left of the picture the block wall curves in, is this where you are going to dig out a bog area? and make the pond wall straight? If so dig out an area, build it up slightly higher than the pond 3-4 inches, keep a small dirt wall between the pond and bog or no dirt wall and just put the landscape rocks there. Just have the pond liner go right into the bog area one continuous piece.

Run the pvc from the pump/ skimmer........ then into the bog down under the pea gravel. I never make holes in my liner,..........i am chicken lol.

Did make one in the bog so we could back flush.

What size are you thinking for the bog area? I saw the six inches, I would make it a little deeper. To clean it you can make a grate to hold the pea gravel up from the bottom and use a pump or the fish tank cleaners that work great to suck out the junk. Also you want a snorkel piece of pvc coming up to push water through if it gets clogged. Capped just under the gravel layer.

I hope this is not too confusing. And make sure you leave extra liner around all edges of the pond, DON'T CUT until you have done your edges checked level, added water. It is a real pain to add liner if it is too short...........been there done that lmao.

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks so much, Fishin and Addy! Fishin, the tree roots are from a very large soft maple that I had removed last fall. The roots were dead, as once I got the dirt moved away, I could bend and break them. I did chop past flush with the wall and/or bottom on any and all roots, and tonight I added carpeting layer, then the underlayment, so I'm ready for the liner, which boyfriend and I are HOPEFULLY going to put in on Sat., weather permitting. LOL, I covered the area with the tarp tonight so it won't rain! Murphy's Law, you know ....
So, pictures are showing my carpet laying skills LOL (maybe that's what I did in a past life?). The pieces were long strips, none wider than 4'. Turns out that made it much easier to lay! I figure more was better! I didn't even attach them in any way, I was walking in and out of there, and everything stayed put!
The last pics are of the underlayment on top of the carpeting. That stuff is almost "sticky" when they pass over anything rough. I did have to cut the piece in half, as they sent me wrong size, although total sq footage was more. It worked well, just overlapped it in the middle. Plenty for on top of the waterfall hill.
Fishin, wanted to let you know I did drive the tractor over the dirt each time I added more, so there are probably 4-5 buckets of dirt, each time driven over and packed in. Boyfriend told me to do that. LOL Must be a guy thing.
Addy, I do understand how you described it. I'm glad about not having to cut the liner, as I really did NOT want to do that. I will put 2 layers of landscape stones against the pond, then, dig the bog deeper, and put 2 landscape stones on the outside. Glad I have extra carpeting, to cover the stones on the inside. Should be plenty of liner for the bog, as I figured that in when I ordered it. All is coming together! Hoping to have water in it Sat. after get the liner in. Cross your fingers!!! BTW, I will be using well water, as I don't have any city water. Not sure if I'll have to treat it, but will check everything after it's full. I have aquariums in the house, so that should be easy enough.
Sorry I type so much! I'm a legal secretary by trade ... can you tell? LOL

 

[fishin4cars]

While your waiting on the liner this is a good time to get in practice getting the wrinkles out, The more you can get out one the underlayment now the more you can get out of the linerwhen it gets there. LOL, You won't get to lay it in in two pieces, three or four folks helping is nice for a big liner like that! Easiest way to work the wrinkles is grab a fold push as much back into the fold as possible then work toward the bottom of the pond, Once you have the hang of it you'll find it's pretty easy, Works the same way with the liner too. Practice make perfect, LOL Well it does help... Looks very good!!!!!

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks for the kind words, Fishin. I'll work on the wrinkles tomorrow evening. Guess I figured since it was such a lightweight fabric, it didn't really matter. Or, maybe I was just being lazy. I have the hang of the tarp, though, so can slip under it and work on the underlayment, even if it's raining. LOL And, my sister made a good point, better get a pump purchased, as it will be much harder to place it after the water is in! I've put it off too long, and still have no pump. :-( If need be, I'll put on my wetsuit, mask and snorkel and get it done after the water is filled in.

 

[addy1]

wow great job! and double under layment! your liner will be one happy camper!

Just watch your ph, mine well is very low 5ish, didn't realize that when I filled, let the pond sit for two months, added some feeders and they all died. That is when I found out we are drinking acid water, but it sure tastes great!

My pond and bog are all one huge liner, the only piecing I did was the stream and small ponds. I hate gluing liner together............

For a legal secretary you are building one sweet pond! you have hidden talents!

 

[CountryEscape]

Hehe, Addy, yeah, us secretaries can do awesome things! Fixed my tractor, too .... but honestly, it was just the battery posts and cable clamps, once I figured out to "shine them up" got great connection, all in working order, but sure makes me feel good when I "do it myself!"
I'm so excited about this weekend, possibly getting liner and water in the pond! Have family coming next weekend, and that was my target, to get it filled by then! And, I've had all 3 water sources checked when I was putting up 55 gal aquarium - 2 wells (actually 3, but don't have access to the 3rd except after the water softener) and softened water. One well waters horses, that's it, so will use it, since it had the best numbers. All are around 7.0-7.2 PH, but KH is in the 20-30 range. I've not checked other things, so please let me know what else I need to check and possible correct besides PH and KH. And, is high KH ok for koi and goldies? My goldfish have been doing fine with me adding well water to their RO water that originally set up their 30 gal aquarium with. Well, they CAME with the 55 gal, but have since been moved to their own 30 gal. Yep, these are the "free" goldies that started the expensive pond idea. LOL I've never regretted it though.

 

[sissy]

great build there country and nice and neat too and it is really coming along ,even with the rain .Great thing rain makes the ground a little easier to dig than dry hard dirt

 

[addy1]

According to my test kit the range can be from 50-300 for goldfish. so yours is a little in the low range, mine stayed low and my ph kept changing until I added the crushed oyster shells, our well reads low, soft water, now it has been stable.