Beautiful place! That actually looks like a very fun project. I can imagine it must have many challenges but it will be well worth the effort when done. While reading through a couple of things you hit on I would like to remark on. First the pond finish. If you can get away with keeping the rough feel do it. You'll be glad there is some grip if you ever have to do any in pond or in stream work. Second. Look into installing a float valve, auto-fill, or drip feed to your system instead of a skimmer that moves with the water level. They aren't expensive and make life much easier for you in the long run. Now for the question on filtration. 3 55 gallon drum is going to be small for large fish load but could easily work for a lighter load of fish and a higher load of plants. With your set-up though there are so many options that could be added for filtration as your project goes along. A hidden 24/7 filter for the pond in the winter and summer is a must. But an additional filtration system for the summer and fed to the stream could help during the warmer months and will help with the heavier feeding loads during the more active months as well. The stream is where you would need to get the extra oxygen into the system during the summer, having a good mechanical filter feeding the stream such as a DYI skippy filter could be blended real easily and very beneficial. Good luck and again, very beautiful place you have!
This is such a terrific help with all of you folks pitching in thoughts and ideas, I cant tell you how much it helps me! With all of the variables in the equation, how could anyone 'know' all the answers? But when folks with experiences, ones who have been there before, start talking ideas....something will stick to the wall. In my industry I have large design debate groups where we beat up ideas and all of a sudden everyone on the teams says... I think this might work. That is all I can hope for, just trying to identify the problems prior to making them, and for that I Thank You all for your thoughts, kind words and best wishes!
Surface finish/autofill: Completely agree. My first pond had a rubber liner I put in... slicker than snot, I ended up on my backside more often than not.
Auto fill: That one is tricky! We are at 5700 ft altitude in a dry valley with one of very few producing wells in the whole area. Out here it is standard practice to have to haul water and store it in underground cisterns. My well is just short of enough to keep the house and livestock watered so I have to make a 1000 gallon haul once a month or so. The BIGGEST problem is the well water is Very salty, our area is the bottom of an ancient ocean and the wells here are not into an aquifer, but catching water running through rock layers. The best I can do is to pump from the seasonal stream in the bottom of the gully and hope enough is available to keep up with demand. One doesnt know how fortunate they are to be able to turn a facet on and get clear drinking water, until you live in an area like this where water has to be hauled in. Its fine if I have to haul for this project, its a small cost to pay for something that will bring us many smiles.
Filter: Exactly the type of advise I need! This will be a small fish load because Everything out here will line up for dinner at the pond.... and I mean everything! I introduce another food source and every preditor in the valley will be here. The nearby fires on the front range this spring have pushed the wildlife down out of the wilderness areas and into our area. I am happy to have them here to watch but it will come at a cost. Even the Rattlesnakes have moved down and now it is required one watches where each step is placed. Add a water hole to the desert and it will become a very interesting eco system in itself, nature will find a way to exploit it and we will be fortunate to be able to watch this up close.
It will be a challenge that has a significant cost to maintain but how do you put a price to a dream? I near lost my wife and kids to terrible illnesses and accidents a few years back.... now I dont dwell on dreams, I act on them as I was taught life is all too short... play it out now so you can enjoy it. I will be working until I go toes up due to the resulting bills that had to be paid... might as well live this journey to its fullest and enjoy everything we can, while we can. We got a taste of how much fun this can be from my first, every mistake in the book, pond. That is the reason this one is so grand in scale, it isnt we have a big budget, just a big dream that I find a way to make work by building myself what I cant afford. To date, most of the materials with the exception of the concrete are recycled or discarded warped lumber I picked up for a song and the rest is just hard work. The concrete only happened when it did, on a rushed time schedule, because a number of young guys lost their jobs and this gave them an income for a few days.
As luck would have it, when we packed it in and cleaned up to head up to the Winery after the grunt work yesterday, the neighbor's from down the road stopped by and ended up joining us. Some things in life you just dont try to figure out, you just accept it and be grateful for it, Gary is a construction manager who is Very knowledgeable about concrete! His latest project was a water treatment plant and concrete lined holding ponds. Four lawn chairs, 4 glasses of wine, sitting alongside a mountain stream with a guy that has the answers to my problems... who woulda thunk it possible? Sure there were problems, Gary is a little agrivated at me because his wife now wants a pond like ours and his own HoneyDo list just grew! He said my planed process of two stages of sealers, a wicking sealer that goes in to a depth of 4" and then a water proofer over that... should do the job just fine as it is more thn they did for a local towns holding ponds at the water treatment center. They too are concerned about water quality and the resulting lye/lime leaching from the concrete.... the wicking sealer/bonding agent is designed exactly for that purpose and the water proofing agent is just icing on the cake. With the shallow depth of our pond, hydrostatic pressures should be at a minimum and are no cause for concern. One MAJOR problem checked off the list and a very enjoyable evening was had to boot!
