Building a tiny pond

I've been whining about the lack of rain here and how it relates to my
(former) pond, now nothing more than a large puddle. I run the garden
hose in it from time to time, but it is clear it is a losing battle.
I've decided to do something about it. Not the lack of rain, I don't
know any good rain dances or anything, but there is this old circular
fire pit out back, about five feet in diameter, that looks like it has
possibilities. It is surrounded by cinder block, and it is only about
six inches deep right now, but I should be able to dig it out to a
foot and a half, maybe two feet deep. The area is some of the highest
around, so absolutely nothing will drain into it, however, if it gets
too full it can drain right into the larger pond, no problem. (Yeah,
like that will ever happen). Anyway, I think I can dig it out and
make sort of a pond out of it. It is located in the center of a bunch
of live oak trees, but the trees aren't so close together that there
isn't an opening so that there is clear sky above the pit, but it will
be shaded from morning and afternoon sun. I plan on digging out the
pit and having some kind of stream type water feature flow into it
from one side. Getting power and water out there is no problem.
Imagine about a fourth of a soda can, that would be about the ratio of
sides to bottom that I would wind up with, a cylinder wider than it is
tall. Can I get a liner like that, or does one get a flat liner and
cut to fit? Are there glues or stuff if you make your own? I've
never fussed with any type of liner, nor have I ever designed a pond
like this. It seems like my plan of digging a hole and then stuffing
a liner in it may be too simple. Any words of wisdom?
--
Galen Hekhuis
We'll cross that bridge when it rears its ugly head



Galen Hekhuis

You can get a 45 mil liner and just use it as is and put up with a few wrinkles, or you can cut and rebond it with accessories they all offer. I opted to live with the wrinkles rather than spend a lot on stuff that my shorten the life of the liner, fail and add to the cost. That small diameter in a pond will make it more challenging.

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:54:42 CST, Galen Hekhuis
<> wrote:

>Getting power and water out there is no problem.
>Imagine about a fourth of a soda can, that would be about the ratio of
>sides to bottom that I would wind up with, a cylinder wider than it is
>tall. Can I get a liner like that, or does one get a flat liner and
>cut to fit? Are there glues or stuff if you make your own? I've
>never fussed with any type of liner, nor have I ever designed a pond
>like this. It seems like my plan of digging a hole and then stuffing
>a liner in it may be too simple. Any words of wisdom?

EPDM liner comes in a square/rectangular flat sheet and leaves
folds along the sides. Some ponders are clever about hiding folds and
the top of the liner from view, but cutting and patching to avoid
folds would be more than I would want to do. I've never heard of a
liner manufacturer that made such custom shapes, but with enough money
I would imagine you could find someone to do it.

If the liner folds bother you might I suggest a stock tank (more
expensive) instead of a liner:
http://www.rotonics.com/ag/opentop.htm There is a contact in Bartow.

My latest effort is a 200 gallon EPDM lined pond built inside an oval
stack of retaining wall stones, which each row has a 1" offset to the
inside, making the top row about 4" smaller than the bottom. I've got
many folds being held down by the top row of retaining wall stones.
http://tinyurl.com/28mlbd
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

I love the portability and the simplicity of your 200 gallon brick pond. What size liner did you use for this build? I want to build a second pond just for fry and this looks like a potential solution. The best part is it can be moved if need be.

On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:18:13 CST, Hal <> wrote:

>My latest effort is a 200 gallon EPDM lined pond built inside an oval
>stack of retaining wall stones, which each row has a 1" offset to the
>inside, making the top row about 4" smaller than the bottom. I've got
>many folds being held down by the top row of retaining wall stones.
>http://tinyurl.com/28mlbd

Hal, that looks really nice! I never would have thought it was a stock tank
under there, but good idea!!!

Galen, you know me, I'm a stickler for easy maintenance after the fact.
What's the plan for getting the gunk out? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:14:32 CST, ~ jan <> wrote:

>...
>Galen, you know me, I'm a stickler for easy maintenance after the fact.
>What's the plan for getting the gunk out? ~ jan

The project (as most of mine do) has gotten larger. It looks like the
thing is turning into a 5 X 10 foot rectangle, with about 5 feet of it
two feet deep and the other 5 feet one foot deep. After I dug down a
bit in the fire pit, I started to try to figure out where to put the
pump and all, well, one thing led to another, the pond area became
more rectangular, and that's what it's shaping up to be.

As to getting the gunk out, I suppose I'll be doing skimmer stuff by
hand and cleaning the bottom by suction. It won't be difficult at all
to start a siphon with a garden hose to the larger pond, allowing me
to clean the bottom much like an aquarium. I have several pumps, so
getting the water out is no problem should that be needed, indeed,
I've pumped all the water out of the larger pond (20 - 30 thousand
gallons) twice now, I've got a pump with a 2" outlet that will suck
the small pond dry in less than an hour. I also have a couple of
other pumps (both gasoline and electric) that I have around in case of
fire. (I live out where there are no fire hydrants.) I know some
folks speak very highly of a bottom drain, but for my application it
seems far more hassle that it could possibly be worth, especially
given the ease with which I can empty the thing by other means
..
--
Galen Hekhuis
We'll cross that bridge when it rears its ugly head

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:14:32 CST, ~ jan <> wrote:

>>My latest effort is a 200 gallon EPDM lined pond built inside an oval
>>stack of retaining wall stones, which each row has a 1" offset to the
>>inside, making the top row about 4" smaller than the bottom. I've got
>>many folds being held down by the top row of retaining wall stones.
>>http://tinyurl.com/28mlbd
>
>Hal, that looks really nice! I never would have thought it was a stock tank
>under there, but good idea!!!

The other part of my post must have been misleading. It is EPDM liner
with lots of folds. I was suggesting that a round stock tank would
solve the problems of folding liner in a round EPDM lined pond.

Today it seems the pond is no longer round. He was smart enough to
move South to Florida, he'll figure it out.
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:36:54 CST, Hal <> wrote:

>Re: Galen Today it seems the pond is no longer round. He was smart enough to
>move South to Florida, he'll figure it out.

LOL!!!! I know, the last thing on many northerner's minds is digging out of
snow drifts, not digging a pond this time of year. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us