Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

Well, decided to get my new thread up and running. Last summer I joined this forum around February, and by middle of May I was beginning the dig on my first ever pond! I can say that it has been a thrill, and something I will remember for the rest of my life. I learned so much on this forum, and better than that, I met so many wonderful people to help me along the way. I asked some pretty simple questions way back then, but never was belittled or made to feel stupid, you all just babied me along until I "got it".
So, now I have decided to separate the koi and goldfish into their own ponds. The koi will get to keep the larger pond (about 4,000 gal), and the goldfish will be moved into the new pond (not positive of the gallons yet, will have to wait until the digging is finished).
Here is a drawing of my plan.

And, to get an idea of my existing pond and where the new pond will go, here are a couple of pictures, one from inside the house (our last - hopefully - snowfall) and the other from the front edge of the deck.

Tomorrow I start digging. I'll be posting pics as I go. I laid out a hose tonight to see the approximate size of the pond, and did some tweaking. This pond will have a bog as it's main filter. I will have a skimmer that will feed the stream, and a submersible pump that will feed the bog and maybe a fountain or waterwheel, if I decide to incorporate a waterwheel later on.

 

[pondlover]

I am ready for you to begin digging too!!! I couldn't agree with you more about all the help, support and encouragement that I've gotten from this forum and how much it's helped me.

 

[Waterbug]

I love skimmers feeding streams, you get the skimmer almost for free.

 

[addy1]

Sounds neat ce! get going on that dig! we are waiting with held breaths! (kidding)

 

[DrCase]

Sounds like you cant sit still
Take pics of the build

 

[sissy]

wow country when you said you have flat land you meant it .All I see around here is hills valleys and mountains ,there is very little really flat land unless it is man made .

 

[CountryEscape]

Yeah, I know, and around here, like where I used to live when I was married, very hilly. But, I bought my house in the middle of corn and bean fields so I have to live with "flat". We shall see just how flat when I build the stream. Wish I knew someone with a laser level! Then I would really know. Going to have to string it and see what I determine. I'm thinking it will start 6" above ground level at the main pond, and there is probably 3-4" (at least, I hope) of drop to the goldfish pond, and since someone said you only need 1" of drop for the water to run, I should be good to go with moving stream and then a fall into the next pond!

 

[sissy]

I got some nice dirt the other day I put a wanted thing in the local paper and a couple of flyers up at the corner stores here and the people were digging for a basement and all I had to pay was for the guys gas that was doing the digging .I got it for 35 dollars for a nice big dump truck full .it was not for this house it was for the Wade rd. house .They saw the sign at the corner store and called because the guy was going to charge them 300 dollars to take it away .I win he loses some and only 5 miles from the house .

 

[j.w]

I have never had a skimmer and looked on line to see if I could find what you meant by the skimmer feeding a stream. What does that look like as I can't seem to picture it in my head? Does It collect debris from the back of a box type skimmer and then have an edge that would pour down into the stream like a waterfall?

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, I happen to be taking a lunch break so saw this question. May be that I have described it incorrectly. My skimmer on my main pond is on the inside edge of that pond, the pump is inside the skimmer "box", and the tube that leaves the box is pushing water. On my big pond, that tube runs on the inside pond wall to the bog, and the water is pumped into my bog through tubing under the pea gravel.
On my goldfish pond, the skimmer will also be on the edge, but instead of feeding the bog, the pipe/tube will run under the rocks along the edge of the stream to the stream head. I won't actually have water running from koi pond to the goldfish pond, but want it to LOOK like it is! So, at the connection of the stream to the koi pond, the tube from the goldfish pond skimmer will pour water over a rock ledge into the stream, flow down the stream and into the goldfish pond. There will be a rock covering the outlet of the water, so no one will know that the water is NOT coming from the koi pond. My whole purpose of building a second pond is so that the koi and goldfish do not interbreed, and we all know that fry can easily flow downstream, so that won't be a possibility, unless we get a torrential downpour, and they go through the little overflow opening that I made.
Hope that helps explain it, JW.
BTW, my bog will be fed by a submersible pump and will overflow at the far end from the skimmer, thus creating some flow to the skimmer.

 

[CountryEscape]

I didn't get an early start today, because I took the "lost" pup to the vet to make sure he didn't have a microchip ... he doesn't. Then had to seed my pasture, hoping for rain tomorrow evening to stick it to the soil well. Got started digging after 10:30. Got my tools together for the dig.

Removed the edge sod and used some to build up the stream area, as it will have to be a little bit higher so there is some drop to it. I think if I measured the level correctly, there is about 4-5" drop from the koi pond to the new pond. That's plenty to run the water the correct direction.

While I was digging, I came across this fairly large rock. Can't wait to get it washed off and see if it's pretty or not.

I had the first bucket of the tractor LOADED with sod, and I mean loaded. The way I cut the sod, it comes up in strips, and it's easy to stack it to the edge of the bucket. Then I went and dumped it before I got a picture of it. I was so proud of how much I had on that bucket! LOL Here is a picture of the rest of the sod, so total was about 1.5 buckets. And, just as a reference, I have the deep type of wheelbarrow, and I can put about 6 full loads in this bucket.

Here's a full bucket of dirt. Can't stack it to the edge as well as the sod, because it was falling apart. Actually the ground is fairly dry, and was easy digging, except for the darned roots! That old stump still has lots of roots, plus the tree "pole" is on the other side, and it has lots of roots, too. Oh well.

I stopped at about 5, so put in maybe 5 hours of digging, taking into consideration stopping to get a drink, lunch, etc. Pretty good for a 53 yo woman, huh?! This is what it looks like at the end of the day. The far end half is dug out deeper than the close end, but the shovel shows about how deep.

Then Tarzan had to show off his prowling skills on the bog wall. He fell into the pond a day or so ago, and I saw the wet edge stones and worried that a heron had stopped by! LOL, it was just Tarzan, trying to "bop" the fish on the head, no doubt. He got banned from the basement pool room because of taking up that hobby.

Oh and one last picture of my "kids". You can see all my string algae, filter and waterfall will be up and running first thing tomorrow a.m.

 

[CountryEscape]

I also had some feathered friends today while I was digging. This robin was pretty smart, searching for worms in the sod. It sure found all it could possibly have eaten in that pile!
And I have no idea what kind of bird this was, but is flitted around all afternoon.

I put some bird seed on the ground, and it was like a wren, it would come really close to me, maybe within 8'. Very cute bird, but not sure if it's some type of sparrow or a type of wren. Wrens typically will get very close to humans and are not so afraid, so hoping someone tells me it's a type of wren. I have so very few type of birds around my place, since I'm surrounded by fields, and very few trees, only the ones on my property, within a mile.

 

[addy1]

That looks great, you are doing wonderfully. Cute little bird.

 

[j.w]

Yahoo Mountain Dew CE you are doing a great days work for your first dig day! Don't you like how it actually looks like a pond once you get that grass off and a few inches dug out? Gives you such incentive to get out there to get going again. You gonna dig more tomorrow? Your kids look pretty in the pond and bet they head first thing to play in the falls when it starts up! Tarzan is a character looking down on his head bopping buddies. Reminds me of that kids song "Little Bunny Foo Foo".

Warning this video is violent and bloody!
But hey its only a cartoon and not real so I think you can take it!

 

[CountryEscape]

Cute, JW. Yep, that's exactly why I said he was "bopping them on the head", like that Bunny Foo Foo song. LOL
I forgot to mention I found a treasure in my digging. It's a coin, and at first I thought it was a penny, as it's penny color, but it has an Indian head on one side and full size buffalo on the other, so that would be a buffalo nickel, right? It's pretty old I think and worn, and without a magnifying glass, no way I can read if there is any indication of a year. But, it's still a very cool find!
And, when I work hard, I never take any pain reliever while I'm working. I feel if I do, I may overdo it, and that would be worse. This way, I stop when I get tired, and then take the pain reliever. I took a nice long hot shower, too, and feeling pretty good right now. Yep, I'm going to hit it hard again tomorrow, as the rain got pushed back to tomorrow evening. I was supposed to go to a winery with my girlfriends, but think I'd better stick to the digging instead. Now, if I get at it early, and get tired early, I just may do both! LOL We shall see.
Going to for sure get the filter set up tomorrow. I put it together this morning, as the glue dries in 15 minutes, but my pond liner rubber gaskets did not seal well enough, so had to use the silicone around the outlet to the drain. Oh well. Wanted it to dry extra well, so will give it the full 24 hours to dry as suggested. Should be ready to go by 8 a.m.