4Hummer Pond Rebuild

Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
Hello Garden Pond People. Long time Lurker. First time Poster.

Figured I'd start a Thread about my Pond Rebuild.

For the past few Years I've had a small performed Pond beside the deck, with a little Waterfall, and a DIY Down flow filter made from a small green bin (The bin is for Compost.. the city gives them out for free but I compost my own waste), Now I've always planned to build a bigger pond "One Day" but karma decided I needed to do it this year.

This spring I had what I've called "The Day Everything Went Wrong"

Let me tell you the story if you will.

Nice warm spring Day, Ice has finally melted off the Pool, and I decided it is time to get things running. I start by throwing my Pond Pump into the Pool, to pump all water off the winter cover (I do this every year. The Pump is a MaxFlo 5000 waterfall pump that can handle debris) meanwhile I'm netting the large crap out of the pool and pond, and bringing the pond plants back to the surface, this is when I notice there is no water being pumped out of the pool anymore, hymmm must be clogged right?, I check on the pump to discover the Impeller has snapped the shaft in half. FACK.

I decide to try and pull the winter cover off the pool, and the bloody thing rips in half, dumping all the Gross yuck water into the pool. GRRRR.

Fine.... Pool is going to take a lot of vacuuming and shock to get clean again, But maybe I can Patch the Cover, I Wash it all off, and go to hang the winter cover on the laundry line, Only to have the clothes line break on me.

So now I have No Pond Pump, a Ripped winter cover. a pool full of gross disgusting water, and a Busted clothes line.
Time to sit down on the deck in my Nice comfy patio Chair (Gravity Chair) and have a beer. ONLY TO HAVE THE PATIO CHAIR RIP Completly when I sit down on it..... Needless to say I went to bed at this point

Now I'm a pretty Furgal, and Pond pumps are stupid expensive, so I hit the internet (Kijiji... Kinda like craigslist) and find someone selling their pond equipment, A pump, 2 liners (one 19ftx22ft the other 13ftx10ft) Plus a ton of plumbing, and chemicals all for less then the cost of the pump. ($175 cash to be exact) Perfect, I can use this pump, and at a later date I can build a Larger pond with the liner right?

So a little background information.

The Maxflow 5000 Waterfall Pumps about 1500 Gallons an hour
This new Pump pumps over 6000 Gallons an hour.

Once I hooked up the new Pond Pump, I realized I had a serious problem.
The Output from the Filter was no longer gently falling into the Performed Waterfall spillway, No it was shooting straight out and completely over the entire pond altogether.

Guess I'm building that new Pond NOW!

Here is a picture on the Cute little pond I had.

Original Pond.jpg
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
The liner I'm going to use is a Rubber liner, and my Backyard has a slight Slope, So I need a way to level the pond from side to side, and prevent the sides from caving in,

Time for a Concrete Form.

Staking out the form, Pond is right beside the Deck, before the Pool Deck, so a Very irregular shape as I still need to walk around it to access the Pool Pump.
Form1.JPG

Form2.JPG


Adding the Rebar for Strength
Form3.JPG
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
I have the Girlfriend (She's in medical school and much smarter than me at Math) Figure out Just how much concrete I will need to to fill in the form.

Answer comes back as 35 bags.... Okay No Problem

WAIT A SECOND, 35 BAGS? THIRTY FIVE BAGS???? ummmm Math isn't my strong point but: 66 pounds a bag x 35 Bags = TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND TEN POUNDS? of Concrete.

UGH!

The Next Morning (A Saturday) I went to HomeDepot, I asked the tool rental place if they had a cement mixer, Was told "YES" and asked them to hold it for me while I pickup all the concrete and move it to my backyard.

Well it took 3 trips with my Trailer, Understand I have a 3 series BMW, and didn't want to overload the BMW or the small trailer. (Better safe then sorry right) Plus I only live a few minutes away from Home Depot.
also note this particular Saturday it was 33 Degrees Celsius Out side (that's almost 92 F) And it was just ME loading the concrete bags from the Store to the trailer, from the trailer to the Backyard. Needless to say it took a couple hours to move 2310 pounds of cement. When I finally got done the buggers at HomeDepot RENTED OUT THE MIXER on me (Oh we didn't think you were coming back) Jerks.

So this is what Two Thousand Three Hundred and Ten pounds of hand mixed cement looks like once I removed the forms. Time to start Digging

Form4 Poured.JPG
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
So I forgot to take pictures of the Dig, installing the Carpet, and liner. But that is pretty straight forward I'd think


Now a little Trick I used to Secure everything. I drilled holes into the top cement collar using a hammer drill and a concrete drill bit (Threw the liner and carpet) Secured everything with Tapcon Screws, large Fender washers, and plastic gutter guard on top (For keeping leaves out of your eavestrough) I figure the Gutter Guard would give something for the mortar to stick to, (Instead of just the liner) and wouldn't rust like steal mesh backing

This stuff Here:
gutter-guard-mesh2.jpg


Here I've started to Mortar in the Cap Stones


TopStones1.JPG


All Done
To the Right you will see the old filter running. This is just temporary until I build the waterfall, and new filter (55gallon Drum)

TopStones2 (2).JPG
 

Mmathis

TurtleMommy
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
13,893
Reaction score
8,086
Location
NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
Hardiness Zone
8b
Country
United States
You have done a really nice job! I like that you "installed" a concrete collar -- those take a little more work initially, but in the long run I think they will help keep things more stable. We have shifting clay soil and ended up having to do a re-hab 2 years after we dug the thing. As a result, I built my collar around an already dug pond, which was pain, but glad I did.
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
Next step was to build the waterfall spillway. I wanted the waterfall pretty High up (raised barrel) But I have no room between the Pool and the fence for a typical dirt mound.

I decided I would build a frame from wood,One side will be covered with fence board, the inside rocks. Two tiered, And be able to hide the Barrel and equipment

Here is the start of the Frame work
Waterfall1.JPG

Waterfall1.JPG
 

Attachments

  • Waterfall2.JPG
    Waterfall2.JPG
    227.4 KB · Views: 244
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
Thanks Mmathis and cas

Yes the collar is a must here in Ontario Canada as well, I noticed when I dug out the Preformed Liner that it was caving in on the sides too! This pond is Much MUCH larger so the collar was a must
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
The Waterfall frame is built, Carpeted and Liner installed, I'm currently at the point of painstakingly placing the rocks, It's so hard to get them placed Just right,

The 4x4 posts still need to be Cut down, and the sides Fenced in. But we are getting there

Waterfall3.JPG

This side will be covered in Fence board to match the Pool deck!
Waterfall4.JPG


A back view of where the filter will go
Waterfall5.JPG


I need to spend some time cleaning up, What a mess!
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,337
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Love the tale you tale! Next time one little thing goes wrong for me I will remember all the things that went wrong for you.

And it is looking good!
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
This weekend I got the Filter all Plumbed.

I will be using two submersible Pumps, One for the in Pond Skimmer, The Second for the Retro Bottom Drain I'm going to build.

Believe me, I'm well aware of how External Pumps are better, and How I should have Gravity fed the Bottom drain threw the liner to a settling tank in a filter pit, and bla bla bla.

My Reason for this setup instead is:

First: I want NO holes in the liner, It gets STUPID Cold in the winter here in Ontario Canada, So cold in fact that the Bottom Drain for my pool froze and cracked one year, (I'm not going threw that hassle with the pond)
Second, I don't have room for a Filter pit,
Third. I want to be able to remove and store everything in the garage in the winter.



This picture you see the 2" Pipe exit for the waterfall (Threw a 2" UniSeal)

The Two 1 1/2 " Standpipes.Threw UniSeals. Neat Trick I learned, The Grey Pipe sticking up acts like a venturi injecting air into the water as it gets pumped into the bottom of the filter. Lots of oxygen for the Bacteria, and no air pump required.

2" shower drain on the bottom to drain the Filter. and a stand to hold the grating


Filter1.JPG


With The Grate
Filter2.JPG
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
6
Country
Canada
This is how I'm going to build the waterfall weir. (still need to cut a slit in the Pipe)

The "Weir" comes directly out of the barrel, I'm going to cover the pipe in rocks to have it blend in. But here is a general look
waterfall weir1.JPG
s

Still have to fill in all the small Cracks with Pond foam and Rocks.

waterfall weir2.JPG


By far the hardest part of this build so far has been stacking rocks in the waterfall and making it look natural. I also learned in order to have the Water "Fall" properly each section needs a basin before the ledge, I had to stack and mortar in Rocks for both sections.

Still need to cut the 4x4 posts, and add fence board to the sides. But we are getting there. waiting for the mortar to dry today, then it will be pond foam and small gravel to fill in the gaps

Waterfall6.JPG
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,780
Messages
508,555
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top