And so it begins...

[beerfish]

So after two days of digging over two weekends, with the help of my brother one day and a friend that skipped the gym on another, we've finally got most of the pond dug out. It's a uniform 18" right now, and I'm planning on going another 6" or so in the middle and possibly building up some of the shelf back to 12". I think one more day of digging should do it. The final size is about 14'x9'.

In between dig days, I've been busy researching flow and trying to figure out how I want to aquascape it. I'm looking at 5200 gph with around 4000 diverted to an 18" waterfall, and the rest T'd off to provide additional movement as a jet. I'll probably cut out an area in the shelf to hide the pump and plumbing.

My next challenge is going to be running electricity to the pond. I'm probably going to install a GFI outlet on the outside of the garage and run as much as possible underground through grey PVC. Last year we bought the bee hives, this year is the pond, and next year we'll hopefully do chickens, so I want to make sure that there's enough electric for that as well.

While I contemplate the electric, I'll slowly be buying everything. Liner, underlayment, pump, waterfall weir, lights, and rocks... LOTS OF ROCKS. I tend to be at Lowes or Home Depot at least 2x a week, so I'll just grab some each time I'm there so that I don't destroy my suspension.

Anyway, here's the pics, and any advice is more than welcome. This is my first pond, so please make suggestions!

 

[RobAmy]

Looks like your off to a good start

 

[j.w]

When I built my pond I added a little short shelf around the top so I could put rocks on that shelf to hide the liner. Then put other rocks around the edge of the pond above that shelf.
Here's a photo. I like how you can't see the liner as the lower rocks hide it nicely.
Here's a shot from the one side:

Here is the side next to my path:

 

[beerfish]

I had planned on putting rocks around to hide the liner, but I love the idea of a very shallow shelf! How deep did you go? Just a couple inches? I may add that once I get the liner so that I can see how far over I need to go.

 

[j.w]

I just measured it and it's only about 3 or 4" down. Just depends on what size or kind of rocks you are using. Mine are medium sized and rounded rocks. Some use flat ones etc. The little fish like to hide in the rocks and all of them like nibbling in the cracks for whatever is growing or living, bugs and such in there.

 

[addy1]

Looking good! I put my shelf down far enough to allow for the different levels in the pond, ie a little lower evaporation, higher rain etc. around 4 inches or so.

How are your bees doing?

Here is a shot of our hives today. Some interference, a rabbit bit though the video line, need to do better than a twist fix.

 

[Big Lou]

I whole heatedly agree with JW. Long regretted not having shelves. Eighteen inches seems shallow. Even with an area two feet deep during consectutive hot days your pond will easily heat up. Take time to ensure your pond has a natural look while also enabling the liner to be correctly installed. One more note. Be sure your liner is oversized. You get one chance for a proper fit. It's much easier and wiser to have excess liner then one that is borderline or heaven forbid too small. If you plan to have large bolders or such now is the time to preplan.

I speak from making all kinds of mistakes many years ago. Good luck beerfish!

 

[timvz]

I think you've got way more pump than what you need for your size pond. But, I would increase the pond depth to at least 3 feet at the deepest point. You're fish will thank you in the winter. You've got about 1700 gallons right now. If you double that and go to 3 feet deep, then you're pump size will be on the strong size of ok. One rule of thumb I've heard (and used) is to use a pump with gph rating about double the size of your pond. (i.e. 2000 gal pond gets a 4000 gph pump.) With added head from friction and rise, this will generally guarantee that your pond turns over once per hour.

Good start! And, very nice location. There will be plenty of leaves to clean out in the fall, so you probably don't want gravel or any other media on the bottom.

 

[timvz]

You mentioned, "cut off an area of the shelf for pump and pluming". Are you talking about the skimmer box? Generally, your pump sits inside the skimmer if you have one. With all those trees, a large skimmer box will do you good.

 

[beerfish]

Looking good! I put my shelf down far enough to allow for the different levels in the pond, ie a little lower evaporation, higher rain etc. around 4 inches or so.

How are your bees doing?

Here is a shot of our hives today. Some interference, a rabbit bit though the video line, need to do better than a twist fix.

We had a bit of a setback with the bees. The hive was doing well and building out comb nicely, then we noticed a shotgun pattern of brood across our frames during an inspection. We immediately got a new queen and searched for the old one. We didn't see her anywhere, so after 4 days with the new queen in a cage, we released her into the hive. This Saturday we'll see if she's been accepted and laying. Fingers crossed.

 

[beerfish]

I whole heatedly agree with JW. Long regretted not having shelves. Eighteen inches seems shallow. Even with an area two feet deep during consectutive hot days your pond will easily heat up. Take time to ensure your pond has a natural look while also enabling the liner to be correctly installed. One more note. Be sure your liner is oversized. You get one chance for a proper fit. It's much easier and wiser to have excess liner then one that is borderline or heaven forbid too small. If you plan to have large bolders or such now is the time to preplan.

I speak from making all kinds of mistakes many years ago. Good luck beerfish!

I'm buying a 15'x20' liner, so I should be ok there. Unfortunately, in NJ anything deeper than 2' is considered a pool, and must be fenced in. We have a very open yard with no fence, so going deeper isn't an option.

 

[beerfish]

I think you've got way more pump than what you need for your size pond. But, I would increase the pond depth to at least 3 feet at the deepest point. You're fish will thank you in the winter. You've got about 1700 gallons right now. If you double that and go to 3 feet deep, then you're pump size will be on the strong size of ok. One rule of thumb I've heard (and used) is to use a pump with gph rating about double the size of your pond. (i.e. 2000 gal pond gets a 4000 gph pump.) With added head from friction and rise, this will generally guarantee that your pond turns over once per hour.

Good start! And, very nice location. There will be plenty of leaves to clean out in the fall, so you probably don't want gravel or any other media on the bottom.

I forgot to mention the fact that I'm planning on adding an aquaponics system to the pond, so between the head loss on the waterfall and aquaponics system, I should be pretty much dead on for a medium flow throughout.

I keep going back and forth about adding rock on the bottom. I prefer the look, but it is going to be harder to clean. I'll net the pond come fall, but I'm not sure how much extra effort the cleaning will be with a gravel / rock bottom.

 

[beerfish]

You mentioned, "cut off an area of the shelf for pump and pluming". Are you talking about the skimmer box? Generally, your pump sits inside the skimmer if you have one. With all those trees, a large skimmer box will do you good.

I wasn't planning on a skimmer box, so I was thinking I'd notch a shelf so that I could hide the pump under a flat rock. It would also afford me the option to add a skimmer at a later date, as I'd already have the area cut out.

 

[beerfish]

In my experience with reef tanks, more flow will aid in filtration by not allowing detritus to settle as easily. I'm hoping that the same applies to the pond, and with the aquaponics rock bed, most of the smaller pieces will get trapped in the bed. I realize that I'm going to be out there with a net pretty frequently, but I'll be out there as often as possible anyway, so it doesn't bother me too much. Once it's done, there will be many a night playing my dobro pond side!

 

[addy1]

We had a bit of a setback with the bees. The hive was doing well and building out comb nicely, then we noticed a shotgun pattern of brood across our frames during an inspection. We immediately got a new queen and searched for the old one. We didn't see her anywhere, so after 4 days with the new queen in a cage, we released her into the hive. This Saturday we'll see if she's been accepted any laying. Fingers crossed.

We are struggling with the learning curve and the setback with my honey's health, they are building comb like crazy on our new foundation. We do need to check the brood, a friend is going to come over and help. All three are new nucs this year. This area has had a ton of swarming this year, so far ours have not. I am feeding, they go through 2 gallons of sugar water every two days, each hive that is. So far 200 lbs of sugar feeding those hungry little girls.