building a new pond in Virginia

[pond maven]

Happily we moved to Virginia last summer. Sad to say, since we rented our house in MD, my beautiful 5000 gal pond was history. We removed all the hardscape and all the equipment/plumbing and dragged it to Virginia. Truck loads of dirt filled the hole But onward/upward. Our new home in VA has a much smaller back yard with a nice but significant slope down away from the house. There is a nice area to put in our (my!) new pond but I will have to use a preformed liner in order to not have a fight with the home owner's assoc and not have to have an prefessionally installed retaining wall. I am really struggling with not haveing a larger one but...

So, of course I have a few questions of the sages here about filteration. Our 5000 gal in MD used a bottom drain to a 55 gal sand and gravel with 3500 gph returning to 2 tpr's, along with skimmer to 4500gph to a uv returning to the 100 gal stocktank waterfall. This system here in VA will be MUCH smaller with no larger than a 300gal pond. I will have to have all my fun with the waterfall, accompaning stream, flora and fauna. We have never been koi keepers but just goldies and shubunkin. My questions begin with whether I can or should bother with a s/g system and if so how big or small. We will put a bottom drain in the pond liner if for no other reason than experience has shown that it is a good choice. We will still use the UV and will have a smaller waterfall filter. We will not have room for the stock tank and will have to get something new. We can get the weir from the old stock tank and use it if there is another option, maybe a smaller stock tank? I know our 4500 gph pump can push the water from the BD of the pond to the top of the waterfall. Comments or suggestions are appreciated. The pic show the site of the new project. The watefall will be on the right in the corner of the fence and the pond will sit at the far left of the picture. I want to keep the pump and S/G (if used) at the lower level of the project. Can the pump be hidden in a box and if so does it have to be ventilated?

 

[sissy]

welcome to VA and wish you were closer I would help .You sure are slopped .What ever you take out of the hole use to build the low side up .

 

[sissy]

tractor supply has smaller rubber tanks and I used a plantainer which i bought at lowes and took it out today .Are you anywhere near concrete world they have great pots to use as filters .Pic of my plantainer filter and the other filter is a tote
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[gardengimp]

I'm curious, why on earth would a homeowner's association care whether a pond in the back yard was made from a preform or a liner?

 

[sissy]

could be because most preforms are not as deep and a liner pond you can make deeper .Most preforms are shallow unless you order from the company and they can be any size or depth

 

[pond maven]

you got it sissy, anything more than 18 inches generally requires a 6' fence - like for a pool. The HOA guidelines don't mention water features or ponds and we figure asking forgiveness is better than asking permission. I did a little research here and on the internet before we built the 5000 gal in MD and found the county regs and insurance co. like to treat deep (18" +) water features as drowning hazards like pools, hence the fence requirement.

 

[sissy]

with HOA's the you never knows can bite you .I have a friend that was in one and she could not stand all there rules and sold .I think they were picking on her because it was all stupid stuff .Better to be safe than sorry and then end up with more work .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Welcome! Would like to offer help but my pond system is very different and I use much different pumps and filters. I think other people that use a system like yours will comment and lend you a hand.

We have a law here in my town that says if your pond is deeper that 3 feet, you need a six foot fence. Don't think it is enforced though.... and nobody in my neighborhood cares how you built your pond, but there is lots of new housing areas that have restrictions on what you can or cannot do, thank goodness I don't have that problem... yet! So much for freedom in your back yard!

 

[sissy]

Here they have no laws to rural and to many farm ponds out this way .I'm glad for that also .Would not want it out back where i would not enjoy it as much

 

[addy1]

We have farm ponds everywhere, and from what I read, if the water feature is 100 feet from your boundary line, there is no fencing rule.

I hate hoa's, got way to many in florida, luckily this house is ours and only ours (well and the bank)

 

[pond maven]

yea, it is a love/hate relationship with HOA's. I love the way the neighborhood stays nice and neat. No swastickas in the windows, but the restrictions are, well, restrictive. We will see how it goes. Addy, how are your day lilies? Did they survive their move? Since we still own the house in MD I go back and dig up hostas and lilies perodically.

 

[addy1]

They did great and are doing great. Rock hard dried mud with hosta roots and the suckers grew. I had to find shade for them, those big ones did not like our sun.

 

[callingcolleen1]

That's just terrible, who would have such evil swashtickas in the windows? Good thing is at least you are in a better neighborhood now!

 

[pond maven]

I have never lived in that type of neighborhood, but I have driven through a few

 

[pond maven]

OK, have really gotten quite alot done and need to get an update posted.

This is the layout. We moved the fence to give more room for the stream.

I cut our old 100 gal stock tank in half and used it for the bog. It sits in one of the preformeds and is plumbed with all the old pipe left over from the old pond. I cut slots on the underside for input and plumbed through the side of the preformed into the 1/2 stock tank.

Filled with pea gravel and added a few plants from other places in the yard.
More pix later today. Am getting fill dirt to build valleys and hills for direct the stream today. At least the dirt is being delivered up hill and I only have to cart it down hill.