Darksaber Pond - My Next Adventure

[milonedp]

Build Day 5

Build Day 8 - The Liner!!
- technically day 6 of work, but I'm keeping track of each day including the weekends as the girls play in the yard and I don't want the numbering messed up

 

[Lisak1]

You always want to contain waterlilies in a pot - your wife is right about them! But lots of other plants can be naturalized in your pond. No pots needed.

 

[addy1]

my wife doesn't like the lilies cause they grow all over, so I wasn't going to use them but if I understand what you are saying a pot would help control them from spreading?

I have around 15 in my big pond, they are in walmart oil pans and kitty litter, bloom beautifully grow great, about every 2ish 3ish years I need to yank excess growth. Totally under control. I just pull them out of the pond and cut tubers, like in the fall pull them out and cut off any growth when winter hits. Love the lilies my back yard smells so good when they are blooming.

 

[LuckyKoi]

Build Day 1 - After 7 months of planning and years of wanting a pond, we begin...

- We begin! They were running a little late and the timelapse is set to start at 8:00 am so there isn't much there for the first 30 seconds or so but then we start!

Looks like a great project! What product are they using for those building blocks that make up the walls in the lower part of the pond. I've never seen those before!

 

[milonedp]

They look like the Stacked Slate Spillways from Aquascape but I'm not sure if they are named something different when used in this way.

 

[milonedp]

Another question I'm asking Aquascape but wanted your thoughts as well. Can the centipede and snorkel run up one side of the wetland or does it always need to be in the middle? It's void space that just allows water to slow down and then rise evenly so I wouldn't think it mattered but in all the videos I've seen it was in the middle. They are doing it at the edge so I wanted to get others' thoughts.

 

[Lisak1]

Ours are both on the edge - one down flow "bog", one upflow bog.

 

[Lisak1]

Stacked Slate Spillways

Stacked Slate Walls is what they call them - no matter how you use them. I really do like them used inside the pond like this - although I have to wonder how much that costs vs rock?

 

[milonedp]

Ours are both on the edge - one down flow "bog", one upflow bog.

Thanks, are those both on the same pond?

 

[Lisak1]

Thanks, are those both on the same pond?

They are - we have a negative edge that flows into the rain exchange. That's the "down flow". We have a centipede and snorkel in that space and that's also where the pump lives, in the vault. The second set is in the actual bog.

 

[milonedp]

Oh, so when you say downflow, is that the same as an intake bay?

Was there a reason you ran them on the edge and not the middle?

 

[Lisak1]

It's SORT OF like an intake bay, but not exactly. The main difference being water level. The water in the rain exchange is sometimes like a pondless waterfall - disappearing completely into the gravel - and other times is more like an intake bay when the water level is higher, like after a heavy rain. We have an overflow in the rain exchange though, so the water level never stays that high for very long. We built our pond before the intake bay came on the scene - I would have totally done that instead.

We put them where we did to be able to conceal the lids to the vaults, mainly. Plus both holes were rectangular, so the centipede fit better the long way than the short way. It just made sense in the overall plan. I don't think it really matters from a construction point of view.

 

[milonedp]

Really, why would you have done it differently? I actually wanted to do what you described so that there was enough void space that the intake bay became dry all the time so debris removal was easy, I opted not to manage the cost.

 

[GBBUDD]

I wasn't thinking about using pots though, my wife doesn't like the lilies cause they grow all over, so I wasn't going to use them but if I understand what you are saying a pot would help control them from spreading?

I really appreciate all the input!

Most here keep the lillies in a pot yes that way its much easier to control them for just that reason

 

[Lisak1]

Really, why would you have done it differently?

Floating debris is easier to remove than debris stuck in the gravel. I mean, either way it's an upgrade from a skimmer, don't get me wrong. It's just that when it's full to overflowing it really makes it easier to scoop everything out.