Digging A Pond For My Mom

[Hound Heaven]

I would vote for a bog -- no filters to clean, no chemicals plus you'll get an opportunity to experiment with growing marginal plants that will filter the water for you. You may also want to consider an intake bay to contain the leaves that you might be accumulating in the pond. Again - your mom is going to love it.

 

[Mgessert]

That’s going to be lovely! Others here have mentioned significant water loss from evaporation in their systems. I wonder if that will be an issue with the large stream you’re planning.

 

[Pablo]

the excavation looks great, that is quite big, hand digging that could not have been fun. Most of us would say to use a bog for filtering. But for that size pond you would need a pretty big bog, the general recommendation is about 30% of the surface area of your pond, so you would be looking at close to 300 sq ft of bog. If you are not planning on having fish or not that many then you can get away with a smaller bog. Hard to tell what area you could put the bog in, maybe the area you have the stone pile.

 

[j.w]

Hello everyone, here is a quick update for the pond im digging for my mom. We have continued excavation by hand with shovels and cleaned up the shelves. We used the excess dirt to build the ground up where we want to put the stream. The pond is 36’ x 27’ feet and 4 feet deep. I plugged it into the calculator and figured the pond will hold about 20,000 gallons of water. The stream is 70 feet long and max 14 feet wide. I told my mom I needed a 50’ x 40’ liner for the pond. We also have been searching for good rocks to use to build our retaining walls in the pond and around the waterfall. As of now I need to figure out a good pond filtration system that will work for this dirt creation. If anyone has any suggestions to point me in the right direction please let me know. Thanks!

Wowzer that is going to be gorgeous for your mom! It's huge! I vote for a bog too as that would save you lots of work in the long run. I think Utah should have a lot of nice big free rocks to find right?

 

[GBBUDD]

What a good son ! holly cow, now i have never had the luxury of digging it that type of soil. There's not a rock in sight. That still was a herculean task to dig. OHHHH to be YOUNG.... ANY FILTER is going to cost you but as mentioned already the bog is my choice as well.

your stream looks rather shallow. if i'm not mistaken the stream is where the fish will be able to swim up the stream? If so it is the perfect area for predator's to hunt shallow and no where to hide. It looks like your in a warmer climate a shallow area like that can also be where the water can get heated up in the summer time even with 20000 gallons. Please keep us in the loop this is going to be an amazing build





id also consider lily pockets depressions in the shelves where you can set a pot and not have it quite so visible as its set into the shelf not siting on it.

YOUR MAKIG QUITE THE PARADISE

 

[addy1]

I vote bog also. Mine is 2.5 feet deep full of plants. 27 feet long. 4.5 foot wide. Does a great job filtering. And great place to grow plants.

 

[cjsimmonss]

Here’s an update on the pond im building. I had my friends uncle who builds ponds come over to take a look at our work and we discuss how we can move forward with our project. He recommended getting 2 skimmer boxes and running a pipe along where the fence is up to the waterfall. After speaking with him we went over to house of pumps to get a quote for all the materials we would need. What do you guys think of house of pumps proposal? is there anything on this list I could find somewhere else for cheaper in the salt lake valley? Here is a picture of what they said we would need.

 

[GBBUDD]

A ten foot wide roll for your stream sounds very thin. IT APPEARS YOU HAVE A NICE curve to your stream making ten feet in need of seaming. which is doable but your better off without one if you can. this will increase the size x 2 in width HOWEVER it doesn't have to be waste . you can make pockets out side the channel of the stream that can make the stream look more like an environment over a narrow channel of water alone running across the yard a pocket of tarrow, elephant ears , pitcher plants, or day lilies.

One wish i had done differently is my very shallow stream . it can heat up the water too quick . it can back up too easy due to plant growth or death and leaves in the fall.

while i have not heard of your pump brand it has a low amp usage and that's a good thing.

8 oz underlayment will certainly do the job for your sandy location.

You have done an amazing job doing al that work but i have to critique one that that will really make a huge difference in your final product from looking like a work of art and natural over looking man made and something is just not right. Itt's not easy hiding or placing rocks on your berms along the stream . i know you have to be very tired of the shovel but i recommend flatting out the berms by DIGGING yeah digging the stream down a little . having the stream look like it eroded into the soil is natural having the stream sitting on the soil and rocks piled up, on and over the top and back down over the berm you will never see in nature. it will also make for a far more stable containment and not have to worry about anyone compromising an edge and loosing water.

 

[Pablo]

To compare prices you may want to look at justliners.com for liners, they are having an end of season sale. A few people here have used them, including me, good service. The killer with liners is the shipping cost so you have to factor that in. Also take a look at Webbs online and Underwater Warehouse, they have good selection and end of season sales also for all types of pond products. Not saying the prices you got were bad, just if you want to compare to make sure the prices are good those are the other suppliers people use.
You may want to take your time to research the pumps, of course they are critical and there are a lot out there to choose from. You have a pretty big pond and stream, you may want to look at getting an external pump rather than submersible, or at least compare them.

 

[Bluerooster]

It appears to me that at the stream head, there is a mound of dirt, that would be a good spot for the bog, then a fall from the bog to the stream. If you can come up with an area there of roughly 500 square feet. It doesn't have to be square, it can be round, kidney shaped, or any other shape that would fit. It only needs to be about a foot deep to the top of the gravel, but deeper would be fine.
Planted with lots of native species, along with a few others would look nice, and filter the water just fine without having to do much as far as maintenance goes, like you would have with a mechanical filter system. Even if you have to shorten the stream by a few feet to accommodate the bog, that would be the way to go.
You have a very nice start so keep at it, 'till it's done.

 

[GBBUDD]

Seems this poster has disappeared. Would love to see this one to the finish line. i WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE BOG IDEA pull all the soils from the stream and stack around the bog . dig the stream into the soil. like it eroded into the hill side / terrain. this has all the makings of a magnificent build'

 

[sissy]

just don't make it to hard to maintain . I did my pond back in 2004 and now at 70 years old and to much other things to do it is hard to have time for it . I made it somewhat easy to maintain but living in the country and with todays economy and costs to maintain it are getting harder . Electric rates have sky rocketed .Pumps are hard to get and living in farm country means no leash law and dogs are a major problem here .One of my koi was killed by a dog and my liner was destroyed 3 times by dogs . I just used stock tanks and good old fashoined lava rock filters and it worked back when my dad and I built a pond and works now . So many critters around here . Last week they caught another bear and relocated it to the mountains .

 

[j.w]

just don't make it to hard to maintain . I did my pond back in 2004 and now at 70 years old and to much other things to do it is hard to have time for it . I made it somewhat easy to maintain but living in the country and with todays economy and costs to maintain it are getting harder . Electric rates have sky rocketed .Pumps are hard to get and living in farm country means no leash law and dogs are a major problem here .One of my koi was killed by a dog and my liner was destroyed 3 times by dogs . I just used stock tanks and good old fashoined lava rock filters and it worked back when my dad and I built a pond and works now . So many critters around here . Last week they caught another bear and relocated it to the mountains .

I usually leave my waterfall running all year. It is not hooked up to any filter, just a pump. I turned it off this winter tho trying to save on electric and thinking also it is just stirring up the cold water. Will turn it back on next Spring. Fish were avoiding the waterfall when it was running in winter, now they go to that area a lot more as it is calm.

 

[GBBUDD]

My pond is still running, i have not shut anything down as yet. I will shut down the main pump next week and i will leave the circulating pump running.

 

[addy1]

Mine is shut off, light coverings of ice. I need to get the breathers in.