Filter is an eye sore, any idea on how to conceal?

[dinm]

Any idea on how to conceal this thing? I guess it would be to use one of those spillways and create a sort of wall.
I couldn't find a proper length hose so the pump is floating for now, should be getting a longer one delivered tomorrow.

 

[YShahar]

Any idea on how to conceal this thing? I guess it would be to use one of those spillways and create a sort of wall.
I couldn't find a proper length hose so the pump is floating for now, should be getting a longer one delivered tomorrow.

What about getting an extra piece of liner and building a little stream? Then you could bury the filter most of the way in soil and have it pour out into the head of the stream. That would not only hide the filter, but would also give you an extra source of oxygen for the pond. Plant up the soil round about, and no one will ever know the filter is there at all!

 

[dinm]

What about getting an extra piece of liner and building a little stream? Then you could bury the filter most of the way in soil and have it pour out into the head of the stream. That would not only hide the filter, but would also give you an extra source of oxygen for the pond. Plant up the soil round about, and no one will ever know the filter is there at all!

I do have leftover liner I think, will look into that, shouldn't be too hard to pull off. I did bury it before, but it was in a place hard to access so I moved it in this corner which made more sense. But even buried it couldn't be hidden. Though with a stream I suppose it'll be easier to deal with.

I think that'd be the best solution, though I'll have to look into how wide, I think probably as wide as the filter box is and then some more. Need more boulders to hide the concrete wall though, very annoying.

 

[Tula]

You could build a small wooden structure, like a little house or mill, with a hole for the water discharge. I did that once and painted it a dark green.

 

[j.w]

You could build a small wooden structure, like a little house or mill, with a hole for the water discharge. I did that once and painted it a dark green.

I like your idea @Tula maybe something like this I found online. You could then put plants around it too @dinm :

 

[dinm]

Built the stream, went digging, realized was too deep and pond would flow in, then it seems to be a bit shallow now but not a big deal. Not much aeration from it though, it's not entirely downhill so it seems water pools and most of it does not end up going to the pond, probably the cause of so little aeration. Not a big deal, easy to add some dirt under the liner so it entirely pulls it down but this expansion took some time. I thought it'd take a few hrs, but it took probably 4-5 hrs to get it right. Though aeration was never my focus here anyways, I use aerators in the pond regardless so it doesn't matter much.

The filter is still the elephant in the room unfortunately, with how I built it where it's sort of a mound near the filter, raised, and then it goes down, can't really hide it. So maybe I end up just making the area near the filter level with the rest of the stream and be done with it.

 

[WaterGardener]

Simple solution but maybe not the prettiest is to put a piece of camouflage netting over it. We use that to hide a shower filter and it's very effective.

 

[dinm]

Simple solution but maybe not the prettiest is to put a piece of camouflage netting over it. We use that to hide a shower filter and it's very effective.

Never came to my mind, probably could find it easily here as opposed to a fake rock. Will look into it.

 

[mrsclem]

A couple of large potted plants in front!

 

[dinm]

Had woken up today to a pretty much drained pond, fortunately the pump stopped pumping water (somehow survived the night without water), and the fish did not die. There was a leak in the seams so water was going out, basic thing to figure out but was very tired yesterday.

I still think there may be some sort of leak somewhere, where the pond liner and stream liner come in contact is probably, but maybe some rock pierced the stream liner as well. I think these are PVC liners I am using, and there's gravel just about everywhere and rock... No geotextile (which I should have used before at least putting some of the rocks in). I've been very fortunate. Been about 12 hrs now, water level more or less stayed the same in 39-40cm, some evaporation maybe though lowered it a bit, either way I shouldn't wake up to a drained pond again. Though if there is a leak, must be a very insignificant one.

Leveled the stream so water on sides does not pool and goes into pond instead of staying there, would have liked to have a bit of splashing action but maybe in the future, I imagine in the future if I get a better pump it'd be a much stronger stream, current its 2500l an hour, but I think it also has to do with it not being a really big drop so there's some sound but not much. Aeration pump annoys the hell out of me, though by now my brain's been filtering it out.

Not sure whether this thing is rated for rain, while under a tree some rain will definitely get to it when it rains. It has a UV light unit, so maybe I put something on it that will make water flow down, or as recommended above an enclosure.

 

[dinm]

Woke up again today to a half filled pond. PVC liner was pierced by gravel it seems, I did walk on it so I guess it's fair. I've replaced it with another one now, haven't put gravel yet though. I'm thinking maybe some sort of underlayment before putting gravel in, cause this thing is not gonna last long without it.

EPDM liners I can't find anywhere here, though if it is the same stuff as roofing maybe I could. Very annoying. I suppose EPDM is more expensive, but for a stream my size it'd not cost that much and I'd buy.. if I could find it.

But it seems here my solution will be to use some landscaping fabric, anything that will make it so gravel is not directly in contact with the PVC liner.

 

[YShahar]

Woke up again today to a half filled pond. PVC liner was pierced by gravel it seems, I did walk on it so I guess it's fair. I've replaced it with another one now, haven't put gravel yet though. I'm thinking maybe some sort of underlayment before putting gravel in, cause this thing is not gonna last long without it.

EPDM liners I can't find anywhere here, though if it is the same stuff as roofing maybe I could. Very annoying. I suppose EPDM is more expensive, but for a stream my size it'd not cost that much and I'd buy.. if I could find it.

But it seems here my solution will be to use some landscaping fabric, anything that will make it so gravel is not directly in contact with the PVC liner.

I used 60 mil roofing liner for mine (you can read the whole story on my pond build thread Here). It's the same material as the fish-safe liner, but typically comes with a layer of talcum powder on it that needs to be rinsed off before using it. Here in Israel, fish-safe EPDM is exorbitant. For the size pond I wanted, it was out of the question. So I googled local roofers, and called around to see if any of them would sell the material directly. You may even be able to get it straight from the factory.

Definitely add a layer of thick geotextile material both under and over your liner to protect against rocks. After seeing the prices pond suppliers were asking for the stuff, I finally bought a roll of it from a warehouse selling insulation material.

When you overlap your stream liner with the pond liner, be sure there's at least a 15 cm drop into the pond where the two liners overlap. Too shallow a drop risks water crawling up between the liners via capillary action.

 

[j.w]

Me too used roofing 60 mil liner on my first pond and irrigation 45 mil on my second one. Both worked fine and like @YShahar said I just laid it out on my driveway and washed it off w/a hose first.

 

[dinm]

Me too used roofing 60 mil liner on my first pond and irrigation 45 mil on my second one. Both worked fine and like @YShahar said I just laid it out on my driveway and washed it off w/a hose first.

hoping the actual pond didn't puncture somewhere, didn't notice any sort of dropping of water level during the day after replacing the stream liner. but when i wake up ill know. although it could be this capillary action as well, the pond liner is actually under the stream liner where the stream drops in, the water does not reach there though, but hopefully if there's a leak its something like that. cant imagine removing all this gravel and rock in the middle of a heat wave.

 

[Phaewryn]

I have a little ceramic table that I hide my electrical supply under that would work perfect for hiding that pump set up too. I was going to buy one of those fiberglass fake rocks, but then this appeared, so I went this direction. The cats like the viewing platform. If you can scavenge more rocks,just build up around it. Below is my little table that would work perfect to just drop over your current rig, and my waterfall weir that I built up around to hide. Both are fine options.