Home stretch on my DIY pond

addy1

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warren_tax said:
I see pictures of ponds with gravel and pebbles here, how do they keep them from turning septic? What should I use instead?

Some like rocks, some don't, those that don't have a problem with them have great water turn over, i.e. flow. Diggin has rocks in his pond, they are flat ones, less area to collect stuff.
 

addy1

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warren_tax said:
I see pictures of ponds with gravel and pebbles here, how do they keep them from turning septic? What should I use instead?

Some like rocks, some don't, those that don't have a problem with them have great water turn over, i.e. flow. Diggin has rocks in his pond, they are flat ones, less area to collect stuff.
 

DrDave

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You need a lot of flow over the rocks to keep it from accumulating the stuff that goes septic. Almost everyone leaves the bottom with nothing on it. By the time the liner ages and some natural algae forms, you won't see the plastic anymore.
 

DrDave

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You need a lot of flow over the rocks to keep it from accumulating the stuff that goes septic. Almost everyone leaves the bottom with nothing on it. By the time the liner ages and some natural algae forms, you won't see the plastic anymore.
 
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The pepples and smaller rocks gave me alot of trouble with dark brown water. Once, I removed them, my pond looked so much better. I am glad my kids took out those rocks.
 
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The pepples and smaller rocks gave me alot of trouble with dark brown water. Once, I removed them, my pond looked so much better. I am glad my kids took out those rocks.
 
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Hmmmm....guess I will be pulling out pebbles! I went and saw the most amazing pond last night. One 20,000 gallon pond with a 100 ft stream and an 8,000 gallon pond with a 20 ft stream and bog. Beautiful! The guy had koi that were over 8lb, and were probably 2 1/2 ft long! I think he is going to sell me some of his smaller ones, and they are beautiful too. Such an inspiration! Thanks again for the feedback.

Fish question, maybe I should post elsewhere.....I have 24 feeder fish (regular goldies) and want to expand, for a newbie to big ponding, should I stick with these, branch out to bigger koi? Shubunkins? What are the pros and cons? I have worked so hard, I don't want to mess it up!
 
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Hmmmm....guess I will be pulling out pebbles! I went and saw the most amazing pond last night. One 20,000 gallon pond with a 100 ft stream and an 8,000 gallon pond with a 20 ft stream and bog. Beautiful! The guy had koi that were over 8lb, and were probably 2 1/2 ft long! I think he is going to sell me some of his smaller ones, and they are beautiful too. Such an inspiration! Thanks again for the feedback.

Fish question, maybe I should post elsewhere.....I have 24 feeder fish (regular goldies) and want to expand, for a newbie to big ponding, should I stick with these, branch out to bigger koi? Shubunkins? What are the pros and cons? I have worked so hard, I don't want to mess it up!
 
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Beautiful does not describe your pond. Amazing rock work. Rock makes the pond look so natural. You have done an outstanding job. Hope mine can look half as good as yours does. Keep up the good work. How do you have the water coming out from the skippy tank to your stone weir. I closer pic would be helpful to me as I am trying to figure this out too. Awesome pond keep it up!!
 
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Beautiful does not describe your pond. Amazing rock work. Rock makes the pond look so natural. You have done an outstanding job. Hope mine can look half as good as yours does. Keep up the good work. How do you have the water coming out from the skippy tank to your stone weir. I closer pic would be helpful to me as I am trying to figure this out too. Awesome pond keep it up!!
 
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Thanks!! For the rock weir, what I did was assemble the waterwall, and mortar it in with the skippy behind it until I had my stones stacked "about" the right height. Then I roughed in where my rock weir would enter the skippy and traced around it. DH cut it out for me (I am too accident prone to use power tools!! LOL) then I layed my bottom stone so that the back end was about two inches inside the skippy, but stuck out over the rock wall enough that I would get a solid stream of water. Then I placed the two upright stones in the slot the same way. Two packages of marine epoxy went underneath the rock on the inside and outside of the skippy, and around all of the edges. Then I filled in the gaps between the side and bottom stones with clear silicone. When all of that dried, I used roofing sealant over the marine epoxy all the way around where the skippy meets stone. Then I mortared in the grout lines over the clear silicone. It might have been overkill, but I didn't want ANY leaks!! On the underside of the rock weir, between the skippy and the fall, I epoxy'd my liner right under my weir joint, so that if it did ever leak, it would roll down my liner, and out a hole in the bottom of the rock wall into the pool. I also had to do it this way because the stone I used is VERY porous and the water leaches through to the backside of the water wall. I still have to attach the liner to the back of the waterwall, but I will take more pics and post later.
 

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Thanks!! For the rock weir, what I did was assemble the waterwall, and mortar it in with the skippy behind it until I had my stones stacked "about" the right height. Then I roughed in where my rock weir would enter the skippy and traced around it. DH cut it out for me (I am too accident prone to use power tools!! LOL) then I layed my bottom stone so that the back end was about two inches inside the skippy, but stuck out over the rock wall enough that I would get a solid stream of water. Then I placed the two upright stones in the slot the same way. Two packages of marine epoxy went underneath the rock on the inside and outside of the skippy, and around all of the edges. Then I filled in the gaps between the side and bottom stones with clear silicone. When all of that dried, I used roofing sealant over the marine epoxy all the way around where the skippy meets stone. Then I mortared in the grout lines over the clear silicone. It might have been overkill, but I didn't want ANY leaks!! On the underside of the rock weir, between the skippy and the fall, I epoxy'd my liner right under my weir joint, so that if it did ever leak, it would roll down my liner, and out a hole in the bottom of the rock wall into the pool. I also had to do it this way because the stone I used is VERY porous and the water leaches through to the backside of the water wall. I still have to attach the liner to the back of the waterwall, but I will take more pics and post later.
 
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Your pond is beautiful !!!!! I have egg rock in the bottom of my pond. I like the look of rocks. I've never had a problem with them. They have been in there for years. But, I do get in my pond and kinda scootch them around. Plus when I top off, I put the hose clear to the bottom to help keep them clean. I love your waterfall, great job ..
 

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