it begins!

[ididntdoit99]

Okay pond rebuild is starting this weekend. couple pics so far, and i'll be taking many more today.

last night i got the old liner ripped out, and everything measured out

the first picture, from a ways back, you can see a spray paint can, that is how far the new pond will be dug out to, i have a long ways to go..

 

[baeya]

Looks like you have a lot of digging to do! By hand, or do you have a machine? Can't wait to see all the progress!

 

[sissy]

well at least the soil doesn't look to hard

 

[j.w]

That's gonna be nice and big when you get done killing yourself!

 

[sissy]

Your going to keep the dock where it is .

 

[ididntdoit99]

By HAND!!!! My body hurts so bad today, but between me and my buddy, we have it all dug. And no its not hard soil, just heavy. its pretty much wet sand. Now the liner is spread out in the yard trying to heat it up and make it a little more plyable.

dock is staying there for now, I just want to get the liner in, filled up, and the fence around it today. I can make small changes after that.

Ive got alot more pictures, i'll upload them later.

 

[sissy]

Well at least the digging is done and you had a little help with it .How deep did you go .The liner can get heavy and is easier with 2 people also .I know I did mine by myself and it was a real pain to get it in and spread out .I had to actually get under my liner to spread it out and got turned all around in there and had a heck of a time finding my way out from under it .It's like a giant pie crust that you are trying to get in the pie pan even so you have enough liner on all sides .When you start adding water it really starts to settle in the hole .I had clay soil and it settled at least a good 6 inches all the way around the first month .

 

[j.w]

Well 99 it should go easier on ya now. Just a bit more w/ putting the liner in and water and some heave hoeing w/ the rocks and then comes the fun part of adding the fish and landscaping and enjoying it all! Don't forget about the pictures B)

 

[ididntdoit99]

Okay... here are some more pictures, Ididnt get as many as I wanted today. We dug all day yesterday, and then had ourselves plenty of beverages last night. I woke up feeling horrible and attributed it to the digging and beer for a few hours and then later realized I had a temperature of 101 degrees. But I worked my way through it, i had to get it up and running today.

first two are the beginning, the outline being done




next two i am dug down to teh first level





then my buddy showed up and we started the 4 foot deep part.



done digging





liner layed out in the sun trying to make it a little more plyable

 

[ididntdoit99]

OKay, and here she sits now, still have alot of finishing work to do, but I have it filled up, SOME rocks along the edges(I have to go get some more next weekend) I have to finish the edges and bury the liner.

Ignore my crappy fence, its temporary, this was quick and easy to keep animals out until later when i can put up a proper fence.

 

[johnnyi]

That's a lot of digging. Great job. I used to live in SE Iowa for about 16 years and am surprised you could be digging this early. Must've been a mild winter. Any way - looking good.

John

 

[ididntdoit99]

oh yes, very early spring here, we've had 60-70 degree weather since the beginning of the month.

 

[DrCase]

Nice job !!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Thanks! it was a lot of work, and hopefully when i get all the plants and rocks in it will look a little more natural... as natural as a completely rectangular pond can be

I did leave that nice peninsula in the middle for that tub. I don’t know if any of you remember that thing, but I got it from my grandmother last year and I made it into a mini bio filter, its set up just like many of the 55 gallon drum filters you have in the diy section, with water being pumped to the bottom and then it rises up through bio balls, sponges and then lava rock before pouring back into the pond. Only issue was, that thing leaked from every seam, I was having to refill the pond a lot every week, and once I shut it down for the winter I realized that’s where it was all going because the water level didn’t drop at all without that filter on. So as we were digging I had the last minute idea to leave that little peninsula in the middle, and now I can run that little biofilter and it doesn’t matter if it leaks because it’s in the water anyway.

As I said, there is a lot more rock work to do, but I think I may put a couple extra layers of liner right there then some rocks so that’s it above water, then you can actually walk out on it.

 

[j.w]

Nice work 99 and it's gonna look great when you get it all rocked and landscaped. Neat idea w/ the tub sitting in there, not having to fix the leaks! Great if you can fix it so you can walk out there to get to it and not have to swim.