More planning questions

[addy1]

Jenn, what is the block rated for? i.e. how high do they say you can stack it.

 

[sissy]

I was looking online and there are a lot of companies with that type of block with the fiber glass rods and most say you can go 3 or 4 feet and depends on what you are retaining .I would call the company that made them .Like belgard has several ponds built out of them .I guess they seem to stand behind theres for strength

 

[jenn.]

So I am reading on line that water weighs 62.42lbs per cubic foot and the manual for the stones I used say "Moist weight of three soil types indicated is 120 lb./ft. 3 (19kN/m2" as a design assumption. We will have 4 feet underground and only about 18" above ground so the distribution would be good. I might feel more comfortable over all if we can reinforce it somehow but rebuilding it totally is not appealing!

If we could drill holes and drop in cement and rebar, that would be fantastic! They say you can core drill the blocks to add things like railings to it so hopeful. The website shows like 6 rows of them so I think we are fine with 4 rows.
.

 

[sissy]

Hope it works and to be honest I can't see it failing .It is only 18 inches and there should not be that much pressure and you could alway backfill the bottom outside of it or put in a walk around it with cement .If you can retain a hill that has dirt and water pushing on it ,it should work .I saw one built by a bank here looks like same block and that is over 10 feet tall with dirt behind

 

[addy1]

I think you will be ok,

When you start to fill your pond, have a level on the outside of the block or a straight edge. Something that will show you if there is any movement.

Block used for retaining walls have a lot of pressure behind them, slopes are always trying to move downhill.

 

[jenn.]

Ok, so had a lot of set backs on our pond. Had the flu 2 times (one me and once my daughter), a head cold, rained 3 more times (had to pump the pond out 5 times while digging it), popcorn sized hail and a tornado (mind you Jun 1st in Northern CA) and lots of little things. That said we finished filling it tonight!

Tomorrow we finish treating the water and circulate it and then it is fishy go time!

 

[fishin4cars]

Looks good, but don't go getting fish just yet, Give your pond a day or two to make sure all is working correctly. This is a good time to test your water, see what your starting with and if any adjustments need to be made on PH, GH, KH and phosphates removal, also wouldn't hurt to make sure that ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are reading 0 if not they should be and that could be something that needs to be looked at from your water supply. This will be the best time to do any adjusting once all is running good and it looks like everything is working as it should. That way it will be ready for the fish and you won't be adjusting and possibly shocking the fish by adjusting once they are in the pond. Remember you want everything stable once the fish are in the pond, so you can adjust all this far more easier and faster by doing it before the first fish arrive.
I would also recommed having a bacteria supplement additive to help start the bacteria up in the filter and add before or right when you add your first fish. Be sure and read up on cycling a pond. This is the hardest time for fish is when a pond is new, Don't add any expensive fish right now, a few cheap ones to get things started, This process takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks and water monitoring is needed to know when this takes place. Hope you feeling better and over the flu! I know how bad that can slow anything down!

 

[jenn.]

Already added all of our stuff, and will defiantly be testing. Problem is our stock tank is going to hell in a hand basket at the moment and becoming pea soup! It happened quick so we were pushing to get it all done before they die there.

Also check the wall and it is still level. So far the equipment is running smoothly and very nice!

 

[fishin4cars]

Good deal! Sounds like you have been doing your homework! Don't you love it when a plan comes together! start changing out water between the two, adding new water from the pond will help the stock tank until your ready. sounds like your pretty darn close. keep us posted!

 

[j.w]

Looking good!

 

[addy1]

Great job jenn looking good.

 

[jenn.]

So now we have transferred all of our fishies to the new pond and everyone seems happy! Was very hard to get them out of the stock tank as zero visibility happened in 2 days time!!! Man can a heat spike change the situation

So now we have the task of tucking the liner and placing the bullnose on the top (and generally hiding things and making things pretty. Any advice on how to smooth and tuck the liner so we can make a nice level top for the bullnose???

Our new butterfly and asagi :lol:

 

[sissy]

The thicker the liner the harder it is to work with .When the sun warms the liner up try tp make the folds small and tight .I just put a new liner in mine and I tried to make each fold as small as possible one large fold turned into almost 15 small folds and took 2 hours to get it right .

 

[j.w]

Nice looking fishies

 

[addy1]

just start on one edge, pull tug tuck mess with until you are happy. The warmer it is the better like sissy says.