My 5,000 Gal Pond Build In Photos

[koikeepr]

Well, we've broken ground on the new pond today. Hired my usual gang of folks to help me dig and put up the block walls. Luckily, the lead guy (Wendell, in the green shirt) is a brick mason and has done a few ponds. His sons are really hardworking boys.

We're going to be 24" above ground and 24" below. We're going to be 20 feet long and close to 8.5 feet wide. Just a tad over 5k gallons when we're done. We're hoping to be done with the digging by this evening, and start with the rebar and some concrete tomorrow. We're mixing the concrete ourselves and not using a truck, so that will likely be slow going.

Here's my 7-year old son, Michael, working alongside them and having a blast:

Here's more work with a pick trying to get through some really solid carolina clay. It's going to be a terrific base for the concrete collar. The pond will be up against our sun porch, which will also need a fresh coat of paint. The guys are standing basically where the waterfall will be.

I rented a bobcat for the day to help us move clay and have things happen faster:

 

[DrCase]

Glad to here you got the pond started..
Keep the camera in your hand

 

[PS3]

5000 gallons dam u can swim in that pond lol.did u rent a bob cat to do most
of the digging or it will all be by hand?? any ways keep the pics comeing

 

[koikeepr]

you can see the bobcat in the 3rd picture, and yes it helped hugely. It would have take us 4 days to dig by hand. It took us 10 hours using the bobcat non-stop. We've got the hole basically 90% dug out. Tomorrow we will even out the sides and start making the trench for the footing, and hopefully we'll get some concrete poured, too.

When I stood back and looked at the hole I thought it was obscenely large. My hubby is just shaking his head at the whole thing. Meanwhile, it's fortuitous because my old pond has so many pinholes from old age that I have to top it off every two days now. Leaks are everywhere in that old thing.

I'll snap a pic of the hole tomorrow and more on the work.

 

[lugger007]

best of luck with the new pond build. Some day I hope to build one like that.

 

[j.w]

Oh cool, I love to watch a good pond build from start to finish

 

[PS3]

ok lol iam sorry i never saw a bob cat that small. so thats why i said did u get a bob cat. the ones i have seen here in ny u sit and drive them i never saw a little one

 

[koikeepr]

its actually called a dingo (also sometimes referred to as a boxer). Sort of a mini bobcat of sorts. I think it's only 36" wide. I could not get a sit on one because the gates leading into my back yard are only 40" wide--and a regular sized bobcat just wouldn't fit through the opening.

I'm used to digging by hand, so all this machinery is fun to learn about. I rented it for 24 hours, at about $140 bucks--and I can tell you it was money well spent. Worth every cent to get things done quickly and be able to haul dirt away without a wheelbarrow. I think we pushed off at least a full dump truck full of clay soil. I've got part of it sitting right next to my current pond, so it's close enough to just dump into that hole when I shut things down for good. The majority of it, we just pushed into the wooded part of my side yard. I've got 3 acres here, so it's pretty easy to get rid of something like that, thank goodness. Our lawn, however, is looking less than stellar after having the dingo run over it 500 times. Bits of clay soil everywhere. I'm sure my lawn will not recover until next spring after this treatment.

Tomorrow, tho, we'll have to refine everything with a pick and shovel to square off the edges and dig the trench. Also dig for the BD's and the respective 3" PVC pipe connected to them.

I figure by the time I square away all the filtration, I'll probably be able to move the fish about 4 weeks from now. Meanwhile, the bacteria is now doing it's thing on my old pond and the water has suddenly cleared after three weeks of being cloudy. There is, however, this lime green dust coating of pollen on the water surface (as the new leaves and flowers are budding on all the trees). I throw food in and the fish can't tell that from the clumps of pollen.

More pics tomorrow...

 

[D&RW]

Hey how exciting to watch your project!! dimension wise you left out the width. I could do the math but I'm lazy

know what you mean about the "dingo". i was new to them too. also tore up my yard big time, but they repaired the damage. i never want to see a shovel again:lol:

4 weeks. wow. amazing.

isn't it nice to have the bacteria already cooking and be able to just transfer them to the new pond?! what a relief not to have to go through the build up period. I'm thinking about housing a few fish in the garage this winter so I can keep the bacteria cultures going.

 

[nigil]

A dingo! Thats what I needed for my renovation. Oh, well, to late. Can't wait to see more pics.

 

[koikeepr]

Alrighty, day 2 and we got the pond fully dug out and put in the form for the footer and poured some concrete.

Here's my son Michael, who is going to go back school on Monday after his spring break telling them he built a pond! Here he is with a pick-ax and some dirt. He was quite proud of his cement laden shirt and filthy sneakers. His white socks were so red with Carolina clay (which by the way is highly staining on clothes and a nightmare to wash out), that I had to ask him to put on some black socks. LOL!

Here's Michael busting open a bag of mortar to mix in the wheelbarrow. We made this fairly loose so that it would poor easily. We laid some re-bar down first so the footing would be solid.

Here's the pour:

It ain't pretty, but here's the footer. Today, we'll remove the wood forms. In the upper right, you can see an old concrete footer and what is supposed to be a pressure treated 2x4 supporting my back porch. As you may be able to see, the 2x4 is completely eaten away by termites. It gave me an excuse to say to my hubby that it was a good thing we were building a pond otherwise we would never have spotted that! LOL!

Today, we'll begin laying the first course of block. Though many pond builders dry stack the block and then pour concrete in the cinder block cells, we will be mortaring the block together, too. Oh, and of course driving re-bar into as many cells as we can.

My savio skimmer arrived yesterday and gosh that thing is mongo huge. My 3" BD's have not yet come. I do hope they arrive today. I need to dig the trench for the BD's and the 3" pvc pipes that need to go down. We're just going to cut out the form in that area for the plumbing. My waterfall weir is also a mystery I'm trying to solve...didn't arrive either.

The plumbing/equipment aspect is really the area that is no fun for me. Gravity, check valves, ball valves. Argh! I've decided on buying a 150 gallon stock tank (instead of barrels) for my DIY bio filtration, tho. I've got to find one today online...I've seen a few cheap sources on some tank sites. Gosh, yes, there are whole sites dedicated to just barrels and stock tanks of every size and shape imaginable!

Back with more photos tomorrow!

 

[nigil]

Koikeeper, looks good! If you have a tractor supply or feed store near by they will have them. I think its cheaper to go that route, when I was looking for mine I found great prices on stock tanks, but the shipping was as much or more than the tank itself! Either way, can't wait to see more pictures.

 

[koikeepr]

I do have a tractor supply shop here, and they have one in stock. I may decide to go with a long rectangular tank and do a flow-through style filter that will hit different media versus the swirly circular motion. Since I'll have a sieve up front, I won't have to worry about too much gunk getting in....

I need to decide quickly! I need to order one today.

 

[koikeepr]

Here we are on Day 3 with Michael (with his toothless grin) standing on top of a few bags of Quickcrete. You can see the savio skimmer right next to him. Yesterday we yanked out some massive holly trees right behind where he's standing, as this is where the filtration will sit. I was thinking of putting it under the screen porch behind the lattice, but it's only 4 feet tall under there and didn't feel like bending over while having to clean out filters and such.

We've got the first course of block lowered into the hole and we've started lining 'em up. Now that we've removed the forms for the footer, the edge is nice and clean.

Unfortunately, my 3" aerated BD's don't arrive until Friday via UPS. And to boot, I've got a trip into NYC for work from Monday-Weds, so that will slow me down for a few days on progress. Well, at least I'll get to see my parents in NYC a few days.

I've found a new home for 2 koi and a bunch of the goldfish, so when I drain the old pond, they'll be re-homed to another pond. Will give me a chance to pick up a few new fish this season.

 

[koikeepr]

Went ahead and purchased my new pump today. It's pricey, but I went with a William Lim Wave II, 1/3HP. Maxes out at 404 watts for 7200 gph. Very efficient! It's got a baldor motor and a three year warrantee, which is pretty unheard of when it comes to pumps. So, I figure I'll get what paid for. I got it for an excellent price, however, by phoning the store instead of buying through the site since they are required to post manufacturers suggested prices.