My first pond build - in slo-mo

[johnnyi]

Hi all,

I've finally started my first pond. We decided to scale back my initial pond concept because it would take too long and be too expensive to do now. After reading dozens of threads here I decided I didn't want to wait and we have room for multiple ponds in our yard so....

The pond is going to be for plants, mosquito fish and possibly bluegill. It will be about 6' x 12' x 2.5' in the "deep" area with about a 1' deep shelf of various width on the sides for a passive bog filter. There will be an upper pond about 1' higher and about 5' in diameter and about 1' deep with a water fall to the main pond. Above that by about 6" to 1' will be a 5' diameter by 1' deep bog filter. The bog filter will have a small falls to the next level.

The plumbing will consist of an approximately 2900 gph submersible pump going through 2" pipe back to the upper pond/bog with a split sending most of the water to the lower pond and some to the upper bog filter.

I've started by marking the place:



Here I've removed grass/sod and piled it up to form the basis for the two upper ponds.



That's it for now. The slow motion bit will be the time it takes me to dig this hole. It's taken me 6 morning sessions of hand digging this sod out over a period of a couple of weeks, so I think I'll be at this for a while yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

More to come as it happens.

John

PS Notice in the bottom right corner of each picture that there is a sunken kitchen sink. I'll post pictures of that soon -- it was our practice pond/bog combination.

 

[j.w]

Will be neat to sit here relaxing watching you dig out your pond. You will love it when you are filling it up w/ water tho. Take a float in it before you put your fish in it. You will deserve the break, lol!

 

[johnnyi]

j.w. -- That's why it's slo-mo, I have to take breaks all the time. You're right, I will love it.

John

 

[addy1]

We will gladly supervise as you dig! We love that part

 

[Waterbug]

I love to dig, wish I was close by.

 

[johnnyi]

I wish you were near by! I get to work on this every day or two either before or after work so it's a slow process, fun but slow.

John

 

[sissy]

hey better slow and not getting as sore muscles that way .Gives you time to think about how you want it as your digging it out also .Slow wins the race or in you case gets you a neat pond you will be proud to say I DID IT

 

[koiguy1969]

if you want to save a little back pain and muscle ache...not to mention ensure yourself a perfectly level pond. you can do your edging as such... get yourself (enough to encircle the pond) bender board landscape trim or bender board concrete form (used for curved concrete forming). or composite decking would work .. and drive stakes into the ground to fasten it to. you can fasten it with screws and make sure its perfectly level as you go. do this a foot or so away from your digs edge. (adjust for the size stone you'll be using). in this area, dig a shallow trench just a few inches deep and maybe 6" - 8" wide to give a sturdy place for your borderstone to sit...and adjust the trench size to accomodate your stone choices. just big enough to keep them sturdy. when this is done and you liner is in fill the pond right up to the border stone ledge you've created. set in your inside border stone, then you can fill the pond the rest of the way. you can correct any low spots in the bender board now...(shouldnt be any). if you like trim your liner, leaving at least a foot extra flapped the bender board. now just backfill ontop of the extra liner outside of the pond... if you use the 6" this will add 6" of pond depth without the digging. it will guarentee a level pond and give your ponds edge a negative horizon, preventing run off water from entering the pond. and pond overflow an equal dispersion around the pond.
this is a kind of sloppy drawing of what i've described...but i think you can see what i mean...

 

[addy1]

Really good drawing koiguy...........that is a great way to make a good edge.

 

[koiguy1969]

OH.. I should add that you fill the pond up to the border stone ledge before placing the stone so you can pull out the wrinkles, and make any neccessary liner adjustments as it fills. and if you do trim it, DONT trim any liner untill you know everythings to your liking and isnt going to be a problem!!

 

[addy1]

laughing, never trim it, just fold and bury, you will be wanting it back later.

 

[koiguy1969]

yeah...i was in a dazed and confused state when i redid mne. i just couldnt decide what to do. so stupid ol' me i trimmed the liner so the "pondering" would stop. so now that i want to redo it again, i need a new liner. thats why i always say to the newbies..learn by our mistakes, not your own. well at least i can dig out my planter shelves still...some water volume gains there. probably atleast 200 gals..but its alot of work for that!!

 

[johnnyi]

Koiguy1969,

Thanks, excellent suggestion and drawing. I'm going to look into using it with the difference as illustrated below:



The width of the bog portion will range from 0" to 18" around the pond. Again, thanks for the idea.

John

 

[j.w]

John, How do you keep the bog soil from leaching into the pond? I mean will the big rocks keep it from doing so cuz it seems like there will be spaces between them to ooze out. Am I not getting this right?

 

[addy1]

John, How do you keep the bog soil from leaching into the pond? I mean will the big rocks keep it from doing so cuz it seems like there will be spaces between them to ooze out. Am I not getting this right?

With a border bog, you either need tight fitting stones and something like landscape fabric, or use pea gravel with stones tight enough for the size of gravel, no dirt. The problem with the dirt is it will stink after awhile without some good water flow. I think he would be better off using pea gravel for the bog with piping under neath for water flow. The water would then seep out back into the pond through the rocks. That will help clean the pond water and keep the pea gravel from getting that sour smell.