My next pond :)

[pecan]

I mentioned on another thread we will likely be selling our house along with the two year old pond in the back. Buying some land in rural Utah and moving where we have always dreamed. So I am now thinking about my next pond LOL.

After having one, there are things I would do differently. One is one depth throughout (4'-6') with no planting shelves and a large bog for filtration. The gallonage may be somewhere from 10,000 - 15,000 gallons! Not dug by hand this time around.

I will probably go with 4 3,000 - 4,000 GPH pumps rather than larger pumps so the suction isn't too strong. I really like having the pumps and hoses in the water so I don't have to worry about leaks.

My biggest debate at this point is to do a bottom drain or not... I like the way they keep ponds mucked out but I hate the thought of something that could leak. And no matter how much I look at pic, posts and diagrams I can't really wrap my head around how they work.

Maybe I need to buy a book on Bottom Drains for Dummy's or something to understand

Now I just net out the bottom in the fall which isn't an issue since there are steps in my pond that I can walk on easily. But one deep depth could cause a challenge to netting out the bottom.

Can someone break bottom drains down for me Barney (purple dinosaur) style? Also, have any of you with bottom drains had to trouble shoot leaks somewhere in the bottom drain set up and was it difficult to do?

 

[capewind]

We didnt have the budget to get what we wanted in for a pond this year (too many interconnected hardscape items to be done first), so we compromised and did an "extra" pond that is around 6400-6500 gallons (plus 2500 gallon attached pond that is supposed to be a bog) for this year, and will do the big pond next year. Shallow end is about 4' and deep end is about 5'... works great with the slope (except for when you have to get OUT of the pond) ... no plant shelves, but room to stick small items (creeping primrose, parrots feather, etc) behind the rocks that hold the liner in... No bottom drain for me either... hubby wanted it... no matter how much research I did, nor how well hubby explained it to me, I was paranoid of a leak with the bottom drain... My feelings on that will not change LOL. Cant wait to see your next pond!

 

[fishin4cars]

I was very nervous about my first BD install, actually, it was FAR easier to install than the skimmer. The biggest issue with BD's and leaking is making 100% sure that there are no leaks in the pipe connections. Pressure testing before back filling is HIGHLY recommended. As far as the sealing to the liner and cutting the liner It's very easy in most cases and really not nearly the deal I thought it might be. Koi toilet 1 has great instructions that are very easy to follow Worth while to this quick youtube video watch before installing for sure.

Also if you do decide to run a BD through a liner it's very important that each drain has it's own line to the filter pit or pump. Do not tee together before that point as the restriction can be a problem later own with clogging problems. IMO, TPR's and Bottom drains are really good investments to add to any pond.

 

[Craig58]

First if you are building new, and are having a machine dig it, I'd go as deep as you can afford liner for. I'd definitely go for 6 ft.

We didn't to 6' on our new pond simply because we didn't want to have to put up a fence which if we exceed 4' we would have to. So we are are at 3' 11.8"!

We decided to do bottom drain on this but we had a someone come in and install it for us. They dropped in the liner and installed the bottom drain. I did all the plumbing.

The key as he explained it to me was to get the height of the drain proper and properly filled and packed around it. That way when the liner goes in, and the weight of the water pushes down on the liner, it doesn't push/pull the liner away from the bottom drain and put stress on the liner where it is sealed to the bottom drain.

In simple terms the bottom drain is nothing more than two sandwich slices with a piece of cheese (liner) in between. Put a hole in the middle of both pieces of bread while holding them together. One slice is the bottom half of the drain which is glued to the big pipe under the pond. Now lay the slice of cheese on the first slice of bread. This is the liner. Carefully cut an X in the middle of the cheese and liner. Lay the second piece of bread over the cheese. This is top part of the drain. Normally you would use screws to screw the top part of the drain to the bottom part. You can use toothpicks on your sandwich. So once it is screwed down, all you have to do is trim the liner(cheese) around the hole. Done. The hardest part is making sure you line up the screws when setting the top half on the bottom half. And making sure that liner is flat and fairly wrinkled free around the bottom drain area when installing it.

Craig

 

[gardengimp]

Pecan, something else to consider, is this going to be your future retirement home? If so, plan the pond with universal access design ideas. I.e. build the pond so that you can keep it beautiful long after you can't get in it to do routine cleaning and maintenance. Putting a bottom drain in means you don't have to go in the pond to muck out the bottom.

 

[capewind]

Compacting the dirt and making sure the drain is properly installed looked pretty simple on most of the sites I looked at, but I just couldnt get past the "what if"... and the only time hubby has had to actually get into ours was with the big net (two person style) to catch fish... can get most crap standing on the sides with a long handle and a net...

 

[pecan]

Thank you for all the information everyone! Very helpful. Yes this will be the retirement home so good point on making it as easy to maintain as possible.

Larkin I watched you video and it looks simple. But where does the bottom go? Also it appears with a pond as big as I am thinking I might need more than one bottom drain? Is that correct?

 

[pecan]

I am a visual person so I drew out some diagrams to help me understand.

Here is what the end result will hopefully be.

And here is what I think a bottom drain piping should look like by I am really not quite sure.

A few questions.
1. Do you put the pump in the settling pond?
2. How do you keep the water from going the wrong direction? out the bottom drain instead of in?
3. I am I way off on this diagram?
4. Do you need a settling pond with a bottom drain or can you pipe it directly to the bog? If so where do you put the pumps to make the water go through the bottom drain?

 

[sissy]

lol it looks like a dog with ears and rear end problem with a dog collar around it's neck .You must have doggies on your mind . :razz:

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think we have "doggies" on the brain Sissy! Your right, I see a doggie too! Ha ha ha
Peacan I am sad that you have to leave your old pond, I really will miss it! Maybe someone who buys the house will have to keep us up to date on how they make out with the pond you leave behind!

But!! I am very excited to see your next big pond project! Good luck with future new and exciting pond project! You have lots of talent as was evident in your most beautiful pond pictures!