Natural Swimming Pool in progress

[robm]

Hi forum people,

In the winter I posed some questions about natural swimming pool construction. An NSP is really just a pond, with a separation wall between the swimming and the planting (or regeneration) area. I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to share the progress with the forum.

In early June I had the hole dug, but apart from that and a liner party (it takes many hands to unroll a 1600 lb liner) it has all been a DIY job.

I had trouble with groundwater seeping in at the deepest section, so as soon as the liner was in and I had the bottom drain connected, I had to get one truck load of water in to prevent the liner from floating up.

I am now filling the regen area with riverstone. There is a lot of sand mixed in that, which is making a mess in my pool, but I hope that it will clear up. See the pictures for the liner party and the current status.


Rolling out the liner


installing the liner


unfolding the liner


western red cedar seaparation wall installed


current status: installing the substrate and big-O distribution pipes

I'll gladly answer any questions about this project.

Robm

 

[addy1]

Looks like one neat project. so the plant area will clean the water of the swimming pool, like my bog cleans my ponds water. Neat

 

[j.w]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, always wanted a swimming pool. Hubby said it's not worth it where we live. Said it was too much money. But now I'm thinking I could just start digging my own and leave him out of it

 

[Bruddaman]

I am very fascinated by this concept. Please keep updating us on your progress.

Question: fish or no fish? The "fishiness" smell of my pond is enough to keep me from wanting to take a dip, but maybe if it were bigger it wouldn't be an issue.

Do you get enough rain to fresh the pond or is there no worry of the water getting "stale"?

Best of luck on your project!

Oh yea, I like your house too!

 

[addy1]

I am very fascinated by this concept. Please keep updating us on your progress.

Question: fish or no fish? The "fishiness" smell of my pond is enough to keep me from wanting to take a dip, but maybe if it were bigger it wouldn't be an issue.

Do you get enough rain to fresh the pond or is there no worry of the water getting "stale"?

Best of luck on your project!

Oh yea, I like your house too!

I am in mine all the time, don't really notice a fishy smell that would keep me out. The water is clear and fresh.

 

[addy1]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, always wanted a swimming pool. Hubby said it's not worth it where we live. Said it was too much money. But now I'm thinking I could just start digging my own and leave him out of it

You are never warm enough to need a swimming pool jw! geez

 

[KennethO]

I am in mine all the time, don't really notice a fishy smell that would keep me out. The water is clear and fresh.

Same here. I'm in it constantly pulling out plants and hand feeding the fish. Smells just like normal water to me. Maybe we are just used to it now and can't tell. LOL.

 

[addy1]

The fish tickle when they nibble my feet and legs as I groom the lilies!

 

[j.w]

You are never warm enough to need a swimming pool jw! geez

I guess I should say I want a swimming pool. Told hubby about it and he just laughed and said well you have to be on a hill to have a bog! Ha, I say what do you think you do w/ the dirt you dig out to make the hole for the pool................you make a higher spot of course for the bog and waterfall etc. He just laughed again

 

[robm]

Addy1: there will be no fish. From what I have read the fish will put a significant load on the cleaning system. Frogs already live in the unfinished pool of course.

j.w: my wife wanted a pool, and just when we were about to place an order for an ugly chemical power hungry pool, we read about the NSP concept. The article stated that you could have one built for the same price as a chemical pool, but when I got quotes it came to much more. But now by doing it myself I end up significantly cheaper. Although I am not ready filling with substrate, and each truck load is $400!

Addy1 again, about the rain: I have an overflow pond to store extra rain water, from which I can pump it back into the main pond when there has been too much evaporation. Of course it's tooo early to tell if that is going to be adequate. As a backup we're considering adding eaves stroughs to the roof (there's only a short one now over the balcony) and ducting it to the overflow.

Thanks all for your comments!

Robm

 

[fishin4cars]

For sale! One used swimming pool, $1 and you haul all equipment off, Leave hole, Owner would rather have a pond! LOL Seriously we have a in-ground pool and I honestly will never have another one! The upkeep is 4-5 times that of the pond, It's harder to keep clean, it's far more maintance, the pumps use three timea more electricity than the pond pumps do and we use it so rarely. I might would use it more if I could swim with the fish. LOL

 

[robm]

fishin4cars: what you cando is a so called conversion (from chemical to natural pool). It's done quite a bit in Europe.

 

[fishin4cars]

Yea, we looked into it. The cross over was just too costly. swapping out virtually everything except the hole, and even then som serious modifications would have to be made. If I'm going through all that I might as well build what I want. The cost to swap over just in modifications, plumbing and filtration could easily top the $20,000 mark. And for a home we are considering selling, Just not smart spending. I think we will be better off leaving it as a pool for now.

 

[addy1]

For sale! One used swimming pool, $1 and you haul all equipment off, Leave hole, Owner would rather have a pond! LOL Seriously we have a in-ground pool and I honestly will never have another one! The upkeep is 4-5 times that of the pond, It's harder to keep clean, it's far more maintance, the pumps use three timea more electricity than the pond pumps do and we use it so rarely. I might would use it more if I could swim with the fish. LOL

change it to a pond fishin! aww just saw you might be selling............leave as a pool then

 

[sissy]

some people just want a house with a pool but the work the money and extra insurance you have money blowing out of your wallet .I would rather walk down to the creek across the road from my house and visit all the tadpoles I dumped down there it's free and I don't have to take care of it ,nature does that