Well this one has been quite a ride... My neighbor is a heavy equipment operator and after some casual conversation kindly offered to dig me the beginnings of a pond in an old depression that I had cleaned out because the former owners of this property thought it would be a good place to throw gardening trash like potting soil bags and planters and just let it get covered in leaves. We've been working at thinning the trees and beautifying this spot and I had always wanted a small pond... so this offer seemed too good to pass up. Especially considering how rocky the spot was. In my mind, cause I'm an idiot, I thought I'd just toss in a bio falls and be done. I was well on my way to Pond Digger's Ponds Gone Wrong Episode 1.
Once the initial hole was dug I realized there was so much I didn't know. So, I researched on another ponding forum and quickly learned there was also so much I couldn't afford and didn't want to maintain (fancy sieves) and so much more I didn't necessarily have the room for (giant bottom drain fed IBC settlement totes). That experience really helped me to get more focused about what I really wanted out of this pond in order for it to be a successful project. It turns out I didn't really want a koi pond. I wanted a great vibe, a nice frog bath, some aquatic plants, and a couple shubunkins.
After LOTS of research here (ESPECIALLY addy's bog how to and lisak's many informative posts) I think I've finally worked out a setup that's going to be perfect. First thing, had to widen the pond and dig a bog - but by hand this time since my neighbor's mini-excavator was only a temporary fixture while he was working on his own yard project.
aaaaaand an intake bay cause I just couldn't come around to a plastic skimmer.
You might even be able to spy the water level hanging in a tree. That was a tool I had no idea about until lurking around this forum. Also a tool we learned about just in time because we have a bit of a slant to this area as you can tell in the earlier pictures.
It was about this time -you know, once everything was dug- that I learned a 20x25 liner was the largest size available semi-locally without needing to spend quite a lot for a custom cut and major shipping charges. Fortunately it looked like a 20x25 was going to fit perfectly, so we went for it. After getting some MUCH NEEDED rain I reshaped the hole, cleaned out the last of the roots and rocks, dug out the intake bay some more, and we started laying down the underlayment and liner.
After one final check with the water level (and a few marks made with chalk) we dropped the pump vault into the intake bay, put in a little gravel to hold that section in place, and started to put some rocks around the edge. Fortunately, between the hole we dug and remnants from old barn foundations and stone walls there are plenty of rocks kicking around the property looking for work to do. After placing the first one we quickly realized we were setting ourselves up for a really weird water line where the rocks were mostly going to be sitting on top of the liner not touching the water at all. So we peeled back the edge of the liner and using our chalk marks from water leveling as a guide dug out another shelf that would allow the water to come up and touch our edge rocks the way a proper pond should be.
Our goal for this weekend was to plumb the pump (laguna max-flo 2000) and "finish" rocking in the intake bay. I'm happy to say after driving around to a few local pool stores and hardware stores I finally sourced the flexpvc we needed and got it done before dinner time. Though I did end up having to just about boil the end of the flexpvc to get it over the quick connect for the laguna.
I test "filled" the bay to the point where it just started to flow back into the pond and then turned on the pump. Success! The hope is that the back side of the intake bay will function as the low point in the pond and drain over that small flat rock in the event of an overflow.
Still have plenty of work to do but I'm really excited with the progress so far, and it's thanks to a lot of folks here and how freely yall share your experiences. So thanks!
Next for me is getting the bog filled and the overflow waterfall (which you can almost make out across from the intake bay) tested out.
Hopefully no one is noticing any glaring issues at this point. If you are please let me know! I'm in a race against winter at this point but I think I can make it. I am hoping to be able to leave the pump on all winter but am a little concerned the intake bay might freeze up. I guess we'll see! I'll keep posting here as I get more done.
Once the initial hole was dug I realized there was so much I didn't know. So, I researched on another ponding forum and quickly learned there was also so much I couldn't afford and didn't want to maintain (fancy sieves) and so much more I didn't necessarily have the room for (giant bottom drain fed IBC settlement totes). That experience really helped me to get more focused about what I really wanted out of this pond in order for it to be a successful project. It turns out I didn't really want a koi pond. I wanted a great vibe, a nice frog bath, some aquatic plants, and a couple shubunkins.
After LOTS of research here (ESPECIALLY addy's bog how to and lisak's many informative posts) I think I've finally worked out a setup that's going to be perfect. First thing, had to widen the pond and dig a bog - but by hand this time since my neighbor's mini-excavator was only a temporary fixture while he was working on his own yard project.
aaaaaand an intake bay cause I just couldn't come around to a plastic skimmer.
You might even be able to spy the water level hanging in a tree. That was a tool I had no idea about until lurking around this forum. Also a tool we learned about just in time because we have a bit of a slant to this area as you can tell in the earlier pictures.
It was about this time -you know, once everything was dug- that I learned a 20x25 liner was the largest size available semi-locally without needing to spend quite a lot for a custom cut and major shipping charges. Fortunately it looked like a 20x25 was going to fit perfectly, so we went for it. After getting some MUCH NEEDED rain I reshaped the hole, cleaned out the last of the roots and rocks, dug out the intake bay some more, and we started laying down the underlayment and liner.
After one final check with the water level (and a few marks made with chalk) we dropped the pump vault into the intake bay, put in a little gravel to hold that section in place, and started to put some rocks around the edge. Fortunately, between the hole we dug and remnants from old barn foundations and stone walls there are plenty of rocks kicking around the property looking for work to do. After placing the first one we quickly realized we were setting ourselves up for a really weird water line where the rocks were mostly going to be sitting on top of the liner not touching the water at all. So we peeled back the edge of the liner and using our chalk marks from water leveling as a guide dug out another shelf that would allow the water to come up and touch our edge rocks the way a proper pond should be.
Our goal for this weekend was to plumb the pump (laguna max-flo 2000) and "finish" rocking in the intake bay. I'm happy to say after driving around to a few local pool stores and hardware stores I finally sourced the flexpvc we needed and got it done before dinner time. Though I did end up having to just about boil the end of the flexpvc to get it over the quick connect for the laguna.
I test "filled" the bay to the point where it just started to flow back into the pond and then turned on the pump. Success! The hope is that the back side of the intake bay will function as the low point in the pond and drain over that small flat rock in the event of an overflow.
Still have plenty of work to do but I'm really excited with the progress so far, and it's thanks to a lot of folks here and how freely yall share your experiences. So thanks!
Next for me is getting the bog filled and the overflow waterfall (which you can almost make out across from the intake bay) tested out.
Hopefully no one is noticing any glaring issues at this point. If you are please let me know! I'm in a race against winter at this point but I think I can make it. I am hoping to be able to leave the pump on all winter but am a little concerned the intake bay might freeze up. I guess we'll see! I'll keep posting here as I get more done.
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