Newbie

[Ron-NY]

I’ve been wanting a garden pond and have been researching all winter. Purchased a 40 mil liner to be capable of an 18’ x 14’ pond. We started hand digging and went down to 18” on 1/4 of the pond when we decided that the project might kill us. Brought in a backhoe to finish the dig. Wanted maximum depth to be 4’ but we hit a pipe from our septic leach field at about 3’ deep and decided to stop there. We are going to raise the sides another 6” with some the dirt that came out of the hole. We are in growing zone 5b NY. Having 3.5’ should be sufficient.
I plan on building a bog filter that will be raised and it will have a small waterfall and connect to the pond via a stream. Many use the dirt from their hole to create a waterfall but we have a natural hill behind the pond that a series of falls will eventually cascade down, so I decided that my bog will be built elevated. Had to utilize all that dirt somewhere.

I purchased aProLine 6,000gph pump. But was planning on creating my own skimmer and filter. Am considering doing a bottom drain that will gravity feed into the skimmer end of my filter and pump box.

I wanted to stop by and say hello. I am sure I will have quite a few questions along the way.

 

[GBBUDD]

Thats going to hold a lot of water
have you figured it out yet.
Are you rocking the inside of the pond?
Pea stone bog or a snorkel and centipede?

Looks like you have a lot to work with , where in ny are you .

 

[Ron-NY]

I am in Saratoga County in NY. I am considering a bio falls at the top of the hill. I plan on rocking it. Pea gravel on the bottom. I would like a bottom drain but we will see. If not I will place an air stone in the deepest part.

 

[Ron-NY]

Thats going to hold a lot of water
have you figured it out yet.
Are you rocking the inside of the pond?
Pea stone bog or a snorkel and centipede?

Looks like you have a lot to work with , where in ny are you .

Bog will be snorkel and centipede with a bottom drain in the snorkel. Most of the stone will be pea gravel except for larger stones around the perforated piping.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! I hope that when you bought the liner, you took into account the depth as well as width and length.

 

[Ron-NY]

Hello and welcome! I hope that when you bought the liner, you took into account the depth as well as width and length.

Yes I did plus edge overlap
thank you!

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[Ron-NY]

Thank you!

 

[j.w]

@Ron-NY

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

Will enjoy watching your build

 

[Lisak1]

We started hand digging and went down to 18” on 1/4 of the pond when we decided that the project might kill us.

That made me LOL - who hasn't been in that exact same spot? Machines make everything better. Absolutely gorgeous setting for a pond!

I'll cast one vote for skipping the bottom drain. One less thing to install, one less thing to worry about. It's more DKP (dedicated koi pond) than water garden, if that helps make the decision easier. Know which way you're going and build your pond accordingly.

Welcome to the GPF!

 

[GBBUDD]

I have to admit my main drain with a 12 inch air bladder. Has not been as beneficial as i thought it would be. In the spring , summer , and fall it is nice having the bottom of the pond cleaned of debris. The external pump basket strainer is in need of cleaning weekly at its peek. But the negatives are starting to show even more so. I left a half inch space around the 12 inch bladder and have had multiple baby koi and a few larger butterfly koi get stuck in the suction. Even though i have two main drains on the same drain pipe this is code in most areas, this will keep people from getting stuck under water.
Another disadvantage is in the winter in cold climates the main drain has to be shut down because it will take the warmer waters at tge bottom of the pond and it will stir up this area and also bring the cold chilled temps to the bottom of the pond.
If i was to install a main drain again i would do it a bit differently. Dig your pond then just before your ready to pull in your fabric dig a trench down the wall and across the bottom to where you want your drains. Making the trench twice as wide as the pipe so when you place the fabric, liner and more fabric by the time you put the pvc into this trench it will be in the pond no penitration but it will be easy to hide the pipe.

 

[Ron-NY]

That made me LOL - who hasn't been in that exact same spot? Machines make everything better. Absolutely gorgeous setting for a pond!

I'll cast one vote for skipping the bottom drain. One less thing to install, one less thing to worry about. It's more DKP (dedicated koi pond) than water garden, if that helps make the decision easier. Know which way you're going and build your pond accordingly.

Welcome to the GPF!

Thanks but a day too late, lol. I spent yesterday trenching to add the drain. I also sloped the bottom towards the drain to make it more efficient.
Thank you for the welcome

 

[Ron-NY]

I have to admit my main drain with a 12 inch air bladder. Has not been as beneficial as i thought it would be. In the spring , summer , and fall it is nice having the bottom of the pond cleaned of debris. The external pump basket strainer is in need of cleaning weekly at its peek. But the negatives are starting to show even more so. I left a half inch space around the 12 inch bladder and have had multiple baby koi and a few larger butterfly koi get stuck in the suction. Even though i have two main drains on the same drain pipe this is code in most areas, this will keep people from getting stuck under water.
Another disadvantage is in the winter in cold climates the main drain has to be shut down because it will take the warmer waters at tge bottom of the pond and it will stir up this area and also bring the cold chilled temps to the bottom of the pond.
If i was to install a main drain again i would do it a bit differently. Dig your pond then just before your ready to pull in your fabric dig a trench down the wall and across the bottom to where you want your drains. Making the trench twice as wide as the pipe so when you place the fabric, liner and more fabric by the time you put the pvc into this trench it will be in the pond no penitration but it will be easy to hide the pipe.

I just trenched for the drain line to run beneath the liner. The drain will not be an in-line drain hooked to my pump but will passively feed, along with my skimmer, into a prefilter pump box. So there shouldn’t be any strong suction. I also sloped the pond bottom towards the drain location.

 

[GBBUDD]

I have a main drain two actually and a skimmer but if i had to do it again i would not cut the liner there's no reason to use the trench you just dug for the pipe but over size it and let the fabric and liner and fabric fall into the trench put your plumbing in the pond and then burry it with rock small larger or even just fabric . there's no point in having a penetration' at the bottom run the pipe in the trench but inside the liner then maybe toward the top I'd make a penetration ' somewhere where it is easy to do a repair if the seam ever failed.