Quantity of rock?

[EricV]

Can anyone advice me of how much rock I need for my pond. The calculators I see online all assume an Aquascape type pond where every inch of the liner is covered with rock. That's not what I plan to do and instead have cobbles (6-24" varying sizes) lining the edges only (some inside the liner on a 6" shelf, some outside the pond holding the liner vertical). I don't even want a solid line in each place but am going for a more natural, broken look.

I've also got a waterfall with an intermediate 2-3' diameter cascade pool. And for space reasons, will need cobbles to cover the hillside holding up that pool. Total pond should be about 12x17' and is oval shaped. Anyone have resources to help me estimate this or care to hazard a guess of what I need?

 

[j.w]

Can't you just buy the rock as you need it? If you run out then buy more. One can never have too many rocks. I collect them and save them in piles as they are useful not just for a pond but all over your other gardens. I guess if you need to travel very far to find/buy any rocks then you are thinking of buying what you need one time to save gas. If that's the case just buy more than you think you will need and you will be safe. Not sure on how to calculate what you need but sounds like you will need a lot! For my pond which is about the size of yours around the edges we bought a pickup load for under $20. here and hand picked each rock. We were fortunate as there is a concrete company near us that sold rocks also.
I don't have any rocks down on my 18" down shelf around the pond.
This is an almost full pickup load below.

Beginning

Mid

Now

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Can anyone advice me of how much rock I need for my pond. The calculators I see online all assume an Aquascape type pond where every inch of the liner is covered with rock. That's not what I plan to do and instead have cobbles (6-24" varying sizes) lining the edges only (some inside the liner on a 6" shelf, some outside the pond holding the liner vertical). I don't even want a solid line in each place but am going for a more natural, broken look.

I've also got a waterfall with an intermediate 2-3' diameter cascade pool. And for space reasons, will need cobbles to cover the hillside holding up that pool. Total pond should be about 12x17' and is oval shaped. Anyone have resources to help me estimate this or care to hazard a guess of what I need?

For the pond's perimeter, you can use the Aquascape calculations for a stream. You will need to know the perimeter in linear feet.
As to the other areas, if you could post some measurements, it would help.

 

[EricV]

Thanks. Meyer, that's probably enough to get me close. I've found online calculators for tons/s.f. that I can use for the "hill side" and I'll use the stream calculation for the perimeter and the pool. I don't want something as "solid" as what JW shows, so that should be an overestimate.

I could buy rock bit by bit, but the rock yard is ~30 minutes away and my vehicle hauls 500 lbs at a time. Easy enough to go pick up another load or two, but not to haul in the 3-4 tons I suspect I need. Besides, the prices for rocks go up as you get less, so I'm planning on paying for delivery of what I need as a first guess.

 

[Smaug]

One 5 by 5 ft skid of field rock did my 2500 gallon pond. With some left over.

 

[EricV]

One 5 by 5 ft skid of field rock did my 2500 gallon pond. With some left over.

Thanks. Here everyone seems to do field rock (Wisconsin Cobbles) by dump truck. I also need some steppers for a walkup and path and I found one place that will do that with a single delivery charge. Other places want to send two vehicles.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thanks. Meyer, that's probably enough to get me close. I've found online calculators for tons/s.f. that I can use for the "hill side" and I'll use the stream calculation for the perimeter and the pool. I don't want something as "solid" as what JW shows, so that should be an overestimate.

I could buy rock bit by bit, but the rock yard is ~30 minutes away and my vehicle hauls 500 lbs at a time. Easy enough to go pick up another load or two, but not to haul in the 3-4 tons I suspect I need. Besides, the prices for rocks go up as you get less, so I'm planning on paying for delivery of what I need as a first guess.

Remember that the "stream" calculator is for both sides of the stream. A 10 foot stream requires the same amount of rock as 20 feet of pond perimeter.
Also, for appearances, follow the 1-2-1 rock size ratio as close as possible.

 

[EricV]

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. I was coming up with a very large number otherwise. I'm definitely planning on the 1-2-1, maybe leaning towards larger rocks since going out and picking up smaller ones with the car is more feasible.

 

[Smaug]

What is called fieldest one vary considerably from state to state. I do not like roundish smooth rocks for scaping. What is sold as field stone here are jagged sedimentary rocks of usually flattish character. Most of mine are around the size of trash can lids.

 

[crsublette]

@EricV ... You might want to consider a product called Rock-on-a-Roll (http://www.rock-on-a-roll.com/) and then sparsely lay your rock on the border as you desire.

I used their "Sandstone Brown" to cover some landscape edgers that I used to make a bridge. Looks quite nice like real rock, except the "sandstone brown" rock-on-a-roll looks looks different when underwater. The "sandstone brown" actually looked more like a white limestone rather than a brown sandstone.

 

[DocD]

Can't you just buy the rock as you need it? If you run out then buy more. One can never have too many rocks. I collect them and save them in piles as they are useful not just for a pond but all over your other gardens. I guess if you need to travel very far to find/buy any rocks then you are thinking of buying what you need one time to save gas. If that's the case just buy more than you think you will need and you will be safe. Not sure on how to calculate what you need but sounds like you will need a lot! For my pond which is about the size of yours around the edges we bought a pickup load for under $20. here and hand picked each rock. We were fortunate as there is a concrete company near us that sold rocks also.
I don't have any rocks down on my 18" down shelf around the pond.
This is an almost full pickup load below.

Beginning
View attachment 92057

Mid
View attachment 92055

Now
View attachment 92056

Is that a Sago Palm next to the waterfall in the third pic?

 

[j.w]

@DocD nope that is a Chinese Windmill Palm. It is hardy here and makes it through our winters. They can live in zones 7b to 10. I have had it for several years and started it from a seed I found at the Seattle Zoo. I love it! They can get quite tall as seen in this photo from the net.

 

[addy1]

Get a delivery, you can always place "excess" rocks. I had three truck loads delivered for our project and still needed more.