restoring/troubleshooting a small inherited pond

[addy1]

I'm not sure the newbies would like to see THEIR mistake outlined in a thread especially for newbies.

Well it is there and if they want to read they read if they don't they don't.

Is there a way for you to monitor how many views such a thread has, at any given time?

And yes if you look at the thread before opening it will show how many views.

And it won't be their mistakes it will be a recording of possible mistakes. lol and or mistakes we have all made

 

[GBBUDD]

There's so many basics that work with every pond now shelves in a dud pool for a liner is nott going to be the same as a raised but they all have the same basics . Don't stretch the liner. avoid dead spots 90 degree corners. circulation. it hasn't been that long since i was a newbie I remember some of the basic questions i could not find. such as in the bog should the water be higher then the stone or vise versa. I believe C.W is running into challenges with the reach of his equipment and how much they can lift, These are tips that can save someone from making very costly mistakes, or just makes the build so much harder then it needs to be for the inexperienced. So many get intimidated by rubber liners thinking they are harder to work with then in a hard plastic tub which we all know is pretty much the reverse. I'd be happy to add to this idea. After all don't we already ? we often answer the same questions day after day.

 

[brokensword]

we often answer the same questions day after day.

That's so you stay awake, GB!

 

[blil]

well, based on the feedback from those in this thread i've progressed to deconstructing & draining the pond, with an aim to further excavation & restructuring. a few interesting (to me, at least) discoveries:

what i thought was orange underlayment tarp was in fact sand bags (??) filled with dirt to build up the berm around the pond edges, particularly on the lower edge (the backyard is all slope)

the actual underlayment appears to be old carpeting oriented upside-down, and in at least one place NAILED to the plastic tarp & ground beneath it. this is totally baffling to me, but maybe others here have seen this before.

as i've progressed to scooping-the-dregs-with-a-plastic-tub stage, a number of answers to the question "what the hell is under all that sludge" have surfaced. i suspect the bottom is deeper than 18", and i just kept hitting the cinder block or plant pot when trying to take measurements through the muck. will investigate further tomorrow.

the goldfish has been transplanted to a 27gal hefty storage tub, and i've repurposed that white tubing as airline for an aquarium bubbler to hopefully keep his lodgings a little more hospitably while i work on fixing his real digs up.


a question for where i'm at right now:

- can i repurpose the existing liner as underlayment for my new liner when i order it? i'm thinking i'd take everything out (tarps, carpet, old liner) to dig new edges and shelves, and then put the old liner back in as underlayment on its own.

 

[addy1]

If you use the old liner under new. Poke holes in it so any water between the two liners has somewhere to go.

 

[blil]

i'm back with another update, but -- should i start a different thread for this pond reconfiguration/rebuild? or is it ok here in the newbie forum?

almost the starting point, although at this stage i think i had excavated a little more from the deepest point, and had started digging out that protruding bit on the side

at present i think i've got it as much enlarged as i want to go given the space of our yard (it's about 7.5' at longest, and ranges between 5' and 6.5' feet wide, max depth of about 33" (i don't do DIY precision)

my idea at this point is to use the 55gal drum on its side, with the top section cut out for planting in the exposed gravel. i'm currently mulling over options to include some kind of clean-out stack or valve, but the fact that it's partially buried into the ground is making it difficult for me to visualize how that would work, ideally. i don't really want to do a snorkel because making it large enough in diameter to fit a pump down it would sacrifice too much of the volume of the barrel interior.

the style of clean-out ozponds uses in this video (

) - shown around 12:05 - is what i was intending to go for. but because his bog filter's base is at ground level more or less, he doesn't have the access issue to the valve that i foresee having.

any ideas for how to address this?

 

[addy1]

Nice work!

I don't have clean out tubes in my bog, which is big. I have never had a need for them.

The one thing I do is draw the water from about a foot off the bottom of the pond, so not drawing in a lot of debris. I also have a leaf basket before the pump, but I never need to clean it out.

ok here in the newbie forum?

ok here, or start a thread in the construction area.

 

[brokensword]

i'm back with another update, but -- should i start a different thread for this pond reconfiguration/rebuild? or is it ok here in the newbie forum?

View attachment 141881
almost the starting point, although at this stage i think i had excavated a little more from the deepest point, and had started digging out that protruding bit on the side

View attachment 141882

at present i think i've got it as much enlarged as i want to go given the space of our yard (it's about 7.5' at longest, and ranges between 5' and 6.5' feet wide, max depth of about 33" (i don't do DIY precision)
View attachment 141883

my idea at this point is to use the 55gal drum on its side, with the top section cut out for planting in the exposed gravel. i'm currently mulling over options to include some kind of clean-out stack or valve, but the fact that it's partially buried into the ground is making it difficult for me to visualize how that would work, ideally. i don't really want to do a snorkel because making it large enough in diameter to fit a pump down it would sacrifice too much of the volume of the barrel interior.

the style of clean-out ozponds uses in this video (

) - shown around 12:05 - is what i was intending to go for. but because his bog filter's base is at ground level more or less, he doesn't have the access issue to the valve that i foresee having.

any ideas for how to address this?

I really like your 'trusty tools'; I can relate! Used a pick and mattock on my pond v1, too! On the expansion, didn't need as many 'trusted tools'--I had my son to help!!

If you can, and it would be my preference, just put your barrel on top of the ground and maybe move some dirt around it to create some landscape. You can then get at it easier in the future.

As addy said, you don't need necessarily to have a stack/cleanout/snorkel; just put in your pipe manifolds and pea gravel. Keeping your pump higher off the pond bottom will keep a lot of debris out of your bog (so it won't easily clog, forcing you to NEED the cleanout). You could also dig out some shelves to give more volume (and then, if a shelf is needed, use plastic milkcrates, stacked and with a brick or two).

I think EVERY POND should have a weird divot, don't you???

ANNNNDDD; go as deep as you can (deeper than planned); you and your fish will thank us later! Especially if you're space-deprived.