With such a warm welcome in the Intro section... I know I have come to the right spot for help! Starting better than 3 years ago, I built a screened Gazebo at the bottom of a garnite gully with a promise to my wife I would one day dam the bottom and make it a goldfish pond with a waterfalls and a stream. I get this done and she will tear 39 pages out of my HoneyDo! novel and we can then enjoy it with a life once again!
Having already made every mistake possible on a prior pond project, I would rather forego doing same again and this is where I turn to the experts that have been here before and try to flatten out my learning curve a bit! Assume I know Nothing as that would be quite accurate, with a hole in place I need all the rest that turns it into a pond. Suggestions, debates, brand names and sizes... I need it all!
What we have here is a semi above ground "hole" built on a granite rock. Even with all the mistakes I made on my first attempt years ago, we enjoyed it so much I had to try again. I calculate this "rock" the pond is built on extends down some 30-40 feet at minimum. This should result in enough heat pump transfer that the rebared and shotcreted pond should remain liquid through the winter..... I say this with a great deal of Hope behind the statement. If it works I will take credit for it... if not I will come up with some lame excuse why it didnt work. Being MN natives, moving out here 20 years ago, the winters here are actually civilized and we have a great deal of sun. If I need to plumb this through a small solar panel, I can do that later if its required.
The layout, in all its glory... and omissions. Rough calculations show it about 7000 gallons in size with the deepest part being abot 4 feet deep, extending up the hill to a walkout level. A top holding area will split the pumped water into a waterfalls on one side and a small stream leading down to a shallow area on the other. I did think to have a 2" ID drain put in the low spot of the structure but aside from that..... nothing. The young guys that shot the concrete moved fater than this old cuss and I did not have time to form in a skimmer.
I will post up some photos of what we have and then need everyone to make suggestions RE Pumps, filters, slimmer, concrete sealer.... everything that turns this from a hole into a pond. This week Kris will be sponge staining the dyed concrete so it blends into the Moss Rock that surrounds it. I will be stacking rocks on the outside of the walls so those too blend away and it has a more natural look from afar. I have read all I can and now its time for me to lay out my mental gameplan and have folks that know what they are doing make suggestions.
08 gentle slope streambed
12 steeper side that will get the multiteer waterfall
13 area under the walkway that would make the shortest plumbing run for the stream/waterfalls, for one pump
17 lay of the land we are dealing with and blasted heavy rocks waiting to be stacked to hide a wall
18 top area to receive the pumped water and then split between the stream on this sire and the falls on the other
27 with the 2" drain directly below, I extended the deck out so a skimmer affair would hide under the deck and could be spliced into the drain, both going to the filter/pump combination..... no idea if that will work
Having already made every mistake possible on a prior pond project, I would rather forego doing same again and this is where I turn to the experts that have been here before and try to flatten out my learning curve a bit! Assume I know Nothing as that would be quite accurate, with a hole in place I need all the rest that turns it into a pond. Suggestions, debates, brand names and sizes... I need it all!
What we have here is a semi above ground "hole" built on a granite rock. Even with all the mistakes I made on my first attempt years ago, we enjoyed it so much I had to try again. I calculate this "rock" the pond is built on extends down some 30-40 feet at minimum. This should result in enough heat pump transfer that the rebared and shotcreted pond should remain liquid through the winter..... I say this with a great deal of Hope behind the statement. If it works I will take credit for it... if not I will come up with some lame excuse why it didnt work. Being MN natives, moving out here 20 years ago, the winters here are actually civilized and we have a great deal of sun. If I need to plumb this through a small solar panel, I can do that later if its required.
The layout, in all its glory... and omissions. Rough calculations show it about 7000 gallons in size with the deepest part being abot 4 feet deep, extending up the hill to a walkout level. A top holding area will split the pumped water into a waterfalls on one side and a small stream leading down to a shallow area on the other. I did think to have a 2" ID drain put in the low spot of the structure but aside from that..... nothing. The young guys that shot the concrete moved fater than this old cuss and I did not have time to form in a skimmer.
I will post up some photos of what we have and then need everyone to make suggestions RE Pumps, filters, slimmer, concrete sealer.... everything that turns this from a hole into a pond. This week Kris will be sponge staining the dyed concrete so it blends into the Moss Rock that surrounds it. I will be stacking rocks on the outside of the walls so those too blend away and it has a more natural look from afar. I have read all I can and now its time for me to lay out my mental gameplan and have folks that know what they are doing make suggestions.
08 gentle slope streambed
12 steeper side that will get the multiteer waterfall
13 area under the walkway that would make the shortest plumbing run for the stream/waterfalls, for one pump
17 lay of the land we are dealing with and blasted heavy rocks waiting to be stacked to hide a wall
18 top area to receive the pumped water and then split between the stream on this sire and the falls on the other
27 with the 2" drain directly below, I extended the deck out so a skimmer affair would hide under the deck and could be spliced into the drain, both going to the filter/pump combination..... no idea if that will work