Emily's Pond Build Log

[rainbowcharmer]

I may need a nap after reading your post. Me and numbers don't get along so well. Holy cow that was a lot of math!! LOL

I will stick with either the timing method (5 gal bucket test) or the meter if we can get to it... LOL - Probably I will actually do both of those things, just to see if they come out about even.

At this point I'm thinking I may hold off on purchasing the pump until we actually fill it. Since there's such a wide range of volumes that we're coming up with, I'd rather wait and be sure on the pump that I get.

There is still a good amount of water in the deepest section of the pond, so I think this weekend will be spent on the outside of the pond - digging the shelves for the rocks and the area that the filter will be at, and smoothing down the dirt that we've dug out thus far. We have a LOT of dirt piled up in the yard at the moment... LOL

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Ok, so definitely no digging IN the pond this weekend. There is STILL a foot of water in the deepest section!! I guess the good news is that even if my liner ends up with a hole in it, the pond may never drain... LOL. This clay holds water REALLY well. Hopefully it will dry up soon so we can finish digging the inside of it. In the meantime, we're going to be digging the rock shelves and the filter area out, so we'll post pics of that when we're done on Sunday. Fun fun.

May also be having the electric done Sunday, but we'll see - depends on if my maintenance guy from work can get away for a while. If not, it's not terribly urgent to accomplish it right away - so long as it gets done in the next month or so I think we'll be fine.

I just can't wait until we're done!

 

[pbeemer]

sorry about that. occasionally the physics degree kicks in and i can't seem to control it.

it occurred to me while i was playing with the numbers that you're right on the length limit for a 25' x 20' liner (length + 2 x max depth + 2'). if that 15' length does not include the width of the planting shelf then a 25' liner won't work

 

[pbeemer]

re: buying the pump, i suggest that you figure out the performance you need and order it now, so that it will be on hand when you want it. ( 30 seconds after the pond is mostly full for the first time.) agonizing over the fine calculations is not useful.

unless Sadie really goes crazy in the next couple of weekends, it looks like your pond is going to end up with a volume of under 3,000 gallons. you want to filter this once per hour, which requires a pump flow of 3000 gal/hour or 50 gal/min.

[if the pond ends up at only 2500 gallons then your pump will be providing an extra 20% filtering (1.2 times per hour) (HORRORS!)]

i would guess that to outlet of your waterfall will be less than 5 feet above the surface of the pond (you're not going higher than the patio level, are you? )

also as a guess, you'll be moving that water through 20' total of pipe (suction + lift), with say five 90 degree elbows which "cost" about 2' of pipe each, or a total equivalent length of 30'

you can get a pretty good estimate of how much total head load the pump has to work against here:

http://www.koiclubsusa.com/calc4.php


with the numbers i made up, the effective head would be about 6.4 feet, so you want a pump whose performance curve shows about 3000 gal/hr (50 gal/min) at 6 feet of head.

i suggest that you use 2 inch PVC pipes, even if the outlet of the pump is smaller -- the reduced pipe resistance will make your pump happier.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

The filter won't be too high. We're actually going to dig it down a little bit - maybe half the height of the tub itself will be sunk into the ground. Or that is the plan anyway. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

And the physics things is WAYYYYYYYY over my head.

And yes I think we will probably end up with a 3000 gph pump, but I haven't decided which one to get yet. I'm not sure if the dirty-water pump is the way to go, or if we should get one specifically designed for pond use. I'll decide that in a while... I'm hoping to find some reviews on them before I buy one. I like to see what other people think of things before I shell out for them...

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Updated Pics

So we weren't actually able to dig in the pond because it had about a foot of water in it still this morning (clay drains REALLY slowly). But we did get a few other things done. We started clearing away the dirt from the dig so far - spreading it in the yard where there are ruts and low-spots to help make the yard a little more even (will have to seed it this spring). Also we spread dirt in front of the stairs for the patio to make the ground more level there (used to be a pretty steep drop). And we got the filter spot dug out too. Once we got some of the dirt out of the way and the water didn't have to go up so high to drain, we were able to drain the standing water.

Pond drained:

Pic of some of the area cleared:

The yard and all the dirt we've spread so far:

Filter tub:

Filter & pond area:

A couple views from the patio:

And another helper (Gabby):

 

[goshiki1]

emily . Ive been there and done it 3 x now. last dig was a 2200- gal. What Ive learned is : one your plant shelves need to be wider go at LEAST 18 inch wide/Pots fall off real easy in wind any tall plants esp blow over & pots get bigger & bigger as Lillies grow 2, pitch the shelves a bit so pots tip back rather than lean fwd. & slide off shelf/ 3, GO AS BIG AS POSSIBLE NOW. U will want bigger later. ex io did 1000, gal/ 1500 then 2200. Go at Least 3 1/2 ft at one end . Hard freeze makes warmer down deep for koi. 4. make your filter 3 x the rating as size of pond . great book to get "he complete pond builder" xcellent! Do a drain in bottton at deep end . Life is so much easier than!! Do it now or U'll wish u did. Note: This is all if U r plannin onm keepin KOI. They are messy & get BIG! need more info. google pond building DIY lots on Net . Good luck chuck

 

[rainbowcharmer]

No koi for me. Goldfish and minnows are going in this pond. Mostly shubunkin goldfish most likely for the goldies, and then some fathead minnows, and probably some rosy reds as well. Nothing too big.

We do have the plant shelves sloping backwards, or will once we're done with everything, but they are not quite 18" wide. May have to do something about that... Also not planning on lilies on the plant shelves, those will be on the bottom.

deepest end is going to be 4' deep, so we're good there. Shallow end is 2.5' deep.

And this is as big as we can possibly build for the space that we have. It's bigger than originally intended specifically because I decided I wanted to go as big as the yard allowed. Any bigger and we'd have issues getting around it, plus we'd eliminate the bench area that I want to be able to sit at and view the pond.

Thanks for your input.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

DONE DIGGING!!!!! YAY!

So today we finished the dig. I'm SO looking forward to the completion of this project. I need to order the liner (25'x30'). Technically the liner needs to be 21' x 27', but they come in 5' increments, so.... 25 x 30 it is. Anyhow, the excess will be used for the waterfall area, which is just fine. Haven't decided where to get it at yet, so that's what I'll be researching this afternoon. Also have to go buy the sand at Home Depot, and then we have to get to the rock yard to order the stone (decided on river rock - I think). I'm seeing the end soon!! Also have to order the pump, and the pads for in the filter. Gotta pick up plumbing parts at Lowes... So much left to do!

Anyhow - pics below!

The black plastic was there to help warm up that section (the first few inches of soil were frozen):

The painted line on the right is the water line:

Water line on the left here. The little line 1' down from that is the plant shelf line:

Drumrolllllllllllllllllll:

Dug shelves down to the water line for the rocks (so no liner will show):

Filter area:

 

[rainbowcharmer]

what, nobody wants to celebrate with me?? sheesh!

We bought the sand tonight. Working on ordering the liner (waiting on a quote from pondliners.com for the shipping costs), and then we'll make the final decision on where to get it. Their prices are the best we've found for the liner and the underlay, but if their shipping is ridiculous, that will change where we buy from. The other options are the local place (Coastal Ponds), but their price is a bit high, and with the tax it's actually probably more than the online sites with the $100 or so shipping costs - and another website (Webb's Water Garden). So we'll see what happens.

I also need to find where to get the eggcrate - couldn't find it at either Lowes or Home Depot. I looked in the lighting section since I thought that's where that would be, but no luck. Any thoughts on where to find that?

We're going to drive down to Harbor Freight tomorrow to see about picking up the dirty water pump ($65 for a 3500 gph dirty water pump). I think that will work out well for us, as long as they have it in stock. Once we get that, we'll see about picking up the plumbing supplies for the filter, and actually getting that built and ready to go.

If only there were more daylight hours and a few extra dollars in my bank account.