Arapaima Pond Build

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Congratulations on nearly finishing the pond! I've been following this thread for 4 months also but have been away from this site a lot lately, you've done a ton of work since I last checked out this thread. It looks really good! I hope you get a video of him in his new pond for us to see :)
 
Thanks Nick, if you've been away for some time, then indeed, big changes.
Have a video of a couple of seconds only, want to get that bog up and running to see how it will empty the pond's small particles...really curious on that.

Some work still to do. Got some plans forming on how to do it fast and good, lets see where we can get this Saturday.
 
Just saw him going after the tilapia. He is a typical hunter...scouting best spot for the kill, then goes stationary for several minutes, then surges forward with amazing speed.
Tilapia was faster but sure close to a heart attack...lol.
Confirms the rule of a fish mouth: what fits in goes in...


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3 Tilapia still there this morning...no luck for Mr.T.
Guess he's back to his normal, saw him going for his pellets again and he's getting some prawns with it.
He's following you around whenever you walk in front of the tank. Mr. Beggar would be an appropriate name for him I guess.

Overall, with some small changes to the netting around the pond, I will be able to make it very secure and at the same time easy to maintain the bogs.
One of them will sure contain a lot of swimming/water area to serve as a grow-out pond. Likely the one on the right side, deep and large.
The other one filled 100% with plants to keep the water clear and healthy.
 
Love the pics of Mr T. He sure looks happy! It was great to see! I have a 5 inch baby arapaima, he seems to know now I bring the food! He'll follow me around thinking its feeding time!!!!!
 
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If in doubt, no worries, all still ok and we've done some...

Here you go. We finished moving a tap, changed the net on 1 side, put in a steel frame and sandbags in some spots.
Then big bags, liner and filled it..

Now waiting for stones and need to fix the water-diffuser in the Bog...then fill with gravel.
But for now, I added maybe another 3 CBM of water to the system.
The flat platform where the water comes down will get large flat garden stones on it.
So you will hardly see the liner anymore.
Then need to fill up around the bog with sand as well.
Some spots still need filling and work, but with a bit of wet feet, we can get around at the backside easily.
When the bog is all full, you'd hardly see the back and sides anymore, all filled up with high growing plants

Oh and Tilapia No. 4 is still there, saw all of them together today...

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I am sure some of you are thinking about the bog walls being far higher than the water-level.
It's to just make sure I got everything covered and done fast. Once the stones are in and the plants growing, it will be easy to cut away 2 sides to the water level.
The bog-walls are steel racks with metal plate on one side, sandwiched between the racks and the under-liner/liner.
So cutting away excess liner would make for easy access to the steel. Grinder to cut the excess rack away and bend the steel plate backwards/outwards. Cover with flat stones on top and it's not visible anymore while providing a 'walkway' for maintenance.
Because of that steel plate, no fear for cutting through the liner and it would be above the waterline anyway.

Next week will be spent on over-flow protection, filling up some lower sides and filling up to the max for testing overflows.
Get a second air pump and some work on the settling-tank drains.
Cleaning up and small jobs that need to be done basically.



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Another nice surprise today.
Water and the liner are much cleaner after Saturday's bog/waterfall start.
There was a big dark spot with lots of muck on the liner between the bog and the bottom-drain, that's mostly gone now.
Guess, even without gravel or plants, that the bog is acting as a settling-tank for now. Can see all the fish very clearly.
Still need to bring up some area's to start filling the pond to the supposed level, but then with skimmer working as well, I've good hopes for crystal clear water once the bog is filled up with plants.

Absolutely amazing how it's all coming together. Beautiful sight to see Mr. T. so clearly, swimming around, eating his pellets.
Think he also gets the point of the Tilapia being too fast for him. He doesn't bother them anymore, no chance to get them. Hope he doesn't get depressed about not being king of the hill anymore...lol.

The bog is of an ideal depth, 20"... size is about 70x80"
Will make for about 1 ton of gravel. Mostly about 5-6" under water, with lots of Lotus Flower.
Small stretch level with surface, for Papyrus and some other larger plants
 
Question for Bog-Experts...

Still in doubt on the gravel...

1. "Money saving" crushed granite
2. Expensive Pea Gravel / Rounded river stones

Number two is a given and commonly used, but I wonder if option 1 would work.
I can imagine that 'non-rounded' stones make for more difficult water flow, but I just wonder, with a 10k liter/hour pump and a 3" undergravel pipe with slots cut at about 1/2" wide, 2" apart, would that give enough space and force to remove that concern.

The financial difference is about 10-fold, so considerable.

Given that the granite is very dark/black, it nicely colors with the liner in the bog and really pops out the colors of the plants.
So I'd really like to go with the granite, but opinions/support or negatives on it are very welcome.
 
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