First outdoor pond started...

[paul112]

Looking good, the last pics are brilliant:
1: You looking eager to get the pond dug
2-4: Someone else digging the pond for you
5: You looking knackered and pretending you dug it all yourself

Good luck, can't wait to see it finished!
Paul

 

[Conner]

Looking good, the last pics are brilliant:
1: You looking eager to get the pond dug
2-4: Someone else digging the pond for you
5: You looking knackered and pretending you dug it all yourself

Good luck, can't wait to see it finished!
Paul

That's my friend. He was my cheap foreign labor . A beer and some brats off the grill. And I actually did more digging than him, but he helped a LOT.

 

[Conner]

The 29 gallon DIY filter will not be large enough with 4,000gph running through it, except for filtration of fairly large debris.

I may try to find a larger container, or use a smaller pump, or split it with a Y and run the other pipe to a fountain or the bog filter, maybe.

You might want to consider external pumps.

I really don't like external pumps for some reason. I'd rather have submersible ones, but I'll look into them anyways.

Both the pondmaster hydrive and the allpondpumps pumps handle large solids, and I would not purchase a pump that didn't handle large solids if I were you.

Oh yah, I'm definitely only getting pumps that can handle large solids.

As far as the underlayment, the stuff they sell for this is a huge ripoff. Just about anything that won't break down quickly will work. Carpet it perfect.

Rug is thick and cheap

 

[Conner]

Well, last night we went cruising the alleys (junk pickup day is coming up in a couple weeks), and I scored about 1,000 sq. ft. (at least) of free carpet. Apparently somebody just had all new carpeting put in, so I've got all the underlayment I could possibly need .

This morning, I took my girlfriend down for a hike by the river (we have a lot of old exposed fossil beds here, and she'd never seen them before). I took the opportunity to score 5 or 6 sweet pieces of driftwood. I'll throw some pics up for you guys. Most of it will be used in tanks in the house, but two of the pieces will for sure be used in the pond. One of them is 8'8" long, and the other is 6' long. They'll look good set in the pond. I may go back over to the river and collect a few more cool ones I saw, but I could only carry so many at once.

 

[farawayinn]

i agree with calioutlaw, the pondmaster hydrive is an excellent submersible pump. ours handles live oak leaves (small and very hard) and pine needles no problem. i think it's 3600gph. great product.

you pond is looking great! nice driftwood finds also.

 

[Columbian Shark Catfish]

Nice wood

 

[Cafe]

What kind of tree is on the left in the picture? Do you have any concern about its roots puncturing the liner in the future? I really like the kidney shape of your pond, good luck and have fun.

 

[Conner]

Nice wood

Thanks

What kind of tree is on the left in the picture? Do you have any concern about its roots puncturing the liner in the future? I really like the kidney shape of your pond, good luck and have fun.

Its a Cleveland Pear. I'm not too worried about it, since I'm using 1-2 layers of thick carpeting as underlayment for the pond. This "ought" to deflect the roots enough that they don't puncture. And if they do puncture? Hopefully that will be the problem for the next owner of this house

 

[Muske]

Bottom drain or skimmer?

I use a skimmer to house my NurseryPro pump. 4000 gph, high effecient so cost about 15 a month to run. It can handle solids, but the skimmer has a basket/net that collects almost everything. Good protection for smaller fish that can def. get sucked into the larger pumps. I like the skimmer for it's ability to hide the pump and then run the plumbing along the pond edge and buried durng excavation. it also holds my thermometer and a few brushes that are good extra mech./and bio filters.

 

[Conner]

I was just planning on having the pump on the bottom of the pond, and pumping up to my filters. I may look into making a skimmer instead though (will still have pump on bottom of pond, just to help pick up solids). I do have several 30-40g size plastic totes I can use.