New Pond idea

[Matt724]

Hey guys, I was just thinking that since my parents took out some palm trees in my backyard, that there was a lot of open space left. Now my parents aren't fans of my fish hobby so far and already don't approve of a big pond in my backyard, but Imight be able to convince them of a very small, low profile pond in a corner of the backyard. I attached a picture with dimensions of the area it has to be within. I'm not spending more than maybe a $120 on this, depending on how much money I get from Xmas, so everything is low low profile. I was planning for a pond at least taking up half that area with a waterfall sort of rock fixture acting as the main sort of filtration. Maybe a heater if necessary, but the only fish in there will be mosquito fish for now and probably anacharis, water lilies and duckweed as vegetation. Not much. But this will (maybe) be my first pond make so any advice will be helpful. As of now this is just an idea so please guide me to make this a reality.

Basic questions I need answered:

1. how deep should it be to live through socal winter (preferably answered by someone who lives around here becuase it gets a little colder than most people think)

2. how much pondliner should I buy?

3. how thick should my pondliner be?

4. should I line the digout with cement and then put pondliner in?

5. is this a feasible approach, or am i just crazy?

 

[Matt724]

sorry, i guess the picture didn't work here it is:

 

[Pharaoh]

1. The real threat for pond depth would be freezing temperatures. Does it freeze over in Socal?
2. Looking at roughly 10'x15', but that is just guessing from the drawing. Hard design to eyeball.
3. 20mil should do the job.
4. Just putting in the pond liner will be fine.
5. Its a great idea, but it will be a tight project with only $120.

 

[watnazn]

If you decide to do it, I want to help lol.
It doesnt freeze here.

 

[Matt724]

Thanks Pharoah, and no it doesn't freeze, but lately, i've been waking up at around 6am and finding my grass frosted and frost on my windshield and once there was a puddle of water frozen at school, but that's about it. And how do I prevent water during rainy days getting under the liner and distorting the dirt underneath because I doubt that rocks and some dirt will do the job, but I could be wrong.

And yeah Kyle, i'd love your help. and did you ever hear from your friend about the 50? I've been imagining what to put in it since you told me and the excitement is growing lol.

 

[Pharaoh]

The best idea would be to take the dirt from the hole and use it to build up the perimeter. Have the grading slope away from the pond. This will aid in keeping water from getting underneath the pond.

 

[Matt724]

hmm, yea that sounds like a better idea than going out and buying bags of cement and waiting for it to cure and whatnot. Thanks Pharaoh. And what about filtration? How much filtration does this need since I've seen gambusia thriving in flooded swimming pools with stagnant water as pest control; so aquatic plants plus a cheap filter that pumps water up to the top of a rock water fall unit should be fine right?

 

[Pharaoh]

You might stash a bit of biomedia and mechanical filtration somewhere in the waterfall. This will just help keep things clean and in good shape.

 

[watnazn]

I only talk to him at school, but I'll try to ask him somehow. Just be patient.

 

[Matt724]

You might stash a bit of biomedia and mechanical filtration somewhere in the waterfall. This will just help keep things clean and in good shape.

Okay, so I took your advice and agree that some sort of filtration other than the plants and rock waterfall will be needed in the inevitable case that the mosquito fish will breed out of control, therefore raising the bio level.

Image 1: So I came up with this simple idea for a sump, where the sump box mesh part is slightly lower than the pond water line, so the water falls in due to gravity, goes through the stack of bioballs in the first chamber, under and up through the (at the time) unknown sponge/other media filter in chamber 2, and then up and over into the third chamber that holds the water pump that will shoot it back up to the rock waterfall.

Image 2: Now here, the water will be shot up to the rock waterfall and hit an L-shaped pvc pipe piece that will let the water flow down the rock structure and down, back into the pond. I plan to make the rock water fall out of a large block of Styrofoam that I could probably find pretty cheap and easily at homedepot or lowes or someplace like that, carve it up, put on a few layers of cement, then the areas where the water will be, paint on a few layers of this stuff: http://www.epdmcoatings.com/liquid_rubber.html (liquid rubber) and then silicone real river rocks around it to give it a more natural feeling. But if I decide to be cheap, I'll just buy a pile of rocks really cheaply at a landscaping store and pile them up, silicone them, and use excess pondliner to use as the water flow area.

Image 3: Also, to keep stuff out of the mesh area and blocking the flow into the sump, I'll probably make somesort of u-shaped band that will encompass the inlet mesh part that will keep leaves and stuff from getting past and only water.

Now, at the moment, I can't find any flaws, I just have to make sure to put the inlet of the sump at the right level so that incase of a power failure, the water from the pond wont keep falling into the sump, causing it to overflow. Also, to keep stuff out of the mesh area and blocking the flow into the sump, I'll probably make somesort of u-shaped band that will encompass the inlet mesh part that will keep leaves and stuff from getting past and only water.

So if you see any problems or need help understanding my horrible drawings let me know PLEASE! Thanks