Questions before I start my new pond!

[Lord Gaz]

Okay, I've already made a pond once, using concrete and liner. It was inground but small, since it was my first time doing this and had no experience in pond making or concrete what so ever. That was a year ago.......

Now I plan on making a bigger one to house more fish and my small koi which hopefully will grow big. I plan on making it about 5' long, 2&1/2 or 3' high, the width is variable due to the space I am given, but once side will be about 2 foot and the other 3. I will expect about 1 1/2' foot is in ground, the rest above. Doing these, some questions come to mind:

I plan on either, surroudning the edge with big blocks of sandstone that Ihave in my backyard or use bricks to build the wall, cement them together and into the ground to form the shape first. Then either of these options:
1) I place the liner in first, than lay concrete on top, so the liner is in direct contact with the soil underneath and the inside of the sandstone, then lay concrete on top or
2) Lay concrete on the inside first before applying the liner, and THEN lay another layer of concrete again.
Out of these two, which is the better option and why?

My current pond, which was supposed to be 1 1/2' deep, is currently leaking 'cause I did a dodgy job, and the water level sits at about half it should be.

More questions will come to mind later on as I get along, this is still a thought in progress but I want to know all the DO's and Don'ts before I start digging up and buying materials.

Thanks guys!

 

[carpediem]

Okay, I've already made a pond once, using concrete and liner. It was inground but small, since it was my first time doing this and had no experience in pond making or concrete what so ever. That was a year ago.......

Now I plan on making a bigger one to house more fish and my small koi which hopefully will grow big. I plan on making it about 5' long, 2&1/2 or 3' high, the width is variable due to the space I am given, but once side will be about 2 foot and the other 3. I will expect about 1 1/2' foot is in ground, the rest above. Doing these, some questions come to mind:

I plan on either, surroudning the edge with big blocks of sandstone that Ihave in my backyard or use bricks to build the wall, cement them together and into the ground to form the shape first. Then either of these options:
1) I place the liner in first, than lay concrete on top, so the liner is in direct contact with the soil underneath and the inside of the sandstone, then lay concrete on top or
2) Lay concrete on the inside first before applying the liner, and THEN lay another layer of concrete again.
Out of these two, which is the better option and why?

My current pond, which was supposed to be 1 1/2' deep, is currently leaking 'cause I did a dodgy job, and the water level sits at about half it should be.

More questions will come to mind later on as I get along, this is still a thought in progress but I want to know all the DO's and Don'ts before I start digging up and buying materials.

Thanks guys!

I'm a little confused by your two options and I'm not sure how to answer but I'll give it a whirl anyway.

Why use concrete? If I am reading you right, the concrete is to hold the edges of the liner in place on top of your sandstone/brick wall right?

How about using retaining wall stone? First of all, they're massive and you can pin them together i.e. they're not going anywhere... Second, they have caps for the top which, along with some cement of construction adhesive, are a good way to hold the edges of your liner where you want it.

Just my .02

 

[Lord Gaz]

Thanks for replying!

Well the concrete was a cheap way around of setting it up, as i plan to have the inside laid with concrete as well, not just to hold the stones together. What does this retaining wall stone look like and how much does it approx. cost?

 

[carpediem]

Google Retaining Wall Stone

 

[stotty]

Don’t know if this will help this was how I built my pond dug a hole put a shuttering up all round filled it with concrete dropped the liner (underlay first)in filled with water to take shape then put the paving slabs round the edge. This way it’s perfectly level and becomes a raised feature in the garden Might help if you have any question or want to know anything in detail just let me know.

 

[stotty]

Might help

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=469173#post469173

 

[gunther]

Stotty you have your downspout from your raingutters feeding directly into the pond

 

[stotty]

Stotty you have your downspout from your raingutters feeding directly into the pond

Only in the summer it. Turns round in the winter and runs away down a gutter I have heard loads of things about don’t do it but I have used rain water with my fish for years it tests fine and it runs through some gauze stopping large chunks my pond is gin clear water parameters are fine and well the rain runs into it without it running off the roof. I will add I don’t live in a city or town. We are all on Water meters here and filling the pond up can work out costly this keeps it at a nice level over summer.