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    Thread: Ben's Pond build thread. Minneapolis. Airlift, BE RDF. Block w Xypex.

    1. #1
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      Ben's Pond build thread. Minneapolis. Airlift, BE RDF. Block w Xypex.

      Greetings all.
      Well, here goes. After lots of planning:
      https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showth...ng-a-pond-redo
      it is time to go to work.

      Saying good bye to this pond:
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      Good bye:
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      And now the dig happens:
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      And Lickety split the digging is done:
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      Right back in a second with some details for you.
      Attached Images Attached Images  
      Last edited by mplskoi; 11-28-2017 at 12:17 AM.

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      So a few details, I am aiming for about 42-4500 gallons. This will be a modified stream flow. Two 4 inch BD's have been put in already. I hope to pour the base next weekend. All I need to do yet is set rebar in place. Using #3 and setting it one foot on center.
      If you are curious to know more go to the thread in first post. Too tired to say much more now.
      One little challenge that I have run into- I have all of that shoring to hold back my nearly pure sand subsoil. After the pour I will start setting block. I had intended to put a 2 inch layer of foam insulation between the block and the shoring. But my shoring boards ended up a little out of square. I am now thinking that I will fill that gap with Big Gap expandable foam- at least the first three feet or so. This should help me deal with the varying thickness.

      Big thanks to my new shoveling buddy Andrew who did nearly half of all of the earth moving for me. We hauled 16 pickup loads and I have about two more to get rid of.

      Bottom drains and skimmer will run to BE RDF then to airlift. Airlift will create propulsion only. No lift. Water will be driven through chambers of H1 ceramic media and a MB of K1.

      Setting an ambitious schedule- hope to have fish in by June 1. There. I said it. You can hold my feet to the fire if it is October and I am still toiling away.
      Last edited by mplskoi; 04-16-2017 at 11:00 PM. Reason: spelling

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      icu2's Avatar
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      Kind of sad to see the existing one go... but it's always fun to start on a new one!

      Looking forward to the fun ahead!
      --Steve



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    4. #4
      Zac Penn is offline Supporting Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by mplskoi View Post
      So a few details, I am aiming for about 42-4500 gallons. This will be a modified stream flow. Two 4 inch BD's have been put in already. I hope to pour the base next weekend. All I need to do yet is set rebar in place. Using #3 and setting it one foot on center.
      If you are curious to know more go to the thread in first post. Too tired to say much more now.
      One little challenge that I have run into- I have all of that shoring to hold back my nearly pure sand subsoil. After the pour I will start setting block. I had intended to put a 2 inch layer of foam insulation between the block and the shoring. But my shoring boards ended up a little out of square. I am now thinking that I will fill that gap with Big Gap expandable foam- at least the first three feet or so. This should help me deal with the varying thickness.

      Big thanks to my new shoveling buddy Andrew who did nearly half of all of the earth moving for me. We hauled 16 pickup loads and I have about two more to get rid of.

      Bottom drains and skimmer will run to BE RDF then to airlift. Airlift will create propulsion only. No lift. Water will be driven through chambers of H1 ceramic media and a MB of K1.

      Setting an ambitious schedule- hope to have fish in by June 1. There. I said it. You can hold my feet to the fire if it is October and I am still toiling away.
      You know better than that Ben! There is always lift, especially with an RDF as a mechanical filter, but you are trying to minimize the total lift by using large pipes and using submerged biological filters.

      I look forward to watching your progression!
      Zac Penn.... Please sign-up for our MAILING LIST HERE
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      Quote Originally Posted by Zac Penn View Post
      You know better than that Ben! There is always lift, especially with an RDF as a mechanical filter, but you are trying to minimize the total lift by using large pipes and using submerged biological filters.

      I look forward to watching your progression!
      Yes I know better. Technically I will need to lift whatever amount it is to overcome the drawdown of the RDF (1/2 to 3 inches?) . And while many pond designers talk about dynamic head as "lift" I thought using the term propulsion is slightly more accurate. The water will return to the pond at the same level it came out. (Except a small waterfall weir- about 1000 GPH will be lifted 16 inches.

      I have not been able to get my hands on a test ball to pre test my under slab plumbing. Filled my pipes last night and they have not gone down at all. I think I will take a gamble on this. There are only 4 joints glued under the pond.

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      I'm going to sit back and watch

    7. #7
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      I will watch this build with interest to! I especially look forward to seeing how you incorporate the RDF.
      My Current 13,000 gallon Pond Build: https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showth...ot-in-Illinois

      More info about our renovated barns and ponds: www.WindsongAcres.org


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      Weather looks good for a pour this weekend. Looks like heavy rain Wednesday though- I laid every bit of lumber across my dig site tonight. Then laid a bunch of sheets of rigid styrofoam over that, then a couple of tarps over that. So long as the wind doesn't mess with my tarps I should be good. I don't want any more rain hitting the shored up embankments than necessary.

      Dumb question of the day- for setting 3/8 inch rebar will I want a 3/8 inch drill bit? Or a little over or undersized? I hope to be setting rebar into the concrete as soon as it is set up enough to walk on and positions my first course of block.

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      I wanted to move this comment over from my plan thread just for reference:

      Quote Originally Posted by RichToyBox View Post
      I think that concrete, with low water cement ratio (less than .45pounds of water per pound of cement) and high cement content (over 6.25 bags per cubic yard), both hard to determine in bag mixes is all that the canals, pipes, and water and sewer treatment facilities use. The use of Xypex is a belt and suspenders approach and may be warranted for our ponds, but I would not add it as a spec item for VDOT construction due to price. The keys to good watertight concrete are thickness, (at least 6 inches and 8 is better, and no cracks.

      I think that the addition of the Xypex coating is good, in that it will provide a coating that is both water resistant and able to be stained to provide a nice dark color for the pond. For the core filling, any of the high strength bag mixes should be good, but getting a couple of bags of Portland Cement so that you can add a couple of pounds to each bag and use as little water as you can will provide the strength for the block wall and the Xypex coating should provide the waterproofing. I won't say that the Xypex in the core fill won't provide the waterproofing, but I find it highly unlikely that the crystal growth will migrate far enough to block all of the masonry.

    10. #10
      icu2's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by mplskoi View Post
      Weather looks good for a pour this weekend. Looks like heavy rain Wednesday though- I laid every bit of lumber across my dig site tonight. Then laid a bunch of sheets of rigid styrofoam over that, then a couple of tarps over that. So long as the wind doesn't mess with my tarps I should be good. I don't want any more rain hitting the shored up embankments than necessary.

      Dumb question of the day- for setting 3/8 inch rebar will I want a 3/8 inch drill bit? Or a little over or undersized? I hope to be setting rebar into the concrete as soon as it is set up enough to walk on and positions my first course of block.
      That's what I used and had to hammer a little to sink it in.
      --Steve



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      It would also be advisable to slightly slope the rebar in different directions. Imbedded at different directions creates a sort of Chinese handcuff. If you would like to try, get a couple of pieces of dowel and insert into holes drilled in two boards. If the holes are drilled with a drill press, then the two boards can be readily pulled apart, but if the holes are drilled on an angle to each other, you might as well glue them together. They will not move without removing the dowels. A lot of effort goes into getting good anchoring systems like Hilti Anchorss to bond the rebar into holes in the concrete, when having them at an angle will prevent them from coming out better than the anchor system, by itself.
      Zone 7 A/B
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      Well, I don't do the prettiest rebar work in the world. But I have pretty good coverage- 12 inch on center (except a few spots went 13 inches) And I have several that I overlapped rather than bothering to cut them the perfect length.
      Because I am working down in a hole I have run guide boards on the inside to set my elevation. So rather than form boards to run my screed board over I have these other boards that I will pull out once I have leveled it the first time. Then fill that void in. I would post a picture of that but I had to wait till after dark to set those as the laser level that I am using is hard to read in bright sunlight.
      We pour tomorrow morning.
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      Last edited by mplskoi; 11-27-2017 at 11:24 PM.

    13. #13
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      How did the pour go?
      My Current 13,000 gallon Pond Build: https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showth...ot-in-Illinois

      More info about our renovated barns and ponds: www.WindsongAcres.org


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      Quote Originally Posted by Windsong Acres View Post
      How did the pour go?
      Pour went pretty well. Zsigmond and Ron Sterbenz came over to help. Zsig's son as well. And my 15.99 year old daughter too. My finish work isn't as nice as I like it to be- the side in the sun set a little faster and I didn't get it as smooth as I like. And the side in the shade I worked a little too soon. But the laser level says I am within 1/2 inch tolerance.

      Also when I pre positioned my corner blocks and then measured corner to corner I am within an inch of square. Yeah! I have enough room to correct that but that is close enough for me.

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      Photos!??


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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      Within an inch of square is excellent. Many competition swimming pools are out of square. We had fun helping you yesterday. My son quickly got over "being sore" and went off to a bond fire and sleep over. Resilience of the young. How do you feel after all of yesterday's scampering about?

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      I feel pretty good as far as work recovery. My neighbor Deb made some ridiculously good (and strong) margaritas last night. They went right to work on rebuilding my muscles but also to work on trashing my liver, my judgement, and my sleep.

      Pics later.

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      A few pics. I got my first course of block all laid out and cut and ready to set in a bed of mud.
      Then later in the afternoon when the sun went behind the clouds and my laser level was more helpful I got the corner blocks set and then got the ends set in and a portion of the area where my airlift chamber will go.
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      Here are two things bugging me a bit.
      1- the mason mud doesn't seem all that sticky. I butter the edge of a block and it just falls back off. I sure hope it is sticking better than it seems.
      2- with my 1/2 inch of variance in the pour- that means that my bed of mud is up to 3/4 of an inch think in places. Instructions say it shouldn't be used over 3/8ths of an inch thick or maybe 1/2. I worry that I could be a little weak there.

      And I worry about that because I am going to have to start pulling my "shoring" cross members out by the time that I do the second course. I am going to have rebar all of the way around the first course and will core fill that course before I start pulling those cross beams out. But I sure don't want the pressure of the hill to push to hard on that first course over the first few days until the core fill has hardened up a bit.

      Thoughts?
      Last edited by mplskoi; 11-27-2017 at 11:29 PM.

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      Can anyone reassure me that my "Type S Mason mix" will do a better job adhere than I worry it is?

      Also, hoping to put a 45 degree bevel where the slab meets the wall. Any recommendations on the perfect mix for that?

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      I'm sure no expert but I know your concern and that's the stuff I used. From the pictures I can't see much mortar between the blocks at all... is there any?
      I'm sure there's an art to it but I was terrible at laying block. I'd put mortar on the top of the block below and put some on the side of the adjacent block and
      set the new block in but like you said the mortar on the vertical surface would try and fall off and I'd end up setting it in the best I could and pack more in any
      gaps I ended up with. I'm sure a regular mason would be horrified. But in the end it all seemed to work. Maybe just dumb luck!
      You can see in this picture where I smeared the mortar between blocks... the curves where another ugly sight :



      P.S. On the variance in height, remember you don't have to make it up all in one or two rows... I made the mortar on the end that ended up slightly lower than the
      other thicker than the other on every row and after about 5 or 6 rows it made up the difference.
      --Steve



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