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    Thread: Austin TX New Pond Build

    1. #1
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Austin TX New Pond Build

      Hi -

      Building a new pond. Liner pond, concrete collar, going to be between 6k and 6,500 gallons. Oval shaped, 24' x 13' (why 13' and not 12' ... it had to do with a tree that needed to be removed).

      Drains and pickups:
      - (2) 4" aerated bottom drains
      - (1) Zakki skimmer
      - (1) mid-water pickup

      Filters in use:
      - (1) Zakki Sieve
      - (1) ~40" Zakki Shower
      - (1) Bead filter (haven't decided which one yet)
      - Will add appropriately sized UV

      Filtration circuit 1: Bottom drains to Zakki Sieve to Bead Filter to Zakki Shower
      Filtration circuit 2: Skimmer to sieve as well, the onto Bead and Shower
      Filtration circuit 3: mid-water pickup to fines filtration (probably a second bead) to a water spillway back to pond (I may not activate this circuit right away, but I want it as a safety for filtration expansion because it's easier to do now than later)

      The shower is going to feed 2 TPRs, and a GPR. It will be properly valved so I can control the flow between the three, and the remaining water will flow into pond via rock waterfall

      When I activate filtration circuit 3, it will go over the falls, or I'll add an additional spillway to keep surface turbulence under control.

      The pond is on a relatively steep slope. Low side is ~23" beneath higher side. Going to make up for the difference largely with the concrete collar. I'll then do some stacked stone on the outside of the collar to tie it in. I think it's going to end up being about 30" above ground at the highest point and 2 feet deep from there. I'm anticipating about 60% of pond volume to be underground and about 40% above ground.

      Unfortunately the low side is between the house and the pond. So to gravity flow the filtration, it would be super easy if I put the filtration on the low side - but it would aesthetically stink unless I got fancy and built a deck or something over it ...

      The other alternative is to move the filtration away from the pond on the high side, which would mean pressurized through the sieve and bead.

      I haven't sized the pumps yet ... I will once I make the gravity fed vs. pressurized decision ...

      Thoughts?

      - Berko
      Attached Images Attached Images   
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

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    2. #2
      kimini is offline Senior Member
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      Wow, nice yard and house! My only input is that with it under the trees, there's going to be endless issues with leaves; the skimmer basket will always be full, and there'll probably still be a bunch on the bottom. Also, and I very much understand that it's totally up to you, but why put the pond so far from the house? It just seems like it's going to lose some of the appeal of visiting it.

      As far as where to put the filtration, the less visible and more out of the way, the better, as long as it's not far from the pond. Without seeing an overhead view, maybe over towards the fence behind your son? It's hard to give advice without a complete layout being shown.
      Last edited by kimini; 11-19-2018 at 02:08 PM.

    3. #3
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by kimini View Post
      Wow, nice yard and house! My only input is that with it under the trees, there's going to be endless issues with leaves; the skimmer basket will always be full, and there'll probably still be a bunch on the bottom. Also, and I very much understand that it's totally up to you, but why put the pond so far from the house? It just seems like it's going to lose some of the appeal of visiting it.
      You're right. The trees are gonna be an issue. I've removed 63 trees in the last two years! Unreal right? All cedar and live oaks. There's a bit more trimming I'll do, but it is what it is, I may have to put a shade sail or some such to direct some away.

      Far from the house - yup, we thought about that a lot. If you look at the picture with my son, you'll see some large sitting rocks in the background. That's a firepit area we're building (that little red flag is where the firepit is going), and I'm going to put some sort of patio or stick with the "backyard camping theme" and use more of those boulders to make it more of an outdoor living area. Also, that picture is a *little* bit deceiving, it's only about 40 feet from the putting green thingie.

      And yes - on filtration, that's exactly where I'd go if I moved it away from the pond, back behind my son, you've got the right visual in your mind's eye.
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    4. #4
      vipertom1970 is offline Senior Member
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      have you looked into RDF as a mechanical filter and are you fixed on sieve and bead filter ? Zac's sieve is very good for a pressurized filtration system but for a gravity flow system there are better sieves.
      Last edited by vipertom1970; 11-19-2018 at 07:14 PM.

    5. #5
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Yeah - I go back and forth. I’m really leaning right now towards remaining pressurized because I can locate the equipment farther away and .... do less digging
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    6. #6
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Forms complete, one course of rebar in. Got all the bottom drains, returns and mid water pickup in the mail.

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      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    7. #7
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      Epic build so far subscribed for updates. Beautiful home, Where do you live at? I assume somewhere I n the states. Man I wished I was still in south west Virginia 30 acres for $30k.

    8. #8
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nguyen365 View Post
      Epic build so far subscribed for updates. Beautiful home, Where do you live at? I assume somewhere I n the states. Man I wished I was still in south west Virginia 30 acres for $30k.
      I’m in Austin Texas.
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    9. #9
      pickerel's Avatar
      pickerel is offline Supporting Member
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      You have a beautiful place and setting for a pond. I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Please do post updates. Are those stakes beefy enough to hold back all that concrete? I'm no expert, but that's a lot of weight pressing outward. Also, I think the rebar joints are supposed to be overlapped more.
      Last edited by pickerel; 12-02-2018 at 11:43 PM.

    10. #10
      Grumpy is offline Senior Member
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      I am confused, is this a collar, or a pond wall? Much too tall without form ties for that wall. Why no footing and ground compaction?

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    11. #11
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by Grumpy View Post
      I am confused, is this a collar, or a pond wall? Much too tall without form ties for that wall. Why no footing and ground compaction?
      I am going to tie them. It’s acting as a hybrid ... There’s just a large slope so I’m pouring the concrete to even the slope. On the high side it’s a normal collar. On the low side, it’s roughly 20”.
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    12. #12
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      The other step I’m still in the process of is digging 2 feet of depth out of the center of the pond (I’m leaving about 18” untouched around the inside perimeter to support the collar while it cures) and using it to build up around the high side. It will ultimately mean about 4-6” of bender board exposed.

      I suspect this solves any potential bowing issues. All those cubic yards of clay and some 20-30 rock should help the forms.


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      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    13. #13
      kwickcut's Avatar
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      looking at your Forms i would be worried that they would blow out from all the weight of the concrete. from the looks of the pictures you are using 1" x 3" or 1" x 4" with 1/4" masonite this most likely will collapse under the weight. you may want to rethink this setup


      also you may want to make a box grid to sit inside the forums to make the concrete stronger


      kwick
      Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. - Benjamin Franklin.

      you cant fix stupid no matter how hard you try.

    14. #14
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Here’s an update. The forms held just fine. I ended up with three courses of rebar on high side fading to one course on the low side. I bought a Zakki skimmer and wanted the bottom half embedded in concrete. The top half will fit nicely into the one course of cinder block I’ll add to the top. I ended up making a box out of pink foam and embedded it in the forms with a cinder block to weight it down, worked perfectly.

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      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    15. #15
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Here’s a picture of how the skimmer will sit.

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      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    16. #16
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      And now, time to start digging. Absolutely brutal heavy loam and limestone.

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      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    17. #17
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      Lucky you get to burn off all the xmas and thanksgiving callories.

    18. #18
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      Quote Originally Posted by berkokid View Post
      And now, time to start digging. Absolutely brutal heavy loam and limestone.
      --Steve



      Koiphen 2021 Koi Person of the Year!

    19. #19
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nguyen365 View Post
      Lucky you get to burn off all the xmas and thanksgiving callories.
      That’s exactly what’s going through my head as I dig, NOT!

      I got down about 40” in a spot today and spent an hour with a breaker bar to go two more inches across roughly two square feet.

      I tried to convince the dear wife to allow two courses of cinder block, anyone wanna guess how that went?!?!
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

    20. #20
      berkokid is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by icu2 View Post
      I take it that means you’re not getting on a plane to come to Austin to break limestone? You sure? We’ve got great barbecue and the best TexMex in the country!

      Fine, be that way.
      - Jonathan
      - aka "Berko"

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