danz pond construction

[danzcool]

Made you look. Really though, the pond is getting close to the water containment phase, so I figured I had better start the construction thread. This has been a long time coming and the plans have changed a lot along the way, I'll try to include the changing plans in this thread, as well as possibly try to tie in the the various other threads that were part of the journey... now I guess I have to go dig up the photos.

["B"]

need.......





pics.........







pLeAsE?!?
:Drogar-Si

[LouAnn NOrman]

Yup! Get digging! I am waiting patiently!!!!

[Meg]

you brat :mad:
and I got all excited for you
go get that shovel and get started

[luke-gr]

We gonna get to see that Spirex in action??

[Cowiche Ponder]

that was NOT nice to do ...post a title like that and not have pictures ready.... I'll bet that was done a'purpose

[danzcool]

Sorry, had to go dig up some pics, and get something to eat.

Digging.
part of the hole had been started a few years even before, but I don't have pics of that, so we will start with the drainage. For typical water changes, the water has to go somewhere, in this case the somewhere is the storm drain, I am going to emphasize that for vortex dumps the water will go to the yard and in case of medications that do not neutralize to the sewer, this is really only for large water changes if/when necessary. The first pic shows the storm drain and ditch channel, you'll notice another ditch near the front heading to the right, that leads us to pic 2, more ditch that had to be dug, at the very front you will see the sewer line, which I went under. You'll notice the ditch y'ing at the front, the "y" to left is from the house with power, water supply and low-voltage joining the ditch to the right which heads out toward the pond site. In the low voltage conduit I ran a 2 CAT5 cables, 2 RG6 coax, and a pair of 6 conductor signal cable, never know what I may want out there in the future, just want to be prepared. On to pic 3... still going.

[danzcool]

you brat :mad:
and I got all excited for you
go get that shovel and get started

I actually wore out a shovel on this project
It's funny, the letal gets thin and then just snaps.

We gonna get to see that Spirex in action??

Soon, hopefully soon, and I hope to have a microscreen in it. The plumbing is currently hooked up, but it will take me awhile to get to that point in postings.

[danzcool]

Side projects, site drainage was never properly installed here, or if it was the clay tiles and/or cast iron pipes have since filled or corroded, so in addition to the pond drainage, the rest of this side of the yard was tied in while the ditch was dug. Part of this additional drainage was at this basement door, this area always had a mud puddle in front of it in winter, solution put in a beefy drain and patio w/satillo tiles (this is the same area as pic 2 in my previous post). Pics 2-4 are side project 2, the fence for this side of the yard, I left the posts high because the thought is to add a trellis structure to the top eventually to allow climbing plants cover and provide even more privacy in the future.

[Rudy]

Isn't it fun diggin those ditches and feels so good on your back to. I'd rather dig in a big hole. Just filled mine in yesterday but it was only about 20ft. long. Now have hot & cold water from softener and also the well water line. Did same as you, layed in cable and new electric line for future use.
Those little trenchers would have been nice but when you have to dig under elecrtic, gas and 3ft, sidewalk they aint' no good.
I like your door. Looks like an old hand crafted one, nice.
Now go dig.

Rudy

[emmalou]

Go Dan!

[danzcool]

I'm goin'

Finally at the pond site, a few of the first pics of the hole, all hand dug. Pic 1 shows the hole, the green outline of the future filter pit, and at the upper left the debris pile of stuff that the hole had collected over the previous few years (did I mention that the hole was started several years earlier and then just left to sit?), you'll notice the rock outline in the bottom right of the hole, that was to prove to be hard work in the future.
Pic 2, after a bit more digging and the drain, power, low voltage and water lines brought in.
Pic 3, after I think a bit more digging, the return lines are put in, I did 2 circuits of three 2" returns stubbing off of a 3" line... one for clockwise direction, the other for counter-clockwise, may not be the best since I don't have control of the individual returns, but I think I can live with it. (In the background you can see the Spirex 3500 vortex waiting for a filter pit)

[Ronin-Koi]

Hi Dan,

It's good to see a pond construction thread from you. Do you have a plan or description of your pond to help "orient" us that are not familiar with your pond building activities over the last few years? Size of pond, dimensions, and filtration plans, etc.?

Hand digging the pond: You have patience! And Stamina! And you're nuts. I used a machine to dig out the bulk of the dirt and STILL had to do waaaAAYY too much hand digging for my preference. As I like to say, that is serious prison work!

Looking forward to seeing more photos as you bring us up to date on your construction.

- Wayne, thinks Danzcool is cool for sharing his adventure.

[danzcool]

Hand digging... I called it exercise, and also considered it a way to get something done while saving up the money for the rest of the pond.
The plan:
Originally it was a 20' long, 6' wide, 3' deep rock bottom liner pond... but I wanted filtration, so it became an undergravel filter, and the hole got a foot deeper... The thought of ever having to clean out an undergravel filter quickly put that folly to an end, but not before the hole was at 4' deep. The hole widened a bit and shortened some. The filtration plan went through several rapid evolutions at this point, from an up-flow lava rock in a header pond to a bog filter, to incorporating a veggie filter, and then to a bead filter (after seeing nearly every pond on a pond tour using bead filters, plus there was a thread on AWGS about Griff's pond and how happy he was with a Sacramento Koi bead filter system). No plan for settlement at that time since the Sac Koi systems claims no need for it since it had a blower... then I talked with the folks at TSE koi, they had a cheaper bead filter, and for the difference in price I could add a settlement tank, but their bead filter didn't have a blower, sooo enter the sand to bead filter retrofit, an equivalent of the sac koi bead for 2/3 the cost, plus I get settlement still. Talked with Kevin Pham when ordering the Spirex 3500 through Christine at his place, and that got me on the road to a separate bio-chamber, eventually a kaldnes fluidized bed, which I got sidetracked on last year in testing designs. Keep moving forward on the filtration evolution and the microscreen is starting to look like a good idea, I am now planning on going 2 bottom drains to Spirex 3500 w/microscreen, through pump, to kaldnes fluidized bed and gravity through TPRs back to the pond. A separate skimmer/mid level return will now pump through the bead to an aesthetic (hopefully) shower type filter at the head of the upper pond. The goal was to have 4000 gallons in the koi pond area, and an additional 1000 gallons in the upper lily pond for a total of 5000 gallons, I'm thinking I may get up to 6000 total gallons now, but as long as there is 5000, I'm happy. The lower pond is half at ground level and half about 18" above ground level based on the slope of the land and the way I graded it. The lower pond is 5' deep at the bottom drains and about 4' at the sides. The construction is structural, the lower pond in gunite (I just couldn't muster the energy to build the complex curved forms for poured), the waterfall path in formed concrete, and the upper pond and shower area in block w/concrete floor. The entire pond will be sealed in polyurea by Jeff Dunkel of Aquatic Coatings. The filter pit area will be covered by a deck that edges up to the pond.

Cliff notes version:
5000-6000 gallons
Upper pond - 22" deep
Lower pond 60" deep
Bottom drain circuit: vortex w/microscreen -> 1/4hp pump -> kaldnes chamber -> reversible TPR's
Skimmer/mid-level circuit ?? pump -> 30" bead filter -> shower filter -> return through upper pond & falls.

[danzcool]

...I like your door. Looks like an old hand crafted one, nice.
Now go dig.

Rudy

Yeah, It is nice, they're pretty common around here in the older houses, it symbolizes the carriage house entry (and later garage for them horseless carriages).

[luke-gr]

Glad to see this as well, Danz. I know youve been planning a long time.....
Curious as to the dates of these pics??
Luke

[danzcool]

The ditching was done almost 2 years ago between Christmas and New Years..
The patio/fence where April 2004, the last group of pictures were from May/June 2004. I'm slow in pond construction. Weekends only for the most part and too much time on the forums makes for slow progress.
I will confess, I actually hired some day laborers (July 2004) to help out with digging the filter pit area. The pic shows the filter pit starting to take shape. That darned rock still in the lower right of the hole. The pick won't do much more than get superficial chip s out of that rock.

[danzcool]

At this point I got sidetracked with several filter projects. Converting a sand filter into a bead filter, fluidized bed testing to come up with a design that would work, converting a basic bottom drain into a diffuser bottom drain (this was about the same time Garrette was doing the same, (thread from Koivet, was a good thread, unfortunately it seems Koivet lost the pictures). Misc pics of these various projects/tests, I could provide info on these various projects if anyone is interested. (note: bottom drains ended up having check valves removed from the bottom due to comments on serviceability (lack thereof) under the concrete ).

[Noahsnana]

WooWee it's coming together...

[gOOse]

DEEEPPEERR
Those bead blower aperatiss'ss's allway s make me think "Danger Danger"
For that Im truely sorry.

Edit: Its way nicer than my brushes and gak that Im loookin at.