Some of you may remember what the customer started out with. It was the usual pond in a box but on a very small scale. It was kidney shaped and had about 200 gallons of water with about 30 fish.
I started to round up all the fish and transfer them to the 6' DreamPond Tank. There was so much crap in the bottom of this pond that it was nearly impossible to see the fish. So, I just sucked most of the water out and looked for splashing.
Luckily a neighborhood kid stopped by and wanted the extra fish. I didn't ask any questions I just bagged up a bunch of fish and gave it to him. Hopefully he asked his mom and dad!
I removed the old filtration from the pond and transfered it to the temp. tank. To get the Savio Springflo to seed faster I threw it in with the old filter stuff and kept it running for the build.
Once all the fish were out I could removed all the junk from the bottom of the pond and remove the liner. Here you can see the original hole, and the giant pile of crap that was at the bottom of the pond. That is ridiculous isn't it?
I then began to excavate the new hole for the pond. It was pretty easy digging, and I only ran into one root.
The area I had to work with was really small and the customer didn't have the money for me to burrow under the sidewalk and move the filters far away, so the filter pit was dug right behind the pond. It will be backfilled so the pond wall doesn't collapse.
The drainage field was then dug and perforated pipe was laid out and buried so the yard doesn't get flooded during water changes. The pipe coming from the sump pump had to be tunneled under the sidewalk.
Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the plumbing work in the filter pit, but I can tell you that it was a pain in the butt. All of the valves are Valterra knife valves and have a 3 or 4" pipe sealing them from the dirt, and an all thread extension on the handle.
Here the collar has been poured, skimmer installed, two tprs plumbed, 3" bottom drain installed, and the filter pit has been backfilled.
The owners dogs are out of control in the backyard and a lot of dirt was kicked into the pond. That is why the water is so cloudy, and why there is a micron bag on the SC inlet pipe. I also used two rows of Black Knight brushes rubber banded together as a pre-filter. This should be very easy to clean and works really well. The bio filter is loaded with Savio Springflo and under that is a Pondmaster 2000 gph submersible pump.
The pump outlet is split up into two lines...One goes through a venturi and returns through the TPR, and the other is piped up to a Jacksonville Koi Supply Sheer Decent Planter w/ 16" weir. The customer didn't know what they wanted to plant in it yet, so that is why it is empty in the photo. I will get a picture of it once it is planted.
So what do you guys think? This pond ended up costing $2500 and i don't think I can do it again for that price. Just way too much work and stress trying to find the best deals on everything and waiting for the materials to arrive. Either way I think it worked out and the customer is extremely happy, so that does it for me.
Zac
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Originally Posted by Moneypit
