Raised Pond Build Dublin

goz83

Hi All.

I put a kitchen extension build thread in the construction forum, but I think the pond section belongs here for anyone interested.

The important bits are:

Approx Internal dimensions (110cm high, 275cm wide, 140cm deep). 15cm below ground. That's around 4500 litres.
Glass Panel is 200cm x 60cm.
Bottom Drain, Pool Skimmer and Return jet built in.
BD gravity fed to a 200L barrel in shed, which acts as settling tank and pre-filter.
Water is then pumped from the settling tank, through a 36W UV and splits to the return jet and up to a second barrel which feeds to two other tanks, all with k1 media.

Worked Started end of July 2017 when I was getting a kitchen extension done. I had to demolish an existing shed which had been standing for 30 years.

Here is the old shed. Pond was planned to the right. My Brother hard at work.


And the area inside the shed just before it was torn down.


A couple of drawings to work with using sketchup.




We left the rear shed wall intact and built up to it. The pond shell was built and piping set in October 2017.


The floor of the pond was poured and walls rendered. Slabs were laid in the back yard too.
Notice the washing line pole in the picture. That's as far as the old shed used to protrude. The new one is a quarter the size.
The big pipe and lever at the bottom of the pic is a fast drain. It would allow me to drain over 80% of the pond very quickly if I needed to.


After a long wait, the exterior walls were rendered and finally last week I got to seal the pond with G4 and fibreglass it.





The glass panel went in a couple of days ago (April 28th). Very heavy!


I'm running a water test right now. Only half filling, as the BD pipe is not properly sealed yet. I will update as progress is made
[/quote]

goz83

So after a few hours of filling, I got the water level to the first bolt on the frame. I noticed a single drop of water on the bottom section of the silicone and wiped it away. Every few minutes, enough water would squeeze through to make a drop, so a leak was confirmed

Turned off the hose and tested the emergency drain. After a few minutes, the water was below the glass level. Out came the 6th and final tube of silicone (Tec7 Trans/Clear) and I masked around the frame and glass. I sealed the area of the leak first and then resealed the whole frame.

I put on the wellies and hot into the pond. I could see exactly where the water had penetrated.....right beside a spacer which we used to raise the glass a few mil. I dried the area and pumped the rest of the tube into the area and all around the bottom of the glass. The sides I could tell were very well sealed already, so I left those alone.

I will try again on Thursday. I think the seal should be good. If not, I have other ideas which involve wood fillets, fibreglass and more silicone. Wish me luck.

In hindsight, I should have used cheaper silicone to fill the voids around the glass before finishing the job with Tec7 Trans/Clear, which is €15 a tube. I've used 6 tubes in total. However, it's pretty strong stuff @ over 20k per cm2 tensile, so I suppose I am getting something from it. The Glass wont go anywhere even when the pond is drained.

rolion

Nice.

Is the pond for fish and plants ...or... for swimming ?
What type of water are you using,what type of paint is used on the walls ?
How are you going to deal with algaes,water quality and oxigenation ?
Temperature control ? Sun shading ?

Good luck...enjoy it !

goz83

rolion wrote: »

Nice.

Is the pond for fish and plants ...or... for swimming ?

Well, the kids want to have a dip before the fish go in. So, it will be a fish pond. I plan to build a long planter along the back wall of the pond and seal it with fibreglass. This planter will contain water plants and will be fed from the water exiting the filter system. The planter will spill water back into the pond via a waterfall blade, creating oxygen and movement.

What type of water are you using,

Tap water. I will let it cycle for a couple of weeks before transporting the fish. I have a smaller pond in my front garden and this has never been an issue as long as I don't change too much at any one time.

what type of paint is used on the walls ?

I fibre-glassed the pond. The blue "paint" you see is actually a blue resin top coat with built in UV protection. I decided against black, because it was too dark and I want as much light as possible, so I compromised on dark blue (there was a brighter one available).

How are you going to deal with algaes,water quality and oxigenation ?
Temperature control ? Sun shading ?

The temp won't be a concern. My fish have handled the cold for years in my current pond which is half the size. There is good shading in the area thanks to the shed.

I am using 4 x 200 litre barrels (calling them tanks). Each tank will use approx 150 Litres and the 3 raised tanks will have 1.5" overflows running back into the first tank, which is the tank the pump feeds from and which is gravity fed. The top of tank 1 is a few inches above the pond water level and the pond itself has an overflow.

The Pump is a Jebao 10k-L/hr submersible which I will be dry mounting.
The UV is a 36W (CUV-236).

Tank 1 is a settling tank only (pre-filter). The water will be funnelled to the bottom. The water line will be 2 thirds of the way high and the pump will draw from the halfway point.

T2,3 & 4 will have 50L each of K1 media. Each tank will be fed water near the bottom of the tank and will draw water a couple inches higher than halfway, using pipe with slots, so as the level rises, the pressure increases to find a controlled flow.

Notes: Pipes are colour coded. The red junctions represent connections where not obvious. Yellow with red are valves.

MAIN FLOW
Water from BD flows through 4" pipe (bottom left orange) to Tank 1.
There will be a 4" gate valve before T1.
T1 connects to pump with 1.5" pipe.
The skimmer is teed in between T1 and the pump. (This is to get a good pull from the skimmer which I would lose if I connected it to T1). Skimmer pipe is purple.
1.5" Yellow pipe then runs from the pump to the UV.
The UV has 2 exits. 1 will flow to the return jet via 1.5" Blue pipe and the other will flow up to Tank 2 (yellow pipe).
After entering T2, the main flow of T2, 3 & 4 now run on 2" Green pipe and connectors to improve flow and reduce overflow risk.
T2 flows to T3 flows to T4 and then flows to the pond. I plan to run the water into water tight planter and build a water fall from the planter to the pond.

OVERFLOWS
I have planned 1.5" overflows into T2, 3 & 4 which run to T1.
T1 has no overflow, but the tank top is inches higher than the max pond level. Pond has overflow pipe.

DRAINAGE
I plan 1.5" Brown drain from the bottom side of T1 with valve.
I plan to Tee into that pipe (after the valve) and run drainage pipes under T2, 3 & 4. They will share a valve.
The waste water drains into the sewer.

I have an air pump with 3 exits and a few metres of silicone tube. Not sure yet where to run these. Was thinking I might run into T2, 3 & 4 and maybe run a line via the DB and have an air stone mounted into the BD lid. I could cut a small hole in the lid, run the tube through and mount the stone on it. I would need to drill into the 4" BD pipe before the gate valve for this to work, but I think it is a clean way to run the air tube.

Here is a drawing of the filter system. I am waiting for pipe connection at the moment.

Good luck...enjoy it !

Thanks. I am sure I will.

Cool build,
While I would'nt be a massive fan of this style of pond I appreciate the work (and monry!!) that goes into them.
I'm more into the natural look.Any reason why you went overground?
What are you going to stock it with?
I bought a lovely tancho from causeway koi last month.

goz83

BrownFinger wrote: »

Cool build,
While I would'nt be a massive fan of this style of pond I appreciate the work (and monry!!) that goes into them.
I'm more into the natural look.Any reason why you went overground?
What are you going to stock it with?
I bought a lovely tancho from causeway koi last month.

I think natural style ponds are suited to large gardens and raised ponds for smaller gardens. As you can see, I don't have much space, so a raised pond was necessary imo, but there were other reasons.

Safety being one. I have kids, so I wouldn't dare have anything but a raised pond. And lets not forget the window. There is no comparison for viewing pleasure between a pond with and a pond without a viewing window. A natural style pond can't have one of those.

I have a few goldfish and koi in my other pond. When the new one is complete and cycled, I will transfer them and eventually demolish the old one (which is in the front garden) to make more space for parking.

Here's a snap of them having seconds


I don't know what types I have.

looksee

I am awe-struck! In very basic lay-man's terms, what is the three tank system for?

goz83

looksee wrote: »

I am awe-struck! In very basic lay-man's terms, what is the three tank system for?

4 tanks.

Tank 1 is gravity fed (no pump). It's a settling and safety chamber. Large pieces of matter will sink to the bottom of this tank and stay there until the tank is drained. In the very rare and unlikely event a small fish gets into the bottom drain and into tank 1, it won't get to the pump and won't get ground up.

The pump draws water from tank 1 and the skimmer pipe and pumps through the UV filter and then to tank 2.

Tank 2, 3 and 4 all do the same thing. They act as biological filters with bacteria growing on the total 150 litres of K1 media. The water is returned to the pond in 2 ways.

Firstly, it is pumped from the UV filter to a jet in the pond. Secondly, it flows by gravity from tank 4 to the pond.

goz83

I have filled the pond as far as I can and there is no sign of leaking, so that is all good

It's right up to the return jet and if anymore water went in, the return jet pipe is not connected in the shed and is not blocked, so it would flood the shed.

I have a good 10cm more to go, but the overflow is only 6cm from the current level. I reckon adding a 90 degree elbow will solve that problem and allow me raise the level to just below the glass line and two thirds the way up the pool skimmer face (the perfect level).

The overflow can be seen in the last pic in the OP and more clearly in the second to last pic. The FIL installed it before consulting me. I would have had it 4-5cm higher and closer to the front corner of the pond.

Nearly there!


I am waiting on pipe fittings and valves to arrive. I expect Saturday week the work on the filter build will have started and so I will have to fully drain the pond to get that job done properly....as I may install an air-stone into the bottom drain.

gillad

Its a nice project.Well done.
I built my own pond and filter a few years ago.I have about 15/20 goldfish after a mink attack last year:mad:....theres probably 40/50 fry that hatched last year so I will have to get rid of some of those.

Your filter system is very large!
My filter is one large dustbin fillled with 20 sponges and about 20/30 litres of perlite with a underwater pump..I have plants(rushes)growing too to eat any excess nitrates and the water is clear,,, its about 1000gallons/5000litres.

I think with a pond your size you could reduce the filter system or you could buy a filter with uv light for 150/200 which would take up very little space.

algae growing on the glass may be a problem for you

goz83

gillad wrote: »

Its a nice project.Well done.
I built my own pond and filter a few years ago.I have about 15/20 goldfish after a mink attack last year:mad:....theres probably 40/50 fry that hatched last year so I will have to get rid of some of those.

Your filter system is very large!
My filter is one large dustbin fillled with 20 sponges and about 20/30 litres of perlite with a underwater pump..I have plants(rushes)growing too to eat any excess nitrates and the water is clear,,, its about 1000gallons/5000litres.

I think with a pond your size you could reduce the filter system or you could buy a filter with uv light for 150/200 which would take up very little space.

algae growing on the glass may be a problem for you

Your pond is a similar volume so. The reason I have gone overkill with the filter is because I keep koi and I want to prevent as much algae growth as possible, especially on the glass. The capacity of the filters will be a combined ~600 litres. I could get away with less than half that, but I figured you can't over filter.

If string algae sets in (like in my current pond) I may look into ultrasonic algae control. Would prefer to avoid chemicals and/or too much manual maintenance of the pond. If I put the effort in now to save the pain later.

I'll have some water plants on the back of the pond being fed by whatever is left from the filters. Most of the nutrients will come via the skimmer because it skips the pre-filter and goes straight through the UV to the planned planter.

sbs2010

May I ask, where did you get the uv filter?

goz83

sbs2010 wrote: »

May I ask, where did you get the uv filter?

Sure. Ebay from All Pond Solutions. I purchased a few items from them before.

Here is a listing of the one I got.

or google CUV 236 UV Light

Hocus Focus

Nice project, well done!
Regarding temperature for the fish, I would advise caution at first as your tank is raised and the pond is surrounded by earth, it's like the example of a plant in a bed and a similar plant in a container, the latter will be more vulnerable to frost damage. Best to monitor and compare the temperatures of both pond and tank, for the first two or three winters.

goz83

Hocus Focus wrote: »

Nice project, well done!
Regarding temperature for the fish, I would advise caution at first as your tank is raised and the pond is surrounded by earth, it's like the example of a plant in a bed and a similar plant in a container, the latter will be more vulnerable to frost damage. Best to monitor and compare the temperatures of both pond and tank, for the first two or three winters.

Thanks, but I’m not sure you have followed.

I currently have a raised pond in my front garden. That’s the pic with the fish. It’s about two and a half feet raised and maybe 2 feet below ground at the deepest point. I have had it for years.

The new pond is just a bigger version of the old one. It’s about 15cm below ground level and raised up 100cm. When I was referring to tanks, I was talking about the filtration system.

Regardless, I will be keeping a closer eye on it. My temperature sensor arrived today...as did the pipes for the filters. A proper DIY filter is not necessarily cheaper than a professional one. Costing a fair bit more than I expected. A quick tot will be €40 on barrels, €100 on UV, €100 on pumps. €600 on pipes and valves. €60 on support for barrels. €150 on media. These are just round numbers, but it’s not cheap!

UsedToWait

Sorry, not a regular, just saw this thread on the front page, so a couple of, probably silly, questions..

Could your Koi carp not end up committing Hara Kiri, leaping over the glass edge?

Is fish rustling a thing?
Like, I presume they're pretty valuable - any risk of theft?

Edit:
Oh and
"It would allow me to drain over 80% of the pond very quickly if I needed to."
What might make you need to do this?

recedite

UsedToWait wrote: »

"It would allow me to drain over 80% of the pond very quickly if I needed to."
What might make you need to do this?

Well, you never know what might happen after a few beers on the patio.


@OP; Regarding the Tec 7 V Silicone, the Tec 7 goes greenish yellow after a year or so. But it won't matter being a pond.


The sediment tank is a good idea for koi, it should save your filters. Is that tank under some pressure then, being lower than the others? Can you run off the sediment easily? If you could run it off into a bucket easily, then you could throw it on some plants or on the front garden.



Re cold winters, I think this will be fine because the back and sides of the pond are "lean-to" against a wall. Also the filtration

tanks are sheltered and the pumps etc will be providing some heat to the water in them. IMO most winter problems are more to do with rotting leaves producing noxious gases and toxins in the water than the actual cold.

recedite

Your design looks fairly heron proof too, unless they can perch on the front wall. Being close to the windows of the house they will probably stay away though.
Unfortunately these guys can clean out a koi pond very quickly if its in a quiet location and has standing room at the edge.
Did you have any herons at the front garden pond? Might have been OK due to nearby traffic etc..


If needs be, you could rig up a perspex or a net lid easily enough, being a nice regular shape and having a concrete parapet. Even just for keeping out the leaves in the autumn. And you'd still have the nice view through the glass. I think some strong aquarium style algae magnets should work for keeping the glass clear, even though its very thick glass.

goz83

UsedToWait wrote: »

Sorry, not a regular, just saw this thread on the front page, so a couple of, probably silly, questions..

Could your Koi carp not end up committing Hara Kiri, leaping over the glass edge?

It's certainly possible, but in my experience, koi only leap when in distress. I lost almost all the water in my front pond 2 years ago when the neighbours kid (or one of his friends) jumped the wall and damaged the filter. I saw them jumping the wall to get their ball, but did not know the filter was damaged. Later that day, I noticed the dangerously low level and I quickly got the hose into the pond and repaired the filter which was only a couple months old. I had to permanently seal it.....so no UV changes after that.

Anyway, my largest koi at the time became distressed and was jumping. He managed to jump the pond wall and I lost him. He was about 12".

So, yesterday, I had another leak....similar issue and very low level. This time I only half filled the pond to keep chlorine levels low. In a couple of days, I will add more water.

Is fish rustling a thing?
Like, I presume they're pretty valuable - any risk of theft?

It's not really something I have given much thought to. As I said, my existing pond is in the front garden and I doubt I have any prize koi in there worth the effort of stealing. I would guess there are a few hundred euro worth in the pond, but haven't had any thefts. Maybe the CCTV puts them off???

Oh and
"It would allow me to drain over 80% of the pond very quickly if I needed to."
What might make you need to do this?

As the other poster alluded to....you never know what might happen. For the cost of drilling a 40mm hole in the lower section of the pond and sticking a valve on it, I can drain it relatively quickly of most water. It will still take a good 15-20 minutes, but would take several days if I had to rely on siphoning with a hose.



@ recedite

The Tec7 won't be seen at all because there will be edging strips around the glass, so it's ok if it does go yellow. But thanks for the heads up.

The sediment tank will be the primary mechanical filter. The plan was indeed to reduce the load for the bio filters. If you look at post #4, you will see an image of the filter plan.

The settling tank will be the gravity fed tank which should fill to around 70% capacity. It won't be under pressure and the pump will draw from it and feed the rest of the loop (UV, Return Jet, Bio tanks). The bio tanks will be above it.

I have drainage planned for each tank which all lead out to the sewage channel, but I will be able to collect it in a bucket before it enters the drain if I want to.

I have cats and one lives in the shed. I don't envisage heron issuem but if I do, my shotgun might accidentally go off :P joke. They are cunning birds, so I wouldn't put it past them to be able to get at the fish. Being very much an urban estate in a small garden should reduce the possibility of a heron issue.

Leaves won't be problem. Very few make it into my back garden. There is a massive ivy growth in the neighbours which is creeping over my wall, so this will need to be cut back. For the life of me I don't understand why people plant those invasive things.

I could build a 3 section wood framed perspex cover which would fold up against the side/shed wall, but I don't think it will be necessary. I have never covered my existing pond.

Some strong magnet cleaner may be necessary to keep the glass clean. I'll see what happens.

recedite

goz83 wrote: »

The settling tank will be the gravity fed tank which should fill to around 70% capacity. It won't be under pressure and the pump will draw from it and feed the rest of the loop (UV, Return Jet, Bio tanks). The bio tanks will be above it.

I have drainage planned for each tank which all lead out to the sewage channel, but I will be able to collect it in a bucket before it enters the drain if I want to.

Very good, so you can just take the lid off the sediment tank to inspect it. Drainage for each tank would be very handy.


I have a raised pond (no glass front) and I regularly syphon the bottom with a 25mm internal diameter transparent syphon hose which I got in a caravanning shop. Koi are great fish, but they are terrible for stirring things up. I gave up trying to have any kind of substrate on the bottom.


One time my 8 inch koi leaped out during the night, but I found him in the morning and he revived with some CPR . Still alive and well today. Fins were a bit crispy when I found him so must have been out a few hours. It was a rainy night, maybe thats how he survived. There was a bit of a spring algal bloom at the time, and I think that caused the stress, so I cleaned out the filter and stopped feeding him for a while.

Tropheus

Very nice build. I have a 1,500l pond and I've been toying with revamping it over the last couple of years. Mine was originally built as more of a water feature but now has one Koi and 15 goldfish (mostly rescues from goldfish bowls). It has an Oase FiltoClear 6000 and an 18w UV that's more than up to the job.

I'm prepared to do most of the work myself, but expense is the main factor at the moment. Filters are also a bit of a minefield. There's a lot of differing opinions and you can spend anything from €500 to €2k. Your solution is very interesting.

My current pond is built using granite rock with a rubber liner. It's two level with a water fall. I replaced the liner in the top part of the pond as it was leaking. I concreted the base, rendered the sides and sealed it. It worked well, but was a lot of work and probably cost twice what I calculated (not a big issue as it was only 600l and around €150 estimate to start with). However, the amount of work involved and cost overshoot has made me think again about taking on the larger bottom part. Regardless of the work in building a pond, dismantling the current granite one can't be under estimated.



Best of luck with it and keep the updates coming.

recedite

Could the upper part become a polishing filter if it was filled with sand and/or reeds?

Tropheus

recedite wrote: »

Could the upper part become a polishing filter if it was filled with sand and/or reeds?

Have a few plants in there since I revamped the top and will look to add more. I was thinking of leaving the top there, and replacing the bottom with a bricked pond. Not sure how well it would line up though. Thankfully I'm not short on space.

recedite

Its a bit of a waste having it as a flower pot. If you drill a hole at base level, you can have filtered water trickling out into the main pond.
I like your main pond the way it is. You just need some more creeping plants around it to "soften the edges" of the hard granite look.
Ok, I get that you like strawberries.... but you need something else there as well!

Tropheus

The Strawberries are there courtesy of my father in law. Planted about 10 years ago and growing wild since.

Alkers

goz83 wrote: »

Some strong magnet cleaner may be necessary to keep the glass clean. I'll see what happens.

A clean stanley blade is perfect for cleaning aquarium glass, if you could get one mounted sideways on a handle so you can use the sharp edge, that would be ideal. Or just hold it in your hand and reach into the pond.

*EDIT* - something like this with a longer handle: https://www.raygrahams.com/products/3906-stanley-593oc-window-scraper-028590.aspx?pv=2955&currency=eur&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0PTXBRCGARIsAKNYfG19cM-PZlNuIYY6fvMlhBi48Udx196cFEG_LXTK6ELQidCnhw_I6g0aAn4OEALw_wcB

Great thread!

goz83

Simona1986 wrote: »

A clean stanley blade is perfect for cleaning aquarium glass, if you could get one mounted sideways on a handle so you can use the sharp edge, that would be ideal. Or just hold it in your hand and reach into the pond.

*EDIT* - something like this with a longer handle: https://www.raygrahams.com/products/3906-stanley-593oc-window-scraper-028590.aspx?pv=2955&currency=eur&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0PTXBRCGARIsAKNYfG19cM-PZlNuIYY6fvMlhBi48Udx196cFEG_LXTK6ELQidCnhw_I6g0aAn4OEALw_wcB

Great thread!

That's actually a pretty good idea. Although I would probably opt far a hard plastic edge, rather than a metal blade edge, just to be on the safe side.

Update:
I have been building the fiter syster for the past week. No plumbing experience, but a bit of guidance and I was on my way. I forgot to put PTFE on a 40mm ball valve connection, so I had a tiny leak in the bottom barrel waste connection. No problem.....I closed off the 110mm ball valve and drained the barrel. I ran out of PTFE so I popped around to the hardware...leaving the pond filling up. When I got back, water was spilling into the shed through an open pipe :eek::eek::eek:

The water had reached the return jet level and was gravity over-flowing into the open connection. I hadn't though of it and ended up with gallons of water on the floor. It could have been worse....I was tempted to go grocery shopping while I was out.....thankfully I decided not to. Had the pipe been closed, the pond would have taken another couple of hours to get to the overflow, so I thought I was good.

The good news is that I am technically now cycling the water....so in a few days, the chlorine will be gone and bacteria will start to spread.

The FIL is picking up some decking and OSB today for me to build my pond planter box. I will built it with OSB, line it with fibreglass and face it with decking.

Next week, some more pipe fittings will arrive and I will complete the plumbing of the filters and the return. I'll take some photos when the shed isn't so full of junk.

Alkers

goz83 wrote:

That's actually a pretty good idea. Although I would probably opt far a hard plastic edge, rather than a metal blade edge, just to be on the safe side.

I've been using metal blades for 10 years on aquariums without incident

goz83

While I was waiting for pipe fittings to arrive, I decided to start on the pond planter. The FIL picked up what I needed. 3 lengths of decking (4.8m lengths) and 2 OSB boards. I would have got away with one, but it would have been awkward.

On Saturday, I built the box section which is 2900x400x250. I fibreglassed it but ran a bit short on the resin, so relied on the topcoat. I then applied G4 pond sealer inside and out as a precaution and cut the decking to face it off. It looked like this.


On Sunday, I was tacking some plastic liner into it when the OH went into labour. A few hours later, and I am a Dad again to a super little boy

Today I finished installing the blade waterfall (hopefully it works) and the liner. I faced and topped off the planter with decking and gave it a liberal coat of larch oil. My son and I lifted it to the pond. Had to be very careful, as I have a bad back....and it's lookin' alright. It's 3m long



My pipe fittings arrived today, but I was busy painting and repairing the moses basket stand. Baby comes home tomorrow, so I doubt I will get a chance to do any pipe work for a few days. I'll be busy with domestic work

recedite

Congrats on the new baby. I have to say, I admire your energy levels!
So this planter will contain aquatics and marsh plants, and the waterfall comes out of it? Should look very nice.
I'd be inclined to leave the back of the timber box unsealed so it can dry out to the air, just in case moisture gets trapped between the two layers (inside fibreglassed and outside pondsealed)

goz83

recedite wrote: »

Congrats on the new baby. I have to say, I admire your energy levels!
So this planter will contain aquatics and marsh plants, and the waterfall comes out of it? Should look very nice.
I'd be inclined to leave the back of the timber box unsealed so it can dry out to the air, just in case moisture gets trapped between the two layers (inside fibreglassed and outside pondsealed)

Cheers. Bringing a new baby home is always a joy. I wish I had more energy tbh, as I would love to get this project to the stocking stage. I have to take regular enough breaks or my back would be crying.

The planter will have aquatic plants and yes hopefully there will be sufficient flow to have a nice waterfall blade. The blade was made from some scrap stainless steel floor plating my FIL had laying about. It was to be a wall brace, but it makes a great blade.

The back of the planter has been left uncovered and will get some air exposure. I am hoping I have the balance right.

I’ve to secure the planter to the wall to prevent movement. Then I will run the pipes through the shed wall and into the planter. I’m thinking of using beach pebbles to cover the soil. There’s some good stuff in Malahide with plenty of broken shells mixed in which would act as a mechanical and bio filter.

gillad

Congrats.
Because of you bad back,maybe scrap the fishpond and create a Jacuzzi.:)

goz83

gillad wrote: »

Congrats.
Because of you bad back,maybe scrap the fishpond and create a Jacuzzi.:)

You say that joking....but the thought had crossed my mind

What put me off in the end was the cost of heating the thing :eek:

goz83

Yesterday I finished the pipe work...or so I thought. I had spotted a small leak on the 110mm pipe before the ball valve, so I had to drain the pond and put in some new connections. Myself and the FIL fitted them and I finished the rest of the plumbing which took the entire day. I was at it for about 10 or 11 hours.

I started to fill the pond this morning. After a couple of hours I went to check on the pipes and the water was p1ssing out of the 110mm pipe at the ball valve connection. That emergency drain came in handy. The connection wasn't tight enough so I wrapped by belt around the collar for grip and tightened it. Seems to have done the job.

My son filled the planter with soil while I went out to pick up a couple of pond plants. Got those in and filled the planter with water and all looks good.

The water was almost at the the full level so it was time to test the flow. I filled the top barrel with K1 media and turned on the pump. The pump engaged but nothing happened. I had to turn it off to prevent burning it out .

My mistake was to assume the pump would draw the water up the pipe and get it flowing. However, it seems that the water must be fed to the pump by gravity, or by immersion before it will pump water. I had to cut 3 pipes to release the pump and test my theory.

I lowered the level of the pump so the water will flow from the settling tank into it. However, I ran out of 40mm pipe and solvent weld connections (I need 2 x 90 degree bends and a straight coupling joint), so I have to pick those up tomorrow and reconnect the pump to the loop.

I'll take a couple of pics when that's done tomorrow.

goz83

Those pictures will have to wait a bit longer. I managed to lower the pump and it worked wonderfully. However, with all the man handling, a leak developed in the inlet connection. I lost patience with it and decided to submerge the pump in the tank and blank off the connector. It was very awkward sawing through the pipes in a tight spot. I decided to pick up a pvc pipe cutter from woodies. Much better

I plan to redo the pump connection externally, but for now, I just wanted it to work without leaking and it’s doing that now.

I also had a leak in my skimmer line, so I had to half drain the pomd to fix that. I replaced a poorly sealed coupling.

Worst of all, the plant box had a leak. I could not believe it. The water had found a way under the liner and was slowly leaking out the back. I had to remove the topping, plants, stones and soil (messy job) and laid some very heavy duty liner. It was a vinyl Alfa 156 advert my FIL had put aside years ago. I levelled the planter and it seems to have a good flow now.....although the water is a bit murky from the soil.

Also managed to connect the UV and air pump. I will finish filling the pond tomorrow and this time the pics will be coming. I don’t plan anymore trips to woodies or the plumb supplies shop for a while. Fingers crossed there are no more leaks.

goz83

The pond is now functioning. I still have two very tiny weeps coming from the UV inlet and one of the outlets. This is because I didn't use enough PTFE and probably din't tighten enough. I'll take care of it in a couple of weeks when I am redoing the dry-mounting of the pump. For now, it's fine. I still have to decorate the outside. I might paint for now and wood clad later. But I think a well deserved break is in order for a couple of days.

Oh wait...I have to box in the pipes today

Here's a snap of the pond as of today.



And for those of you who are inclined....here is a youtube run through of the pond and filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbyCt_hcVGo

wexie

that is fabulous work, well impressed.

Must get the thumb out and think of something like that. Mrs been telling me for years she'd like a little pond somewhere and the youngest is big enough now that it should be reasonably safe.

recedite

Fantastic. The weeping leaks might seal themselves up after a while if very minor. The set-up reminds me of a new "dinosaur" house in the zoo, they have a kind of glass fronted semi-aquatic thing going on there for reptiles.

goz83

wexie wrote: »

that is fabulous work, well impressed.

Must get the thumb out and think of something like that. Mrs been telling me for years she'd like a little pond somewhere and the youngest is big enough now that it should be reasonably safe.

Sounds like a great excuse to build a BIG pond so :cool:

I recommend raised pond because it's safer and easier to keep clean, as leaves and ground dirt won't blow into it so easily. Also the faxt that you can add a window gives you a whole new viewing angle.

Although the pipe work has been a right pain in the drain, I am glad I went with the DIY filter. I get way more filtration for a fraction of the price of a commercially bought system. I plan to add a filter sponger into the settling tank (tank 1) to further minimise the chance of debris entering the bio filter, but I will wait until I am dry mounting the pump again.

I added 3 small fish yesterday. Two were rescues and one was mine. My one (a black shubunkin) got sucked into the bottom drain and I recovered it...uninjured to the pond. I caged off the pump inlet with a drilled piece of 2" PVC to prevent the grinding up of any fish entering the settling chamber.

I'll slowly add more fish over the next few days, because the old pond is getting dirtier.

goz83

Had nothing else I wanted to do, so I added the shoal over a number of hours today.

Some of them looking through the glass.

UsedToWait

^ Fantastic work, and more so seeing the effort you put into it.

Could you rig up some type of alarm in the event of (god forbid) some type of failure - if the pump went, for example, how long would you have to replace it?
Would you be able to move the fish temporarily if (again god forbid) there was a failure of a seal?

goz83

UsedToWait wrote: »

^ Fantastic work, and more so seeing the effort you put into it.

Could you rig up some type of alarm in the event of (god forbid) some type of failure - if the pump went, for example, how long would you have to replace it?
Would you be able to move the fish temporarily if (again god forbid) there was a failure of a seal?

The work continues, but it’s great to see them in the pond.

The benefit of the setup I have is that in the event of a catastrophic failure, such as a pipe breaking and all the water being pumped into the shed, there would still be about half the water left in the pond, because the water will only drain as far as pump inlet.

Ideally, I would want to get it back up and running the same day, but I would realistically have a week or more to sort out.

goz83

So the final update until I decorate the pond exterior.

This morning there was one fatality....a 7" Koi

I was very surprised, because there was no sign of stress with any of the fish and none of them are jumpers. However, there it was laying on the ground after jumping out. There was no damage, so I ruled out animal/predator attack.

There was some debris on the pond floor after installing the planter which wasn't going away. I picked up an Oase pond vacuum from a guy on donedeal for €100 (about half price) and now the pond floor is looking a lot cleaner.

About 95% of the K1 media had gone from tank 2 into tanks 3 & 4. This was because I hadn't blocked the central transfer pipes and the downward flow forced the media into the adjacent tanks. This has now been rectified.

I think in time I will build a concrete planter to replace the wooden one. I have a plan to make it a bit bigger than the one I have. That's just me being fussy and it's not a priority until the pond has matured.

recedite

goz83 wrote: »

This morning there was one fatality....a 7" Koi

A decent size too, that is tough.
Have you considered installing a trampoline in front of the glass, to deflect them back into the pond?

goz83

recedite wrote: »

A decent size too, that is tough.
Have you considered installing a trampoline in front of the glass, to deflect them back into the pond?

Yeah it was a disappointment.

Too many fish injuries from trampolines. They only sell these. They are supposed to have a whale of a time though.