Change of plans.

So near the end of Winter I was having a blue day, feeling overwhelmed, thinking about how I may have been building a pond, going on four years, that might never have fish in it, digging, blocks, cement, rebar, pipes, etc...have been a drop in the bucket as far as cost goes, now comes the big money and we just aren't in a situation right now that we can afford everything I need to finish this project.  I knew going into this that it was going to be a long term project and it would be expensive, but I was just feeling like it would be impossible, so I had a little pity party, grieved my loss and decided I needed to snap out of it and go back to my optimistic, anything is possible self and come up with a game plan!  My goal has not been to have a pond, it is to build a pond, I live for building and creating things, I couldn't see sitting around all spring/summer/fall staring at my partially built pond and doing nothing, I want this so bad that I eat, sleep, breathe it, I am beyond obsessed with it, but more than that, I have 5 Koi and a goldfish that live in my garage in a 300 gallon stock tank, they have gotten huge and I am so worried that they won't make it in there until the pond is done.

I built them a S/G filter which has a 2500 GPH external pump pushing water through it to a DIY mini shower filter with lava rock.  I flush the filter once a week.  I also plumbed a hot/cold water faucet right up to the tank from our clothes washer tap, for easy water changes.

So all this got me thinking, I had planned on building a more permanent quarantine pond outdoors sometime in the future, so why not build it now and hopefully get the fish in it before winter.  This will be more affordable since it will be smaller and I already have some of the equipment from my current quarantine tank.  The most difficult part would be convincing Craig, he was so proud of the fact that we got rid of all the dirt from Pond #1 finally, he is not going to be excited about this idea, he is supportive of my obsession, but he in no way shares my passion for this hobby.  So I told him my thoughts and to my surprise he said okay!  I wasted no time staking out the spot for it, it will be where the old dirt pile was.  You can kind of see my red yarn outline.

I drew up some plans and measured and off we went, the start of the dig!

You can see my little bird houses I made from leftover fence boards, I mounted them on the fence posts and we already have a few occupants.  Anyway, we dug all last weekend and Craig even did some digging after work a few times last week, and yesterday we spent our 28th wedding anniversary digging and today I did some digging while Craig made our Easter dinner, even Carina helped me out a bit.  Craig jumped in a few times to help us break up the dirt, it is really dense and heavy and full of rocks, pretty much like the last pond.  

I put some blocks by the dirt pile to keep it from falling back into the hole, this hole is just slightly larger than what the pond will be and it includes the area for the filter pit which will be by the fence.

Craig is pretty bummed about the dirt pile and he doesn't miss a chance to tell me about it, he keeps saying that he can't believe he agreed to this.  I also had some help from Hershey today, he got an Easter treat and kept digging in the hole and burying it all the while Pixie was munching hers down.  These are my grand puppies, Carina's Dogs.

Cheryl

Long overdue post!

I haven't posted in such a long time!  My pond has been progressing slowly, by the end of last summer/fall, I completed 6 courses of block with horizontal and vertical rebar, stubbed in both the bottom drains and all seven TPR's (tangential pond returns) into the filter pit, and got the filter pit walls in place, I still need to fill all the block cells with cement.  I have one more course of block to mortar on the pond, this last course will be a killer because the walls are so high on the filter pit side of the pond and these blocks weigh around 35lbs each and this is my last chance to make sure it is perfectly level.
Here it is near the end of last year.

Here is view into the filter pit.

While I was working on the pond, Craig was sifting the dirt pile left behind from the dig, his mission in life was to get this done by the end of the season, I helped here and there, but this was mostly his project.  

It had taken on a life of its own.

But he kept at it and didn't give up!

Finally, it was all gone!

We poured some cement pads and used all of the rocks Craig sifted out of the dirt pile on the north side of the house where we keep the garbage cans.  It was always a muddy mess over there, it gets no sun so the grass didn't grow well and it never really dried up.  Ignore the tape on the house, had a little incident with the siding and Craig taped that little piece while the silicone was drying after he fixed it.

We used the dirt to level up the yard, we built a little retaining wall around the shed because we added nearly two feet to the yard and we couldn't move the shed easily.

We also had some random flowers pop up where the dirt pile was, I rescued them and they grew like crazy.

So fast forward to this Spring, I made a change in plans, to be continued in my next post.....

Update, way past due!

I haven't done as much with the pond this summer as I would have liked, money is always an issue, but digging is free, so back to digging it is.  Craig did 90% of the digging this time around, what a sport!  We also got our ridiculously out of control Laurel hedge cut down to a managable size and I cleaned out all of the blackberry bushes behind the barn and we got our deck painted amongst many other outdoor projects this summer.
 

I realized after starting to dig the trenches under the footing for the bottom drains, that the best thing to do to make the plumbing easier and to actually do them right would be to dig out the entire area behind the pond where the filtration will go.  You can see in the picture below, the space where my pond window will be.  I still have 3 more courses of block to lay out and the back wall will be 2 courses higher than the rest.
 

So here it is dug out, except for a little more close to the fence.  I will build a retaining wall around the entire inside of the filter pit.  You can see the trench I dug out for the footer for the back wall and where I dug out under that for the 4" bottom drain line.  There will be another bottom drain on the far side as well, digging these trenches are a killer, I had to pick away little by little to get it dug out, the dirt down this far is very hard and clay-like.
 

Here it is from another angle.  Next I put in my forms for the footer along with more rebar.  The area between the two back walls will be for my Sand and Gravel filters that supply the waterfall.
 

Yesterday we got the cement poured in, now I am ready to set in more rebar and build some more walls.  When I get three courses of block laid on this wall, I will stub in the bottom drain line, fill the center in and put cement on the top 6", this will be a plant shelf in the pond, then the back wall will go up another 4-5 courses.
 

DIY Sand and Gravel filter finished!

Got my S/G filter finished and up and running.  I built this for my indoor Koi Stock tank, which will eventually serve as my quarantine tank when the big pond gets finished.  Right now it has my 3 Koi and one goldfish in there.  My old filter was failing and leaking really bad, I had used it for over 10 years, it use to be on my old outdoor pond and it was really undersized for my fast growing Koi.  I was able to use the bio media that was in it for a new shower water return as you will see in the video.  So far, no leaks and the water is sparkling clear after only 2 days in operation.  I will be building 2 more of these for my outdoor pond, so this was a good practice one.  I make a video of how to clean it next weekend!  Stay tuned!

Cheryl

Greenhouse cover for indoor pond

I decided I needed a cover for my indoor Koi tub, with the garage being unheated and the water being heated it was causing a lot of condensation throughout the garage.
 

I built it out of 1/2" PVC, I told Craig about my idea, I even drew it out, but until we got it somewhat built he didn't get what I was saying, but it came together exactly like I had planned. The whole thing cost less than $20.00.  I used three 4-way T's, 8 elbows and 8 1 1/2" T's with a 1/2" outlet for the legs, they are cut in half so they rest perfectly around the edges of the tub and I just threw a painters tarp over the top.  It is like a rainforrest in there now.
 

I didn't glue it so I could disassemble it when I am not using it.  I need to build a new filter, the one I have been using is from the old pond and it developed a huge crack in the lid several years ago, I used some of the plastic to seal it, but it is now leaking out of the sides.  I think my pump is just too powerful for it and the pressure inside it is immense.  But fish have grown like crazy and seem really happy, they take turns swimming into the current from the filter.  Water is holding steady at about 73 degrees.
 

The pond is filling up and I'm not ready!

Well, we have had a bit of rain lately and I went out to see how the pond was doing and was suprised to see several inches of water in the bottom.
 

Especially since it doesn't have a bottom yet, just dirt.
 

The nice thing is, is that I can see that I got my footings really level.
 

I am so anxious to get working on it again, but not in this kind of weather.
You can also see it has a lot of leaves in it, well, those Laurel bushes will be gone after the pond is complete and there will be a fence in its place.

I went out on Black Friday to the pond store in Redmond and picked up my two skimmer units at half off, basically BOGO.  Little by little I am getting my parts together, right now on my wish list is an AquaForte Ultra Sieve III, http://www.dreampond.com/ultra-sieve-iii-gravity-fed-pre-filter.html Most places I have found it have it for $1799.00 but this place has it for $1399.00, still a lot of money, but it will be an essential piece of my pond filteration and the most expensive piece.  I am collecting my pennies again for that one.

Course three is 3/4 finished

I just have about 13 more cinder blocks left to set on the curved portion of the wall, the spaces between the blocks to fill in and course 3 will be complete!  Almost half way done!
 

The area where the blocks are set in, in the picture below are now as tall as they will be, I will pour a pad of concrete behind them to the same height and then continue the back wall with the 4th course to line up with the farther back wall, this will give me a shelf for plants.
 

You can see my TPR's (tangetial pond returns) in the pictures, I have a total of 7 of them, they help circulate the water and push debris toward the bottom drains.
 

and speaking of bottom drains, I got them ordered and they are on their way, so I will be digging once again.  Our grass could not be more dead, we still have had no rain and our weather has been just amazing, the best fall weather I can ever remember.
 

Moved the fish indoors for the winter

I found a 300 gallon rubbermaid tub on craigslist for a great price, ($195.00), it had only been used twice for baptisms, (kind of odd I thought) but anyway I moved my goldfish and Koi into it today.
 

I took some pictures of them before I let them out. They are best buddies, the goldfish is my one surviving fish from the old pond, he has been through a lot, he most likely was born in there.
 

I don't know what kind of Koi this is, but he is a butterfly Koi, other than that I don't know, I picked him up at the fish store earlier in the spring to keep the goldfish company.
 

Craig was worried that the cats would fall in the tub and drown so he made a bridge for them to jump onto, so far they have showed no interest in it, I also have netting over it to keep the fish from jumping out.
 

Here you can kind of see the fish after I let them out, this is huge compared to what they were in before.  Once I get the big pond done they will get to be the first inhabitants and then I will use this for a quarantine/sick tank.
 

Pond walls are going up........slowly!

I'm about half way through mortaring my second course of cinder blocks, I would never make it as a Mason, I'm too slow and it is so hard, I ache all over.  Craig cut my rebar and as soon as I finish the second course I will set them in place permanently. 
 

The back wall to the left will only be one more course higher and then I will pour another cement slab right behind it and continue the back side straight across to line up with the right side in the back, this will be my plant shelf, in the center will be the waterfall.  There will also be a pond window to the right of the sharp curve in the front where it straightens out.
 

Small progress on the pond

I got my cinder blocks placed where I wanted them and marked where I want to put the vertical rebar, Craig drilled the holes in the footings for me today, luckily we had a hammer drill and the right size bit.   Next I will morter the first course of blocks and then I will place the rebar in the holes and set them with epoxy.