***The Pond Discussion Thread****

[NickK]

I see you have a cat fish

Pruned enough at dusk to allow the final marking for the top of the wall marking. Today's tasks are - mark out the walls, then start some digging for the outer walls + a little bit, then ensure the slab base is reasonably level - this will have MOT Type 1 and the slab but it needs to be deep enough for the pipe work.



Step 2 after this is to ensure the pipes have enough space and for the bottom drain piping. I will order the 45 needed for the BD and some of the other 1" air pipe tubes (I need to take a stock take to remember what I have and what I need). I also need to order the 4" valves.

Then I need to dig the bottom drain channel.

 

[zuludawn]

NickK managed to get good video and a larger one appears at the end. I still cannot decide the smaller ones almost have small ghost carp markings across head.

Done for now all planted up just need to lay grass better (froglets hiding under there now so cannot move) and relay path and plant more around the back.

Moon man your a pond liner? Like the natural element of it all all.

 

[easyrider]

NickK managed to get good video and a larger one appears at the end. I still cannot decide the smaller ones almost have small ghost carp markings across head.

Done for now all planted up just need to lay grass better (froglets hiding under there now so cannot move) and relay path and plant more around the back.

Moon man your a pond liner? Like the natural element of it all all.

The fake grass ruins an excellent pond imo….

 

[Hedge]

The fake grass ruins an excellent pond imo….

For sure. Youd want frogs to be able to come in and out and hide in the grass etc. With fake grass it just seems to make it less of a wildlife haven. Shame.

 

[NickK]

NickK managed to get good video and a larger one appears at the end. I still cannot decide the smaller ones almost have small ghost carp markings across head.

They do look carpy - look at the top fin - it's long which is typical of common carp and koi.

 

[zuludawn]

The fake grass was a very quick fix, its not down anywhere correctly or even cut properly or pegged, I just had to do something quick having knocked the surrounding walls down. Cannot do much now as there loads of froglets hiding all around its fringes.

I'm not really sure what to do around the edge, have never had a liner pond before always made concrete ponds so I could sculpt the side better. Has anyone managed to turf right to the edge and maybe hand cut the first several inches so all the cuttings don't get into the pond?

Ideally I need something to over hang so you don't see the liner nothing slabbed though, I would have preferred large stones and pebbles but it has a 10 inch drop straight away. The original owner had Koi I'm told so built it this way, shelf all around the same level.

Agreed NickK I'm edging towards Crucian Carp now.

 

[easyrider]

The fake grass was a very quick fix, its not down anywhere correctly or even cut properly or pegged, I just had to do something quick having knocked the surrounding walls down. Cannot do much now as there loads of froglets hiding all around its fringes.

I'm not really sure what to do around the edge, have never had a liner pond before always made concrete ponds so I could sculpt the side better. Has anyone managed to turf right to the edge and maybe hand cut the first several inches so all the cuttings don't get into the pond?

Ideally I need something to over hang so you don't see the liner nothing slabbed though, I would have preferred large stones and pebbles but it has a 10 inch drop straight away. The original owner had Koi I'm told so built it this way, shelf all around the same level.

Agreed NickK I'm edging towards Crucian Carp now.

Don’t edge up the pond with grass…it will wick up and drink the pond dry….trimming it constantly will do yiur head in…Been there worn the T Shirt.

What you could do is build a couple of layers of bricks in the pond on the first ledge then have some some large rocks on top to cover the liner.

 

[Street]

I had a bit of a shock today when I got home to find one of my fish on the lawn! I went out and one of my oldest orfes was on it's side over a metre away from the edge of the pond. I assumed he was dead but as I went to pick him up he twitched. I quickly got him back in the pond and he just floated upside down. He was moving slightly so I left him, checking on him occasionally and I noticed his gills and fins were moving a bit more.

I can only assume he jumped out of the pond and somehow managed to go under the netting then twitched around until he ended up on the lawn. I'm fairly sure a cat or heron hasn't got him as there would be more noticeable damage to him other than a few bashed up scales on one side. I've got no idea how long he was outside of the pond either as I was out most of the day. Fingers cross, but if he makes a full recovery I'll be amazed!

 

[easyrider]

Grass to the edge looked brilliant for a while then…..it drank my pond…

 

[easyrider]

With rocks around the edge and plants in between.






Once the plants find their way everything becomes super natural looking…

 

[zuludawn]

With rocks around the edge and plants in between.

Sounds like a plan, I will do it at end of Autumn to give all the wildlife time to disperse, wont have to disturb the main pond this way.

Thanks for the advise will look 100% better and allow more critters to live between rocks.

 

[easyrider]

Sounds like a plan, I will do it at end of Autumn to give all the wildlife time to disperse, wont have to disturb the main pond this way.

Thanks for the advise will look 100% better and allow more critters to live between rocks.

Remove the Fake grass, rake it and chuck some grass seed down when you do it. If you leave little gaps in between the bricks before you lay your rocks on top you will create little hideaways for insects, taddys etc...

 

[Street]

Well somehow my orfe has survived being outside of the pond in the sun for god knows how long! After floating around on his back for several hours, I came out the next morning to see how he was getting on and he was the right way up, swimming next to his friend. He's a bit slow and not as active as he was, but he's moving around and came up for food so hopefully that's a good sign.

 

[NickK]

And the builder has started on the dig..
Ordered blocks, concrete pour for saturday. Should be getting block work built next week..

 

[moon man]

@zuludawn only just seen that query pond liner was just cheapo ebay stuff but we acquired some local moss, bark ect from dead fallen trees to make it more natural, just tried posting latest pic but rubbish data at work

 

[NickK]

Final excavation shaping in progress. Blocks etc ordered and so is the concrete pour.

 

[moon man]

We havnt thrown much money at our micro pond but it's a really nice relaxing feature, got a 5 amp solar panel for 20 quid and it's amazinly effective.
As said moss and bark and logs are local windfall, Dutch reed 7 quid, most of weed from a Pond in a derilict building
Driftwood waterfall in smallest

 

[NickK]

It's been a busy week.
* "Shaping" of the hole took out more than a couple of skips worth of dirt (literally the entire garden is now sand mound.
* Delivery of 300 blocks, sand, cement and rebar - pro-tip: ensure you're deliver trucks have rear wheel steering, they could deliver to gate - big thumbs up to Selco Trade on that. Including a truck with over twice the length of 6m rebar sheets
* A partial wall collapse yesterday saw us digging out the fall in
* bottom drain and air solvent glued in.
* rebar cut - 4" abrasive disc cut like butter through 10mm rebar but you'll be replacing the disks every 20 cuts (literally).. enter 9" Hitachi angle grinder and site transformer plus metal cutting disk.. slower cut but they don't wear down like the abrasives.



The bottom drain is closer to the front to ensure it gets draw into the front corners. Basically everything is within about a 1.5-1.70m draw range (ie where the poop will be pulled in from). Typically a bottom drain has about 1.5m draw range. Also the pond is ~11,000 litres and the maximum water through put of the BD is 15-18,000l/h so more than enough (the skimmer also provides 15-18,000l/h). So there's spare capacity.

Today we're marking out and leak testing before tomorrow's concrete pour.

What is excellent is that the builder is pro-active, skilled and patient with a greenhorn like me. He's also a koi pond owner and has mates with koi.

 

[NickK]

Today was the pour...



The concrete C35 base. Overkill but given the vibration from the buses turning locally, better make it strong.



3.4m^3 of concrete..

 

[zuludawn]

Looking good NickK, looks like I will have some fish for it, they have doubled their size in the last couple of months.
If you listen to the video and see how they swam they are defiantly Uk Piranhas.