Putting in a "Real" pond this time

[Pockets]

So with everybody making fun of me about my little fella pond, and more importantly no real way to filter the water so the fish were suffering, I decided to build a rather large pond to sit by and have a beer and cigar while watching my beautiful fish swim around =)

I did not remeasure after the expansion but it's large haha and over 3.5 ft deep. Thank god for having a pickup truck that is all I gotta say!

The hunt for filtration began and I was quickly intrigued in the Helix Life Support Systems http://www.helixpondfiltration.com/ .... these systems are at the very top for pond filtration and skimming, the skimmer even won pond product of the year in 2012 when it was introduced. The Bio-Mechanical Waterfall Filter is a fairly new product at less then a year old and has captured the eyes of most every pond fanatic. So I decided to purchase them for my pond! It uses a very large amount (270 lbs.) of Lava Rock as a nesting spot for beneficial bacteria. Lava rock is very porous so there is a large amount of surface area on them for the bacteria to grow. It also is the first of it's kind with no touch cleaning by injecting air under the lava rock and causing it to "boil" and loosen up the dirt, than just open the drain and back flush it with pond water and your good to go.

I want to throw out a very large thank you to Eric over at www.ThePondDigger.com and their instructional videos that they put up on YouTube here http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePondDigger (if any of you are thinking about doing a pond watch these videos!)

So with materials purchased it was time to dig!

I laid out the outline with a garden hose and started to outline it .... keep in mind it has changed as I expanded it to what it is now







The rocks that were coming out of the hole ... they don't call my county Rockland for nothing haha







With the hole dug I placed the underlayment into the pond (this is a barrier that prevents tree roots and rocks to puncture the .45 mil EPDM liner)



This was with the liner in and the first time I filled it up



Now you wouldn't think it but rocks are expensive!! So I found a local construction site that just happened to have lots and lots of rocks for me to pick up after hours ;)









I had to make about 4 or 5 truckloads of rocks from this place

This is filled up to one level down from water level so I could walk in the pond ... I also have since taken out the monkey bars and expanded the pond further to them.



Here is the monkey bars removed (yes I drained the whole pond took the liner out and underlayment and expanded the pond)



With the liner back in it was time to use all those rocks and line the sides of the pond with them ... I have a new appreciation for every rock wall that I see!



Beginning construction of waterfall



Just picked up these three spillway stones from the rock-yard at 7:30 this morning .. had to make two trips as they were just too heavy for my truck!








So that is where I am at at this moment in time ... thanks for reading and if you have any questions or other picture requests I'd be more than happy to try and answer them or take some pictures.

[Blown F-150]

Wow, that is a lot of work dude! 

I am sure you will enjoy it it once it's all done. I'm glad we had a back-hoe for my buddies salmon pond, there is now way I would be digging that by hand.

[gipraw]

Looking very nice.  You have way too much energy.

[Pockets]

Thanks guys!

[Too Stroked]

Where's the boat launch ramp? 

[Kitzy]

Damn, man.  You put in some time and effort there.  Its looking good.

[Pockets]

Tom, you can come on down and we can put both of them in! haha

Mike, thanks I appreciate it seeing as all I ever hear from you is that's awesome ..... now go bigger  ... or that's sweet ... Paint to Match lmao

[Pockets]

Oh yea got the rocks in my backyard last night they went pretty smoothly 

Put each one on a pallet and basically that became the ramp for the rock as it teetered on the edge

My Uncle (who owns his own landscaping company) is coming over tonight  to give me some more guidance on the waterfall construction .... he also said that if he was doing this for a customer it would be 10 grand!!

Some of the stuff that he has built is just mind blowing

[Kitzy]

Ouch!  Haha.  Don't worry, I'll have plenty of constructive criticism for you when you're finished! 

[Pockets]

Got a lot done this weekend for the pond and the fish were introduced this morning to their new home!

Almost done with the rocks



All done with the rocks and filling



Almost full!



All filled and second make shift waterfall completed (waiting on Uncle to free up a mini excavator to place the waterfall rocks)



Came out this morning to pretty clear water. Added beneficial bacteria yesterday and water conditioner so I decided it was okay to add the fish ... with the temperature very close to their tank that they were in now it was the perfect time for a transfer



All 12 happy to get to a new home





So getting extremely close to it being done at this point and got the fish in to start getting ready for the winter water temperatures

-Chris

[Too Stroked]

I'm waiting for a shot of your truck splashing through the pond. 

[Blown F-150]

Looking really good, there sure are a lot of hand-placed stones around that thing! 

[Kitzy]

I like the mini excavator idea!  Much better idea than me coming up to help.  Haha!

Looks great!  Gotta get some plants around it.  Might not be a great time for that though. 

[Rollingrock]

Holy rock balz, that thing is awesome man....wow, that does look like a crap ton of work.


 

[Pockets]

Thanks everybody!

It has been a crapload of work  every rock had to be picked out of the site and moved than placed!

I like the excavator idea better as well Mikey