My Pond

The lower pond (A) has been dug, lined, filled with water, and has been up and running since early May. Currently there are six Koi and 4 Gold Fish in residence. The water is not clear, but I have seen most of the Koi and three of the goldfish in early January.

The pump and filter was installed and running fine for a month. Until July when the container used for the filter cracked at the drain hole. Back to the drawing board on the filter. The filter tub was a 35 gallon supposed Heavy Duty storage tub. The pump is working OK, but has quite a bit of vibration. It is a cheap sump pump, putting out about 2400gph. Plumbing is 2 inch PVC. I have glued the pipe upto the filter, but left it dry fitted coming back to the lower pond. In the final arrangement it will feed back to the water fall, so I want to be able to reuse the pipe and fittings. As the gravity flow causes some suction, there is little leakage.

The upper pond (B) has been dug to a depth of almost four feet. The Hep was helping and got energetic. It was planned for three feet because I didn't think I'd have the energy to dig it deeper. Rains maded the digging difficult as they filled the partially dug area with water and turned the clay to soup. When it was dry the ground baked in to a concrete hardness that was very difficult to penatrate. Pick and shovel were used. It is now lined, thought I may drain and pull the lining to do some adjustments to the contour.

The waterfall still need to be built, and piping has to go in first. I am also planning to put in piping to the shallow end of the upper ponds to skim the surface and improve circulation of the pond. I have to come up with a replacement for the filter tub. I need a 50gallon bin. Rubbermaid make a nice 100gallon, but I think that might be a bit big. I would have to rebuilt the stand to support it.

There is plenty of work left.

Stream

The stream has been built up along the edges where the original ground level was lower then the final stream. This was four to eight inches for the entire length of the stream. I will not dig the stream until I am ready to line it.