Pond in planning stages

"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

Thanks for that posting ;-)

A lot of stuff in there for me to consider. Actually I hadn't thought about
the feed to the upper level getting blocked.....Maybe I should just plant it
out to give a little extra filtration prior to the water going down to the
lower level.

Been out with a tape measure today and we certainly have space for hiding
some external canisters.

Had a look at your filter system and Jan's. More info to digest....

BTW I like the pond - very similar in style to the sort of thing we are
thinking about.....

Thanks again
Gill


Sure. No problem.

Try http://www.koicymru.co.uk/ for some in depth discussion of Koi
keeping in the UK.
Personally I find the whole business of koi keeping more than a little
over the top and would rather stick with comets and shubumkins, but I
guess its a matter of personal taste.

Peter

Gill Passman wrote:
Hi All,

After lurking on this group for a few months and a lot of research elsewhere
I am almost ready to finalize the plans for our pond.

We will most likely be using pond liner due to the area to be covered and
the fact that it won't be completely square or rectangular. The structure
will be decking panels. I will probably need to put a grid in short-term
because of my 4 year old daughter. We are planning to keep fish in here -
hubbie wants Koi but this is still up for debate.

The pond is going to be raised around 2-3 foot above ground level. I was
wondering if we need to dig below the surface at all as well? The problem is
that our soakaway runs around six inches below where the end of the pond is
going to be. Of course there is the possibility to dig deeper at the other
end of where the pond is planned for.

Any thoughts on this would be helpful - especially on the need to dig and if
yes how deep?

Thanks
Gill

"Peter Breed" wrote in message
...
Try http://www.koicymru.co.uk/ for some in depth discussion of Koi
keeping in the UK.
Personally I find the whole business of koi keeping more than a little
over the top and would rather stick with comets and shubumkins, but I
guess its a matter of personal taste.

Peter

Gill Passman wrote:
Hi All,

After lurking on this group for a few months and a lot of research
elsewhere
I am almost ready to finalize the plans for our pond.

We will most likely be using pond liner due to the area to be covered
and
the fact that it won't be completely square or rectangular. The
structure
will be decking panels. I will probably need to put a grid in short-term
because of my 4 year old daughter. We are planning to keep fish in
here -
hubbie wants Koi but this is still up for debate.

The pond is going to be raised around 2-3 foot above ground level. I was
wondering if we need to dig below the surface at all as well? The
problem is
that our soakaway runs around six inches below where the end of the pond
is
going to be. Of course there is the possibility to dig deeper at the
other
end of where the pond is planned for.

Any thoughts on this would be helpful - especially on the need to dig
and if
yes how deep?

Thanks
Gill


Actually the more I read into it the more I'm inclined to agree with you....

"Courageous" wrote in message
...

How many gallons (cubic feet * 7.3) do you estimate for your pond?

The pond is going to be raised around 2-3 foot above ground level.

Are you going to create a 2-3 foot embankment? If not, what will you
do to make the walls of the pond hold all that weight? Concrete walls?
Something else?

I was wondering if we need to dig below the surface at all as well?

No, not at all.

But given the above, you might do better with a compromise of some sort.

Stand up. Look at your hip. That's probably about 3'. Do you want a burm
or wall /that/ big? If so, whatcha planning?

While no one thing is "essential" in pond building, your life will
be a lot easier with a sumped bottom drain feeding to some kind of
settling tank (designed to be periodically purged), especially if
your pond is large. The function here is to make the settling tank
the main thing you clean, and not your pond.

As a lurker, I will assume you know about "veggie filters", "bog
filters" (of both the up well and down well variety). Try "bog
filter" on google and "veggie filter" on google groups (rec.ponds)
to read various statements about each of these.

When you dig, you might consider laying down a bit of extra plumbing
at some locations if you think you miight want to add something later.

A little preplanning will allow you to change your mind less painfully
later.



C//


Thanks...

I've been out measuring this week in the planned location and visualising
again. It's going to be between 1000-1500 galls. The deck that it will butt
up against is raised around 6 inches above ground level. There definitely
needs to be some digging to get the required depth as otherwise it would
most certainly be too high....

The plan is to build a breeze block structure and then clad it in
wood.....I'm not sure that I can get pre-formed to fit the planned shape but
I will be looking into this....of course liner would be a lot cheaper.

I'm very much interested in the Veggie filter as an addition to more
conventional filtration....plus I do like eating watercress :-)

This pond is still very much in the planning stages and subject to change so
any input is very gratefully appreciated.

Gill

How many gallons (cubic feet * 7.3) do you estimate for your pond?

The pond is going to be raised around 2-3 foot above ground level.

Are you going to create a 2-3 foot embankment? If not, what will you
do to make the walls of the pond hold all that weight? Concrete walls?
Something else?

I was wondering if we need to dig below the surface at all as well?

No, not at all.

But given the above, you might do better with a compromise of some sort.

Stand up. Look at your hip. That's probably about 3'. Do you want a burm
or wall /that/ big? If so, whatcha planning?

While no one thing is "essential" in pond building, your life will
be a lot easier with a sumped bottom drain feeding to some kind of
settling tank (designed to be periodically purged), especially if
your pond is large. The function here is to make the settling tank
the main thing you clean, and not your pond.

As a lurker, I will assume you know about "veggie filters", "bog
filters" (of both the up well and down well variety). Try "bog
filter" on google and "veggie filter" on google groups (rec.ponds)
to read various statements about each of these.

When you dig, you might consider laying down a bit of extra plumbing
at some locations if you think you miight want to add something later.

A little preplanning will allow you to change your mind less painfully
later.



C//