anyone see something I am missing or need to change at his point before i ge in any deeper? As toy can see dug out lined few rocks all the leftovers I have on hand. clear box is going to house my above ground box which is powered by a hobby pump in the pond bottom forcing the water into the bottomof my filter box. water rises through course black scrub pads I have a few not many green pads inthere as well. as water gets close to the top on my filterr box it falls through two bulkheads running down a waterfall that will be build arround hiding the clear housing.

please comments are welcome!!!

You aren't planning on keeping the rocks you have lining the shelf (below the grade line) in there, are you?

Also clean as much of the rock as you can even if it is just along the top at grade to hide the liner.

I've found that the better filter media is worth it. I use Savio's Springflo, but your media type sounds pretty good.

Good luck.

thanks

Well, what I see there is a fairly flat piece of land surrounding your pond.
I was thinking that you were planning to fill the entire hole you dug with water and make that your ornamental pond.

So were you planning on having the water come all the way up to "grade" (grade = the land area adjacent to the whole) or to the shelf (somewhere below grade)? It may matter.

Either way, I think you have to be careful SO NOT TO ALLOW WATER TO DRAIN (SURFACE DRAIN) ACROSS YOUR YARD INTO THE ORNAMENTAL POND.
Because that will muck up your water chemistry in the pond.

Your liner is laid out so that the top of the liner is at grade and your rocks are on top of that at the edge. I would advise that you position something UNDER that top edge of the liner to raise it slightly so that the top water level of your ornamental pond is higher than the surrounding grade level (so no surface drainage, a.k.a. stormwater runoff, can backfill your pond).

So I might be inclined to mound some dirt or assemble some rock beneath the liner edge all around the pond's perimeter. Then I would bring all of the rocks off the shelf (the first lower horizontal surface)tand use those to place over the liner edge at the top; this hides the black liner. (I'm sure you were planning to do something like that anyway -- I realize these are early construction pics).

The reason I would remove most rocks that will fall below the intended water level is simply to keep detritus and bacteria from building up. Both large and small rocks within the pond make it difficult to net debris. The only ones I have in my pond are for special features, like out-croppings emerging from the water, or, I use a rock here & there to act as a lead weight to anchor things, like in-water light fixtures.

I don't really know how you envision your "clear box" that houses your "above ground box" to work. Obviously you intend to use it as a type of FILTER WEIR," a place to return pumped water to the pond. My advice would be to either raise a corner of the liner up to the water fall level (the "weir") of clear box or sink your clear box down into the ground. The main reason for this, as I see it, is so that your FLOW out of the clear box has ZERO loss of water. Any loss due to discharge being directed out of the pond will quickly add up and require regular re-stocking of pond water, and that is something to really, really avoid.

Hope that makes sense. I'm probably a little too insensitive to the understanding that these are just initial construction photos. You probably have it all worked out!

"All good points and that is why I am asking for advice. I do know my drainage well in that location and my patio drains right iinto the first flag stone on the walkway. you can also see on one pic the edge closest to my patio a water line abouut 2 inches on my liner. I did build up that edge about an additional 2 inches or so to ensure no runooff into the pond but will not know for sure till the next gullie washer we have. as for my clear box that will house my gravity filter pump inside pond pumping water into the bottomm of filter pushing water through media. my intent was to use the clear box for 2 reasons for rock to lean against hiding all the out of water filter. and this way I can lift out filter box for cleaning.. I understand about the trraped gook the rocks will house and good point there... oh and i do have liner below the clear box to keep water form exiting pond. the filter box is water tight and only water will be dumped over the box onto a rock formation on he pond side of the clear box.. I do want too understannd your logic we might be thinking about the same things thanks for your input and if I am still missing your point please please restate so I can correct which is much easier now then later.. oh and the brick wall behind pond would never let water over it is it is well above grade on my back yard behind."

hhiii,

You never stated where you lived or your climate.

I think you understand everything then.

You stated too that you did put a two inch lip around the top of the hole. That's good; just be careful because a "gullie-washer" around here (midwest, near Kansas City) would wash out a pond in a level yard like yours... and that brings up all sorts of issues like: murky water because of sediment in the pond, lawn and garden chemicals contaminating the water, and debris entering the system that could clog a pump or filter.

But it sounds like you're thinking about all the more advanced things you need to think about on a project like this... and from your indoor aquarium knowledge you probably know more than I do about water chemistry!

There is one other thing I'll mention...
On your clear filter box: do you plan to have some sort of horizontal plane or weir that the water will flow out over? This is important, I would think, since the way most water flows down a surface is to sort of cling to that surface. If I'm viewing your box correctly, I'm guessing you are planning for the water to come out of the lower opening (hole) and splash over the build-up of stones. That's what I was concerned with in my earlier posting. That interface right there with the water out of the box and the stones below. I'm afraid that the water may not get out IN FRONT of the stones, not quit far enough, and will move around the rocks or worse yet down the face of the box between the stack of rocks.

You might want to test filling the clear filter box and the flow out of it by filling it with water from a large hose and seeing just how the water vacates the box.