When we last left the concrete pond story, we had removed the pond killing trees, installed liner, built a pump house, and set a base for the double waterfalls fed from a single new pool which we planned to face using the many tons of rock that came with the pond area.

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This weekend, we focused on the waterfall construction. We cut away all the excess liner & felt, and started moving and stacking rocks. Overall, it was easier than we had anticipated. We used spirit levels to place several cinderblocks around to represent the desired final water level for the pool. Then we built up the sides to exceed that level, and picked some weir stones for our two waterfalls. We used a water level (tube with water in it), to compare the two weirs and try to get them to match, height-wise.

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That was saturday, and a pretty good day's work. Today, we bought yet more concrete and used our excess mortar from doing the pond floor. We braced the rocks where needed to hold them in place, then filled with concrete to lock them in place. We also shaped the bottom of the upper pool while we were at it. Then, we did a final coat of mortar to smooth the pool basin, and used it to cement in small rocks that filled gaps in the joints of the larger rocks. The upper pool is about 8" deep, roughly 16" wide, and very roughly, 70-80 gallons.

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Hopefully, in the pictures above you can see the two weirs, a larger one for the small side of the pond, and a smaller one on the large side of the pond. We placed some large rocks over the connecting channel to make a fish tunnel. Also, the pool is arched to provide a planter area in the center, where DW wants to put in some callas and such. We are pretty happy with the results so far.

Next week, we have a volunteer thing and some houseguests, but we plan to test the waterfalls, and possibly make some progress on rocking over the pump house, which I have already made a halfhearted start on. It will feature a terraced side, planter on top, and a teeny dribble waterfall, if I can get that to work.

All comments/tips dearly appreciated,

Mike