Pond site!

Have fun!!! You will love that you have enough room to have koi. I think of them as the dog of pond fish because they are so friendly although my goldies swarm to my hand and let me tickle their bellies.It will be your refuge and a place of beauty and wonder and some frustration. From a fellow RN who has been practicing for 36 years.

Current pond, grave bottom, skimmer and Bio-filter. Water fall is 30 feet long, we used roughly 15 ton of stone taken from our 4 aches of property. With falls running, pond is roughly 2000 gallon. As you can see the heat did a number on my plants.

Day One: Digging for the main pond. Watching them dig, the ground looked so enriched. This lot was nothing but grass and woods for 60 years. A foundation of an old farm house is buried at the front of the lot.
The pond will be a liner pond with two bottom drains and one main skimmer. We think we came into a natural spring and rock from and old well. The topic came up of having the liner float anytime there is a heavy rain fall. So an electric pump will be placed with piping under the liner to drain any water.

That is going to be awesome . I can tell from looking at your old
pond that (as my son would say) "you have the vision."

Keep the pics coming with the progression.

I bet you're beyond excited!
J

It was funny Joann, I woke up to find the primary pond already dug. I texted my friends saying, I never thought a hole in the ground could make me feel so good.

Craig

I understand your enthusiasm Craiger, when people gather around the water cooler and show pics of their kids and grandchildren, I show pics of my fish!
J

That makes me feel good. Wish I could be there to watch.

Ah woke up to a heartbreak today. Just when I was getting close, I couldn't wait to see my fish swim in the new pond. I have the pond for 4 years and never lost a fish. A raccoon had a field day last night and ate 5.

oh no, so sorry!

Hey guys, Day 2: They set all the piping for the bottom drains. I want it set up that I can shut down the upper pond and water fall. The bottom drains will run all year. Air from them should be enough to weather our Pennsylvania winters. I will have a valve in which I can divert the water to the waterfalls or directly back to the main pond. They also got to setting the main vortex of my huge filter system. I believe the estimated water volume will be 20 to 25k gallons. Water will come in from the bottom drains and skimmers to a 42" vortex, then splits to a 6 and a 5 Yumota chamber filter tank. After that it goes to UV sterilizers and back to the pond.
As I said on my last thread I am having problems with water and predator attacks. The water problem was easy, under the liner is drain piping that leads to that grey circle. A sump pump will be placed in there to drain any water. .
Look for my Predator myth debunking thread.

Craig

Skipping ahead here a few extra days. We finally have the pond liner in. The water problem is taken care of with the sump pump and the check valve, who knew there would be a natural spring there. Two days of running rock from my property and we didn't even start on the second pond yet.

And the rock keeps pouring in. Believe it or not, all rock used for this project, except for a few pallets of flat stone, was taken from around my house. There is no shortage of stone in Pennsylvania. The main reason the back side may look stacked is for the two cascading waterfalls. Filters were installed today and the work that these guys are doing is awesome.

The new pond construction is fascinating. Thanks for posting this. I did the same for me admittedly smaller 1200 gallon pond dig 5+ years ago.I also have a predator problem (herons), so my pond is unfortunately permanently covered with netting now. Keep up the pics; I love 'em

From an old nurse to a young one.

Craig,

Sorry about the loss of your fish. That can be heart-breaking.

I love watching the progress on your pond. My first thought is: OMG how many people did it take to lay out that liner? I am amazed that it comes that large.

Please keep posting pictures.

Those two guys are amazing, they do all the work. They do have some nice equipment. I was really impressed with the stone work around my filters. I will get a pic. Monday they will be installing the floating rocks. I can't wait to see how they do this.

Filtration is set and liner is down for second pond

There will be a water fall into the smaller pond. The smaller pond dumps two water falls into the bigger pond. On the side near the filters are two water fall outlets from the filtration. This lets me shut down the top pond for the winter.

Estimated 30 ton of rock used on the project. All of which, except for 7 pallets of flat stone, were taken around my property. This is the floating rocks which will be installed. My dream is to sit near the middle, dangle my feet in the water after a hard day, and feed my koi. We are installing 2 2ft piping which is normally used for construction as koi tunnels. Thank you for following my thread, and my excitement. Seven years ago I would of never believed any of this possible.

Craig

sitting in the middle dangling feet in the pond after a tough day sound's great. The work to get there looks daunting. What an enormous filter system. Mine is only 40 gals.

Great job so far.

Craigger,
Well? Where are the latest pics?
You can't leave me hanging....
What did they do recently?

Wow this is going to look awesome, great job!

That is huge water! Great job! I can't wait to see more pictures :)

Hi guys, the pond is complete. We sat down and figured out estimated pond volume is more like 45 thousand gallons. I've always heard of ponds that big. I never thought I would have one in my back yard. When originally seeing the design for the smaller pond, I just shrugged and said go bigger. I do apologize for no pictures yet. I am running a cord from the house to the pond pump, and it keeps bumping my breaker. I am in the process of running electricity to the pond.
I believe I would like to add more filtration to the pond at a later date. The topic of money spent on the project came up with my family. I said this: I could of bought a sports car or a new truck. The sports car, I would enjoy only a few times a year. This I will enjoy every day for the rest of my life. The truck would look old in 5 years with Pennsylvania roads. The pond is going to look awesome in 5 years.
Thanks for following guys, I will post pics of pond completion.

Congratulations!! That's great news. Now for the fun parts. After the power is secure, then comes landscaping, stocking, etc. I envy you. And indeed we are waiting for pics with bated breath.

Howard

Pond is complete, I started landscaping. We have been having some heavy rains in Pennsylvania. Allot of mud got washed into the pond. I used a skimmer net to get out what I could. I just have to wait for the pond to cycle and clear up by itself.

Electric is hooked up, water will be hooked up this week

Even though its getting late in the season, I'm prepping the pond for some new koi the end of October. They are large koi looking for a home, and I can't pass them up.
Thanks for following everyone, I'll post when I add my new pets.

Craig

It is amazing and I am always going to be envious of that huge and beautiful pond!

oh gosh, simply awesome !
Will keep watch on this topic closely, loving it already.

May I be so bold as to ask the approximate cost of a project this size?

Cost....there were many extra bells and whistles that I wanted specifically added. I told myself that I wanted everything ready now. The original project was for a 20k pond with floating rocks, upper pond, 2 bottom drains, pump, uv filter , and the large filter. The price of the project was escalated by the fact that most pond companies run when you mention a bottom drain. Most pond installation companies only know how to install an aquascape system. I already have a 2000 gallon pond with that system. I wanted a koi pond, not a garden pond. Please understand I love my garden pond. So to find a company to do what I wanted, i had to pay hotel fees since they were out of town. I didn't like it either, but the closest company that did what I wanted was 2 hours away in Allentown Pennsylvania. I heard about them through my koi club.
So to give you an estimated cost, I said in a past thread I could of bought a brand new truck with the money spent on this. The end project, I increase the pond to 45 k gallons. Why? Because I'm single with no kids and I can. I added another filter, another drain to the top pond, unforeseen drainage plumbing under the pond, electric and water ran directly to the pond for another 10k including labor. I giggle when I think about having this pond in my back yard. I became the most popular person in my neighborhood over night. I wonder how much they would of noticed if I bought a brand new truck.

It's going to be awesome next summer after the landscaping is done...
not to say that it's not awesome already.
You'll have the whole winter to plan out your landscaping.
Congratulations and best wishes.

Been following along and drooling here. Your excitement is contagious. Living the dream is so much more rewarding than a new truck or sports car. I pray dad survived watching all that rock come back in. I had to chuckle at your comment, "Why? ......because I can."

You go, Craig! Cheering you on back here.

blessings,
~digger

How wonderfully fascinating!!! Can you walk on the floating rocks? It looks as if the supporting structure is strong enough. I have always thought that would be fun, to be able to walk across the pond and even sit on the rocks with my feet dangling in the water.

Great job so far. Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress. I also like the "because I can" comment.

Anne

Hey guys, yes dad survived, I caught him staring at the site a few times muttering something about damn rocks. Hi Anne, I first seen floating rocks in Pond And Garden magazines. You can walk on them, in fact that is the purpose. I've seen them straight across a pond as a walk way. I just wanted to be able to walk out there. Sit with a beer, dangle my feet in the water and feed my koi.

Craig