For Christmas my wife picked up a copy of the Ponds and Water Gardens 2010-2011 Annual guide. It is packed full of tips, how tos, and is a fairly good resource on plants, fish, and pond equipment. I found a few products I had not seen before but also found them to be very expensive.
This guide is worth picking up if you are considering a pond but have never owned one, or if you are new to ponding. $7.99 at PetSmart.
The pond is holding water and the falls are working. Still some final edging and rock work to do as well as planting the bog and around creating the garden around the pond. I will wait for warmer weather to tackle those items. The image below shows the need for more evergreens around the pond since the bradford pears lose their leaves and I have full view of the neighbors houses. I will also build some sort of housing to hide the pump and plumbing.
With parts labeled. Click to enlarge.
Even after the pond is 90% complete I can’t help but day dream about its surroundings. I know I want a Japanese influence to the area using maples, conifers, rocks, and moss. I am also thinking of adding a small tea house on the back side. Not only would this make a nice shady spot to sit and enjoy the pond, but it could help hide all the plumbing.
An arbor or pergola would work too. I had originally thought about building some stone ruins (a folly) with a tower for my wind chimes. I may still find a way to incorporate a chime tower.
Around the edges of the pond I may need to build a fence of some sort to keep out the Heron. A Japanese bridge railing would be attractive and also keep out small children. I looked online for a glass panel railing system but fear they are too expensive, unless I happen to find one being removed from somewhere. If I went with the folly design I might seek out some old patio ballusters.
But I have time, and may even visit a few japanese gardens to seek a creative fence that would still allow me to enjoy the pond.
If you read my about page you will have learned I am not a writer. I don’t even try really hard to wax poetic about any subject. I merely write what I learn and experience, however interesting (or not) that may be. I also write the way I talk but with less southern-ness and generally spell checked.
If you have read a few of my posts and yearn for something more creative, take a gander at PineMeadowPond journal by Beth Lowe. She lives on a pond and writes about her experiences. No mention of fussing with liners or broken pumps or herons eating her favorite fish. Just her life and writings.
I’m also partial to Garrison Keillor of A prairie home companion (even though I think we are on opposite ends of the political spectrum). He has some funny skits that occur around ponds.
Zen & the Art of Pond Building
I wish I had read this book before I started building my pond. It is full of practical advice from an experienced pond builder. It delves into all the construction basics with several supporting images, and explains how to select fish and plants, and install lighting. It also includes personal stories from the author that illustrate the power of water and illustrates how water sooths our body and mind.
Chosing a pump was a no brainer for me. I had read about all the submersible and external pumps until I began to see little difference. However, One pump stood out from the others. The Performance Pro Artesian 2 speed pump.
On low speed it is a 1750 Rpm 3000+ gal/hr work horse using minimal electricity. But with the flick of a switch it runs at 3500 rpms and puts out 8000+ gal/hr.
Installing this on my pond was a must. I can backwash my bog or merely ramp up the speed to clear leaves and debris in the bog that do not come off with the normal flow. Emptying the pond for water changes is super fast. It also helps when restarting the pump after cleaning the leaf basket to get the water flowing in high speed then drop the speed to run normally.
I also like that this pumps parts can be replaced easily. I ordered mine through adamsaquatics.com at the best rate on the internet.
I have been losing water only when the pump is running yet none of the plumbing appears to be leaking. Since today was a little warmer I decided to do some poking around. There was a wet spot in back of the upper bog.
It seems that the folds in the liner can act as tubing so that when the water is being pumped from the bottom of the bog, it finds the tubular folds in the liner an easier flow path than through the rocks rocks. The water comes up inside the fold and flows over the back edge which is a good 2 inches higher than the front edge. I guess the wicking and siphon action allow the water to “stick” to the liner and flow up and over.
To remedy the situation I cleared the rocks around the folds a little so more water could escape inside the bog and put a rock into the fold so it widen the tube and would hopefully slow the upward progression and limit wicking/siphoning.
Tetra Retro fit Bottom Drain
Since my pond was planned at 4 feet deep I knew I needed a bottom drain to suck out debris from the floor of the pond and to help maintain water quality. I had read about installing permanent drains with 4″ tubing and how to cement them in place and had overcome my fear about a bottom drain leak.
However, after hitting solid rock and getting really tired of digging I decided to use a retro fit drain instead. This sits on the bottom and has a 2″ pipe which goes from the inside of your pond, over the edge, to the pump . Of course I made a couple of mistakes when installing.
The directions said to fill the body of the drain with concrete to weight it down. I did not have concrete so I used sand. I then glued on the cap as instructed. It floated. There was more air than I thought even with the sand. So i drilled two small holes and added water until it wouldn’t hold any more. I then had to fill the holes and cover them so the water and sand would not leak out.
The second mistake is assuming my walls were 90 degrees square to the bottom. More like 110 degrees so when I test fit my plumbing it stuck way out into the pond. I then decided this would not work and purchased a few feet of non-kink pipe so I could bend it where I wanted it. Now I have this ugly pipe coming over the side of the pond that I had not planned for.
To fix the ugly pipe issue I purchased another bulkhead, barbed fitting and more PVC threaded parts and elbows. Installing a bulkhead near the skimmer after the lining has been burried and fit to the skimmer was a bit of a challenge.
In the end it all worked out but you can see the piping leading to the drain. In time I am sure this will be covered with “pond patina” (aka Algae). I think I can also use the bulkhead with a pool vac once a year to do a thorough bottom cleaning.
One other design flaw which I am not sure there is a way around yet. I ran my piping from the Skimmer and bottom drain through valves into a wye which then feeds the pump. If my water level drops below the skimmer I lose syphon. I can close the skimmer and keep it going but I think I may need to add a backflow/check valve or a shut off device on the skimmer in case of sudden water loss.
UPDATE: I later changed the plumbing from skimmer and Bottom drain to a simple 3 way valve near the skimmer. I do plan to add a pump to the skimmer
at some point. My next pond will have a proper 4″ bottom drain going to an external settlement chamber/filter.
Working with PVC is fairly easy as long as you think about your design ahead of time. Here are some basic tips I discovered while building my plumbing structures.
Getting proper measurements is key and should be done in place if possible. Remember to allow for the inside of the joint not just where they meet.
Use a PVC Cutter, miter box, or chop saw – Hacksaws rarely cut a straight line.
Assemble before gluing to test fit and final length.
Glue in proper order if an item has valves/unions/parts.
Glue sets faster on warm days than cold days.
Hold together for at least 30 seconds or longer if pieces are moving when released.
If using pvc flex pipe you have to use heavy duty pvc glue and hold it longer. Flex PVC is not all that flexible either, so if you really need to turn tight corners use hard pipe with 45’s or 90’s. Flex PVC gluing is best done in warm temperatures or days when you have a lot of patience.
If you use non-kink pipe with barbed fittings you will not be able to get them off easily. This piping is much more flexible and can be used in short runs for tight corners. You may have to consider reduced flow issues due to ribbing of piping.
PVC to ABS fittings – Use the proper glue.
I knew I would need a few elbows and valves but this is way beyond what I expected.
| Qty | Item |
| 6 | 10′ x2″ pipe |
| 9 | 90′ wide radius |
| 10 | 90 elbows |
| 3 | ball valves |
| 2 | Ys |
| 6 | unions |
| 2 | T’s |
| 1 | 4 way |
| 4 | caps |
| 2 | reducers |
| 3 | bulkheads |
| 1 | showerdrain |
| 1 | bottom drain |
| 2 | check valves |
| 2 | knife valves |
| 1 | 25′ flex pvc |
| 2 | jets |
| 2 | reducers |
| 1 | glue & prep |
| 2 | 45′ elbows |
| 1 | 5′ nonkink pipe |
| 3 | clamps |
| 3 | barbed fittings |
