HenryC's Pond Construction

[HenryC]

The plaster work is complete. As Carl says, the plaster work is "sick". The plaster crew are true artists. We wanted a smoother surface for the polyurea but these guys created a perfectly smooth surface.

[HenryC]

If it wasn't enough that the plaster crew made a perfect pond surface, they made the filter pit pretty damn sexy as well. I'll be painting it tomorrow to match the house.

[HenryC]

The work to connect the pond to the filtration started today as well. The southern most bottom drain was connected to my existing vortexes. Below is Bobby about 9' down in a hole connecting to the bottom drain line. At one point he was almost upside down while working down in the hole. The other photos show the bottom drain line (the black flex PVC) and the 2 returns lines from the southern filtration. Those 2 return lines tee together at the header loop. The 3" header loop surrounds the pond and the 6 TPRs tee off of that.

[HenryC]

Like the old pond, this pond will be inside a screen enclosure so I never have to worry about leaves or other debris. On the old pond I finally just removed the skimmer basket as all it did was get a little filament algae on it. We did not want any type of access sticking through the pavers, so the skimmers will be modified so that there is no basket access, so the baskets will not be installed. The only concern would be if we were to get smaller Koi they could get caught in the skimmer. To prevent them from getting sucked down into the skimmer plumbing, Carl gave me a little project today (he could tell I was just itching to work on something). A 1/4" thick, 8.25" circle of PVC plate was cut out to match the basket diameter. This plate will rest on the ledge the basket would normally rest on. I drilled 3/4" holes in the plate. The plate can be removed from the skimmer front if needed.

[kingkong]

Nice work Henry. Talking pool screen enclosures, have you determined the density of screen to use? The most common screening used is 18-by-14 mesh, which gives less sun and bug protection, but catches less wind. Screen with 20-by-20 threads per sq. in. is I believe the max allowed by code and offers the most protection. Sometimes I put the 18-by14 on the sides and 20-by-20 on the top pannels. With hurricane considerations so important now, if the wind is going to exceed 100mph, I cut the screen out to save the structure with a razor blade.

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by kingkong Nice work Henry. Talking pool screen enclosures, have you determined the density of screen to use? The most common screening used is 18-by-14 mesh, which gives less sun and bug protection, but catches less wind. Screen with 20-by-20 threads per sq. in. is I believe the max allowed by code and offers the most protection. Sometimes I put the 18-by14 on the sides and 20-by-20 on the top pannels. With hurricane considerations so important now, if the wind is going to exceed 100mph, I cut the screen out to save the structure with a razor blade.

The screen enclosure company no longer uses the 20x20 because is catches too much wind. My old enclosure had 20x20 and they pointed out how loose the screen was due to the 100+ mph winds we got here during hurricane Charley. They only use the 18x14 now. I will be re-installing my sail shades to block some of the sun. I will probably add a 3rd shade since the new pond is a bit longer.

[tom&zuma]

Quote: Originally Posted by HenryC First the Koi needed a temporary home during the construction. My normal quarantine system is not large enough to keep all the Koi healthy, so I used a ring type pool along with most of the filtration from my current pond. A retro bottom drain and no-niche skimmer feeds a pump which goes to a bead filter and then to a tank full of fluid Kaldnes.

Hope you get that pond done soon, Henry. That plastic pool will not last very long! Ours lasted four months and blew out suddenly, 3000 gallons gone in a few seconds. It was used for swimming, so no fish were harmed. But I would not trust one of those with nice koi in it.

Tom

[MikeM]

Tom, how much use as a swimming pool did yours get over the 4 months? Was there a puncture or something? ...I've been thinking of getting one as a relatively cheap way to create space to hold fish in the event of an emergency, and it does not take up much space when stored, can be set up in minutes using an air pump, has no harmful algicides, etc. One of these "air ring pools" would not be a good idea outside near construction activity, but inside a garage the way Henry has set up his seems safe to me.

[luke frisbee]

MikeM.....walmart is open 24/7.... Or Build a kick but QT that can be switched over to the main filtration system. I do not have a clue as to how people can keep koi without having three "ponds"....

[dick benbow]

hENRY, THINGS SEEM TO BE PROCEEDING NICELY, WHAT IS THE TIME FRAM NOW FOR COMPLETEION?