HenryC's Pond Construction

[tom&zuma]

Quote: Originally Posted by 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.

We did not use the pool much, maybe once every week or two. Adults only. These pools have vertical seams, one simply gave up and once it started to split you would not want to be downstream. It was well leveled, this is critical. There are much more durable alternatives out there, we have our fish in a 1000 gallon show tank from Pearls of Paradise. This is made from heavy duty truck tarp material and you can get a real fish net type cover. They make then even bigger, and they pack well too. In comparison, there is not much vinyl between the fish and the cold cruel world with a cheap air-ring pool. Not enough for my taste, anyway! Also, the show tank uses PVC pipe and tubing for support, the air ring job relies on the vinyl itself.

BTW there was an early indicator of the failure, one side of the air ring (directly over the bad seam) started to dip a week before the blowout.

I don't mean to cost Henry any sleep, but he should keep his contractor on schedule! These things tend to drag on and on...

Tom

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow hENRY, THINGS SEEM TO BE PROCEEDING NICELY, WHAT IS THE TIME FRAM NOW FOR COMPLETEION?

The polyurea will be sprayed on Thursday so there is a good chance the Koi will be in the pond this weekend.

[HenryC]

Sorry for the delay since my last update. I was outside working until 11:30 last night. Not much happened yesterday or today. As I mentioned earlier, Carl and his team are building 2 ponds while in town, mine and another club member's. They had to go work the other pond so it is ready for the polyurea spray right after mine.

I spent yesterday cleaning up the filter pit, painting the filter pit areas that will be hard to reach later, tapping into my 1" sprinkler feed and installing the electrical into the filter pit. I'll have to touch up the walls near the pit floor. Due to rain this morning the area around the pit has a bit of water in it and it is leaching through the wall; which caused the paint to run.

[KoiCop]

keeping fingers crossed as your build approaches the finish line at breakneck speed.

[mitten]

Henry- Is that a water softener or some other type of pretreatment for supply water?

What is your strategy? What do you need to filter out and what are you able to achieve for results?

Mickey the windowman

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by mitten Henry- Is that a water softener or some other type of pretreatment for supply water? What is your strategy? What do you need to filter out and what are you able to achieve for results? Mickey the windowman

It is a carbon filter. It is mainly to remove chlorine but it does take care of a few other things as well. The carbon filter is used for small water changes and the constant slow trickle of water added. For a large water change, the carbon filter will be bypassed since it only handles 12gpm. Since I do not have chloramines, all I need to do is add sodium thiosulfate during those large water changes. There will also be a 450gpd RO unit providing a constant trickle of water. The ratio of RO water and regular carbon filtered water trickle will be adjusted to create the alkalinity and hardness I want.

[HenryC]

Once the block was well under way at the other pond, Carl came over to start the final grading of the backyard. The final grade will be completed once the final plumbing from the pond to the filter pit and waste line are in place.

As you may have noticed from the drawings, our pond is a very formal design. The edge will be coped with the same charcoal bullnose brick pavers we had on the last pond. We like mixing the very formal with very natural. Today I helped Carl set the 1600lb boulder we picked out. We were going to set it near the pond, but Carl and Bobby had the great idea of setting on the edge of the pond with part of it extending over the water. The paver coping will be cut in up to the boulder.

To top off the mix of formal and natural, a very modern bronze sculpture will be mounted on the boulder. That happens tomorrow.

[koifishgirl]

I love threads like this and can't wait to see the end results. Henry can I come sit by this beautful pond and talk koi all day with you? Also I would like to comment on the beautiful koi that you have in your holding tank. Ok it was said they are stunning. I hope one day I will be able to have such a nice pond. If you guys support me in my goal it might just happen for me.

[junglegeorge12]

Looks like all the pieces are dropping into place. I cannot wait to see the finished product, what kind of koi are you going to put in it? Anything new or just what you had?

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by junglegeorge12 Looks like all the pieces are dropping into place. I cannot wait to see the finished product, what kind of koi are you going to put in it? Anything new or just what you had?

2 new arrivals will be coming as soon as the rest of the Koi go into the pond. The temporary tank will then be used to QT the new Koi. Not going to post photos of the Koi for now since it is getting close to the Central FL Koi Show and some of the judges may be watching.