At Last

[luke frisbee]

I tried to get my city to give me a permit for a pool when i bult my pond...they kept telling me I didn't need one...finally i let them win

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by luke frisbee I tried to get my city to give me a permit for a pool when i bult my pond...they kept telling me I didn't need one...finally i let them win

That actually happened to us in the city of Cocord, CA. 6' deep gunnite pond and they could care less about a permit. They wanted one for the kitchen remodel. Bastards!!!!!!

[Koi Acres]

Stopped by Jim's house yesterday to have a look around after the spray was done looks like his Koi are going to be very happy to move out of their basement quarters, a fine looking pond is in the making!! I hope you can find enough sunglasses for the Koi to move them out into the light or else it might be a night mission.

[Gallagher]

Thanks again for all the support.
Bldg Dept update: It seems the woman who issued the stop order called in sick Monday so was unaware of my visit. She called at 730am tues (the spay guys were do at 9. The conversation goes like this:
Hello
Jim
Yes
you're the guy with the swimming pool?
No I'm the guy with the ornamental fish pond.
sure looks like a swimming pool to me.
Mam the head of the dept signed off on it yesterday, you must not have seen the order yet? I was down there yesterday, Zoning signed off on it also.
Long pause, Ah
no ones going to swim in that thing?
Of course not
because I'd be swimming in it, especially this summer, it's been so hot.
Mam would you go swimming with a pool full of carp?
Well OK than by.


After that we got to the prep work. the concrete was primed and all openings were close off.
Once that was done and dry tacky to the touch the spray on started. through out the process they check the application for pin holes and caulk these. That's Skip with the caulk gun, Lenny's on the spray applicator.
Jim

[Gallagher]

Today I'm working on the fencing, I want to have that all in place so I can start filling.

Now for a question.
I've been running moving bed K1 on my indoor pond (OK I wouldn't call it a pond either) 800g+ tank. the water test 0 - NH, NO and is fine on all other test. So I should be able to move the media to the new filter and every thing should be fine, right? I mean, inspite of the fact that the outdoor pond is 100 times larger, the bio filtration has handled the fish waist all along. Now granted there will be dust and other outside factors but for the most part the demands on the bio colony will remain the same.

Also, Mike brings up a good question. most of my fish have not seen blue sky in 2-3&5 yrs what do you think thier reaction will be? I will wait to transfer them in the evening but still the next morning it's going to be bright.

Jim

[mitten]

A trick I've use in the past is to put styro foam squares in the pond to float on the surface and give the fish some shade and a sense of where the new "ceiling" is. Besides worrying about the sun, worry about them jumping also. I cut the styro up pretty small like 6" x 6" so that the pieces move around well, rearrange themselves a bit, and won't hold a fish on top of them in case one jumped up onto it. You can goof with your friends, the dumb ones, and tell them its square lily pads if you get green foam.

Let me say that all of the biofiltration is not handled by the filter system. All the other surfaces contribute a great deal and these are the surfaces and the bacteria colonies you will be loosing, leaving inside.
.
Go slow and you should be fine.

Mickey the windowman

[Gallagher]

I can’t believe the summer has come and gone here and I'm still not finish with the pond.
I'm at a quandary as what to do now. Winter is closing in fast and I wonder if I should:
1) Fill the pond and run the water through the vortex and mechanical filter. This will, I hope, prevent any pipes from freezing and at least give me an idea on how things are flowing.
2) Wait to fill the pond until next spring. If I do this I'll need to fill the pipes w/ RV anti freeze to prevent them from freezing.
There's still a lot to do and I could have reasonable temps into mid Nov. To qualify what's reasonable I should say that for Minneapolis Minnesota that means daytime temps in the high 40s. However it just as easily could turn nasty and not get above freezing in as little as two wks. In fact today temps are in the mid 30s brrrr.
What do some of you think?

Here's some pic of the progress so far.

[Gallagher]

I have a question on TPRs. I got a couple of eductors and I'm having second thoughts about installing them. The TPR lines are 2" the eductors have a, 1 1/2" input end that further reduces down to ~ 5/8 of an inch. Their operational principle is that for every gal of water in, they actually circulate 5. That sounds good but (and I'm no rocket scientist) reducing the flow from a 2" pipe down to a mere 5/8" seems to me to in turn reduce the amount of total water output so that I'm not really gaining anything?? Yes I can see that the pond water gets mixed up but I wonder if it's really worth the loss in turn over??
The second thing that bothers me is the fact that these things are 9" long and they will be sticking out the side of the pond possibly causing accidental injury to the Koi?
I'm thinking I'll just allow the 2" lines to push a higher volume of water w/o adding the eductors. What's wrong with this picture? What do you say?

Jim

[mitten]

One eductor shows in the pics. I push water without them.

Another thread had a question about a mild winter situation and I got my knuckles rapped for not understanding "mild." For you I don't know if my experience is wicked enough, but here goes.

Yep, fill it. Freeze deep in the ground could crack or heave your shell, float it like a boat. The straight block walls may be a weak point for thick ice, but the sloped sides elsewhere would act to relieve lateral pressure if you get a non "mild" freeze. The Savio skimmer is a concern. Maybe you can treat it like a mini pool and put a mini air pillow in it to absorb expansion if it freezes hard.

If you're going to run it you need to finish up your plumbing connections for sure but were you planning a cover for the filter pit? A filter cabin with a glazed south wall? Bend some PVC and throw on visqueen as a minimum, you could have a mild three foot drift there in a week or two. Time spent now, before conducive weather is gone, building the cover you originally planned might be the best investmant of the little time you have left.

Landscaping and a fence!! Where are your priorities?

Mickey the windowman

[Gallagher]

The fence was a given since a filled pond would invite should a young child to wonder in and and possibly fall in. putting down the wood chips (i assume that's what you ment by landscaping) cost me a few hrs, at most, while I waited for parts. The pit will be cvered with decking shortly.
Yes I do have to get my piorities straight.
Thanks Mickey,
Jim