Pond Update and Thoughts

 

Scrub down the inside of the pond (x3) vacuuming out the water each time. 

This step will ensure that the drylok will adhere to the block and floor.

Here we applied the drylok with a blue tint. The regular drylok will do just fine. 

We had the blue tint added by the paint mixing person at home depot.

Make sure to pay extra attention to the corners and edges. We ended up using about 3 gallons of drylok and put on 3 coats. Heavy applications were applied on those corners and edges. Allow to dry between coats look for pinholes and exposed areas and concentrate some extra effort on them. The edges and corners were painted with a brush and the flats with a long nap roller.

We waited about 7 days to allow the drylok to fully cure and then some. But the pond is in direct sunlight and we do live in California, so dry times can vary. Once you've waited the adequate cure time, start filling your pond. Walk around the pond while it is filling and jump around. This is the fun err...testing for failures portion of the build.

 Time to pose as a very sexy water feature. Can't stress enough the importance of this step, as without it the whole project hinges on certain doom!!!

Once the pond is filled to about 2 inches from the top. Add one lovely mermaid/assistant

 

Not forgetting the deranged gnome, and for the next week or two you will be testing (heeheehee) your new pond for leaks.

After about 2 weeks the pond will be turning green. like pea soup. At this time you should start adding your pump and filter to cycle the water for about 1 week before adding your fish. make sure to add some beneficial bacteria to your system while cycling. I used 5 gallons of water from my

previous pond. Test the water for the usual stress inducing culprits, and add your fish when safe. Since our pond is in direct sunlight we had to add an ultraviolet light to the filtration system to control the free floating algae and improve water clarity. If you have your pond shaded you won't have to deal with this and your pond will naturally clear up if your filter is sized properly. This pond is not maintenance free. It will require vacuuming the flat bottom depending on how much you decide to feed the fish. A beautiful green algae carpet will form on the sides and bottom of the pond. do not try to remove this as it is helping to filter the water. About the filtration system. I will upload how I built my system at a later time.

Joe

Final Post by Vanessa, For more posts ask Joe.

I am no longer writing this blog. If you'd like to see the rest of the pond build, ask Joe

For more on the applying of the dry lock and the filter, bug Joe. Thanks for following me.

Weekend #5

Joe put in some quick- crete as a floor.

superman

8:20a.m., Monday morning Aug. 5, 2013.

No progress Weekend #4

Weekend #4 didn't happen because Joe had to work on Saturday. But on Sunday he messed around with the fiber glass resin and discovered he didn't like it. So now the plans have changed to putting a cement floor and then painting the entire thing with dry lock. We shall see how that goes, Hopefully this coming weekend.

Weekend #3

 July 20 and 21, 2013

The walls go up.

This took 4 94lb. bags of mortar. Plus another bag for the wall caps but that's next weekend.

 

 covering the outside.

And it's ready for the fiber glass to be applied and the wall caps to be put on.

Weekend #2

Saturday Joe leveled it out and added a frame for the walls footer.

Getting some help from his nephew.

finished up the framing Saturday night.

 Sunday poured the concrete, he used Quickcrete.

 

 His dad decided to help.

It took 11  90lb bags of quickcrete to form a 16in wide 3in. thick footing all the way around.

As of Monday July 13, 2013, this is how it looks.

This foundation is for the block wall. We will start it next weekend. The  following weekend, (if the wall gets done) we will start the fiber glass interior.

Wednesday of the first week of the build.

Wednesday July 10, 2013

Here's some misc. stuff to fill in until the weekend.

the filter is big for the pond it's in now but the water is super clear all the time.

I will do a step by step of the pump and filter when we get to that point.

some of the dirt from the new pond hole.

 nice rocks.

 I'm making a tiered herb bed here

 all the rocks, this one included, were found while digging. 

Cucumber's growing.

My compost "bin". I'm only composting fruits, veggies, and weeds. I'm using grass, news papers, and card board to add to the dirt (sand actually). Only the carrots really liked the soil this year.
You lay your cardboard out where you're going to plant, throw your good dirt on there, plant and then mulch if you want. I use the news papers as mulch or just under the mulch.





But this is about a koi pond!
So... here it is. (As of Now)

I'm going to try to level out the trench the rest of this week so Joe can pour the cement this weekend. Once the foundation is done the walls will go pretty fast. Joe plans on using fiber glass resin.