Regular Member colley614 Posted August 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi guys, I have not posted in ages. So for any of you who don't Know me I am Keith aka colley614 and I have kept fish for nealry 30 years. At one point I had a 100 litre aquarium and a 150 litre aquarium. I was also half way through building my fish house that was going to filter the water from the fish house as well as the pond during the summer months. However, the fish house was removed as the local council told me to take it down to they could do some grant work on my house, this work never took place. Anyhow, last January a friend of mine convinced me to try marine fish. I then cleaned my 100 litre tank out and converted it to a marine set up. After six months I bought a 400 litre reef set up. I am now considering selling up and cleaning the aquariums out and getting some nice orandas and/or Ranchu in them. I can't believe how much marine stuff costs, it seems to be around 10X fresh water "Your fish has a parasite £40 please." Okay, wait, WHAT!! Anyway, after much fiddling, debating and faffing about I decided I would take out my old pond. Well, the long haired General (my Wife) pointed out the old pond was in the middle of the garden and that I should dig out the old, overgrown planter beds and put a new pond in there. So I did, but I don't think she meant remove the paths around it but I did anyway. So now I have a pond that will be 8 by 8 by 3 feet deep. Can anyone advise me how to get some pictures up please? I have a few of the project that I wanted to upload. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DawnMichele Posted August 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 19, 2015 Welcome back!!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 19, 2015 Thank you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 Open an account on Photobucket or another photo-hosting site. Upload your pictures to the site. Then you can simply copy and paste them to your posts. I'm dying to see your pond, so hurry up! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 Thank you, shakaho! ***Warning, Pic Heavy!!!*** Okay, so the first pics show me digging out the planters. I was nearly done by this time as I'd already knocked the walls down, dug out the roots and removed tonnes of top soil. Here is a pic of the mound of top soil. However, the picture was taken at the start of the dig. Rather than at the end. Then I put the foundations in for the wall. Then I started building the first course of bricks. This was piled up before the build to guage the height of the wall. Building the pipework and concreting where the filter house will be. Then I put some hardcore in that me and my son made by smashing up bricks with hammers. Then I concreted the bottom. Just as I finished smoothing the concrete over the heavens opened with rain, that's why there is lots of standing water on top of the wet concrete. My delivery of block with my apprentice next to it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Looking good! I haven't seen a valve like that on the pipe from the bottom drain before. What kind is it? Edited August 20, 2015 by shakaho 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helper FishyMandy Posted August 20, 2015 Helper Share Posted August 20, 2015 Looks awesome so far! I can't wait to see the progress!Welcome Back to Kokos! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the kind words. I have ordered the pond seal paint and I have also ordered the pump and uv. The pump is a 5000 lp/h, whilst the uv is a 36 watt one. I am also going to build some type of waterfall. I was looking at buying one but £80 for a stainless steel one is too expensive, I could buy the bricks to build it and a bag ok K1 for that price. I hope to keep this thread as a kind of journal, so anyone who is tempted to build a pond has an idea of how it can be done. My last pond was submerged. The problem with submerged ponds in my garden is that the water table is about a foot down some days. Last time I built a pond it was filling with water over night. When I went out the next day to continue the pond would be about two feet deep in water. When I sealed the pond, the sealer came away from the render because of the water coming out from behind the walls. That is why this time I have gone for an emerged pond. Edited August 20, 2015 by colley614 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted August 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 I can't wait to see the finished project. It's going to be amazing! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 Thank, Jared! The enthusiasm from you guys is really helping me get motivated. I put another 8 hours into the pond today. So I got a few deliveries today, yay! The first was my new ponp pump. I ordered this from Jebao as they make really good gear for marine aquariums and this pond pump is even marine rated. What I have found with Jebao is that the gear they make is usually in the price bracket with the cheap gear. However, performance wise they are usually up with the top kit. For example the Jebao wavemaker the wp40 is about £40 but it performs as well as the mp40 which is well over £100. Here is the pump itself. What I found cool about this pump is that when you open the casing up, the pump can actually be removed from the casing and plumbed straight onto any pipework. There are a minor alteration that needs to be done by changing the intake to open as it's set to pull in from surrounding water instead of through the pipe. that is just a flick of the switch, anyway, check this bad boy out! Cool or what? So, just as I was getting bored tinkering with my new pump, the doorbell goes and it's another delivery.. Looking awesome this UV, can't wait to get all this stuff up and running. Anyhow, check out this bit of kit.. Work wise I made a load more hardcore and started to layout where the filtler house will go. It was then concreted. I then started to add the next course of block. I hope you guys are enjoying the photos and updates as much as I am building it and sharing my progress with you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 I'm loving it! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DawnMichele Posted August 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 Your pond is coming along nicely!!!!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 Well, it's forecast rain now for a week. I don't think I'll be getting much done now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Looking good! I haven't seen a valve like that on the pipe from the bottom drain before. What kind is it? Sorry I missed your question.It is called a valterra slide valve. Here is a clip. Edited August 20, 2015 by colley614 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 21, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 Nice. They are available here, but most people use ball valves. I really appreciate seeing how you build with the concrete blocks that are so different from ours. I've seen the finished product, but not how it's put together. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helper FishyMandy Posted August 21, 2015 Helper Share Posted August 21, 2015 Ah I am so excited to see this all done. I really wish I had a nice big area where I could build my own pond but I don't have much of a yard so I just have a small premade pond lol. It's looking awesome! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin koko Posted August 21, 2015 Admin Share Posted August 21, 2015 This is a great thread.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 21, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 (edited) Nice. They are available here, but most people use ball valves. I really appreciate seeing how you build with the concrete blocks that are so different from ours. I've seen the finished product, but not how it's put together. I read that ballvalves on the bottom drain become a problem over time. That's why these are used for bottom drains. I'm still planning the filtration through in my head. I'm thinking out of the drain into a 15 litre bucket with holes drilled through the sides with white sponge in there to catch pond waste, then out the sides into the first 250 litre barrel where the water trickles through about 25 litres of bio balls and out and through into the second barrel. In here I was thinking of having a fluidised bed, with 25 litres of k1 floating around in it with the return pump at the bottom. Out the pump, into the UV and through a water fall, back into the pond. Hi Koko, thanks! Edited August 21, 2015 by colley614 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Shahbazin Posted August 21, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 Very interesting to see your construction process! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 21, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 That's a lot of filtration! Have you considered a (This guy is fun to listen to.) for your initial mechanical filtration? They are easy to make and greatly reduce the amount of cleaning needed for the biofilters. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 21, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 That's a lot of filtration! Have you considered a (This guy is fun to listen to.) for your initial mechanical filtration? They are easy to make and greatly reduce the amount of cleaning needed for the biofilters. That's a really interesting idea. The only problem I am faced with is I have a 4 inch drain pipe so I can't get a bulkhead for the drain to go through the barrel, I was thinking of taking the drain up to top top of the barrel and then down. I'll have to have a think how to do it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shakaho Posted August 21, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 21, 2015 Uniseal. By far the best way to put a pipe through a barrel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Cdionne77 Posted August 22, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted August 22, 2015 Wow looking great!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 23, 2015 Hi shakaho, I,ll have a look into them pipes. thank you, cdionne77. I love your fish Skipper and Citrus. I am a big fan of Ranchu and Orandas myself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member colley614 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 23, 2015 I forgot to mention my pond sealer came yesterday! The pond is currently about an inch deep in water due to the rain. It has rained non-stop for 2 days. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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