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  1. #1

    Across the pond--new pond build

    Hey everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

    To put it very short in the US we do a terrible job on average at pond building, If you look to have a koi pond built by a contractor you will end up with a undersized hole in the ground, sealed with a rubber liner (full of creases), and a small pre-filter attached to the intake of a submersible pump. A situation destined for failure. I know there may be an exception or two out there but on average the ponds are poorly done. I am fairly handy and have decided to build my pond myself but have run into two areas that I can use advice on as I get started.

    1- My pond will be constructed of a concrete base and then block walls for the sides. I am stuck though on how to begin with the plan. I really want the base of the pond to slope towards the bottom drain as that would seem to make more sense to me. So how to go about doing this? Most online information says to pour a concrete slab then build the block walls but that would leave me with a flat bottom. So, I believe I am left with two options. The first is to pour a footer around the perimeter of the pond and build up the block walls, then come back and pour the base which will allow me to build the concrete base thicker on the sides to slope towards the drain. But, in this approach it will leave the edge of the base not a complete pour of concrete and possibly a weak spot. The second idea would be to pour a solid base of concrete, build up the walls, and then pour more concrete into the base and slope it towards the drain. The second approach might be best as the base will be one solid piece and the "slope" will basically just be there as a sloped base for the fiberglass.


    2- No one in the US seems to sell fiberglass/resin marketed towards the building of ponds (most of the stuff is geared towards boats). The best I can figure is what in the UK you all refer to as a flowcoat/topcoat we call gelcoat with wax added?

    Thank you all so very much and any advice/ideas would be great.

    Bagman


    Last edited by Bagman; 30-07-2020 at 07:03 PM.

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  3. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai g mac's Avatar
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    Welcome Bagman. Hope you get the advice needed and end up with the sort of pond that you want. I can't advise, as I've not built a block/concrete type pond, there are plenty on here who have though, so I'm sure you'll get plenty of info.

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Hassai Mike Bass's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bagman View Post
    Hey everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

    To put it very short in the US we do a terrible job on average at pond building, If you look to have a koi pond built by a contractor you will end up with a undersized hole in the ground, sealed with a rubber liner (full of creases), and a small pre-filter attached to the intake of a submersible pump. A situation destined for failure. I know there may be an exception or two out there but on average the ponds are poorly done. I am fairly handy and have decided to build my pond myself but have run into two areas that I can use advice on as I get started.

    1- My pond will be constructed of a concrete base and then block walls for the sides. I am stuck though on how to begin with the plan. I really want the base of the pond to slope towards the bottom drain as that would seem to make more sense to me. So how to go about doing this? Most online information says to pour a concrete slab then build the block walls but that would leave me with a flat bottom. So, I believe I am left with two options. The first is to pour a footer around the perimeter of the pond and build up the block walls, then come back and pour the base which will allow me to build the concrete base thicker on the sides to slope towards the drain. But, in this approach it will leave the edge of the base not a complete pour of concrete and possibly a weak spot. The second idea would be to pour a solid base of concrete, build up the walls, and then pour more concrete into the base and slope it towards the drain. The second approach might be best as the base will be one solid piece and the "slope" will basically just be there as a sloped base for the fiberglass.


    2- No one in the US seems to sell fiberglass/resin marketed towards the building. The best I can figure is what in the UK you all refer to as a flowcoat/topcoat we call gelcoat with wax added?

    Thank you all so very much and any advice/ideas would be great.

    Bagman
    I am currently part way through a concrete base with block & brick fronted walls with 2 aerated bottom drains about 3200 UK gallons. Due to insufficient concrete being poured and quick setting of the slab, I had issues with base sloping away from the drains. As with your option 2 we proceeded with the block wall build & Only today at the rendering stage finally screed the floor to slope slightly towards the drains. Careful positioning of the 3 returns below the window levels should keep flow in an anti- clockwise direction with the airlift from the BDs pulling water on the floor in towards the drains.
    015EAB3A-F6B4-4BCE-970A-F4A29CF2CFC6.jpg25BBF926-5ACE-4EFF-8B98-B13C6D20FCBC.jpg
    1kGal BD/Skim RDF/UV/k1 2.3kGal 2windows 2airBD/skim Sieve/Eazypod RDFcombi+bakki 3xVP/UV,ASHP

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  7. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai algarth's Avatar
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    Hi there and welcome
    You second option for sloping the floor towards the bottom drain is the one i used as you cant really put a slope in whilst laying the slab. I then just kind of rendered the slope off the flat base if this makes sense.


    Quote Originally Posted by Bagman View Post
    Hey everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

    To put it very short in the US we do a terrible job on average at pond building, If you look to have a koi pond built by a contractor you will end up with a undersized hole in the ground, sealed with a rubber liner (full of creases), and a small pre-filter attached to the intake of a submersible pump. A situation destined for failure. I know there may be an exception or two out there but on average the ponds are poorly done. I am fairly handy and have decided to build my pond myself but have run into two areas that I can use advice on as I get started.

    1- My pond will be constructed of a concrete base and then block walls for the sides. I am stuck though on how to begin with the plan. I really want the base of the pond to slope towards the bottom drain as that would seem to make more sense to me. So how to go about doing this? Most online information says to pour a concrete slab then build the block walls but that would leave me with a flat bottom. So, I believe I am left with two options. The first is to pour a footer around the perimeter of the pond and build up the block walls, then come back and pour the base which will allow me to build the concrete base thicker on the sides to slope towards the drain. But, in this approach it will leave the edge of the base not a complete pour of concrete and possibly a weak spot. The second idea would be to pour a solid base of concrete, build up the walls, and then pour more concrete into the base and slope it towards the drain. The second approach might be best as the base will be one solid piece and the "slope" will basically just be there as a sloped base for the fiberglass.


    2- No one in the US seems to sell fiberglass/resin marketed towards the building. The best I can figure is what in the UK you all refer to as a flowcoat/topcoat we call gelcoat with wax added?

    Thank you all so very much and any advice/ideas would be great.

    Bagman
    Last edited by algarth; 30-07-2020 at 06:56 PM.

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  9. #5
    Thank you Algrath

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  11. #6
    Mike,

    Your pond looks great! Thank you for the info

    Bagman

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Handy Kenny's Avatar
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    Bagman,

    My pond doesn't have a slab floor, it is more organically shaped i.e. curved, than most and it goes from around 18 inches to 7 foot 6 inches deep (where the bottom drain is) in around 30 feet. When we laid the concrete we mixed it on site and kept it a bit drier. Delivery companies like it to be overwet so that it flows easily out of their trucks. When we laid it I basically smoothed it up the side of the hole that we had dug to meet the walls that I had built to a uniform concrete depth of 4 inches. I had added plastic needles to the mix.

    Lots of people like to have rebar mesh in the bottom of their pond (which is a good idea if your ground is weak) and getting the slope on that makes it more difficult.

    Kenny

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  15. #8
    Thanks for the info Kenny

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