New pond build - First pond!

**davethefish1** · 06-06-2023, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by Shropshire_Tom

Well stuff has been turning up left right and centre! My wallet is a lot lighter than it was, but there’s tons of pond stuff to go at!

Hoping to get the pipes above ground level for the pump house this weekend now I have the bits. The builders are back digging the foundation for my workshop and hoping that will be ready to have the concrete done next week. The workshop will be a ring foundation out of block with an insulated concrete slab. I’ll need about a million board feet of ship lap between the pump house and workshop, but you often get a better deal buying it in bulk. Timber prices are deeply upsetting in general recently, though better at the moment than they were!

Pic below is the workshop footings on the opposite side of the garden to the pump house.

Glass has had delivery confirmed for the 19th June and I’ve booked some muscle (in the form of family bribed with the offer of free food!) to help install on the 1st July. Plan on building a CLS frame inside the pond to manoeuvre it into and then level it before getting the adhesive on and baton it to the wall.

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good progress!

yeah, been to the timber merchant today myself just for some odds and ends.
they have gone very quiet, the yard was empty and i was the only customer,

but thats the knock on effect of extortionate prices...people stop buying 'luxury' items like timber lol!

i was going to replace some fencing, but decided just to repair it instead...
to be fair they are still the cheapest in the area,

i rang my other timber merchant for basic 6' x 6' waney fence panels they wanted £45 each!

**Ajm** · 06-06-2023, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by davethefish1

good progress!

yeah, been to the timber merchant today myself just for some odds and ends.
they have gone very quiet, the yard was empty and i was the only customer,

but thats the knock on effect of extortionate prices...people stop buying 'luxury' items like timber lol!

i was going to replace some fencing, but decided just to repair it instead...
to be fair they are still the cheapest in the area,

i rang my other timber merchant for basic 6' x 6' waney fence panels they wanted £45 each!

As a fencer am over the moon to see the price of timber is slowly falling up here now ! Hope it keeps falling tho still a long way to go to be back to normal

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 07-06-2023, 08:47 PM

Foundation ring poured today. The lads aren’t about tomorrow but plan on doing the block ring on Friday and get the insulation down and the rebar in.

In pond related news, I’ve had 50kgs of great quality she’ll turn up and really impressed with how clean they are. All organic a removed, baked at 200 Celsius for 25 mins and bagged. I had 30kgs of scallop and 20kgs of oyster. Put them in my shower for safe keeping until the pump room is up and running. Where you guys all tend to put them? Waste of media space in the shower but can probably get them in my bio chambers if I spread them around a bit.

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 07-06-2023, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by davethefish1

good progress!

yeah, been to the timber merchant today myself just for some odds and ends.
they have gone very quiet, the yard was empty and i was the only customer,

but thats the knock on effect of extortionate prices...people stop buying 'luxury' items like timber lol!

i was going to replace some fencing, but decided just to repair it instead...
to be fair they are still the cheapest in the area,

i rang my other timber merchant for basic 6' x 6' waney fence panels they wanted £45 each!

It’s crazy. They are significantly better than they were, but still crazy.

When I priced up sleepers pictured earlier in the thread, there wasn’t much between softwood and green oak and the azobe I went with for most of them weren’t much more expensive than new wood. Which is saying something because azobe has historically been the most expensive of the reclaimed sleepers!

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 07-06-2023, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by Ajm

As a fencer am over the moon to see the price of timber is slowly falling up here now ! Hope it keeps falling tho still a long way to go to be back to normal

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Yeah same here, falling but still well above historic averages

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 08-06-2023, 04:01 PM

All of the baskets arrived for the anoxic chambers. There’s enough for 36 in each chamber giving me a total of 72. There’s probably room for a fourth layer if I get my levels right making 48 per chamber and 96 total. 96 does feel like overkill, so I might put my scallop and oyster shells on top. I hadn’t planned to put them all in, but if there’s room I figure why not!

Each bio chamber will fit 3 rows of 12 easily. I’ll just have to be careful to pipe to the bottom of the slopes baskets with the tank connections as they are a relatively close fit:

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 08-06-2023, 04:04 PM

I’m all set for another weekend of pipework this weekend coming. It’s eye watering how much I’ve spent on pressure pipe and fittings!! However, I’d never have trusted waste pipe and I’m hoping that doing it properly once means I’ll not have to do it again. Famous last words…..

On the subject of pipework after some first hand experience if anyone has any with uniseals? I’ve got some 2” connections to make to settlement barrels and they look the easiest by far. Any tips? I’m presuming they are a bugger to push the pipe through but make a great deal? Used to use similar at work years ago, also made by DuPont, but different name back then

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 10-06-2023, 04:16 PM

Well it’s been a really hot day for it!! I’ve got the 4” skimmer line in and all the way around the pond below ground level and back up. Still got to put another bend on it tomorrow to get it back to vertical from its current horizontal. From the skimmer, I also have to get my overflow line ran tomorrow if there’s time. If I manage that, I can finally start moving my soil mountain and cover it all up! Looking forward to being able to do that.

I also got my 4” feed and return for my lily pond in place and above ground. I had wanted to use swept bends on this too, but room did not permit. It shouldn’t limit it too much as it’s only got a maximum of 32k litres per min flow if both pumps are full chat - which I don’t intend them to be most (if not all….) of the time. These pipes were buried so it was a lot of graft to dig them out and glue them up.

Was also important they were vertical, as the first stop after the lily pond is a settlement drum which will be attached by a bottom entry screwed flange, so jury rigged it with the smaller level

had to work fast today, the cement was setting in seconds.

The string line you can see in the second photo is the rough outline of the pump house. If the builders can pour the slab for my workshop on Wednesday as planned, their next job is to prepare all the ground so the pump house slab can be framed and poured. If I can finish off getting the pipes above ground tomorrow, I’ll be out of the builders way and they will be out of mine. They can get the pump house slab done and start slabbing the patio and sorting out the levels etc. I can start building the pump house and the workshop.

To get the levels for my RDF and the bio chambers, the builders might have to cast me some platforms in the pump house or build it up in block. Will decide closer to the time.

It’s been too bloody hot to work quickly! Been in the full sun all day and really feeling it now, hoping tomorrow might have some cloud cover or a breeze for me.

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 11-06-2023, 02:33 PM

Made some more progress today whilst simultaneously melting from the humidity!! The overflow line is run and ready for the raised bog garden which will house gunera and Iris and such as per the above and below photos. I’ve got some sleeper off cuts left from the beds so I’m going to come 2 sleepers high, dig out around 12”, line with a cheapo pond liner or some DPM if I have some knocking about and jab a couple of holes in it.

I also got the 4” skimmer line back to vertical and high enough that it won’t worry the concrete pour for the pump house. You can see it at the far end of the photo below, the 3 swept bends bringing it around and up. I could have done it in two swept bends, but I’d glued two together in the wrong orientation for one of the BD’s so made use of it here…..rather than bin an expensive bit of pipe!

And then the final job before I threw the towel in because of the daft humidity was shovelling soil. Lots of soil. I’m getting somewhere close to ground height now, there’s about 3” left to go. When it has all settled a bit I’ll tamp it down and top it off. I haven’t filled in the far end of the pond (where the returns are) because I want to get the air lifts as deep as possible to give them as much life as possible. It’s great being above ground finally with everything, feels like a long time I’ve been below ground level!

Next job will be the air lifts and the lily pond liner. Both will take a bit of time which I’m short of in the next few weeks. I’m hoping the builders have some time in their diary to get the pump house concrete done so they can start the patio. Will keep you posted.

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 11-06-2023, 02:34 PM

A couple more pictures of the backfill.

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 12-06-2023, 05:48 PM

I’m having some real trouble locating material for the anoxic filtration. I had used sanicat for my fish tanks but I’ve picked up a bag to check and after a couple of days in water, you could use it as modelling clay. I suspect it’s the same stuff as it ever was baked at a lower temperature of for a shorter period.

I’ve located some absorbent granules and had two bags delivered to check. The website states the below and the picture is the actual stuff that turned up. I’ve put it in to soak for a few days and will let you know if it holds its shape. Fingers crossed

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 14-06-2023, 03:33 PM

Well so far so good with the anoxic BCB media still hard and gravelly after 36 hours.

In separate news, my workshop base has been poured today. The lads did a great job.

Bit of insulation to keep the worst of the cold out, on top of 75mm of MOT and under the DPC. Then rebar and concrete:

They got a nice finish on it, so looking forward to getting everything in there so I can start tinkering.

Tomorrow they are starting the shuttering for the pump house base. There will be roughly 3t of water in there at any given time so we’ve gone for 200mm with an ST4 concrete, the same as the pond base, and the thickets rebar mesh stocked on the shelf at the builders merchant. The pour is scheduled for Saturday morning. I’m away Saturday and Sunday but will get you some pictures as soon as I can.

Once the pump house base is poured, it’s onto building the platforms for the anoxic containers and the RDF. Then I can build the structure and wire and plumb and we aren’t far off from getting some water in there….

Still plenty left to go. Sounds good when I say it quickly though

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 14-06-2023, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by davethefish1

personally i wouldn't use alfagrog in a shower, it's large pores are famous for trapping any debris in

if you don't want to pay for shigure or csm or bio home, get pumice.
but avoid the likes of mountain tree media, lots of people have had probelms with it literally disintegrating

Well, thanks for the info Dave, just ordered 18 boxes of Shigure from the guy in the Netherlands who I presume is a major distributor. That or I just got ripped off for a lot of money

In all seriousness though, I’d never heard of the Shigure so appreciated.

I’ve also paid for the RDF and got the delivery date so all told, it’s been an expensive day!

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 16-06-2023, 07:11 AM

The builder levelled off the pump house area and prepared everything for getting the frame built today. The concrete is due to be poured Saturday morning whilst I’m away. As long as he remembers to include my water feed, power feed and light cable I’ll be happy!

You can see off to the left the lily pond. The two pipes closest to it are the feed and return. The four pipes to the right are the three BD’s and the skimmer line. The white bag has all three air pipes in it.

Once this base is poured, the lads will be onto the patio and my next job is to build the air lifts. After that I need to finish and line the lily pond and then build the pump house. The glass is due on Monday and I plan to fit on the 1st July as that’s when the lads are all available. Looking forward to seeing the glass in, but dreading doing it!

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 16-06-2023, 07:12 AM

Originally Posted by Shropshire_Tom

I’m having some real trouble locating material for the anoxic filtration. I had used sanicat for my fish tanks but I’ve picked up a bag to check and after a couple of days in water, you could use it as modelling clay. I suspect it’s the same stuff as it ever was baked at a lower temperature of for a shorter period.

I’ve located some absorbent granules and had two bags delivered to check. The website states the below and the picture is the actual stuff that turned up. I’ve put it in to soak for a few days and will let you know if it holds its shape. Fingers crossed

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This stuff held up really well! Details below:

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 18-06-2023, 10:15 AM

I’ve come back from a weekend away to a concrete base for the pump house. Happy with how it came out all things considered. They remembered my water feed, electric feed in and feed for lights out.

The only small fly in the ointment is my own fault, I’d taped my 1” air feeds together and had intended on spacing them out nicely - and forgot. There’s enough flex in the 1” pipe that I’ll be able to get straight couplers on and spread them out further up though. I intend to have the air pumps high up so I’m hoping it won’t present too much of a problem.

The glass is due for delivery tomorrow so whilst I’m looking forward to receiving it, I’m not looking forward to keeping it safe or fitting it! Things are really starting to take shape now. The patio porcelain is for for delivery on Wednesday and they are due to start laying on Thursday, so that will help finish things off in front of the pond.

Will keep you all updated! The RDF should arrive this week too.

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**Shropshire_Tom** · 19-06-2023, 07:46 PM

Well the glass arrived. I can confirm it’s heavy as hell!!

Crap communication from Tuff-X, I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t phoned up to ask when delivery was I’d not have found out until it arrived. No confirmation emails or anything.

I’m annoyed about the glass, one corner has a small chip - which I spotted - but I decided to accept it anyway as it will be hidden by the reveal. What I hadn’t noticed was some small bubbles in the lamination which must be the top because of the chip having to be at the bottom so they will be right in eye line. I might phone and complain tomorrow, but they won’t be able to get a replacement here in time if the lead time for this piece was normal. Lives and learns.

I ordered the cladding for the block work today too. I saw someone on here has similar so I shamelessly ripped off their idea (imitation is the best form of flattery right??). Stock photo below of the stuff I’ve ordered:

The lads are back on Thursday to start laying slabs. When did slabs get so bloody expensive?? I got porcelain in the end because the price difference wasn’t enough to make porcelain too much more painful! We’ve gone for light slabs to contrast the dark slate and sleepers. Hoping it will look the mutts nuts when it’s done. If it doesn’t, this whole thing has been an abject lesson on how to waste a decent chunk of money

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**davethefish1** · 19-06-2023, 09:19 PM

great to see it all coming together now, slab laid ect...

but you're not the only one to get chipped glass recently, alburglar recently had a piece with a splinter.
i wouldn't not be happy if i got a chipped piece of toughened glass that was supposed to be bevelled, polished, and dubbed on all 4 sides.

the issue with that is, even if it happened prior to the glass being toughened, heat soaked, and tempered.
is it can cause the glass to fail at a later date due to internal stresses caused by expansion and contraction.

**Shropshire_Tom** · 20-06-2023, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by davethefish1

great to see it all coming together now, slab laid ect...

but you're not the only one to get chipped glass recently, alburglar recently had a piece with a splinter.
i wouldn't not be happy if i got a chipped piece of toughened glass that was supposed to be bevelled, polished, and dubbed on all 4 sides.

the issue with that is, even if it happened prior to the glass being toughened, heat soaked, and tempered.
is it can cause the glass to fail at a later date due to internal stresses caused by expansion and contraction.

That’s a really good point. I might call them today. I was excited and probably should have rejected it at delivery but excitement got the better of me. Not sure what I’ll do as they won’t get me another in time for fitting. Will keep you posted!

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**DFC1980** · 20-06-2023, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by Shropshire_Tom

Well the glass arrived. I can confirm it’s heavy as hell!!

Crap communication from Tuff-X, I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t phoned up to ask when delivery was I’d not have found out until it arrived. No confirmation emails or anything.

I’m annoyed about the glass, one corner has a small chip - which I spotted - but I decided to accept it anyway as it will be hidden by the reveal. What I hadn’t noticed was some small bubbles in the lamination which must be the top because of the chip having to be at the bottom so they will be right in eye line. I might phone and complain tomorrow, but they won’t be able to get a replacement here in time if the lead time for this piece was normal. Lives and learns.

I ordered the cladding for the block work today too. I saw someone on here has similar so I shamelessly ripped off their idea (imitation is the best form of flattery right??). Stock photo below of the stuff I’ve ordered:

The lads are back on Thursday to start laying slabs. When did slabs get so bloody expensive?? I got porcelain in the end because the price difference wasn’t enough to make porcelain too much more painful! We’ve gone for light slabs to contrast the dark slate and sleepers. Hoping it will look the mutts nuts when it’s done. If it doesn’t, this whole thing has been an abject lesson on how to waste a decent chunk of money

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Where is the best place to order these from?

Thread: New pond build - First pond!

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