Pond Redo

A couple days before we left town in July to visit family back in San Jose, the pond sprung a leak. Shutting off the pump and filter did not seem to ameliorate the problem, and the hole that was shedding the water from the pond remained elusive. Prior to travel I purchased a popup pool to transfer all the plants and fish into it in order to salvage the biological aspects of the pond.

Upon arriving back from California, I found a few culprit holes, but still not sure if it would present again, we decided to redo the pond.

Before...


Ahhh... That's the problem, they put no underlayment under the rubber lining. No wonder the shards of rock and rubble beneath the pond liner cut through. In this picture the biological filter has been moved between the two alberta spruces. I've dug the pond down to a 2-3' depth for better wintering of the pond. Also, I created a deep end of the pond, where Rusty is, so that the pump will be "distal" to the filter and NEW waterfall setup. : ) Also, but not shown here, was a small tree stump that they were hiding using the waterfall. I ground it down with my chain saw. There can be only one.


Pond bottom raked for sharp rocks, smoothed and stamped. Location for the first layer of rocks to be placed around the ledge outlined and smoothed.


Felt underlayment to prevent sharp objects from puncturing the new rubber liner.


New rubber liner in with water filling. Beginnings of the waterfall cascade between the two spruces.


Rubber lining trimmed, and the first layer of rocks being placed around the ledge.


Building a cascading waterfall. Plumbing in place, attached to the biological filter and leak tested.


Rest of the rocks are placed, water has been chemically treated and pH balanced, and the plants and fish are now back in.

Rusty laying underneath the Spruce on a warm Sunday afternoon watching the fish and waterfall.