I am building my first pond, and am very excited. It seems like I've been
digging forever! Hopefully I can get rid of some of the fat that I've grown
by sitting in front of a computer 24 hours a day I hope to start putting
the liner in this weekend.

Here is the way that I currently have it laid out. If you have any
thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I have a short waterfall and stream (about 10 feet horizontal and 3 or 4
feet vertical) that feeds into a 5x8x2 veggie filter. The veggie filter
will overflow into another waterfall/stream that feeds into a 9x8x4 pond. I
bought the Cal Torpedo pump, and right now I am thinking about using it
inline, not submerged. It just seems like it would be easier to access
external to the pond.

I am not real sure about the design of the veggie filter. I've never seen a
design for one that has a stream feediing into it, and another one out of
it. I am thinking that I will have two 1 1/2" PVC pipes running on the
bottom, spaced about 2 1/2 feet apart, lined with holes about every 6
inches. The PVC pipe will be covered with landscape liner and then about 12
inches of gravel. Than I will put in a bunch of plants, although I haven't
decided what kind yet. Since the water will come in from the stream at the
top, in order to get the water to flow into the PVC pipe at the bottom,
making sure I get good flow though the gravel, I want to create a small
chamber at the beginning of the veggie filter, by partioning off a small
section with some boards, or rocks. There will be a PVC inlet at the bottom
that goes into the PVC pipe manifold under the veggie filter.

I want a bottom drain, but I haven't really figured that part out yet. I'll
probably try and do something like Greg suggests at
http://www.geocities.com/bickal2000/pond.htm.

Of course, I'll need an overflow pipe. I figure that will go in the same
ditch that I dig for the bottom drain and drainage that I need to build
under the liner for rainfall run off (this whole thing sits on hard pan).

The design sounds very nice. I think most on here will tell you to lose the
rocks in the veggie filter. I think you will find it very difficult to make
the piping work, and with the veggie filter, you shouldn't need.the rocks.
Once they are full of dirt, they are heavy and hard to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Scott Vande Krol" wrote in message
news:6fRKa.29352$Ab2.58005@sccrnsc01...
I am building my first pond, and am very excited. It seems like I've been
digging forever! Hopefully I can get rid of some of the fat that I've
grown
by sitting in front of a computer 24 hours a day I hope to start
putting
the liner in this weekend.

Here is the way that I currently have it laid out. If you have any
thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I have a short waterfall and stream (about 10 feet horizontal and 3 or 4
feet vertical) that feeds into a 5x8x2 veggie filter. The veggie filter
will overflow into another waterfall/stream that feeds into a 9x8x4 pond.
I
bought the Cal Torpedo pump, and right now I am thinking about using it
inline, not submerged. It just seems like it would be easier to access
external to the pond.

I am not real sure about the design of the veggie filter. I've never seen
a
design for one that has a stream feediing into it, and another one out of
it. I am thinking that I will have two 1 1/2" PVC pipes running on the
bottom, spaced about 2 1/2 feet apart, lined with holes about every 6
inches. The PVC pipe will be covered with landscape liner and then about
12
inches of gravel. Than I will put in a bunch of plants, although I
haven't
decided what kind yet. Since the water will come in from the stream at
the
top, in order to get the water to flow into the PVC pipe at the bottom,
making sure I get good flow though the gravel, I want to create a small
chamber at the beginning of the veggie filter, by partioning off a small
section with some boards, or rocks. There will be a PVC inlet at the
bottom
that goes into the PVC pipe manifold under the veggie filter.

I want a bottom drain, but I haven't really figured that part out yet.
I'll
probably try and do something like Greg suggests at
http://www.geocities.com/bickal2000/pond.htm.

Of course, I'll need an overflow pipe. I figure that will go in the same
ditch that I dig for the bottom drain and drainage that I need to build
under the liner for rainfall run off (this whole thing sits on hard pan).

Do you mean lose the chamber at the beginning, or lose the gravel
altogether?


"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:8J6La.37617$Fy6.11561@sccrnsc03...
The design sounds very nice. I think most on here will tell you to lose
the
rocks in the veggie filter. I think you will find it very difficult to
make
the piping work, and with the veggie filter, you shouldn't need.the rocks.
Once they are full of dirt, they are heavy and hard to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Scott Vande Krol" wrote in message
news:6fRKa.29352$Ab2.58005@sccrnsc01...
I am building my first pond, and am very excited. It seems like I've
been
digging forever! Hopefully I can get rid of some of the fat that I've
grown
by sitting in front of a computer 24 hours a day I hope to start
putting
the liner in this weekend.

Here is the way that I currently have it laid out. If you have any
thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I have a short waterfall and stream (about 10 feet horizontal and 3 or 4
feet vertical) that feeds into a 5x8x2 veggie filter. The veggie filter
will overflow into another waterfall/stream that feeds into a 9x8x4
pond.
I
bought the Cal Torpedo pump, and right now I am thinking about using it
inline, not submerged. It just seems like it would be easier to access
external to the pond.

I am not real sure about the design of the veggie filter. I've never
seen
a
design for one that has a stream feediing into it, and another one out
of
it. I am thinking that I will have two 1 1/2" PVC pipes running on the
bottom, spaced about 2 1/2 feet apart, lined with holes about every 6
inches. The PVC pipe will be covered with landscape liner and then
about
12
inches of gravel. Than I will put in a bunch of plants, although I
haven't
decided what kind yet. Since the water will come in from the stream at
the
top, in order to get the water to flow into the PVC pipe at the bottom,
making sure I get good flow though the gravel, I want to create a small
chamber at the beginning of the veggie filter, by partioning off a small
section with some boards, or rocks. There will be a PVC inlet at the
bottom
that goes into the PVC pipe manifold under the veggie filter.

I want a bottom drain, but I haven't really figured that part out yet.
I'll
probably try and do something like Greg suggests at
http://www.geocities.com/bickal2000/pond.htm.

Of course, I'll need an overflow pipe. I figure that will go in the
same
ditch that I dig for the bottom drain and drainage that I need to build
under the liner for rainfall run off (this whole thing sits on hard
pan).

Scott Vande Krol wrote:
Do you mean lose the chamber at the beginning, or lose the gravel
altogether?


"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:8J6La.37617$Fy6.11561@sccrnsc03...

The design sounds very nice. I think most on here will tell you to lose

the

rocks in the veggie filter. I think you will find it very difficult to

make

the piping work, and with the veggie filter, you shouldn't need.the rocks.
Once they are full of dirt, they are heavy and hard to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


I go along with Rich loose the gravel not sure about the chamber as I
cant figure what its for





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

good judgement comes from bad experience, and that comes from bad
judgement

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

RichToyBox wrote:
The design sounds very nice. I think most on here will tell you to lose the
rocks in the veggie filter. I think you will find it very difficult to make
the piping work, and with the veggie filter, you shouldn't need.the rocks.
Once they are full of dirt, they are heavy and hard to clean.

I must agree with RTB. After two years of removing rocks to
do yearly cleaning I removed them permanently.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

Well, I finished digging out the veggie filter yesterday. It ended up being
9x5x2, and I think that I am going to lose the creek going into it, at least
for now.

Everything I have read (there is an article in Water Gardening magazine)
says to put a pipe matrix in the bottom, and then cover that with a
landscape liner (I was going to use some of my underliner) and then cover
that with gravel. Then place the plants straight in the grave.

I guess I understand why this may be difficult, though. If I don't clean
the gravel, it would tend to clog up, and put more resistance on the outlet
of the pump, causing there to be less and less flow?

If I don't use gravel, though what do I use instead? Just lose the pipe
matrix and put dirt in there?

"Bonnie Espenshade" wrote in message
...
RichToyBox wrote:
The design sounds very nice. I think most on here will tell you to lose
the
rocks in the veggie filter. I think you will find it very difficult to
make
the piping work, and with the veggie filter, you shouldn't need.the
rocks.
Once they are full of dirt, they are heavy and hard to clean.

I must agree with RTB. After two years of removing rocks to
do yearly cleaning I removed them permanently.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

Scott Vande Krol wrote:
Well, I finished digging out the veggie filter yesterday. It ended up being
9x5x2, and I think that I am going to lose the creek going into it, at least
for now.

Everything I have read (there is an article in Water Gardening magazine)
says to put a pipe matrix in the bottom, and then cover that with a
landscape liner (I was going to use some of my underliner) and then cover
that with gravel. Then place the plants straight in the grave.

I guess I understand why this may be difficult, though. If I don't clean
the gravel, it would tend to clog up, and put more resistance on the outlet
of the pump, causing there to be less and less flow?

If I don't use gravel, though what do I use instead? Just lose the pipe
matrix and put dirt in there?


I have my bigger plants in the veggie filter just sitting on thier root
mass, the smaller ones are in pots with either pea gravel or Kittie
litter till they get big enough to depot

once a year or every two years depending on builup I drain the veggie
filter and clean out the dirt/dietrus and put in on my gardens

for a visual see my website below the project 2003 pics have my pipes
layout shown but basicaly I have one pipe on one side of the pond just
emptying into the filter and another on the other side that goes
through a 150 gal stock tank to create a waterfall from there the
water just distributes itself through the veggie filter and then back
into the Koi pond
BTW the veggie filter is aprox 25x30 ft and one ft deep



John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

good judgement comes from bad experience, and that comes from bad
judgement

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

Scott Vande Krol wrote:
Well, I finished digging out the veggie filter yesterday. It ended up being
9x5x2, and I think that I am going to lose the creek going into it, at least
for now.

Everything I have read (there is an article in Water Gardening magazine)
says to put a pipe matrix in the bottom, and then cover that with a
landscape liner (I was going to use some of my underliner) and then cover
that with gravel. Then place the plants straight in the grave.

I guess I understand why this may be difficult, though. If I don't clean
the gravel, it would tend to clog up, and put more resistance on the outlet
of the pump, causing there to be less and less flow?

If I don't use gravel, though what do I use instead? Just lose the pipe
matrix and put dirt in there?

No dirt! My plants start in slotted baskets. When the
roots develop the plants are just in the water - not rocks
no soil - just water and plants. The roots systems will
support the plants.
--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/