The original pond had a shelf for the lilies, but I had to dig out the shelf
to make a shaft for my bottom drain shutoff. My original thought was to put
a plastic tote on the bottom to form an artificial shelf, but the surface
area of the bottom is fairly small. By the time I add enough slope to the
bottom for a drain, stabilizing a tote could be problematic. I don't think I
can rebuild a shelf out of dirt, as I don't have enough room to slope the
sides. (The original shelf was chiseled out of clay, so support was not an
issue. Plan C was to bury some blocks under the liner and cover them with
carpet padding and dirt, but I don't know how safe this will be for the
liner.

I plan to see if I can dig the pond a little bigger and stick with my tote
idea, but any bright ideas are appreciated. How deep can Lilies be anyway?


Pond Update:
I found the damn drain pipe today! You may remember my indoor filter and
tunneling questions from a couple of months back. I finished digging the
tunnel about a month ago, but the other end had to wait until I dug out the
pond. Well the tunnel was not where it was supposed to be when I had the guy
excavate the for the shut-off valve. I drilled a bunch of pilot holes today
and finally found it about a foot off target.

Bill Stock wrote:
The original pond had a shelf for the lilies, but I had to dig out the shelf
to make a shaft for my bottom drain shutoff. My original thought was to put
a plastic tote on the bottom to form an artificial shelf, but the surface
area of the bottom is fairly small. By the time I add enough slope to the
bottom for a drain, stabilizing a tote could be problematic. I don't think I
can rebuild a shelf out of dirt, as I don't have enough room to slope the
sides. (The original shelf was chiseled out of clay, so support was not an
issue. Plan C was to bury some blocks under the liner and cover them with
carpet padding and dirt, but I don't know how safe this will be for the
liner.

I just used a couple of plastic milk boxes like the milkman has and
put flat stones on top - They tend to float!



I plan to see if I can dig the pond a little bigger and stick with my tote
idea, but any bright ideas are appreciated. How deep can Lilies be anyway?


Pond Update:
I found the damn drain pipe today! You may remember my indoor filter and
tunneling questions from a couple of months back. I finished digging the
tunnel about a month ago, but the other end had to wait until I dug out the
pond. Well the tunnel was not where it was supposed to be when I had the guy
excavate the for the shut-off valve. I drilled a bunch of pilot holes today
and finally found it about a foot off target.

We have used milk crates, too. The area underneath is a good place
for smaller fish to find shelter.

Phyllis

we did the blocks under the liner covered with the multicolored carpet
padding and it works great. Ingrid

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:26:18 CST, "Bill Stock"
wrote:
Plan C was to bury some blocks under the liner and cover them with
carpet padding and dirt, but I don't know how safe this will be for the
liner.

Simple solution that worked for us.. stacking bags of topsoil on top of
cinder blocks. that way there's "padding" on top of the sharper block
corners, and bags of top soil are cheap.

We also used them to get more vertical sides in places where the dirt wasn't
co operating.


--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

Bill Stock wrote:
The original pond had a shelf for the lilies, but I had to dig out the shelf
to make a shaft for my bottom drain shutoff. My original thought was to put
a plastic tote on the bottom to form an artificial shelf, but the surface
area of the bottom is fairly small. By the time I add enough slope to the
bottom for a drain, stabilizing a tote could be problematic. I don't think I
can rebuild a shelf out of dirt, as I don't have enough room to slope the
sides.

You might borrow the idea of sandbags under the liner. These can stack
and still be on a slope.

Chip

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
ups.com...
We have used milk crates, too. The area underneath is a good place
for smaller fish to find shelter.

Phyllis

Where does one acquire milk crates anyway? Did you have to weight them down
as Black Cat mentioned?

"Gareee©" wrote in message
...
Simple solution that worked for us.. stacking bags of topsoil on top of
cinder blocks. that way there's "padding" on top of the sharper block
corners, and bags of top soil are cheap.

We also used them to get more vertical sides in places where the dirt
wasn't co operating.


--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)


That's a neat idea, dirt I've got. :-)

wrote in message
. com...
we did the blocks under the liner covered with the multicolored carpet
padding and it works great. Ingrid

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:26:18 CST, "Bill Stock"
wrote:
Plan C was to bury some blocks under the liner and cover them with
carpet padding and dirt, but I don't know how safe this will be for the
liner.

Thanks, nice to know that's an option. I'm partial to the milk crates
though, as it gives me slightly more volume and lets me change my layout
later. I've done a lot of chiseling to get me over a thousand gallons, so
I'd hate to give up to much space to shelves.

On Sep 13, 8:26 pm, "Bill Stock" wrote:
"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in oglegroups.com...

We have used milk crates, too. The area underneath is a good place
for smaller fish to find shelter.

Phyllis

Where does one acquire milk crates anyway? Did you have to weight them down
as Black Cat mentioned?

I see them discarded all over the place! I bought mine at K-Mart! I
use a large flat stone I bought at HomeDepot to cover the top of each
crate! They are sold to be used Used as walkways! This way it covers
the top of the crate and provides privacy for the fish! You can Put
the opening to the bottom and provide shelter to small fish or put the
open end facing out to allow all fish to come under the shelf! The
crates are very strong and will not collapse! Mine float!

"chatnoir" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Sep 13, 8:26 pm, "Bill Stock" wrote:
"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in
oglegroups.com...

We have used milk crates, too. The area underneath is a good place
for smaller fish to find shelter.

Phyllis

Where does one acquire milk crates anyway? Did you have to weight them
down
as Black Cat mentioned?

I see them discarded all over the place! I bought mine at K-Mart! I
use a large flat stone I bought at HomeDepot to cover the top of each
crate! They are sold to be used Used as walkways! This way it covers
the top of the crate and provides privacy for the fish! You can Put
the opening to the bottom and provide shelter to small fish or put the
open end facing out to allow all fish to come under the shelf! The
crates are very strong and will not collapse! Mine float!

Thanks, I guess the question was somewhat rhetorical, but it's good to know
you can actually buy them. We don't have K-Mart here anymore, they got
bought out. I tried searching a few of the recycling sites, but came up
empty. I guess you have to be careful of what was stored in them if you come
by them second hand. Funny thing is that I handled a few thousand crates in
High School when I worked in the dairy for A&P.

They really sound like a good solution, especially if I add a couple of Koi
to the new pond.

On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:14:08 CST, "Bill Stock"
wrote:

Funny thing is that I handled a few thousand crates in
High School when I worked in the dairy for A&P.

These aren't usually as strong as what you handled with milk, but they
work. Most of the big box stores handle them. School kids use them
for moving to school.
http://tinyurl.com/2mhz2y
Regards,
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

Home Depot and Wal-Mart have them regularly. They do tend to float,
but the plant pot seems ample to anchor them down. Phyllis and I like
the sheltered space below them (for the sake of the little fish.

Jim

Bill Stock wrote:


Where does one acquire milk crates anyway? Did you have to weight them down
as Black Cat mentioned?

You can buy them at most huge stores in the college dorm decorating area
OR you can pick them up free behind your local supermarket. They
stack them conveniently for you. :)

Chip

a warning about milk crates. larger koi can get trapped by them.
Ingrid