Author: admin

Throughout the summer of 2019, I made minor changes to the pond configuration. I was still trying to cope with a couple of serious problems.

1. I was still having a problem with losing water due to splashing.
2. There were still lots of areas that did not have adequate face coverage (rocks/bricks)
3. The third pond area on the top was just not working.
4. Water pressure for the waterfall was insufficient to make a constant stream.

Solutions:

Splashing Water

I realizes that the water coming from the topmost pipe in the wall did not have enough pressure when the pump got plugged up with debris. This would cause the water to drip out of the pipe and hit the back border of pond letting some of it sneak behind. It would empty itself in about an hour.

Not only was this a problem when the water pressure was low, but the entire time, the water came out to fast and would cause splashing in the top pond. I created a second reservoir in the top pond to add a fountain or just to divert some of the water pressure, but found that it was just not working the way I wanted. Plus the second resservoir on the top pond ended up being difficult to seal without replacing the liner for the top pond.

Since I was running two pumps simultaneously to get enough water flow to the top pond to make a smooth waterfall, it was constantly a battle between too little pressure or too much pressure. I was using 2″ corrugated flexible wastewater irrigation tubing for a sump pump so the water came out with lots of bubbles and noise in all directions.

I pulled everything out and installed 2″ PVC that screwed into one pump housing directly. In order to be able to service or replace the unit, I added a universal valve allowing me to disconnect the pump and replace it in case of failure or ugrade.

I ran the PVC all the way to the top fountain and found that one pump provided plenty of water flow to get the effect that I wanted. Plus, the water was a lot smoother, but still not perfect.

I then used a 35 Gallon bucket that I connected the supply tube to in the bottom of the bucket. Ideally I was hoping to get a one-way valve to eliminate back-pressure on the pump, but have not installed that yet.

I took a 4″ piece of PVC and ran it to the opening of the large terracotta tube that makes the top fountain. I sealed it with a rubber gasket and used silicone on the lower connection. I laid a small slab of concrete behind the wall to sit the bucket on. From inside the bucket, I continued the 4″ tube with an elbow and pointed the elbow opening up. This allowed the water to fill up the tote and slowly descend into the supply for the upper fountain. It ensured the smoothest possible exit from the upper fountain and eliminated all most all of the noise.

It did not stop the splashing however.

So I realized that if I put a decorate pot in the pond and let the waters splash into the pot, the sides of the pot would catch any splashing water and redirect it to the pond. I drilled holes in the pot below the waterline and for the first time, it worked like a charm. It looked nice and we were all pretty happy.

But it only lasted a couple of days at most. I looked for leaks and couldn’t find them. Much later, I realized that pot that I was using was not sealed. It was sturdy, but it was actually absorbing the pond water and letting the water evaporate over the entire expose surface of the pot. The water would only last a couple of days.

Finally, in April of 2020, I managed to get a rubberized pot that I drilled holes in the bottom below the waterline. Now, the water falls into the pot and the splash is contained by the sides. It’s been running for a couple of days and the water level has barely changed. Any water lost at this point is most likely do the vines robbing water to feed themselves around the pond. I will be cutting the feeders soon.

At the end of 2019, when I finally had given up on trying to resolve the water issue, I added a float switch that would trigger the cistern pump and automatically refill the pond when the water got low. Though this idea will be nice when correctly implemented, it took some planning and some education on the part of the other users of the cistern to ensure that the supply line was left open when not in use for other reasons. I’ll write a seperate post about the cistern shortly.

4/10/19

After messing with a half dozen different ways to filter the water in the pond, I decided to call it quits with the filter. It would be a good idea to filter the water, but I’ll have to try it another day or we could purchase a filter.

I reused the old waterfall box in the top bond as a method to get one of the pumps to push water into the top pond. This volume of water makes the cascade into the lower pond smooth. I built a box around the waterfall box and used bricks to cover the edges of the box. They need to be set and finalized, but it’s working now.

I also used some of the wood flooring on top of the box to make it look nicer. It’ll be a great place to put a couple of nice potted plants. Plus the lid comes off of the box easily in case we want to ad a filter or a popup fountain at a later date.

I still need rocks and adhesive and cement to finish the lower pond. I also need to do another maintenance on the sludge at the bottom. It’s pluggin up one of the pumps pretty bad, but I will do that another day as well.

I’ll work on lighting this week and I’ll touch up around the area to make it look nice for Cinco de Mayo.

Also, I got the pumps attached to the timer so it goes off at 9pm. Of course that’s easy to change. Overall, I’m pretty pleased. It was up and runing the first day I tried and it’s getting better and better. Next year, we’ll put it in Maintenance mode and cover it for the winter. Especially if we add fish one day. LOL

4/11/19

I double checked the fittings and stacked some more bricks to cover the box. It still needs some TLC to make it look pretty, but the pond is running and the timer is working. I also added some water so we can check levels.

Now, I’m off to the Dogwood Festival.

Today is Apr4il 11, 2019 and I thought it wouold be a good day to get started fixing the pond for the summer. Below I have listed some goals and ideas and a plan of action. Comments are welcome.

Status:

The pond has not been touched in at least six months and it is in relatively bad state. It’s full of sludge and debris and the upper portion needs to be completed. THe integrity of the pond-liner appears to be in good shape, though we have lots of vines and feeders succking the water.

Plans:

• Remove large debris from the pond area
• drain pond
• clear out sludge and additional debris
• trim back vines and leaf-producing plants
• place rocks to finish the sides and bottom of the lower pond area (see item 1 below)
• implement a cage for pumps and raise pumps off the floor (see item 2 below)
• implement rudimentary waterproof lighting (see item 3 below)
• refill pond
• determine how to implement the second pump (see item 4 below)
• consider raising the water level in the top pond

Considerations

Item 1 – Pond Rocks, Cement, Adhesive

I have gathered a large number of rocks from around the area and we just don; ‘t have enough rocks to finish the pond correctly. We need to get a small pallet of rocks. We also need to purchase 3 or 4 bags of water-proof mortar to mount the rocks and to point the existing rocks. Some adhesive would also help–probably 3 or 4 tubes of waterproof adhesive. Once we have these items we can finish the main portion of the pond.

For the last two years, I have purchased the necessary pieces for the pond out of my pocket. This year, I am going to leave it up to the Homeowners Association. I can put together a projected cosst for the supplies later today.

Item2 – Protect the Pumps

We need some way to shield the pumps from the leaves and debris. I figure by lifting the pumps slightly off the bottom, we can avoid some of ths sludge that clogs them up. I had built a cage to go around the pump to protect the leaves, but it never worked out right. I am open to any ideas.

We should also consider filtering the water. Good filtered water will help keep the pond running. Right now it gets pretty gross pretty quick. This may be an additional expense, but it would be work it in the long run. I will research some DIY solutions and we can work on this later.

Item 3 – Light the Ponds

While I am happy to provide the light that I used last year for Cinco De Mayo again this year, we should have a permanent solution built in that is weatherproof and hidden’ I currently have some rope lighting that will help light up part of it, but we may need to purchase a transformer if I can’t get the ones we have currently to work with these lights.

Item 4 – Second Pump

Currently we have two pumps in our system. Neither of which are real pond pumps.. One is a sump pump and the other a swimming pool pump. The sump pump feeds the top fountain and the second pump has not been applied yet.

I was hoping to make a traditional fountain out of the second pump, but ran into some problems and had to take it all apart. Currently, we just pump the water into the upper pond. I had set aside thee low-profile round pots that I planned to make into a fountain that cascaded down to each of the circles before exiting into the bottom pond but haven’t completed that yet.

Again, I am open to id3eas here.

Remove the elephant ear and its pot.

Remove the lower pond plant and its pot

Rebuild the water filter for the pumps

Add the water from second pump to the main waterfall

Seal the urn that receives the water from the top waterfall

Replace a section of the tubing for the top waterfall with smooth interior tubing.

Replace the output of the top waterfall with a clear plastic cylinder to make smooth.

Finish bricking in the top pond.

Make the end of the upper pond round.

Finish the rocks on the lower pond

Add lighting.

My friend, John Caudill, gave me a large elephant ear to add to the pond. When I realized that it would grow best in constant water, I found a water-permeable pot that was approximately the same diameter as the upper pond. I used the fountain connectors for the second pump to filter water into a basin in which the Elephant Ear sat.

When I returned to the project yesterday, May 1, 2018 I needed to remove the pot with the elephant ear. As I lifted the pot, a beautiful ring popped off of the top of the pot. Everything below the soil was destroyed from being submerged in water for so long.

I save the ring and grabbed a bin to shovel this great soil into.

Once I get all of the soil from that pot into the second bin, I removed the original Bin by stripping the pond liner off of it.

Welcome to the Pond Project at Aristocrat Lofts.

Starting on May 1, 2018 I will be recording all of my discoveries, problems, successes, etc. with the Pond Project. If you have questions about anything that I have posted, please leave a comment. If you have general questions about the pond or suggestions, I have a contact form that you could fill out and I will reply.

Though part of this site will contain a narrative of events, this is mostly going to be a collection of notes and reminders as well and findings and decisions so it may not be easy to read.

The introduction and history sections will be done later.