My pond renovation has officially begun........pics of where we are at the moment.

Digging to be completed today. Hit abit of a snag, if you look at the 3rd photo you will notice there is a power cable running thru the middle of the pond around 1.3m down. So I have decided that I will have to slope the pond now where the shallow end will go from around 1.1m down to 1.6m in the deep end where I wanted to originally go 1.6m all round. So going to concrete over the power cable then.

Dimensions will be 4.5m x 2.6m x 1.1m - 1.6m. This will then be linked int my current 4.2m x 1.6m x 1.4m pond which in the end should give me just on 25 000lt's

Here's the pics

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Hi Cliff

Why dont you go a bit wider to at least 3.5m,I guarantee you wont regreat it
just a thought

Hi Joe,

I probably will as I will be doing a concrete shell and have to buy in cubic metres to the nearest 10th so not going to waste concrete

thanks again

Q'...is my calculation correct

Length is 4.5(Length) x 1.6(Height) x 0.20(Thickness) = 1.44 cubic metres which means a total of 2.88 for both sides

Width is 3.5(width) x 1.6(height) x 0.20(thickness) = 1.12 cubic metres which is then a total of 2.24 for both sides

Floor is 4.5(length) x 3.5(width) x 0.20(thickness) = 3.15 cubic metres

So the total amount of concrete I would need would be 2.88+2.24+3.15 = 8.27 cubic metres in total.

Would my calculation be correct???

the floor i would make thicker and would include some wastage.......

Save yourself possible heartache in future .... take a peace of 110mm drainpipe ... cut a 20mm strip out along the length and slip it over the cable.

Turn it with the slot facing down and make sure it is well supported at the bottom. Then cast your concrete ... if that cable ever gives a problem you can pull it out without breaking your concrete.

Hi Cliff,

200mm is a thick floor as long as you put some reinforcing mesch in and use concrete of at least 30 Mpa.

Yes I think your calculation is correct but when you place your order tel the supplier you want ex amount of concrete + a final, then if you are short the final will be easy to estimate and they will deliver it. It is standard practice.

Hi Cliff,
Sorry a layer of aggregate under the concrete (I think Colyn made the point) is a good idea. Just about 50 to 100 mm thick

Is there no possibility of re-routing the cable...some extra cable and 2 Pratley joints? I had to do that with 2 cables that ran right through the designated pond area. While busy, don't compromise on depth, only to have regrets later.

Hi Jack, nice to have met you and thanks for the nice chat.

SO I decided to extend on the width...went from 2.5m to just under 3.5m (thanks Joe)

So dimensions are in the region of 4.8m x 3.4m x 1.6m, this is excluding the pond I am joining on.

Here's is the pond as digging completed.

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and here it is after reinforcong completed yesterday, the concrete shell will be cast next week tuesday with plastering happening on the friday and sealing happening on the sunday\monday.

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Hi Cliff

I think it looks good, I like the method.

I think when you plaster just add bird mesch.

Will you let us know on costs when you are complete.

Never saw your bottom drain installation I would have encased. ??

Hi Neville,

Not to sure by your bottom drain comment...encased???

Costs are:
Bottom drain - R215
Black Weir\skimmer - R195
Labour to dig hole - R400
Wire Mesh - R700
Rebar 8 lengths - R303
Labour to reinforce hole - R250
PVC piping and PVC joins - R200

Buying the cement and stone this week, will advise on that cost, should be in the region of R5000 for all stone, sand and cement

Then labour next week to pack will be R600

Bought an additional collins sand filter for R500
Bought additional 25L Ultra Zap with 15w UV light for R500

So all in all this renovation should not cost me more than R9000

I reckon R9000 for this extension including additional filtration isn't all that bad.

Shows how much you save when you do this yourself!!!!

Hi Cliff

Re encasing

The norm is to have a layer of concrete around any pipework that is placed under concrete. For drain pipes I think the law specifies 150mm all round.

Yours will not fall under any law but I feel you should do it.

Hi Cliff

Are you using 50mm or 110mm pipe for your bottom drain?
I recommend 110mm .If you live in JHB you are welcome to
see my set up
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Hi Joe,

50mm as the pond I am joining to this pond is already 50mm, so I will have 2 50mm bottom drains plus my 50mm weir T joined to my pump, then at my pump on my outlet it will split each to it's own sand filter, 25l ultra zap, 15l ultrazap, UV then back to pond via 2 seperate inlets..1 for my water fall then the other on a return below water level used for circulating the water anti clockwise (thanks Neville...lol)

today I broke down the wall of my current pond, so as to have both ponds as one. My depth in my current pond is around 1.5m...so I broke down around 700mm so that if I do have a leak from joining the 2 at least then my pond wont run dry and end up with dead fish....at least then there will still be around 800mm to 1m of water that remains in the pond.

Guys are coming on tuesday to pack the shell, decided to go with a pool ready mix, which they will be pouring in on tuesday. I'm very excited, should be doing 100mm wall all round which is around 4.4 cubic metres of concrete. The truck can only bring that amount at once so hopefully it's enough, if not then we will just have to hand mix the rest.

Pics of wall as broken down today.

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Hi Cliff

I looks good to me, now your fish can play hide and seek around the corner.

Jokes aside, well done so far. want to see the actual packing of cement please.

thanks Neville,

Tuesday just feels too far away, cannot wait for them to drop off the concrete. As I mentioned, I have purchased 4.5cubes, that is the most the truck can take because the mix is so thick (for handpacking) they dont take more than 4.5 because they are worried it burns out the motor.

Anyway, seems you're about as excited about this as I am, will hopefully post pics on tuesday night, if not then definitely wednesday morning.

cheers

Snap. Doing the concrete this week too. Also going with the poolmix

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Hi Jason

Unfortunately you have gone past the point of my critique, Your slopes are not steep enough, they should have been neerer vertical.
The first bottom drain seems a bit close to the inlet point, I dont think it is going to take out any dirt as such.

Otherwise it looks fine.

Both you and Chris should be there during the packing to make sure you get your 100mm wall thickness, monitor it all the time.

Best of luck and show some pictures during the packing.

I would also like to suggest to you that bird mesch be used when you do your plastering, it just makes it a lot stronger, also add something like plaster key into the mix.

For your final finish you can consider to use "Hydro Seal".
You can PM me for info if you like.

Hi Jason,

IF I were you I would have made the walls steeper, just that it gives you much more volume. When I built my first pond I did an 8000lt pond, which I thought was going to be big, only to realise that it limited my fish intake etc. I just wish I had built this pond I am busy with the first time!!!

There is still time, If I were you I wouldmake the pond bigger, not wider or longer, just dig down at a lesser angle to make the inside wider. Another concern that your pond gives me flat area for the koi to rest on, the only flat area they will have is right on the bottom drains....altho looking at the pics now I see you have flat area on the right.....however all looks good, where abouts are you?

Hi, thanks for the advice. As far as the volume I acually wanna try keep it down and have good water quality, more water more filters. It`s pretty big though. Should be some where around 40 000l. I think the photos are a bit [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]dese[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]ptive[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.].Here are some more, what you think still steeper?

Looks good, as long as you are happy with it that is all that matters.

Pictures never pay true justice and are often deceiving, these pics look pretty good.

One last bit of advice, I added 10mm rebar onto my reinforce mesh, maybe a good idea to add that on as well. If you look closely on mine you will see it there.

Hi Cliff

I hope you have enough people to pack, or some to keep mixing that concrete while others pack. Concrete must not lie still for too long before being used, it starts to set and then you will loose strength.

I will have 4 very experienced pool packers there for the hand pack.......this I was told would be very sufficient.