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Building an above ground pond

15K views 34 replies 10 participants last post by  deaver 
#1 ·
For those who may be interested, I'm currently in the middle of building an above ground pond in the back yard. The idea is to have a few areas dedicated to growing out cichlid fry from spring to fall. Here's the concept:


I plan to do Koi in the bottom area and use the three top areas with the cutouts for waterfalls as fry growout. The Koi can stay in the pond year-round and will keep up the bacteria colonies during the winter so that I can put fry in as soon as it gets warm enough.
 
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#2 ·
I got a little ahead of myself, so here are some pictures of where things currently stand:

Frames for main section standing in garage after completing them (I wanted to make sure they lined up).


Corner of back yard where the pond will go. As you can see I've already leveled the ground.
 
#3 ·
I was conflicted on how to address if I needed a footing or not. The center part of the pond will be resting on the ground so there is not a weight issue, but I was concerned about the wood being in direct contact with the ground so I found an in-between way. After leveling the ground I am placing hardie planks beneath the framing. Hardie plank can handle the moisture and gives me a sturdy barrier underneath without having to pour concrete.


Pic of framing placed on hardie plank. So far so good.
 
#5 ·
Is that pre-treated lumber? Looks like it but just wanted to be sure.

Have you thought about pouring a concrete pad to sit it on?

I think it is a great idea.....if I lived in a warm climate(I am just a bit north of texas) then I would consider something similar except I would do almost nothing but africans...
 
#8 ·
It is pre-treated lumber. All materials will be rated for outdoor use so that it will last. As for the concrete pad, I considered it but decided it wasn't necessary.

I will be using a rubber liner. The liner will come up and over the top edge, then will be held down by a finishing board on the top to hide it. The liner has already been ordered and will hopefully come in this week. Still haven't decided on filtration. Probably going to go with a magnetic drive pump with a prefilter attachment, though it does depend on cost...my funds are limited. :)
 
#9 ·
I am assuming you are going to sheet the inside yet. It is difficult to tell from the pictures but the corner connections look a little sketchy. What is holding the sections together? I wonder whether the back corner needs to be braced to the center front peak to prevent bowing. Should be nice when done.
 
#10 ·
Ah, sorry, should have clarified. The picture of the framing laid out in the yard is just the frames placed on top of the level boards. No connections have been made yet, though the frames will be screwed together at each of the junction points. I'll be sure to get a closeup pic to show. And yes, the inside and outside will both be sheeted with hardie plank. About to go out and work more now, so hopefully I'll get far enough along to post some pics of the sheeting tonight.
 
#11 ·
Here are 2 pics of the corners screwed together. I used 3" wood to wood screws.



I also realized that I had to put the hardie plank on the back before screwing the frames together or I would have no room to work. In the picture below only the back corner is screwed together. Everything else is just sitting in place for effect.

 
#15 ·
I am a little skeptical about how it will stand against the weather, especially in Texas (rain, hail, snow and heat). But I hope it works out (probably will). I think that with the rain the whole pond with either shift, sink an inch or two, and or become out of level. What would you do if this happens? Any way of preventing this? Perhaps a few more layers of hardy back on the bottom and not just the perimeter but the hole bottom...?

A few panes of glass would have been awesome but not cost effective...

Just some things to think about.
 
#16 ·
mightyevil said:
I am a little skeptical about how it will stand against the weather, especially in Texas (rain, hail, snow and heat). But I hope it works out (probably will). I think that with the rain the whole pond with either shift, sink an inch or two, and or become out of level. What would you do if this happens? Any way of preventing this? Perhaps a few more layers of hardy back on the bottom and not just the perimeter but the hole bottom...?

A few panes of glass would have been awesome but not cost effective...

Just some things to think about.
shifting and sinking with that much weight is why I asked about a concrete base.....
 
#17 ·
You're right, I am running that risk, but our soil where I live is a heavy clay so I don't expect shifting to be a problem. The type of soil I have has a load-bearing capacity of 2000lbs. per square foot and the pond has a 20 square foot base. The weight of the water will be way less than the limit so I'm banking on it not being an issue, but I also know that I'm no expert. I guess we'll find out!
 
#18 ·
magic_cichlid said:
You're right, I am running that risk, but our soil where I live is a heavy clay so I don't expect shifting to be a problem. The type of soil I have has a load-bearing capacity of 2000lbs. per square foot and the pond has a 20 square foot base. The weight of the water will be way less than the limit so I'm banking on it not being an issue, but I also know that I'm no expert. I guess we'll find out!
It's funny you bring up the soil in texas. I am not sure where you are located in relation to austin but I was watching a 2007 epside of "this old house" where they were doing a renovation in austin. Anyways.....one thing they noticed after it started raining on the project was the house was shifting a bit. Fireplace especially dropped about 1/4" overnight. They had someone come in and test the soil and said it was form of clay. Anyways....they added some drainage and whatnot and fixed the front porch foundation and the fireplace but said the clay could be tough to work on. I can't remember the specifics to save my life. I just thought it was interesting that you brought up your soil/clay and you live in texas and we were discussing shifting and sinking. Just thought I would mention it.
 
#19 ·
I had to change the design of the waterfall boxes a little bit. I'm truly an amateur who has barely touched a saw in the past, so my tools are very basic. The angle on the center box seemed too difficult to pull off so I went with a more rectangular box. The center box kind of fits like a puzzle piece with the two side rectangular boxes. Hopefully the pictures will help that make sense! It took some thinking, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.





Next step is to get the liner in, then bolt these into place on the framing with the liner caught in-between to hold it in place.
 
#20 ·
Had my first big setback, hence the delay with updates. I got it all lined and screwed together so I began filling it with water. Water is very heavy, and the center corner that points inward toward the pond began to shift. The weight of the water was pushing it outward even though I had a dozen screws holding it together. It was only halfway full when it began shifting and I knew it wouldn't hold if I filled it all the way, so I began draining it. I had to go buy a bunch of metal braces to put at the top of each corner joint and on the bottom where the frames connect. I installed the braces and began filling again, but the corner still tried to give, though not as drastically as before. I had it 3/4 full and stopped to install even more support for the center section. Yikes! Here's a pic of the braces.

 
#21 ·
After adding the extra bracing, everything seems to be holding (keeping fingers crossed). Now time to get the pump ready. I've purchase a Pondmaster 7 which pumps 700gph at 1 foot of head. I'll be pushing the water approximately 4-5 feet up, which puts the gph at 400-500 which is plenty. I researched a ton and the only negative thing people had to say about the pump is that the filter clogs quickly. I can understand why, so I came up with my version of a solution. I bought 2 planters designed for planting plants inside of ponds and wound them together to create an incasing for the pump. First pic is pump inside planters, second pic is planters enclosing the pump. I figured this way at lease the bigger stuff would be filtered before reaching the pump.



The red rope is there for 2 reasons: hold the top together, and have something to pull the pump out with for maintenance. And yes, it is a "stringer" from my fishing equipment.
 
#25 ·
Structure is solid, no more movement even when I pull and push on it as hard as I can. I've now moved on to the aesthetic part. Hopefully I'll have the upper area complete and looking like the lower area by the end of the weekend. Once that's done, all that is left is to paint! Here's where it stands as of right now.


As for the waterfalls, there was a lot of splashing and it was too loud. I've attached these grids (used for sewing) so that the water flows down it and lightly enters the water below. I figure after a little while they'll start to grow algae and it might look kind of cool. We'll see.

The grids are what I will use to make open top boxes to slide down into the 2 middle waterfall boxes. That is where I'll be growing cichlids out and the boxes made out of this stuff will make it easy for me to catch them by just pulling the grid out.
 
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