Tootfinder

I had to do a little more plumbing to at least get things up to a poijt where I could anchor the pipe in the bottom and put pebble down over the whole bottom hopefully tomorrow.
I need two more 45° elbows to keep the pipe close to the side as it comes up but that's not critical. At least like this if I have to fill it with water nothing will be too hard to fix.
#poolpond #backyardProject #DIY

#poolpond #backyardProject #diy
I spent the morning cleaning out the big pond. Lots of dirt and gunk and water had accumulated in the bottom over the past months. A combination of the little sump pump and a shop vac cleaned that all out.
But more concerning was the fact that when I walked down into the pond, it was mushy. There was obviously water underneath the liner.
I just pulled back the liner to reveal the water that had gotten under. It is likely that this water is from the overflow when I was testing the filter. It could be from a little bit of rainfall, but I doubt it.
There was a lot of water washing around the yard yesterday as I was figuring out the filter and the stream and overflowing areas so I am sure it got in that way.
Not a big problem. Just some more water to move with the little pump.
I am more concerned about the fact that a horsefly landed on me twice in the past hour. Devils they are.

all right. Done for the day. At some point, it becomes a bit of a losing battle using the shopvac. I'll let nature evaporat it hopefully by tomorrow. Probably take another day for it to dry out and harden up.
in the meantime, I can do the next job that I've been dreading.
Figuring out the fence situation. 😱
#poolpond #backyardProject #diy

i've also drained both the filter and the pump bay. The blueberries are getting a very good drink today. 🫐
I probably won't circulate water through the stream again until I get the main pond weighed down with rock on the bottom. I wanted to try to start building the rock lining around the wall of the main pond to see if it would hold and be sufficient.
But I might just let the bottom of the pond dry out completely. It's going to be nice and warm again the next couple days so it is best for it to let it dry out and harden up.
#poolpond #backyardProject #diy

Hmmmm… here is a problem I did not anticipate.
Every time I empty the main pond hole of water, (the actual hole under the liner) water returns within an hour or two. I’ve done it 4 times now, and it keeps filling back up with water.
Obviously there is water underground infiltrating into the pond hole, and/or the water table itself is above the bottom of the hole. It is not coming from either of the other holes because they both have the same amount of water in them as they did this morning.
I have “watered” the blueberry patch and hazelnut tree a lot with the water that I have been cleaning the filter with… and we also had lots of water flying around outside the liners yesterday as I tested the pump. So it is quite possible that the ground around the pond is simply well saturated.
I think I am going to have to just keep removing the water (and putting it into the sewer) until it does not refill. We have a week of hot weather coming. Surely that will be enough time for everything to dry out completely.
Otherwise I might run into some issues if the rains return before I can anchor down the pond liner with gravel and get the plumbing in!
How is time already running short!?
Never underestimate the ability of water to find a place where it is not wanted. 😆
#poolpond #backyardProject #diy

*tenting fingers*
Excellent.
#freepipe #diy #itPaysToKnowPeople #poolpond #BackyardProject #portAlberni

the plumbing for the bog/wetland filter is nearly complete.
The last item I needed was some 6" PVC pipe for a cleanout. It'll go down through the milk crate so I can send a vaccuum hose down there.
It isn't easy to find this size at stores, but a friend of a friend came through with some free cutoffs. They'll work perfectly. Probably $50 worth of pipe! I only had to buy the plug ($40).
Befriend a tradesperson! 😀
#freepipe #diy #itPaysToKnowPeople #poolpond #BackyardProject #portAlberni

alright. emptied the pump bay (watering the hazelnut tree as I go) so I could get down into the box and loosely fit the hose onto the pump.
Now we'll turn the water back on in the filter and let the bay fill back up again from the little diversion stream.
I need to go get a couple big hoseclamps to properly secure it to the pump. But loose is fine for testing.
#poolpond #backyardProject #DIY #electronics

And a quick update on the big project.
The main pond is drying out! I'll let it dry today and then put the liner over tomorrow morning and start working on the plumbing asap so I can get the pebble in there to weigh it all down!
Note little dig marks in the filter pebble where I stole some for the pandemic pond.
#pandemicpond #poolpond #backyardproject #diy #ponds #gardening #watergarden #bloomscrolling #goldfish

The kind man in the giant front loader at the gravel pit "gently dribbled" 820kg/1800lbs of river rock into the trailer. EV mileage not great. 😂
Was hoping for more rocks on the larger size, but it will all be useful for the #poolpond and #pandemicpond
And the price is right! $40
#diy #backyardproject #poolproject

escape! escape!!
This is what happens when you introduce a big pump (even only running at 30-50%!)
You find out REALLY fast where the low points are. I had suspicions. They have been confirmed, and temporarily rectified!
the pump is now running, hooked into the pipe to the bottom of the filter (I will cut more of it off in time so the pipe is running along the ground), plus the garden hose is continuing to add more water to the system.
No spillage! Ill fill the intake bay and then turn the garden hose off to just let it circulate.
#poolpond #backyardProject #DIY #electronics

First test of the pump! Just turned the first pump on to make sure everything works. The regulator works! 100% power seems to draw about 160W. 50% was around 70W. Can't take a reliable picture of the display unfortunately.
I will have to cut the main wire and extend it with a good extension cord so it can reach where I need it to. At least to the little grey shed for now. The controller has to stay dry and in reasonable temperatures.
Not really looking forward to that job. I have cut/spliced/shrinkwrapped wire before but not on a $600 pump. 😬
Today though I will concentrate on hooking up the pipe to the filter to set up a circulation and figure out a temporary situation for the pump controller.
edit: btw the pumps are both Jecod 20,000L/hr varieties. I am hoping (and calculated) that they are oversized so I can run them at 50-75% most of the time.
#poolpond #backyardProject #DIY #electronics

initial pump testing has been successful!
Filled the filter and pump bay to an approriate level via garden hose. ✅
turned pump on for the first time and fixed any overflows in the system on low flow ✅
turned the garden hose off and allowed pump to circulate for awhile ✅
I brought the pump up to 100% power (180W) and confirmed inlet standpipe did not overflow indicating good distribution flow on the bottom of the filter. ✅
identified/fixed more overflowing low points with pump at high flow. ✅
tested the breather pipe by turning off the pump and making sure the water was not siphoned from the filter the pump bay ✅
I let the top water from the filter drain into the bay until the bay was full (starting to overflow into the main pond) ✅
Used the small pump to empty the pump bay of some of the dirty water... watering the blueberries and flowers in the process. ✅
tiny red bum friend? ✅ 🕷️
A successful day!!
#poolpond #backyardProject #DIY #electronics

A #pandemicpond post.
The bog-barrels that I added last summer have done an absolutely incredible job at keeping the water crystal clear and almost completely algae free this summer.
Only the much warmer stream between the ponds has more algae than I really like.
I also added the bigger pump at the same time which likely helped a little but the added flow also raised the level of the top pond just above the liner in some spots. So yesterday when I topped it up, I took away the flat border stones to inspect where it was leaking. It turns out, almost everywhere!
So I added some handfuls of pebble taken from the #poolpond filter since I know there is extra there..: and stuck it under the liner to raise it an inch or two all the way around.
Here is a before and after. The first pic with the purple lilly
pads is last year with the algae that was common in the summer before the big filters. The second pic is a few weeks ago when the pond was full, clear, but overflowing, notice the water overtop the flat stones. The last two pics are today after raising the liner a little under the stones.
And a pic of the happy dual-barrel bogs (which are just small versions of the giant filter I just finished in the backyard). The marsh marigolds have not bloomed in the bog barrels. Not sure if they will this year. It is quite shady for them.
Oh and a lilly is about to bloom!The fish are also very active and happy.
#backyardproject #diy #ponds #gardening #watergarden #bloomscrolling #goldfish

flowing!!! 🎉 💧
Ill stop filling soon for the night but this is a huge milestone! HAPPY DAY
#poolpond #BackyardProject #diy #portalberni #watergarden

ooohh! The water is at the top! Now we'll see where it chooses to go!
Looks like I will actually be taking some pebble *out* if I want to plant in an inch or so of water.
#poolpond #BackyardProject #diy #portalberni #watergarden

Time for the first fill and empty cycle. Not sure how many times I'll do this probably a bunch lol. We will see how long it takes to fill it. The hazelnut tree will get lots of water today.
While, it's doing that, I will keep working on the rock liner of the intake pump bay. If I can get that done today, then I can try to direct the overflow from the filter into the pump and set up a circulation.
#poolpond #BackyardProject #diy #portalberni #watergarden