Starting the dig...

I actually have the 1st layer dug; it's 16x8 at the moment. I am considering going a little bigger, maybe 18x10 or 12; still pondering that one. Digging is a b**ch due to the roots, plus the occasional rock. Could be worse, though. This is kind of like a practice pond; I built a 180 "practice tank" before I tackled my 700 and I am glad I did. So any mistakes with this pond I will learn from before I tackle the one in the front yard. I almost soiled myself when the wife gave me permission to dice up the front yard for a pond; I made sure to butter her up first though with some cool pond pics from this forum!! I plan on a shelf about 12" wide and 8-10" deep, then maybe another at 12"wide and about 24" deep. The rest will be 4-5' deep, guesstimated at about 4500 gallons, give or take. The high ground is at the shed, there is a slight slope of maybe 2 or 3 degrees; I plan on building up a berm on the low side to account for that. Right now, I plan on having a diy waterfall at the high end next to the shed; the shed will house the pump and filter. I like to stick with as much diy as possible; 1st I am a cheap sob lol, 2nd I have so much leftover pipe, fittings, etc, from the tanks that it would be a waste not to use them, 3rd I can't risk irking the wife unnecessarily by spending what I don't have to...Of course, advice is always welcome!!

LOL Too true Dr. Joe! As far as filtration is concerned, the jury is still out; it will be diy for the most part. After doing some basic research, I see I can go down a few different paths; a external pump pulling from a bottom drain and possibly combined with a skimmer, feeding a bio falls at the high end of the pond. I would want to use plants as much as the 4 seasons will allow; supplemented by a separate wet/dry housed with the pump in the shed. But I have also seen setups with submersible pumps; I would use a bio falls setup with the sub but would need to find a way to plumb a skimmer into the sub or I would have to nix it. I would rather have a skimmer than not with all the pine trees dropping cones. I am more concerned with the mechanical aspect of filtration with this due to the pine cones, twigs, leaves, etc.

sorry about the camera date; every time I change batteries it needs resetting. I got into the habit of ignoring the date... Good idea about the netting; I had a thought about building an arbor of some sort out of 4x4 and 2x6. Mainly I wanted to prevent the really big stuff from hitting the pond, like falling limbs and such that could puncture the liner; it would be easy to add some hardware cloth or chicken wire for the smaller stuff...another question- in doing research I 've read that 1 to 2x turnover rate is fine for ponds; as opposed to the 5 or 6x (or more) turnover rate I always read about for aquariums. Is this accurate? I hope so because I would hate to pay for pump powerful enough to turn over a 4000 gallon pond 4 or 5x an hour!!

Thanks for the advice Muske; so lilies are a good nitrifying (did I spell that right?)plant? I definitely want to use plants as much as possible to keep the toxins down, as well as supply oxygen; I have a list in one of my pond books...I was also thinking of some flat rocks for liner protection; we have a fair size dog (see avatar) that always finds a wet ditch when he's on a walk and gets too warm. I don't doubt he'll try to take a dip in the pond if he gets a chance and I would rather him not puncture the liner. Of course a small fence comes to mind, but he's busted through my chain link before; now I just leave it open and he stays put. Go figure. Anyways, a fence strong enough to keep him out will look like crizzap. Remember, I am trying to keep things as attractive as possible so as the wife will continue to do my bidding...lol