Really neat. I live in Flour Bluff on the east side of Corpus Christi, and I am wanting to build a natural pond in my sandy backyard using clay and then lining the bottom with white rock and limestone. I want to make the pond look like the Comal River in New Braunfels ( a natural spring fed river) and plant it and stock it with plants and fish from the river. I live in a Zone 10A climate (nearly tropical) with an average annual low of about 31F. I have a tropically landscaped backyard, and I think having a natural spring looking pond would be awesome underneath my jungle canopy I am starting to grow in the backyard. I would like to make the pond about 10 - 12 feet long, about 8 ft. wide and about 4. 5 - 5 ft. deep. with a small waterfall and filtration for the fish and aquatic life. I would like to power this with a small solar panel attached to the fence or the roof of the house (where it can get some sunlight). Any suggestions? Thanks, John

Sorry for my delay in responding. I was trying to find a plumbing schematic from when the pool was built, but was unable to get one. I am the second owner of this house. The built in skimmer intake pipe, inside diameter is just over 1-3/4". I'm not sure if the dual bottom drains are valved individually, but with my research I would say probably not. The pool was built around 1991 and from what I saw, they would both be connected to a single line feeding to the filter. Not sure what size pipes. The water from the current filter does return through jets in the walls of the pool. The jacuzzi is on the same system, and I have electronic valves that divert the return to the Jacuzzi at programmed times. The jacuzzi jets are in the wall also and have bubbles through those jets when it's on. Not actually in jacuzzi mode. I have a 3/4 hp pump. was a mistype. I don't really care what color the pool walls are. They are white (well mostly) now and I have seen pools with blue and black. I'm not sure what the pool is made of. It is a typical in-ground pool, built in 1991 or so. It does hold water well, although I do have to replenish in this Texas heat. That is another concern of mine. Evaporation and how to keep it full without tap water. It gets direct sunlight for many hours of the day in Summer. The water temp is about 83 degrees now. Know I'll have to find some way to shade it. Thanks Mike. I appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Yes, I converted a 18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4) field stone & mortar wall swimming pool to a lily pond. In line with low maintenance, I tried to remove all paint. I filled in the deep end with clay so that the deepest part is 4' deep now. We maintained the integrity of the drain so we can drain the pool. My pool was spring fed and didn't have a filter. I still don't use a filter. I used black greenhouse benches around the edge to hold marginal plants in pots. It filled up in 2 days so the flow is good. The spring water's temperature is 50 F. The pond's temperature gets up to 70 F by the middle of summer. When first filled with water, it quickly covered over with string algae. I put 12 trap-door snails in the pond and they multiplied at a fantastic rate. Soon they were eating the string algae. Frogs came into the pool at an alarming rate. Marginal plants are doing very well. The water is reasonably clear. Algae is caused by nutrients in the water and sunlight. Here is what I do: Â Planted 10 water lilies and one lotus, which have large leaves that shade the pond surface. Shade is important in preventing algae. I let Azolla caroliniana ("Fairy Moss") cover the surface during the winter and early spring to provide shade before the lilies and lotus form their leaves. Then I scoop most of the Azolla out with a swimming pool skimmer net so I can see the fish. It doesn't come back until the next winter. Â Planted about 64 marginal filter plants in pots and baskets with clay soil (Walmart's cheapest Kitty Litter) and no fertilizer around the edge on 8 - 2 foot x 8 foot plastic greenhouse benches about 5 inches below the water surface. Marginal plants remove nutrients from the water and prevent algae. Fish like lurking under the benches and frogs like sitting on the plants. Â Introduced trap-door snails into the pond which eat dead material in the pond and hence break down plant nutrients. The snails multiply nicely each spring and take care of dead plant material. Â Sunk Anacharis oxygenator plants on the bottom. I also have a 1.7 CFM, 40-Watt air pump and two aerator heads to keep the oxygen levels up in the winter when the plants become dormant. The higher oxygen level helps support fish and aerobic bacteria. Adding the aeration changed the water from a tea color to a more clear color. The air pump also keeps the pond from freezing over in winter. Â Floated a bale of barley straw under the spring pipe and over an aerator head. This helps prevent algae when it blooms in the spring before the marginal plants get going. Â Introduced 100 native golden shiner minnows. They eat mosquito larva and help keep the plants in check and don't seem to add to the nutrient load too much. They are doing very well and have multiplied. You can see the different sizes of minnows from broods from different years. Â The first year before it got into balance I applied one dose of algaecide (AlgaeFix) in early April to get a start in clearing the spring algae growth. Â Add bacteria (Microbe-Lift Spring/Summer) in early April to help eliminate the dead algae and other organic matter. Â Fertilized water lilies in early May with Once-A-Year Aquatic-Spikes from AgSafe (a div. of AgriTab Corp., Clearfield UT). They contain: Ureaform, Amoniam Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulfate, Calcium Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Sucrate, Magnesium Sucrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Manganese Sucrate, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sucrate, and Zinc Sulfate in a time release format. The are safe for fish and other aquatic life. The nitrogen in their formulation is 70% ammonium based and 30% nitrate based. No filter, no UV, no water pump, no Koi, no problem. I am in zone 6 and get a lot of hot weather in the summer and cold weather in the winter.

I punched a hole in my gunite pool, broke down the sides, filled in half. If I had it to do over I'd go down the path you are Buster. I'd double check the thinking on needing to provide pressure against the sides so the pool does not crack. I know other types of pools require this, but I don't see why gunite would. This was the strongest concrete I have ever removed. I'd also double check the code for depth. The deepest I had ever heard was 24", a few places it is 18". No worries about chlorine as you said. It doesn't leach into concrete in any amount worth considering. My bottom drain became cogged pretty fast. The pool pipes really aren't large enough for the amount of muck a pond produces. I think you may be over thinking the metal culvert deal if I understand correctly. Just running 3" ABS pipe from the bottom up and out against the side would be enough. You could put a few of these in if you wanted, or a few 1.5". The fabric I think wouldn't work very well. I've used drain fabric a lot and it has a lot of great uses in ponding, but it clogs really fast unlike in ground use. If you fill with stone you'd have the mother of all filters. You can pull water off the bottom or push it up, or switch from time to time. Bio really isn't an issue with a small fish load, just the sides and bottom of the pond would be more than enough to cover that. But large stone filters have other benefits for water clarity. Sure, at some point it does fill with silt but that could be 5,10,20 years and there are lots of things you could do to reduce that. With stone I wouldn't worry much about using perforated pipe. You'll get way enough flow without it, but it can't hurt either. If you really wanted some I'd use the 3" perforated flex drain hose Home Depot has in 100' rolls. Cheap, plastic and built to stand up buried. That amount of stone isn't cheap. I got free dirt and put a liner over that. Companies are happy to deliever all the free dirt you want, no delivery charge. Just an option. I'd go with the stone if money wasn't an issue. The shape of rocks in the bottom looks great, but color disappears very fast as they are covered with silt, algae or bacteria film. So I wouldn't worry about the rock color. I would mortar the top layer of rocks together just to make cleaning easier. If you use the stone as a filter you can just leave some openings. You are dead on with your ideas for sand bags and plants around the edge. No one will ever think it was a swimming pool. However, I wouldn't use sand bags, at least the white plastic mesh type. They break down really fast, like a year or less depending on sunlight. And the mess that makes is a real big pain. Cloth with break down too. I'd go with stacked rock or fake rock from concrete or concrete block. This will be way cool. This type of set up allows for so many options and changes can be made later. I'm jealous.