MMAX

I see what you're saying about excess on both sides but you're forgetting my bog area on the right side of the last pic. The tree stump had to go, it was too hard to manuver the liner over top of it. Measured my stream last night. If I split the big left over piece in half (10 X 24), I'll have a foot of liner width wise on each side of the stream and the 24" length will almost get me to the bottom. Another question jvision...is it best to do the overlap at the beginning or end of the stream? The first and second waterfalls are fairly large, so should I run the liner from the end of the stream up the hill and overlap on top or the other way around?

I did. It was all on one side. I have one main extra piece 24' X 20", if I cut this in half I'd have two 24 X 10s. jvision you mean seam them together over one of my waterfalls?

I did. It was all on one side.

Liner in place and starting to fill. I should have plenty of excess for my creek.

Underlay installed... Little bit of a change to the bog area. It's not going to go around the stump, too hard to make the liner seal around it. Looks like I bought a ton extra of underlay and liner which is a bad news/good news situation. Bad news--spent the extra money, good news--I may just have enough extra material to finish my stream. Followed all the formulas to calculate how much material I would need, the staff at Bearberry got the same numbers as I did. Has anybody else been this far out with their numbers? Anyway, with any luck and if I can round up a few of my friends, the liner will be in place tomorrow and the hole will be filled with water.

I've heard of black pond dye which is supposed to reflect the sun. Also if there's a way to maybe soak a bag of peat moss in the water, the substance called tannin will seep out and give the water a tea stained color. I'm just guessing on this one though. Alot of creeks in the northern part of the province are spring fed from muskeg sloughs and they're all tea stained but clear.

Cleaning out your filter often may be part of the problem. Do you hose it out or use pond water to clean it? If it's hosed out you destroy the beneficial bacteria that works to keep your water clear. Does your filter provide lots of surface movement? Is your pond shaded or in direct sunlight? How deep is the pond? Do you have any plants? All these factors will contribute to keeping your water clear. I wouldn't keep using all the chemicals. Maybe someone else can help--is it too late to drain the pond, clean it and start over this late in the year?

OK, I went with one single piece of EPDM for pond and bog after talking with the good folks @ Bearberry Creek Water Gardens. This is apparently the way to go. Dropped over a G note on liner and underlay, good thing I can claim a bit of it on the home reno tax credit. Stay tuned for installation pics.

It's going to have 2, maybe 3 trout in it so they'll be able to take care of themselves. It was just a small beach for birds to come for a drink or a bath or a frog to jump in without having to climb the rock ledge. I'm not using the bog for a filter or an overflow, it's purely cosmetic. Something I can plant cattails and native wetland grasses in to give the area a more natural look.

Aside from taking care of a few roots sticking out here and there, I think I'm finally ready for underlay and liner. Re-designed the far end of the pond with a few planting shelves at different levels and I'll stack some flat rocks on the tip against the bog for a shallow area for birds. Digging out the bog will be a piece of cake. I'm only going down 2 feet so a good hour more of work and the digging will be complete.

Some more pics... I don't think I'm going to go down to 4 feet. I've hit straight sand and the depth here is about 38". I think that's deep enough. I'll carry that 38" depth around the left side and keep a shallower area on the right to create a beach area for birds and other wildlife to come down to. That's one big a$$ pond, bigger than I expected. You kinda get the size looking down on it. If anyone in the Red Deer area needs any good black dirt or sand let me know. Come with a truck and I'll help you shovel it in. It's the right price too...free.

I'm not using the wetland as a filter so I'll go with a separate piece of liner for it. I didn't really think of the property damage aspect of it, just assumed that if the books said to punch holes in the liner then that's what you had to do. What I will need help with is determining the correct liner size for my stream. I don't really know where to start measuring so I get the right size.

Is it worth spending the extra cash buying 45mil EPDM when every book I've read says to punch holes in it for drainage? Seems like a waste of money. Isn't there a 20 or 30mil that would work?

I've been thinking about hollowing it out to make a planter for a fern or something.

Pardon my spelling...polyethylene

From what I've been reading I don't need 45mil EPDM for a bog. It doesn't have to be 100% water tight so a sheet of heavy duty polyethylele would work.

Free beer? Say no more.

A few more pics... Stripped sod for bog area Decided to go with 3 planting shelves in the corners, not going to have one in the corner left of the tree stump in the second photo. Here's the 3 divisions of the pond. From left, 3 ', 4' & 2'

Yes it has. I've been getting a bit lazy with the picture taking but here's a few more. Stripped the sod and started digging out my main pond Dug down to the first level, have to decide what I want the inside of the pond to look like. I'm going to put in a bog around the cut off tree stump. The pond is going to ba 4 feet deep in the middle, maybe a shallower level on the side opposite the stump and about a 3 foot area beside the bog for a few lilies with a partial planting shelf around the perimeter. I'm trying to establish a colony of moss around my header pool--easier said than done. Planted in peat with loads of water and buttermilk to acidify the soil. Doesn't look as if it's going to take hold. Any moss growing experts in here? Don't know where this little guy came from but he's poisonous none the less More pics to follow, might be time to buy some liner in the near future.

Was just there today again...turn north on range road 64 then follow the greenhouse signs.

From the traffic lights in Sundre, 11km west, you'll see a wooden sign on the side of the road, 3.2km north and 2.4km west. Just follow the "greenhouse" signs.

Freakin' weather. First it's too hot to dig now it's too wet. Anyway a few more pics... The main pond is going to be bigger than the 1200gal I originally planned. I taped off a 13' X 8" square and outlined a shape with a hose. It's probably going to be in the neighborhood of 2000-2500gal. That should give me enough room for stream overflow in the event of a power outage. Picked up a few plants from Bearberry Creek. This store will see alot of my business over this build. Gathered a pile more of flat stones and finished the edging around my header pool.

I hit up Bearberry a couple of days ago and picked up a few plants for my header pool. Also came away with some great advice on my pond build. Lots of good stuff at this place and the owners are more than willing to help out.

Where exactly is the Bearberry store?

Installed a small pump and filter with a fountain in my header pool to keep the water agitated and clean. Threw in 3 small feeder goldfish to cycle it. Now I can hear falling water and imagine the sound of the stream as I dig. I didn't really care for the rockwork around the header, so I dismantled it and re-worked it. Didn't care for that either so it came down again. Decided that I needed more flat rocks, so out West went the wife and I to hunt for rocks once again (in my 7 days off work we must have been on at least 5 road trips in search of rocks). Here's a couple more pics.