2500+ Gallon outdoor BUILD THREAD at Ellis Aquatics

[JDEllis]

main pond a lot more excavated and taken down to its final depth

also sides being leveled out and underwater step under the waterfall being dug out

 

[JDEllis]

second waterfall wall getting finished up and leveled out (4 hours to do roughly, and all got destroyed a few days later....ill explain later)

 

[JDEllis]

also ran our electrical for extra outlets in the rear of the yard and for underwater and garden lighting

 

[JDEllis]

whole upper portion (16+ inches above ground level) all finished framing and leveled. Still need to be dug down to final depth tho. Retaining walls in place and ready to be filled in beghind. Center island framed and leveled (6-8 hours of work, later was destroyed, will explain later)

 

[JDEllis]

bottom island getting leveled out and finalized

 

[JDEllis]

TIME FOR ROCK TO BE DELIVERED!!!!

This genius parked 1/4 mile away for some reason and made 9 trips up and down my street (9 pallets) instead of parking in front o my house which I made sure was free of any cars for him since the night before lol Guess he DOES get paid by the hour hahaha

 

[JDEllis]

500lbs of 3-5"
1500lbs of 6-9"
4500lbs of 9-12" (guess what, not even 1/3 of the amount I needed)
500lbs of slate
4000lbs of 3/4" gravel

 

[JDEllis]

and these massive boulders

4800lbs of 24-36" boulders (350-1000lbs each)

the rear one on this pallet destroyed about 14 hours worth of work and cause another 6 hours of repair. Also took 6 men my size (6'3" 275lb) to move it.

 

[JDEllis]

skimmer and filter being dug out and put in place

 

[JDEllis]

All the rock mover from the front to the back....if you are keeping track that's over 12000lbs of rock SO FAR!

 

[JDEllis]

Underlayment layed on waterfall, and both smaller ponds

 

[JDEllis]

If you notice those two massive boulders are on that middle island. Has anyone ever tried lifting 1000lbs of dead weight over a 4ft gap that is 30" deep? well when we moved the bench looking one (900-1000lbs) the weight alone destroyed the lower waterfall and made the islands wall bow outward as we slid it. The second massive ball boulder which now dangles over the edge of the second waterfall was brought in next and picked up right where the other one left off. About 750lbs and bowed out the waterfall wall and island walls more. tons of wasted time rebuilding this but had to be done

 

[JDEllis]

decided on a change of location for the pump and filter. 4 valves here: two to control suction/flow from the bottom drain and surface skimmer individually, and two to control the return flow of the waterfall and to the filter which then travels to 4 jets which were installed (all with their own ball valves for individual control)

 

[JDEllis]

We needed "tons" more rock so we ordered more, here is 2-1/2 pallets of the second order brought back

 

[JDEllis]

waterfall and upper ponds getting rocked, foamed and voids filled

8" pvc ($30+ per foot) fish tunnel to hide from predators. we place two in the larger upper pond and one in the smaller upper pond

 

[JDEllis]

small pieces of slate getting added as ramps for turtles to get out of the water to bask in the sun and for birds and other wildlife to stand in the water

 

[JDEllis]

here are some of the jets so far

barely can see this one, and once its painted should disappear

 

[JDEllis]

hand picked this 800lb monster. makes a great bench and man do I use it a lot after digging and moving these things around

 

[JDEllis]

slight change in plans. got rid of the middle island in the main pond. After seeing the final shape dug out I wanted it to be more space (more fish housing capability). So I consulted my koi guy and he estimated approx. $320 extra on liner alone to be able to cover the space with an island in the middle and he also said the folds in the liner would be massive from doing it.

I also did some calculations and figured by getting rid of it I add approx. 450-600 gsllons of volume sooooo bye bye island

 

[JDEllis]

and finally

shipment number two of rock consisted of:

1000lbs of 6-9" granite
and
15,000lbs of 9-12" granite


we are now up to approx. 28,000lbs of rock