New Addition to Pond

May 31st, 2015

This weekend I added capacity to my raised brick pond. I had been toying with the idea for years of adding a container above the pond that would circulate water back into it. Here’s what I ended up with:

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New whiskey barrel above pond

I found a fake resin whiskey barrel at Costco, and drilled it in three places to install bulkheads. I have a more decorative spout on the side, and an input line directly in the center that feeds water from the pond through a fountain head, and into the barrel. As an extra safety, I also installed a standpipe to handle any overflow situations.

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The pump in my pond is pretty strong so it turns out that the standpipe is the main outlet for water leaving the barrel. I made sure to use twice the diameter piping and tubing so it can handle a lot of outflow.

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As you can see above the water returns via a hose and the faucet. On the pond side, I had to install a bulkhead to allow me to plumb a simple elbow up into the bottom of the barrel. I also installed a ball valve allowing me to regulate the flow into the barrel if need be.

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Right now I’m just floating from Acmella repens which I hope will trail over the side of the container. I also dropped in an iris. I’d love to hear feedback, particularly on the plumbing as I’ve never done this before and would love to avoid any obvious problems going forward.

Oh, and in the pond, I’m keeping Vietnamese White Clouds and Endlers this year.




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