Just wondering if anybody has experience of building a pond overseas in
a country with a hot climate. My own pond in the UK was built with 9"
thick concrete blocks but where I am now intending to build they only
have thin blocks, probabley 3" thick.
That doesn't seem strong enough to me if building a pond 5 or 6 ft deep
even if is all below ground level.
I am assuming therefore that I would need to use some other method,
shuttering and making a re-inforced concrete wall or building two walls
with the thin blocks and infilling with concrete.
If the latter how thick would the infill need to be and would it need
to be re-inforced.
My pond in the UK has rein fibres in the render for waterproofing.
Could an infill be made to be waterproof therefore not needing a
waterproof render?

Kevin

wrote:
Just wondering if anybody has experience of building a pond overseas in
a country with a hot climate. My own pond in the UK was built with 9"
thick concrete blocks but where I am now intending to build they only
have thin blocks, probabley 3" thick.
That doesn't seem strong enough to me if building a pond 5 or 6 ft deep
even if is all below ground level.

Depending on the soil conditions, might a simpler way be a 45 degree slope
on the walls, and a butyl liner?
This does imply a rather large pond, to get to the depth.
My pond has walls of around 80 degrees, as the soil is very, very stable,
and has worked fine.

I am not sure whether a butyl line is available where I am intending to
go, Thailand and the pond is likely to be very big so cost might be a
problem anyway. Labour costs on the other hand would be very cheap so a
more complex construction would not be a problem.

Kevin

wrote:

I am not sure whether a butyl line is available where I am intending to
go, Thailand and the pond is likely to be very big so cost might be a
problem anyway. Labour costs on the other hand would be very cheap so a
more complex construction would not be a problem.

Kevin


I'd just cast a concrete basin.

Ive seen aa swimming pool done this way.

Start with a deep pit, and cover base with crushable hardcore, then prop
up some mesh and some vertical steel rids (or sloping if the sides are
that way) and cast the base. Then shutter up and cast the sides. Its a
bit easier if this is not done too much at a time, and lay in horizontal
rods as you go to relieve stresss as well. Avoid 90 degree corners -
these becomne stress points and may crack.


When all done, render over the inside for a fancy finish, or just leave it.

Add soil for water weeds, gravel for fun, water, and fish.

Probably might need a fountain or two to aerate it.

If its too much hassle, consult with local swimming pool firms, who will
probably do this every day of the week,.

Hi Kevin,
you could try laying the blocks on their side. I'm in the uk and
that's what I've done with the normal 4inch blocks. See
http://www.koicymru.co.uk/navbar3.htm
Two other good resources are www.koihelp.co.uk and www.koichat.com
Hope this helps.
Rick

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
I'd just cast a concrete basin.

Without the appropriate finish, this is a good way to kill Koi carp.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Just wondering if anybody has experience of building a pond overseas in
a country with a hot climate. My own pond in the UK was built with 9"
thick concrete blocks but where I am now intending to build they only
have thin blocks, probabley 3" thick.
That doesn't seem strong enough to me if building a pond 5 or 6 ft deep
even if is all below ground level.
I am assuming therefore that I would need to use some other method,
shuttering and making a re-inforced concrete wall or building two walls
with the thin blocks and infilling with concrete.
If the latter how thick would the infill need to be and would it need
to be re-inforced.
My pond in the UK has rein fibres in the render for waterproofing.
Could an infill be made to be waterproof therefore not needing a
waterproof render?

Kevin


Dig a hole and put a liner of plastic sheet or canvas in it.

In message . com,
writes
I am not sure whether a butyl line is available where I am intending to
go, Thailand and the pond is likely to be very big so cost might be a
problem anyway. Labour costs on the other hand would be very cheap so a
more complex construction would not be a problem.

just throw a few thousand baht at a local builder, show him some
drawings of what you want, and go and get on with something else.

S E Asians, in my experience, are really good at this sort of thing and
know the local materials available. I would have thought that concrete
would be a sensible material to build it from

--
geoff

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
wrote:

I am not sure whether a butyl line is available where I am intending to
go, Thailand and the pond is likely to be very big so cost might be a
problem anyway. Labour costs on the other hand would be very cheap so a
more complex construction would not be a problem.

Kevin


I'd just cast a concrete basin.

Oh look ... floating fish !

Chris Bacon wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I'd just cast a concrete basin.


Without the appropriate finish, this is a good way to kill Koi carp.

Not if its big enough and you run water through it long enough to leach
out any residual surface chemicals.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I'd just cast a concrete basin.


Without the appropriate finish, this is a good way to kill Koi
carp.

Not if its big enough and you run water through it long enough to
leach
out any residual surface chemicals.

Agree with this, you have to run water through it, depending on what
cement you use, for up to 8 weeks. Standard grey portland cement
leaches chemicals into the water that raise the ph. Once this raising
of the ph effect has stopped, you would then be safe to put fish in.
But this does take time. Using white cement (snowcrete) will reduce
this curing time as it has a lower curing ph.

Ive got concrete structures in my marine tank, and im pretty sure that
marine fish and inverts are much more sensitive to water conditions
than a few big goldfish, and they are all happily swimming around