Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions homemade swimming pond..with chlorine?

I have clay soil....so holding water isnt a problem in this concept... If I dug a new pond...lets say 25' round x 4'deep...and completely rock it in with a gravel bottom, and boulders on the side...could I make a homemade swimming pool? Install a skimmer, use chlorine and ph, and a pump of course. Just your basic stuff a cheap above ground pool uses. I've been to Disneyworld and have swam in pools with a sand bottom? What Im looking for is the clarity, and no wildlife in my swimming area. Just pure clean, clear, pool water.

Anyone know or have any ideas what problems I might have?

...wouldn't this be the perfect situation for a liner?

Yeah..but I really didnt want to spend the money on a liner...AND I WANT a rock bottom. I know if I used a liner it would work...just dont want to spend the money on a liner if I dont need too do it.

face72, No reason you cant do this and add chlorine as needed as it is just a swimming pool.I had a inground pool for 19 years and found that certain algaes still lived in my chlorinated water, It usually appeared the first week of July and I always thought it was triggered by wheat harvest as it was out in the country in Ohio. The kids kept the water at 85 F as they thought the gas for the pool heater was free :)A lot of the pool algaecides are just diluted copper compounds but have a swimming label. Simazine and copper seemed to be the products of choice back then and I have no idea what is used for pools today. I'd go for it !!

With a liner you can vaccum the bottom of the pool. With the gravel...this would be MUCH harder to accomplish. Algaecides in pools are added as a preventitive measure. I always add algaecide when I startup and usually a small amount on a monthly basis. Your water will never be clear like a swimming pool. Free floating clay particles may sink into the gravel if you do not run a larger horse power filter. You will need a sandfilter for sure. If you were to run a cartridge filter you would constantly be changing it out. Let us know how it turns out...I have never seen or heard of someone trying this. If it works you just might set some kind of trend! One thing to keep in mind....the biggest price in purchasing a pool is the filter, so why not get the liner for a little more?

Even with the best clay soil possible, you will still have to deal with hydraulic preasure from the sides and bottoms. When it rains, your water table will rise and the amount of water in the ground will increase. This water preasure will change you PH balance on a daily basis.

Depending on how clear you want the water, it might be impossible. You will never be able to control what's coming into or leaving your pond/pool.

Chlorinating a large body of water like a pool and leaving it exposed the the soil, which is also leaving it exposed to the aquafier could get you into allot of trouble. Every state is different on these things, but I'd guess it's pretty unlikely anybody would aprove of you doing this.

I wouldn't do it.

Eddie

Yeah heres the problem I got.... I want a clear pond....because I love to snorkel. If I cant get the pond clear...Im just going to dig the pond 10-12 feet deep. Then I dont have to pay the extra costs of rocking it in. If I CAN make it clear...Im making it 4 feet deep...and rocking the whole thing in. So thats my dilema. Pay for a lot of rock..or dig it deep?
Looks like I would have to use a liner...I didn't think about spring water in the ground. A liner would stop that. I've got a book coming in the mail about "Natural Swimming Pools" I guess there big in europe. Basicly its a rocked in pond with 50% bog filter/50% swimming area/No fish.

Does Aeration have a lot to do with water being clear?

...Face72 must work with a rubber envelope; the pushing is relentless and it won't rip:
...albeit a follow thru on another design, it's still PB groundbreaking (I think):
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I am intrigued by this one; is a pretty cool idea. You have no doubt been doing some homework on this. Can you share some the better websites that your research has uncovered?

http://www.pond-doctor-dave.com/swimming-ponds.html Is a good link. Or just google Swimmable or swimmming ponds. Not a lot of info from the states...but over in europe its big. The concept is a good idea..but I cant tell if the water is clear. Im sure it probebly isnt. But I dont know.

face,
Using rock and/or topsoil inside the pond will make cleaner water in this area.
For a filtering system an old dozer guy told me to dig a trench into the side of the pond thats big enough to hold a 10 wheeler load of washed rock. (15 tons) Put well casing in the trench to draw out of, then put the rock around it. Add pump and ta da.
The rock is this area is limestone, so maybe this is just a local thing.
This would be more of a natural system, probably wouldn't go well with chemicals.

face72, I've got to ask why you want to snorkel in a 25' diameter by 4' deep pond with a rock bottom and no fish? What is the attraction?

And why wouldn't you want to snorkel in your pond?

Sunil, it may be bigger...but for the most part...I just enjoy swimming underwater with a mask on. I would LOVE fish in it...but according to what Ive learned about "Natural Swimming Pools" You cant have fish in them. There too messy.

Just got the Natural Swimming Pools book. It's a pretty good read, but the exact blue prints on building one is a little vague. Basicly it says to make a bog filter with a pump. It shows a lot of pictures in it. But not a lot of exact details on the pump to use....or if your using a skimmer, should the skimmer have filter in it. Should I suck the water from the bog or should I push it up through the bog and let if flow over. That kind of stuff they dont go into detail.

face72,
If you look into natural ponds in general you might get a good deal more info. It sounds like you are aiming for a naturally balanced pond, in which you can swim. That can be done without filters. Use plants instead. I get a lot of sun each day and for me to balance my pond I needed to cover about 70% of the pond surface. You may be able to get away with half that much. If you use a bog filter it will probably need to be at least the same size as the swimming area.

here are two sites I found with instructions on how to construct a bog filter. They are meant for small koi ponds but I dont see why you couldnt make them for bigger ponds. Hope this helps!

http://www.nelsonwatergardens.com/Bog_Filter_Construction.htm

http://www.pondtechnology.com/pages/bogfilters.html

Thanks Bender. I got them bookmarked.

Still cant figure out if I should pull water down through the bog filter...or push it up through the bog filter?

I am a Civil Engineer who has done some really low tech water treamtent plant that use "slow sand filtration". It involves construction of a fiter using sand with slow filtering rates. For the pond you propose this would be very easy to do in one of the banks and would cost you the price of a tandem truck load on sand, some perforated pipe and a pump. For a 25' diameter pond a 6'x8'x2' thick filter should work fine. I would even try using it without chlorine and see was happens.

You could do it either way. I am raising Trout and Perch inside this winter and I made a small bog filter as a trial run for what I intend to do with my pond this spring. I push the water up through the filter with a small water garden pump and then it spills into the top tank. The filter has run great so far. Water is clear for the first time since I setup the tanks and the FA problem that came along with the fish disappeared.

You can check out pics of the rig in the Fish Inside - Trout thread:
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=000013;p=2