New Pool Function

[slomotion]

We have a 16' X 32' inground swimming pool. It had an eight foot deep end, and a three foot shallow end. It was a lot of fun when the kids and grandkids were around, but jobs, and careers later, there's no one but us old folks to use it. Up here in our climate it's warm enough for yours truly only about three days a summer. Maintaining the pool was relatively expensive when compared to the amount of usage, so I placed an ad offering it and the equipment for free, just come get it, and help me fill the hole. (The liner was/is three years old.) No takers, so not wanting to bury a perfectly good pool, I decided to morph it into something different.
I shoveled three 15 yard truck loads of sand into it, (45 yards! This happened last fall) Before the cold weather set in, three frogs took up residence and survived the winter so there was hope. (Now there's five and a few thousand frog eggs.)
Long story short, I used a cast net in a local pond, kidnapped some fish, dug up some cattails, bought a few plants, and now have what the magazines call a "water feature". It's not done yet, but here's a couple pics of it's current status...
Eventually, there'll be a bridge across one corner to break up the squareness, and a "dock" down the opposite side from the plants with a small dory tied up. The concrete area where the diving board was will have an 8 X 12 pergola and a swing seat in it with wisteria growing all over it.
Another long-term project.

[BACKYARD88]

That's a pretty cool idea!

[slomotion]

Thank you. Actually, I spend far more time out there now watching the fish and frogs, then I ever did when it was a pool. The fish love dog food, so I throw five or six nuggets in each evening and watch them go after it. The fish have multiplied, and although I'm sure alot of them got eaten, there's still a dozen or so that are now too big to be eaten by the adult fish.
The lily's are in bloom now, and all but one individual water plant survived, and has flourished.
Thanks again, I've enjoyed it a lot.

[VA72C10]

very cool.....

[68GMCCustom]

put some hybrid bass in there! unless of course you prefer catfish.

[slomotion]

Funny you would say that, a friend has some fiddlers in his pond about 30 miles away. He said next time he was down this way he'd bring along two or three. I don't think the "pond" would support too many very long, but a couple of fresh-out-of-the-pond cats in a few weeks wouldn't be all bad either.

[Bishops Trucks]

Thats a great idea

[slomotion]

Thanks. I modified the house/shop roof gutter and downspout configuration to allow me to capture most of the water when it rains. (We're on a well, and a hose to keep the pond topped up didn't seem very efficient.) Anyway, we had a few thunder storms come through last night, and what you see coming from the white hose, (old pool vacuum hose) is 100% from the roof. It brought the water level up to the point where I had to run out and re-direct the hose or the fish could have escaped over the edge!

[Bishops Trucks]

One thing you could do to soften the edges around it, get some flagstone and outline it leaving rough edges towards the water.

[slomotion]

Good idea. We put the landscape fabric around to sorta disguise the edges, and have planted alot of spreading plants all along the two edges that'll be left "natural". I figure it'll take at least until next summer to see where we need to fill in some more.
We're still useing the original pool pump to circulate and filter the water, and on one of the returns we hooked up an antique cattle waterer to aerate the water on the way back. The good thing about the original pump is there's a lot of volume, but not excessive pressure, so we could create a couple of falls, (perhaps on some of the flagstone).
The valve you see on the waterer post is to operate a soaker hose that's embedded in the mulch around the plants.
This whole thing is just an experiment, but I have to admit, it's fun to figure out different ways to do things with what's at hand.

[BGRAFX]

This is very cool, i used to have the exact same size 30k gallon pool and love this idea. I now have blue gill and koi in my home fish tank. lol

[slomotion]

Another chapter in the "Pond Saga".

Seems I've been bitten by the radio control bug. The "Pond" isn't big enough to let the boats show what they can really do, but it's great for working out the occasional glitch, getting the ballast correct, and making sure everything works. Once they're sorted out, then it's a trip to the local big pond.

Now when I tell my wife I'm going sailing, I can be "on the water" in five minutes. No trailer, no ramp, no hassle, and if I have an "oops" moment, no harm done.
It's a lot of fun, and most of the principles of a 1:1 boat apply to the scale boat, so some skill is necessary, and although I haven't aquired it yet, I won't go broke buying insurance policies, doing repairs, and buying ancilliary gear.

[VA72C10]

Pretty cool...I'm sure that's a nice relaxing and fun hobby and nice to be able to do right at home...

[BGRAFX]

I've never seen a sail boat, I used to sit for hours and race my little red speed boat our my pool. Very relaxing indeed.
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[Sillyoldman]

I thought about doing the same with mine. I ended up filling it with 250 yards of fill and planting grass. People fought over the parts including the liner after I posted it on CL.

[slomotion]

SOM, I tried to give mine away -new liner, diving board, ladders, pump, filter, and all of the tools, hoses, and remaining chemicals, but got little interest. One guy said he'd take it if I delivered it..........right.
I still have to build the pergola, walkway, and alot more planting, so it's an on-going project. Sadly, our season is closing pretty soon, so there won't be much happening for a while.

[68GMCCustom]

liners? I guess thats a northern thing. down south...ours are concrete w/gunite....just like the Beverly Hillbilly's.


and just so all pools don't get a bad name....if you have the right setup they can be very low maintenance. My small 14x29 has double the pump and filtration (large DE filter w/2 pumps, 1 for the Polaris) and double the skimmers (2) and returns (5) for a pool of its size. It also has a freeze gaurd on the pumps...that causes the main one to run at a preset temp and then off at a preset temp. The temp is high enough here that the pump is off. As you can see though...even in the cold of winter my pool is still clean. There are just a couple of leaves on the bottom...and I hadn't touched it before the pic. I don't have to do any hand cleaning...the Polaris handles it.

[slomotion]

68GMC, I wasn't bad mouthing pools, I just converted mine to something I enjoy more then I did when it was a swimming pool. When mine was a clear swimming pool we were maintaining it as though it was being used everyday...which it wasn't. Being a wimp, I never went in it until it got up to 75 degrees min., and our summers are short, and not very hot, so you can tell how often I used it. Maintaining it wasn't the issue, it was the lack of use that prompted the change.
Our winters are probably a little harsher then a Texas winter. Having a vinyl liner allows the pool to flex with the ice and snow so it's less likely to crack. We have to dig our frost walls four feet deep for construction, and it's not unusual to have several days in a row with single digit temps for the daytime highs. The ice in the pool will become 12+ thick in February, and trying to heat it would just be a waste.
So I guess in the strictist sense, I still have a pool, it's just that fish and frogs are swimming in it, not me

[68GMCCustom]

I understand thats what my brother in law in Arkansas has, where its a vinyl liner but has concrete walls?

[slomotion]

Here's an update on the pond area. I looked at pergola kits, Lowes, Home Depot, and a couple sets of plans, but they all seemed to look alike, plus they were pretty expensive. I wanted to do something a little different, and didn't want to spend a young fortune. I'm building the front porch of the "Frog's Neck Inn" (My apologies to anyone who has an establishment by that name.)
As it turns out, frogs don't have necks, and I don't have an inn either.....it'll just be the porch......Sort of a poor man's camp. Just a place to go sit, sip a drink or two, and watch the fish and frogs. I've had the two old window sashes, and door forever, so thought I may as well use them. Still remaining is to add the lattice across the back, a couple of flower boxes under the windows, a deck to cover the concrete, a couple of hanging baskets of flowers, and a couple of hooks for the hammock. Eventually there'll be Wisteria vines growing up and over the structure giving a back wall, and roof effect.
The structure should be done by the end of the week. I'll take a couple of pics and upload them when it's done.

[71swb4x4]

That gator looks hungry.

How deep is the pool now? Do the fish survive the winter or do you have to pull them out for the winter?

[slomotion]

I debated about the gator. He's supposed to frighten away any Herons that may want a fish, but I'm not sure a Maine Heron even knows what a gator is. He must be working though because I have yet to see a Heron back there.

On the structure end, and the house side the water is only about 4" deep, but on the "dock" side it's 3-4' deep in a couple of places. The water lillys are planted in plastic boxes I got at Lowes to keep them from spreading. In the winter I drag the boxes to the deep area, and sink the island. The fish stay in the pond. There's a couple casualties, but this is over a 10-16 week period (ice-snow cover), and the fish population is growing so it can't be too bad. BTW, they love dog food!

[Liz]

dog food?? Love the new additions

[slomotion]

Thanks Liz.

Here's one I've titled: "What Alligator?"

[NONHOG]

Wow now thats a good size bullfrog. Have many? He'll change your fish population.