A high pond made of HD-PE - part 2

The bottom plate

The bottom plate consists of 10mm PE plates. We decided to cut this to 3.8x3.8m. A hole was milled in the middle with the router because the floor drain will later be welded in there. Due to the dimensions, the base plate consists of two parts. We glued these together with adhesive tape so that nothing slips. The two ends of the plates are chamfered on both sides, since they will also be welded together later.

The two panels were first welded together with a double V-seam. To do this, the base plate had to be turned once. What an act, but the four of us still went better than expected. Then the floor plate was aligned and welded to the floor drain. After a short break, the welding seams and the protruding edge of the floor drain were planed flush so that there were no protruding edges.

The walls

The next thing to do is to set up the walls. Due to the weight, a little technique and one or the other tool is required here. Strictly speaking, the weight is not even the main problem with large PE panels. The problem is rather that the plates are flexible, the warmer the more. In addition, there is the size, which then quickly leads to the fact that the plate catches wind.

The walls are relatively quick. The most time-consuming work is aligning and then stapling. Two walls stand and it already looks like something.

Falls ihr selbst mal PE schweissen möchtet, nebst dem Extruder benötigt ihr einen Hefter. Damit werden die beiden Teile schon mal erhitzt und fixiert. Das ist jedoch noch keine wirklich belastbare Verbindung. Dies dient lediglich dazu, dass alles an Ort und Stelle bleibt, wenn man mit dem Extruder alles verschweisst. Um das PE zu Heften und zu schweissen, muss die Oberfläche im Bereich der Schweissnaht entsprechend vorbereitet werden. Diese muss gereinigt sein. Zudem muss die Oxidschicht entfernt werden. Dafür gibt es spezielle Schaber. Im nächsten Bild seht ihr wie das aussehen kann.

The day's work is done. Base plate and walls are welded together. All stabilizing tubes are in.

Conveniently, we were able to rely on Stefan's support here as well. If you ever need a PE specialist, Stefan (Schranikoi) is the right address for you.

Of course, ventilation should not be missing. Here we have made a Japanese aerator rod to measure and welded the corresponding PE brackets to the wall.

Here in the picture you can see how the returns and the supply line for the ventilation were welded in.

Here you can finally see the overflow, which was made from a 63mm pipe and the future skimmer with a 110mm pipe.

Rund um das Becken wurden die Stahl-Rohre miteinander verschweisst.

Then the outer wall was insulated with EPS and the gaps were then filled with foam. Above you can see the edge, which was also welded on. In addition, a 50mm square tube was welded into the corners for stabilization and later contact surface of the top walls.

Here you can see how an outer wall is finally put on it. The particular difficulty here was the implementation of the four pipes. The bushings and the lower and upper edges were then welded.

Aaaaand the next wall. It's really fun to see the pool taking shape.

Well how do you cut a 160mm PE pipe in the dirt? Right! You take the chainsaw. Anything else is a waste of time.

Since this is a pumped system, the pump is connected directly to the floor drain and skimmer. Accordingly, the pump shaft is formed here and later concreted. The picture shows the formwork, later the concrete will be poured in here. A few struts are still missing in the middle so that the walls are not dented.

Im nächsten Bild sieht man den fertig betonierten Schacht. Hier ist auch bereits die Oase Titanium 51'000 angeschlossen sowie der Skimmer mit dem Kugelhan. Vor der Pumpe ist ein VDL Zugschieber sowie eine Verschraubung, dies ermöglicht die Pumpe zu Wartungszwecken abzuhängen. Die VDL Zugschieber haben den entscheidenden Vorteil, dass die einzelnen Teile wie auch die Dichtung ersetzt werden können. Andere Zugschieber müssen komplett getauscht werden.

The drum filter is then positioned on a suitable pedestal. What is a bit special here is that the system is pumped. This is because the water level in the pool can be kept variable. This is essential for breeding. Whenever possible, we recommend every hobbyist to operate the system under gravity when constructing a pond. This is safer and also more energy efficient.In terms of size, we chose an Inazuma ITF-80 here so that we can get the desired 30m³/h pumped through here. Thus, the pool is circulated twice per hour.

We conclude this part of the construction documentation with this gem. In the next part, we connect the device and put the system into operation.

Soon it will continue with part 3.

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Your koikichi.ch team.