Pond Build with a Blue Eco Twist 10-12-2015

[Russell Peters]

I am in the process of building a pond in Costa Mesa. Since I leave for Japan in a week the idea is to get in the rough plumbing, rebar and forms so it is ready to pour the concrete by the end of this week. I am not going to pour the concrete until I get back from Japan. This build will get a little side tracked as I have a very large filter renovation scheduled in Corona as well. The build will be using two Blue Eco RDF's as well as two of the new Blue Eco pumps. Once I get set up in Corona I will schedule the concrete pour for the pond in Costa Mesa. It is going to be a monolithic pour with Xypex added into the concrete.
The Costa Mesa pond will have two Rhino aerated bottom drains, and a skimmer, feeding the Blue Eco RDF. The RDF will then flow into a concrete chamber with Japanese matting, and Lithaqua. A Blue Eco pump will then pump the water from the chamber to a shower with Bakki media. I will have progress pictures starting tonight.
You may wonder why a build thread in my Market Place? The owner isn't one to post here so I am doing it. Since I am a professional I figured it wasn't appropriate to post in the construction forum.

[Russell Peters]

I arrived at the job sight yesterday because I wanted to be there while some of the excavation was going on. I am not sure what it is with these guys but most can never seem to get the dig square and the walls plumb. Within two seconds of getting there I told the guys that it wasn't square and asked what they using to get their measurements. The response I got was that they measured off of the house and it had to be right. This was funny. I quickly responded and told him that he was wrong and that, if he did a quick measurement, he would see that it was off. He was off 6" over 20'. I asked him if they used a laser level or a string line and I was met with blank stares. I left them a lone and worked out some details with the owner over the next 3 hours and then left. This morning when I came back I got this and it was not what I was hoping for.

[Russell Peters]

It seemed like the best thing to do was to set up a level of perimeter forms so that they could see what they needed to come back and do. Take a look at where I put the string line. The dig should have gone straight down from that point. When they were working I mentioned that string lines are very useful as they show you where you are going. They used a can of spray paint and their best judgement. I used a string line to set the perimeter form board and, in the picture where you can see my boots, you can see the bulge in one of the side walls.

[Russell Peters]

The owner called the excavation guy, who had said the day before 'let me know if you need me to come back and fix anything', and he told her that again that he measured off of the house so it had to be right. It was obvious he just didn't get it and he did not want to come back. The owner and I talked about it and I said if he sent one guy it would take two hours so she called him back but this time he did not answer his phone. I had to go pick up quite a few things and when I got back at 2:15pm she said that he was going to come at 2:30 to fix it. He did a good job. While he was working I put up the board across the back of the pond to help with all of the plumbing layout in the filter pit.

[Russell Peters]

Just about the time he showed up so did this beautiful piece of filtration. I took a little 'Blue' break to unpack it and take some measurements.

[Russell Peters]

The filter pit area could not be huge, the finished interior will be 4' by 6', so I needed to map out where every single bit of plumbing is going to go and where the center lines were. I also needed something to mark the elevations in the pit. In this picture you will see a few marks on the vertical 2 x 4. The top line will be the finished height of the pond, the second line is the water level which is the line used to set the Blue Eco RDF, the 3rd line is the bottom of the RDF and the final line is the top of the concrete floor in the pit.

[Russell Peters]

This next picture shows the area to the left of the 2 x 4. From right to left the lines show the center line of a 4" line coming out of the RDF, then the next line is the center line of the 3" waste line for the RDF, the next line is the center line of the other 4" line coming out of the RDf, then the next line shows the edge of the RDF, the next line is the center line of the pipe coming from the skimmer (3" pipe) and the final line is where the finished concrete sidewall will be.

[Russell Peters]

This next picture shows, from left to right, the center line of the first 4" line coming out of the RDF, then the next line is the back of the RDF, the following line is the front of the RDF and the final line is the center line of the skimmer pipe.

[Russell Peters]

Continuing along the same board, from left to right, there is the center line for the two bottom drains and then the final two lines show where the concrete wall will be for the Lithaqua chamber.

[Russell Peters]

The final picture that shows the measurements for my plumbing layout is, from left to right, both center lines for the bottom drains going into the RDF. You have to have center lines for two directions to be really accurate.