Natural Swimming Pond / Pool Build 2023
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2023
- This is a video describing how I built my natural swimming pond in 2023 over a period of 5 months mostly on the weekends. The method was mostly based on the works of David Pagan Butler and Berry IJmker. Much thanks goes to them!
- Pond outer size: 16m x 7m, swim section is 12m x 3m.
- Depths: filter section: 90cm, swim section 2.3m.
- Total amount of volume: around 140 m3.
- Compressor for Airlift: Aquaforte AP-100.
- Water pump for skimmer: AquaForte O-15000 Plus.
- Skimmer: vidaXL 650-850mm, 16000 l/h.
Plants currently in the pond:
- Iris pseudacorus
- Acorus calmus
- Veronica beccabunga
- Hippuris vulgaris
- Butomus umbellatus
- Elodea densa
- Vallisneria spiralis
- Eleocharis acicularis
- Myriophyllum spicatum
- Ceratophyllum demersum
Note that most of the plants were not yet planted or really visible during the making of the last video shots. I will update in the spring with a new video once the plants are gaining some size, which will also display which ones did well and which ones did not.
If you have any questions or want to see more, I am more active on Instagram as @flairmaister so you can also follow me there. - Jak na to + styl
Fantastic video. That digger driver is incredibly skilled working with that sand substrate, not easy work at all you must have been lucky to get him!
yes indeed! a tip from a neighbor. He's got 30 years experience in the army, I would have been nowhere without him. It was also good to have someone show up every saturday morning early and work through the day together to keep motivated. He also brought his own digger. Well worth the money.
It looks like a lot of sand for the neighbors to level their yards. Giving credits to David Pagan Butler, big fan.
Haha well actually I used all of the sand to build some privacy barrier walls further into my forest garden. I will show that in another video. That was quite a job, transporting it all out there. Around 150m3 uncompressed!
Thank you for the dedicated step by step video. It helped me clarify a rew things others didn't because perhaps they felt it wasnt needed. But you had lots of imformation. Tank you. I can now eas;y start mine soon.You should add a video of the hoses you used for the buuble system and air pump also figuration you attached them
thanks for the feedback! coming spring I will make new videos documenting things a bit more, so keep tuned :) Curious about yours, I hope you share it here as well.
I am months from building a replica of this but constructed differently.
Nice pine.
Very nice.
And nice clip.
Thanks! Please share what you will build somehow if possible, always curious about other people's version of a natural swimming pond
I'm loving the outfits the flip-flop the shorts to work belt to hat the scarf I'm loving it
very nice
Unsure at first but this is one of my favourite, a swim deck would be cool
yes, I have a deck in mind as well, just need to find the time in between all the other projects :)
Amazing work bro! Looks great! Thanks for sharing!
great job!
It will be very useful for many of us if you can share how the filtration system works. Great looking pond. 👌
Sure, perhaps I should make a separate video on that?
@@flairmaister that would be lovely!
Looks amazing. Well done
Love it.
it is necessary to make more of a regeneration zone with plants so that it makes a circle and returns to the pond with the main pool, otherwise the water will most likely bloom
As long as you don't put fish in it the daphnia will take care of any blooms and the pond will quickly find its balance
Without fish it will be a mosquito breeder, unless he puts those mosquito bits. If he adds a uv light to the pump or filter will never have green water.
@@Sea-cucumber1151 there is no need to invent anything, everything has been invented for a long time)) a reaction zone with a certain number of plants with a strong root system and, for example, stones of a certain fraction, this is a natural filter that will make the water clear and odorless even with fish)
@@Sea-cucumber1151 just like an experienced aquarist, ideally add constant oxygen pumping)
Great looking pool!
Many thanks for the video! Could you add in the description details as the size of the pool: total area, swimming zone, regeneration zone, with also the different depths of both the bathing area and the regeneration area. Thanks!🍃
thank you for the feedback, I have added some info as requested in the video description. Let me know if there's more you would like to know.
Great job
Hi all, apologies for the slow response, but I have a spring video in the making of how the pond looks after winter. Looks like not all plants survived but otherwise the pond is full of life and the brown frogs have laid their first round of eggs as well. You can also follow me on Instagram where I post more often: instagram.com/flairmaister/
Turned out beautiful 🤩
So much work (both on the pond and the video too). Thanks for all the previously answered questions here in the comments. Just wondering how you get in and out of the pool. Do you plan a dock or ladder of some sort? Hope to see an update next year on the planned waterfall and to see how the plants look over time.
Thanks for the comments! I plan to make a jetty that I can dive off and also attach a small ladder to. But currently I just walk over the gravel to the wooden edge and dive off that. That also enables me to get back out again without a problem.
I will make an update video in the spring for sure, when all the plants hopefully grow much larger and it will be interesting to see also how it kept over the winter. The air circulation system should help to keep it ice-free.
good job!
Ziet er goed uit, leuk filmpje
Dankjewel, zonder jou zou ik er nooit aan begonnen zijn.
Great work, I really admire your effort! I also plan my pond following David’s design. I found your substrate barrier build quite interesting… I just didn’t get how you fixed the vertical beams without cutting the liner or with sealing? My other question is how the epdm liner is glued or sealed?
By vertical beams do you mean the short pieces that hold the boards together? I build the barrier all on top of the liner, and those beams are only 40cm high, so they don't extend into the side, if that's what you are thinking. It all sits on top of the 10cm sandwich panels + ground underneath.
The EPDM liner is not glued or sealed, I ordered it as one large piece that has been glued together already in the factory. Then I folded it in as neatly as I could and simply cut away the excess material around the edge before covering it again with the drainage system and gravel.
I hope this answers your questions, let me know if not.
@@flairmaister yes, thanks so much!
@@larpad1 I can send you some pictures if you want
动手能力很强啊，非常不错。以后可以更美观一些，把那些管子藏起来。
谢谢你，我同意，管子还需要一些工作（现在正在进行中）
Very beautiful pond! I plan to build one myself this coming summer. Where did you get the plans for the filtration for your pond?
Thank you! Do you mean the plant selection and layout plan? Or the system as a whole? Or did you mean plants instead of plans? :) The plants I got from a local webshop here in NL.
@flairmaister I meant the system as a whole. I've done some research and before I commit to starting the project I want to gather as much info as possible to make sure I do it right the first time.
@@unknownhuman5507 right, look up the videos of David Pagan Butler here on CZcams, I am basically following his system with some small changes that suit better to my situation. Also look up Berry IJmker, his method is also based on David's.
I spent a few months drawing and collecting info as well, and I came quite close to my original budget in the end. The digging was a huge job though!
@@flairmaister thank you very much!!!
Put in a uv light in the pump filter area, you will never have peace soup green water. The green moss around the plants is excellent and good for the pond. If not regular fish put some mosquito fish to help keep the mosquitoes down or the mosquitoes bits that have a bacteria to kill thru. It won’t kill the flying ones but will kill any larvae and completely safe for humans, animals and plants.
UV will kill everything, and costs a lot of power. Also I don't have a pump filter, the 30 thousand kilos of gravel are what is hosting the microbes that filter the water naturally.
The only thing I add is extra air during the warmer months using the compressor, but that costs a minimum amount of power and can be turned off for half the year. Right now in the middle of winter the water is still crystal clear without the need for any pumping or artificial filtering.
As for the mosquitos, the frogs, bats and other water insects such as beetles take care of those mostly. I had almost none. This will get better in coming seasons as the ecosystem balances itself out.
You did a great job!! I really enjoyed watching your process, how is the pond looking today?
Thank you! It looks very different right now in December. Most of the growth died off, and I have tried to keep the falling leaves out to limit the amount of rotting. I will make an update video some time this winter
@@flairmaister Can you share a photo or should I wait for the update video? I’m so curious to see how the winter affected the look
Great job! Question at 18:06 - are all those airlift loops tied together or 8 independent systems?
they all come from a single small (65W) compressor, still a lot cheaper than running a water pump for this size
Very nice, well done. Can u explain the air stone in the pipes, which air pump u used etc.
I used cylinder air stones like one uses in a large aquarium which causes the air to bubble up in a nice evenly fashion in smaller bubbles. This pushes the water up as well and so water circulation is happening via the connected drainage tubes.
I am using a 65W Aquaforte air pump / compressor which is on most of the time, but goes off when I run the water pump that sucks water into the skimmer and out the other side of the pond where I still plan to make some sort of waterfall.
Did you use tap water to fill the pond? I know DPB recommends rainwater harvesting but I want to be swimming in my pond come the summer and even in the UK I don’t think we’ll have enough rain to fill it!
How is the pond doing? It's been a while now :) Also, aren't you worried about the wood that's in the water, or is it possible to replace it eventually? Thanks
the pond is okay, waking up after winter now, the water is still clear and haven't had to power the airlift compressor on yet so far, as the temperature is still low. The wood in the water should last at least 20 years. As long as it stays under water it will decay only very slowly.
Do the bubble pumps work ok? They dont seem to be j the swin zone so how does tbe deep water there get moved into the plant zone? Your way seems to just circulate water from the bottom of the plant zone to the top.
Also yoir gravel looked quite dusty whenit was being delivered. I thought washed gravel was needed forna swim pond. Did the dirty gravel not cause any problems?
The bubble pumps work excellent, the water went from algae pea soup where I couldn't see more than 10cm into the water to crystal clear where I could see the bottom of the pond (2.3m) within 2 weeks after I installed the pumps and dumped the gravel in.
It is correct that the water circulates mostly inside the plant zone, that's where the oxygen has to mostly end up to keep the microbes living on the gravel aerobic. The rest of the water will be cycling through as well at some point (also by swimming), but the main point is the oxygen supply and this works perfectly.
Gravel will always be dusty. Sure you can rinse it off but it wasn't a problem in the pond. The sediment just sinks to the bottom of the plant zone where the gravel is anyway,.
It look amazing, how much did it cost you?
Thank you! About €14k including the labor cost for the man with the mini digger, the rent for the wheel loader and all the transport costs for the materials.
What are the pipes used for and where is the Air stone placed.
the black 110mm PVC pipes are used to guide and accelerate the air bubbles upward which in turn causes water to be pushed up and circulated through the gravel. The air stones are at the end of the tubes that have the air flow through into the bottom of the pipes.
Where is this? So much sand. You deserve many more subs.
This is in the central east part of The Netherlands, yeah there is mostly sand in the ground here. It's a slightly elevated part of the country because of that. It has the great advantage that there is no groundwater to worry about.
And thanks :) I will make some more videos on further progress and improvements, and the filtering system
Weow. Nice job!
What are those panels if I may ask?
Yes Also curious
100mm steel plated PIR "sandwich" panels, these things are often used for building entire workshop walls. B choice so cheaper than usual.
@@flairmaister Great! Thank you
@@alexe1563 this is where I got mine: antosbouw.nl/product/b-keuze-wand-sandwichpanelen/
Ey i remember this song but from where?
at which minute?
@@flairmaister In the very start
Are your airlifts connected together or individual? And are they plumbed into the main swim zone?
they are all connected together with a 16mm irrigation hose, and they are right outside of the swim zone, next to the wooden barrier. I didn't see any advantage of putting them 15cm further through the barrier, it would also take away swim space.
@@flairmaister ok thank you so you're only aerating water in regen zone? Would be beneficial to lift deep water from zone, unless your swim zone is sumping into regen zone. Would be nice to see a basic flow diagram :)
@@nolan5320 I'm not sure what benefit it would have to lift water from the deepest section in the swim zone, other than perhaps getting a better temperature distribution, as nothing is growing down there and there is also no gravel on the bottom, that is only in the filter / plant zone. But please elaborate.
As for the flow, every pipe is about 80cm tall and connects to an 4m drainage tube in a loop sitting on the bottom of the filter section and there are 8 of those. Hope that clears up how it's done?
@@flairmaister I would believe for water quality, oxygen aeration and circulation. Would it not also increase beneficial bacteria etc? Deep stagnant still water is never good :)
@@nolan5320 maybe, sure, but it is always a trade-off. To put the pipes in the swim section along with the compressor feed tube will be a significant change and will also take away swim space.
What I do: regular swimming, also causes water movement. And there's lots of life swimming around as well such as salamanders.
I forgot the gloves
How do you get over the rats peeing in the water, I had to close down a koi pond earlier this year due to rising energy costs etc and wanted to develop it into a swim pond , but I used to get lots of rats swimming through the koi pond and that put me off of a swim pond because I couldn't see a way to resolve this problem , so I'm interested to know how you got over it yourself 😢
That sounds like a bit of a problem for you, however there are no rats here as there is very little water around, and also not a lot of houses. Also I have no koi or other fish in this pond, so there's nothing to eat for such a big animal as a rat.
Are those just SIP panels or is it a pool kit?
those are steel-plated PIR sandwich panels that one would normally use to build the walls of a workshop / garage. I got them "B choice" for a good price. Besides being strong, another advantage is that it gives some insulation. I could also have laid them on the bottom for further insulation, but I also wanted to have the pond stay cooler during hot summer days.
Excellent...Love your channel@@flairmaister
Can we have an update
soon I hope, when the weather gets better and some plants are starting to come up with the spring sun. It's been a lot of rain over the past months.
Cool undies
It looks like you can only take like 10 strokes before you get to the end
Depends on your technique, but sure, it's not an olympic swimming pool. I am thinking about getting a swim elastic though.
i will walled the swimming section with natural stone ......... and also the floor
Narural?
Рибку будите запускать?
Что такое рибка?
@@flairmaister fish
ah, no, as they give too much nitrates@@Mikhaylyuk.Y.U
So I have a question about this type of ponds, is there a risk of infection with the brain eating amoeba that lives in ponds, lakes and steady waters in general around the World?
what's the name of this organism? is it a fungus? bacteria? I have never heard of this. But my water is clean, drinking water quality, at least as far as I have been able to test for particles and pH.
@flairmaister Naegleria Fowleri, a brain eating amoeba, with 98% mortality rate, there is no treatment.
Another disease is Bilharzia, a parasitic worm.
I have been looking for information about these and other risks of infections in these natural pools, and what I have found is that there is low risk of infection as long as you don't let many people swim in the pool, only your family, because these type of natural pools are not recommended as public pools, and use a UV light and H2O2 peroxide.
What I don't know is if the UV filter also kills the "good" microorganisms of the pool.
Naegleria Fowleri, a brain eating amoeba, with 98% mortality rate, there is no treatment.
Another disease is Bilharzia, a parasitic worm.
Naegleria Fowleri, an amoeba, and Bilharzia, a parasitic worm.
I've been trying to answer your question, but youtube keeps erasing my comments, I don't know what is happening