Hacking and removing the wall as much down as possible. 1 1/2 feet fr grd is better because it should be 1/2 foot lower than the rest as you intend to dig 2 feet for mud/sand. Then hack and crack the remaining wall so that water can seep between walls and most importantly hack and break holes on the base so that it will not contain water as a underground pond! The base is hard to break as it should be a solid reinforced concrete. If so hack holes on the bottom of the wall few feet apart so that water can still flow and drain to all sides of the base.

You can fill the remaining pond with the hack debris but there will be a lot of voids. Meaning in time to come the top soil will sink as the top mud and sands will fill the voids especially during heavy rain. To avoid that as you fill the remaining pond with debris you also pour sands into it filing the void one foot at a time and hose with tap water. Sands cost money but it is better not to save these money becasue in time to come when it sinks bit by bit over time how are you to replenish it? and it will cost even more money. So first fill debris to one foot then sand, hose it, then repeat add more sand and hose water till it is almost level then fill more debris to and repeat till it is 2 feet below ground. You can then add mud and top with sands and grow your grass.

You are most welcome.

By the way, you should hack and crack or make hole to the bottom first before hacking away the top walls so that debris can be left there.

Also, pond usually have bottom drians. From main pond to filter chambers. The bottom drains as it is named are at the bottoms of the pond and filter chambers. And usually 4 inch or 2 inch pvc pipe are used. So, that make your job easier making holes by breaking the bottom drain pvc pipes with chisel and hammer all of it at the bottom of the pond and the filter chambers.

I am not expert in planting but just some experience.

If you have been growing till such stage all by yourself then I should be learning from you. Over all the plants are thriving

When you say 2 months, I assumed you bought from nursery and it has been with you for 2 months. You know they are the experts and if they actually and professionally growing till this usable size then all of the plants should still be thriving and none should be dying. Some yellowing of leaves is expected.

You see what behind is that not all plant are suitable to grow in the same condition like this. But in order to attract customers to buy you have to have varieties. Meaning have as many different species as possible, some big leaves some small leaves and some tiny leaves. But as said some are not meant to be planted this way. So, they take from pots and put it there and it should live but not thrive. Dont sound convincing? Ok you pluck a flower and put in a vase with water, that will last you few days to a week. You pull a plant with root and put it in a flower vase with water, it last you one month, 2 months? Ok this is only one of the theory.

When leaves turn yellow not due to aging it is because of too much fertiliser that "burn" the plant. Just like when you eat too much durian day after day you get "heaty" and fall sick. Too much of a good thing is not good. This will usually affect grass like plant with small long leaves. But why not the big leave? Size does matter! A 2 yr old kid eat one durian and a young 60kg young adult also eat one durian. It is not too much for the 60kg man. Ok this is also another theory only.

It is not over watering, over watering will have fugus growing. It is also not insufficient watering otherwise same shuould happened to all of them and the big leave should die first because it need more water than the smaller leaves as it has bigger surface areas.

The best way is to take this to the nursery where you bought them from. 2 things to do. First is to ask them why some are dying and, 2. Request they help you care for a month and pay them a small fee. After a month make sure they did not replace the dying plants with new ones. They will die (again). Sorry things dont die twice, you live once only

This post has been edited by stevie8: Nov 20 2013, 07:27 PM

Do not use fertilizer any more. Water every morning. Be patient wait for it to grow. The saying goes don't fix it when it ain't broken. As long as it is growing covering more and more area just leave it and be very patient.

Very nice, I like it.

A pond for a house can be considered a small pond. For small pond the grade is not crucial as compare to large public pond which is usually large area and deeper with uneven depth and level that require more strength. More important for a house pond construction is the process of mixing with water, compacting and curing process.

For house pond you just need M15. So go for M20 to be on the safe side. M = mix by weight between cement, sand and stone. The number is compressive strength in megapascals (MPa) after 28 days curing. 15 means 15 MPa, 20 means 20 MPa. For M-15 the mix = 1:2:4 (cement:sand:stone). M-20= 1:1.5:3 (cement:sand:stone). As you can see from the ratios mentioned the more cement against sand and stone the stronger is the strength of the concrete. But the more cement used the more shrinkage as the concrete ages. The stone and sand are inert means it will not react and will not shrink. Cement in the mix is just like glue that glue itself to the sand and stone. As it dries the "glue" shrink and become stronger and harder as it is now more compact than before.

For my pond I mixed 1:2:3 which is between M-15 and M-20. Why? it is easier than to follow something like 1.5 kind of thing. I just need to weight 1, 2 and 3 and mix. Because I DIY so I hand mix with shovel.

In order to achieve good result as said it is not the mix but of which one of it is the process of mixing with water. The more water the weaker is the concrete. Water creates capillaries during curing process (hydration). The more water used the more porous is the concrete and therefore weak and less waterproof. In order to use lesser water I used admixture. Admixture allow you to use less water and it also contains something of rubber things that provide better waterproofing and also prolong curing. All these 3 things help in a strong and waterproof concrete.

To increase strength besides using lesser water is prolonging the curing process. You can spray mist water on the concrete as it has set or harden to touch and some time cover it with plastic sheet and shade it from sun and wind.

Also, compacting bring out the air in the mix. Having air means having hollow and inconsistency concrete.

What you want to do? Building a pond?

Yeah tough work mixing by hand. My nephew helped me mixing for the base while I did the pouring and compacting.

How is your pond shape? Rectangular?

For skimming one coat is sufficient, two coats will make sure all the brick are covered thick enough. For sika top go for 3 coats. The surface of sika top will be a bit rough, you can do another skimming if you want to smooth it out but the skimming will not able to take the punishment of water and soon you will see the cement eroded. So, it is a matter of choice to have nice when new. As for sika it will stand. Anyway if it is under sun then algae will form on the wall which is good natural filtration removing toxic waste (to fish) and having clear water.

By the way, try not to apply too thick of sika at one go, too thick and dry to fast it will crack during curing. But I did apply quite thick. To prevent crack is to slow the curing time. what I did was I used the wrapper plastic sheet (the one use to wrap food, furniture thin plastic sheet you can buy from hardware shop, one roll RM12 to RM14 more than enough for use) to cover it up using masking tape. I can see droplets of water on the plastic sheet within hrs.

Hey, do not forget to take photos ya and post some. I can share some knowledge after seeing your photos.

Right on bro.

Raining everyday seems. Good for concrete curing, not good for concrete pouring and work.

Hey bro you have not been updating the photo since 20th Dec. Can finish before CNY?

Your pond design is so sophisticated. Are you going to buy rocks or make from concrete?

This post has been edited by stevie8: Dec 24 2013, 02:22 AM

Your filter chamber got no bottom drains? Can't see any at the casted base of the filter chamber.

Are you going to put the 3 lap sap tong garbage bins as chambers?

Hi BTimes,

I am not in construction and I do not think Wanchenghuat is in construction. If we are in construction we would not have use rod to do compacting and hand mix concrete but we should have the equipment like vibrator and concrete mixer.

This is exactly what DIY is all about, really! Do what you want to do yourself, a hobby and make it happens. DIY is "A Man Can Another Man Can" the survival instinct. For example when the Indons or ah kaw who dropped out of school know how to do we should know too. We may lack the experience or never did before, with our education foundation and internet we can't be worse, right? So, we just translate our ideas into actions. Or when we want something but not willing to pay for it as we have other priorities and/or the other half would not agree or permit us to spend that kind of money for something of lesser priorities, so diy lor. Then peace in the family You get what you want and the other half cannot be unhappy.

Yes, that is very true.

Also, your time or our time are much more expensive. But for some people it is a hobby or interest. Some people spend time playing golf. To some it is a waste of time but to him it is fun worth the time and money spent even when he had a lousy game that day.

DIY is never because of savings. If you would like to look at some DIY tools that diyer owned, even a spanar set can cost hundred of RM!

"A man can (do) another man can (do)" is a quote from a movie called The Edge (1997) how a billionaire with the will to survive fight for his life where other strong young men gave up. Normally we think rich people live in comfort cannot survive the wild and hardship, it is the other way round that is why they are self made tycoons. It worth a watch with 7 stars out of 10, features adventure, drama and thriller.

This post has been edited by stevie8: Dec 24 2013, 10:48 PM

Actually the drain is not difficult to re-route if space allow.

You already knew bottom drains' function without which cleaning and maintenance.... hell lot difficult.

To lift up a tong you need to empty it. Without bottom drain how? using pump? yet you got to disconnect the pipe?

You can forget about the 3 lap sap tong. Will come to this later, now got to go.

If you think you were the only one using lapsaptong, see pix below. I had two tong. Wise and smart people think alike But it did not work.


There are ways to overcome the bottom drain. Either you drill a hole thru at the bottom of the filter chamber near to the edge using diamond drill or you go and get a bead filter and put it in the chamber.


With bead filter it act as filter both mechanical and biological and you can connect the drain pipe out of the chamber as its pump is strong enough to pump it out. But still the chamber could be a place for mosquito to breed. In order not to forgetting to empty the chamber from water and submerged the beadfilter, drill a hole at the side of the chamber if you can't get to the bottom. Get some guppy fish that will take care of mosquito larvae.

Still, go ahead with your lap sap tong, try out your curiosity. I did the same and later did away with it. If you can drill a hole for a bottom drain (one will do) then I can share with you how you can construct a filter chamber and pump chamber and drain chamber in one big chamber like yours without the down up dividers or in your case up down dividers.

This post has been edited by stevie8: Dec 24 2013, 11:41 PM

+1 me too.

Calling the bin and uploading the soil to the bin is another big job.

When i dug i filled the soil in bags and then load some 20 bags into my car and drove to nearby land where developer was filling the land as well for future development. Then I discovered there were few places by the road site beyond the drain which lack of soil and can accommodate the soil and so I dumped it there no need to drive so far. Nobody seemed to bother what I did as I was dumping soil, not garbage. I emptied the bags for refills.

20 bags for one trip only. I made tens of trips. Each bag only 1/4 or 1/3 full so that I could carry easily, load and unload alone with one man strength as such conserve energy marathon work working for hours.

There are many places nearby you can dump, just look around.

Not 20 bags x 10. Maybe close to 100 x 20 bags