Scuz Pond LIVES!!!! (For now....)

[JoyfulNoise]

So, I thought I would show off the bane of my backyard existence. This is a water "feature" we had built near our fire pit (I should have been struck by lightening when talking to landscaper about it....). It is a small 150 gallon (I think?) "waterfall" that is nothing more than two separated basins (one in ground, the other built up on stones) with a pump attaching them and no filtration (mistake #1). It gets lots of shade as it is located under a huge mesquite tree in our backyard (mistake #2). Also....it leaks from the "canal" and top stone mortar joints and somewhere in the in-ground basin because I did not hire a quality contractor (mistake #3). The leak rate is a few inches per day out of the in-ground bowl.

Right now I'm in the process of SLAM'ing it and polishing the water with a SLIME BAG after having cleared out a MASSIVE packrat nest hidden under the waterfall and obscured by the overgrown palm that I trimmed back. I'm likely to contract Hantavirus and die from hemorrhagic pulmonary hantavirus infection, but hey, at least the in-laws will get a nice looking backyard experience when they arrive tomorrow. So I'm hoping to have this ready by tomorrow afternoon when the in-laws show up.

Then, very shortly after that, I will likely drain it and have an appropriately trained contractor who does backyard water features for a living come by and talk about demolition and/or new construction....enjoy the pictures.







Scuz Pond - YouTube

 

[zea3]

Well, it looks nice anyway!

 

[kimkats]

And sounds awesome! I hope you/he can find a way to keep it AND make it easier to live with.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Well, it looks nice anyway!

And sounds awesome! I hope you/he can find a way to keep it AND make it easier to live with.

Thanks. The stones that make it up are beautiful when they're wet and the sound is nice when sitting on the soft cushioned chairs near the fire pit. Unfortunately the guy that built it was artistic but did not know a lot about what he was doing construction-wise and so it's obvious flaws are showing up. At the time of its construction I was dealing with a whole bunch of issues with the pool build and the landscape designer was not the easiest or nicest human being to deal with. So, at the end of the day, I just wanted him to go away and I'm sure he was happy to never have to darken my doorstep again.

I'm hopeful for the future of this backyard feature. The contractor I want to work with is the one that built the rock waterfall in our pool and he does SUPERB work. So hopefully he can come up with some better ideas. I'm open to anything from demolition and rebuild to fixing the flaws if at all possible. I'll use this thread to keep a record of it.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I do have one technical mention - must give a shout-out to The SLIME Bag!! The scuz-pond has no filtration so, even on a fresh fill the water is instantly cloudy. I've been running the SLIME Bag for a little over 90mins now and the water is clear as glass. I still need to suction the dead leaves on the bottom and skim all the junk that falls into the surface but otherwise the water is clear. I'm still adding bleach to sanitize it and yesterday I think I had it up to 50ppm FC and no CYA so it definitely got SHOCKED. I have 3 triclor spa tablet (1.5 oz of trichlor) in a puck floater to get CYA into the water. However, with the leaks, holding CYA stable will be impossible.

Anyway, shout out to the SLIME BAG!!

 

[kimkats]

MATT!!!!! You can use aqua Bright!!!! FLAME ON!!! (we really need a flame thrower emoji!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

MATT!!!!! You can use aqua Bright!!!! FLAME ON!!! (we really need a flame thrower emoji!

Hahahaha...

Maybe Brian can bring over all his leftovers and empties and we can shoot a whole new color - we'll call it Scuz Pond Brown

I'm sure the product marketing department at ecoFinish will just love that [emoji849]

 

[kimkats]

Oh I bet it would work!! hehe So long as there is video it is all good!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Oh I bet it would work!! hehe So long as there is video it is all good!

Oh, if there's a flame thrower in my hands you can bet there will be videos...the insurance company will need it for liability/disability claims

 

[Patrick_B]

I like it! And have to agree, the Slime bag does work. Pita to clean, but I learned how, and boy do they polish the water.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I like it! And have to agree, the Slime bag does work. Pita to clean, but I learned how, and boy do they polish the water.

What is the best way to clean it? I stuck it on the broom handle like the instructions said but them at did not do much. I was thinking of perhaps soaking it?