A "how would you do it?" question

[nikirushka]

I've seen a couple of images this week of ponds with viewing windows and this is really appealing to me! I'd like to redo my pond at some stage and am throwing ideas around atm. So, I wondered how you guys would go about this.

I have:

Current pond liner - 13' x 15' + underlay
10mm glass aquarium - 72" x 18" x 18". Base plate cracked, everything else pristine.
Not very much money at all!

I'm thinking raised pond to incorporate a window/s made from the front and back panes of the aquarium. No risk of anything whacking into it, sunny spot, but outside of course so subject to normal UK winter temps. Goldfish only.

How would you do it? What materials, how to install and seal the glass etc? Would you start again with a different liner material, or could the current be incorporated?

Ultimately, this is all hypothetical: it would absolutely brilliant to do it but if it isn't that practical, I have my previous plan on standby of connecting my 5 unused preformed ponds to the main pond with underground pipes. One way or another, I will have an awesome setup!

 

[Rbishop]

links to what you are thinking of?

 

[nikirushka]

This sort of thing, but outside. I've a feeling I'd need to get thicker and different material for the window than I've got, but it's all hypothetical at this point!

 

[myswtsins]

I've seen this done and it is very cool but I've never looked into doing it myself. I do know the glass has to be fairly thick though and I'm sure climate would make a difference. I'd just start googling and youtubing, do as much research as possible. Sorry I can't be of any help here but good luck!

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Really cool idea, but as suggested, I'd do some thorough research. Materials expand and contract with temperature changes, so I'd consider that when planning the windows.

My grandma had a lot of fishponds back in the day. Most of them were hand dug and then hand lined with concrete, and my grandpa made waterfalls for a couple of them. A few were connected by formed spillways, but I don't know much about the construction/planning because I only remember the established ponds. They were her pride and joy. Then they decided to build a granny flat onto the existing house, and all but one pond was filled in to accommodate the slab for the granny flat. My grandpa then decided to install a prefab pond and link it to the remaining concrete pond, but could never get the plumbing to work right. The new pond was where he intended to pump water from to feed the waterfall, and he had a second pipe that fed water from the old pond back into the new pond. What actually happened was that the pump fed water faster than the return could refill the pond, which drained one pond and flooded the other. Eventually he gave up and went back to the original setup, which was running the older pond on a closed loop.

Not trying to dissuade you or anything, as I love the idea of a series of connected ponds. I'm just presenting the problems my grandparents had because I think a lot of it was grandpa trying to make things work without really doing the homework part. The waterfall moved a substantial volume of water, but the return pipe was just a piece of submerged 3/4" PVC that couldn't keep up with the volume being added to the pond, and it was also prone to clogging.

 

[pbeemer]

cut a frame for the glass into the back side of the window, slightly deeper than the thickness of the glass, probably at least 1/2" wide all around. 3/4" would be better.

put a heavy bead of silicone caulking compound around the vertical face of this frame. set the glass into its frame, sq

 

[pbeemer]

well bad words. it logged me out while i was writing this.

let me start again

i assume you have a wooden pond structure as shown in the pictures.

cut a hole in the wooden structure where you want the window to be. make it 1 1/2" smaller in each dimension than the size of the glass, to leave a 3/4" support for the glass all the way around.

turn the support on its side so that the face with the hole is on the bottom.

frame this hole on the inside with 1x6 lumber at least 1/8" further apart than the glass will be. have what will be the vertical pieces run the full height of the sidewall structure and secure them well to the wooden structure -- you need these to replace the strength you cut out of it when you made the big hole. what will be the horizontal pieces go inside the vertical ones, spaced back from the glass area as the sides are. these don't need to fit tightly between the vertical framing; they're support, not structure.

put a heavy bead of silicone caulk (you choice of color; i would suggest black) all around the inside of this frame. set the glass into the caulk, pressing out the excess caulk so it fills the gap between the glass and the 1x6 framing. note that this is for mechanical support of the glass, and not a watertight seal.

let the caulk cure completely; i would suggest a day longer than the label suggests. remove excess caulk, however and whenever the directions say. don't leave any caulk extending above the level of the back (now top) face of the glass.

lie the EPDM liner down over the hole, with what will be the top edge straight across and extending beyond the edge by more than enough to be your vertical excess. flop the rest toward what will be the bottom of the pond for now.

locate the glass under the liner. measure twice, cut once. cut a rectangular hole in the liner which stops 3/4" inside the edges of the glass -- the same dimensions as the hole in the structure. (it will be easire if you make a template out of scrap wood so the liner can't wiggle around while you cut it.) using solvent-based EPDM adhesive / sealant, apply a layer of the sealant to the edge of the glass, 3/4" wide, around all sides. make sure that this completely covers the glass, with no bubbles or holidays, following the manufacturer's direction on application rate, setup time, and any other details of installation, carefully place the hole in the EPDM liner over the glass and press down thoroughly; this IS the watertight seal. let cure for at least the "full strength" time.

pick everything up gently, place the structure where you want it, and install the liner as normal, being very careful not to pull or peel at the sealed area. install the liner with about 1/2" of extra slack tucked in under the window to prevent the seal being pulled when you fill the pond.

 

[pbeemer]

having slept on it, it occurs to me that, instead of framing the window opening with 1x6, it would be much better just to fit a sheet of 1/2" plywood on the entire surface of that wall, with the cutout to frame the glass in the plywood. this would give much better mechanical support to that wall, and provide a more flush attachment of the epdm to the glass