This is absolutely beautiful and blue. This is the first natural pool that I have seen using a pool liner. I like this a lot. You can see the bottom if there is an animal laying at the bottom. A lot of natural pools are dark. You can't see what's is at the bottom.
I wanted to address requests for updates, lessons learned and color of water. I would like to do an updated video when I find the time but for now will simply document a few things. Lessons learned: The plumbing was my biggest challenge. If you don’t have a problem solving mind, I would get an expert on pumps and pool plumbing involved in your project. Fortunately, for this type of pool, changes can be made and mistakes fixed. My first hurdle was priming the pump because I neglected to install a typical sand filter which I believe uses air compression or vacuum to help prime the pump. I am not sure because I modified mine to prime without this filter. 2nd mistake: all the pool’s small organic particles would get pump back into the pool. I had no effective filtration system for small particles. Also, my skimmer was somewhat effective but got clogged quickly. I abandoned my skimmer and installed a second waterfall in its place. At the bottom of the waterfall I made three chambers to let what will sink - sink and let what will float - float and pull from the middle water to circulate that back up to the upper waterfall that feeds the pool. I eventually want to get a separate portable pump to use for vacuuming so I can leave the circulation system running while cleaning the pool floor. 3rd mistake: hoping a venture fitting on a water input line would create enough aeration. This approach was largely ineffective but currently, I believe the two waterfalls coupled with swimming have created enough aeration. Update: August of the first summer there was an onset of floating algae. The skimmer kept it somewhat controlled but it was an issue. That is when I decided to abandon the skimmer and put in a waterfall with three filtration ponds or chambers at the base of the waterfall. This (the second summer) we have had an explosion of I believe 3 variety of tadpole ranging from pea size to almost golf ball size. Amazingly, these tadpoles devour debris and clean the entire pool. There have been no floating algae and the chambers at the bottom of the water fall are spotless. They say allow 2 to 3 years for the ecosystem to balance and i feel this August is bar far better than last August. Pool Color and clarity: The color and clarity of the pool will fluctuate. During pollen season the water actually gets very green and cloudy for 2 or three weeks. Conventional pool owners have this issue but they increase the chemical input to fix the issue. The majority of this second year, the water has been clear (i.e. I can see all the way to the bottom). Until, I set up an effective vacuuming system, when we swim we stir up debris that has settled on the bottom and that will cloud things up a bit. When all is settled, if you look straight down you can see the blue of the liner but looking at the pool from an angle the organic matter in the water will create a greenish tint. All sources on natural swimming pools will tell you this. Assuming the bottom of my pool is completely clean the overall color from a distant will be a slightly greenish blue. If the pool is not vacuumed the color is a light green.
i wonder if it might be if the pump stuff could be contracted out for a fee and everything else is DIYed by hand yourself. might be worth it the first time at least
Can you put a pool jet in one of these (to get a workout in while keeping the footprint small)? I want one badly. This one looks great (beautiful to see swallows skim it).
I'm so glad I found your video and comments of your challenges. NSP has been on my dream list for months now and when budget and time meet in my favor, I'm going to get to work. Thank you for sharing and absolutely amazing work.
Andy, thanks so much for making this very informative video on your natural pool! We're in the planning stages to make a natural pool in Northern Florida. here's a few questions I didn't see answered in the video or comments: * where did you get info on filter field size (northern vs southern)? Any other sources of info you found useful? * what did you use for your piping grid? 4" perforated PVC in what type of layout? * how much gravel (depth)? * how much did pumping increase your monthly electrical cost?
Andy Marsh I just wanted to tell you that I think your pool is beautiful. You're very talented. For all of the naysayers who talk about the number of plants,(I can't believe how many people commented on this) I think that they're wanting instant gratification, and dealing with any plants, gardens of all types, trees, flowers etc., takes a lot of time and patience. I bet that there are many plants for the upcoming summer of 19". I hope that you & yours are enjoying this beautiful oasis.
I would love a follow up video! I love your pool and so glad I found someone doing one in the southeast. I’m researching like the devil and am hoping to get started soon in South Carolina.
OMG!! Beyond thrilled your video popped up. I've been researching for a while, and in the planning stages, as well as gathering the natural supplies I will need. Rocks, Rocks, Rocks....Here in North GA if I see one on the side of the road and I can pick it up, it comes home......"It is what I call domesticating a wild rock so it can be loved everyday." I'm in the finishing stages of a koi pond building into my deck, This, what you have done .....is our next big project we hope to start in January weather permitting. My biggest fear I haven't seen addressed until now is this GA heat. I lose my original small Koi pond every single summer in July until mid Aug, It was a bad spot. And lots of mistakes made when I dug that hole 13 years ago, clearly a learning process. Listening to your video you said the boulders you purchased were delivered and placed. Where did you buy yours???? I'm up near Helen, Ga. the company I used four the 4 key rocks in my Koi pond design only delivered they dumped my rocks in my front yard. I have found nobody to move and place them. Finding you who is a pebble throw away is like hitting a jackpot in vegas. I hope you will allow me to pick your brain.
Sorry it took me a bit to reply. First off, The Rock Yard in Gainesville is where I got my boulders. For a fee of, I believe, $50 they will place them. The heat can be an issue. August can be a tricky month with the heat because the warm water is perfect for anything to grow. Plants or algae. The planting area with all the gravel works as a solar heater. I planted a water lotus and it spread like crazy and it has provided shade for the planting area with its huge pads. All in all, the water is almost always very clear. Occasionally, it will start to get a little green but a A few times during the summer i vacuum the organic matter that accumulate in the swimming area. My vacuum discards the water and organic matter out of the pool and then I add a little water afterwards to bring up the water level (I have well water.) Shortly, after a vacuum the water clears up quickly.
So glad I found your video! We have a pond in our yard and wanted to convert that into a natural swimming pool this summer! Is the swimming area EPCM liner too? I only see black ones. Also, where did you get the liner and stones? I have tons of questions - we are in the process of draining our current pool!! thanks!!
I am sorry it took me so long to reply. I used a vinyl liner in the pool area but under everything is a black EPDM liner. The stones where local places. I looked up many places online before I found place close by. The liner did the same for the liner.
The plan was 6'-6" but I hit very solid clay that I could only scrape a little bit at a time with the excavator I rented. So I had to settle for just over 5' deep when all was said and done.
Wow, you totally nailed it. Lots of back breaking work. Love the deck close to the water. I'm thinking of something similar but adding a bottom filter and maybe a few fish to move the dirt on the bottom towards the suction filters on the bottom. What do you think? Forgot to mention the exterior pool pump is the way to go instead of a pump inside the pool. Those exterior pumps could last 20+ years and much more efficient and powerful. Thanks again for sharing, I'm hoping mine will look similar to yours!
Thank you for you compliments. I have no experience with fish but everything I have read on Natural Swimming Pools say to exclude fish. Fish can destroy/or eat plants which are needed to compete for nutrients (with algae) in the water and then fish poop adding to the nutrients in the water. There are systems that will allow fish (while maintain non-green clear water) but these system utilize an expensive filtration and water treatment area separate from the pool itself. As is, I believe some sort of DIY biofilter is very important to a NSP. There will always be a buildup of organic matter and if you can filter as much out as possible that will work best.
Really enjoy what you have built. I am about to tackle the same thing next year. I live in the south east and am curious as to which company you bought your liner through
Great pool, and great work! I did not think of old concrete, that it can be used as stones: Good idea! The only thing I would make other is the poolliner: it is unfortunatedly folded sometimes. Would be even more beautiful without those folds I think. But I know it is not for one person to do it, and a round shape is always tricky. But I congratulate for the really beautifully looking pool! Was worth each dime and effort!
Thank you! And yes, the blue liner was a lesson that if water can go some where, it will. It worked good at first until water got between the blue liner and the EPDM liner and caused the wrinkling.
Great video. Thanks for all the details. I live in Roswell, GA and want to build one of these pools. When applying for a permit, what plan/blueprint did you submit? I'm trying to find one, but struggling to locate one.
From my experience as an architect, I would check with Roswell first to see what they may require. Natural pools may even be a foreign concept to them so they may not even know but they should give you some guidance. Gainesville (my city) only this year adopted the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. Personally, regarding plans, I drew mine own.
It is so cool. I have a question, what is the sky color on the bottom of the pool? We are also moving, and my husband and I are going to do the organic paste. That way, I can save money. We live in North Georgia. We're also worried about the pump system Please advice Thanks
Andy I love your pool. I do have a couple of questions if you would be so kind. Do you have any retention walls built in the surround of the swim area or just the liner. Also how much length of hose do you have for the planting area (where the pump intake is? depth of hose under the gravel? I thank you for your time.
I built a make-shift retaining using treated 2x4 and vinyl siding attached to them. Just enough support to keep the soil in place. Via rain I had to shovel some wash back into place. Once the liner covered it and the pool was filled the water pressure kept everything in place. There was no threat of ground water casing any issues. I used about 50' of 4 inch perforated pipe under the gravel.
I had a friend from Florida that was concerned with snakes getting into a natural pool as well. I don't know what to tell you. We have two cats which tend to keep snakes away. I have never seen a snake on our property here in Georgia. Other wild life consists of mainly water bugs and tadpoles. Birds love to bath in the shallow edges.
Some pros have said that unless you got a source of food for them in your NSP you will not have a snake problem. If you do see a snake or two, just so long as you do not startle them they will leave you alone and eventually move on. If they hang around just simply look up and call in a wrangler and have them removed. I have read/heard about folks with regular pools where snake would congregate.
Thanks from Alpharetta, Ga! Looking to build one. Ever considered putting your pool on Swimly? That would let people like me come rent your pool to see if we really like natural swimming before taking the plunge 😉 at our own place! E
friggin amazeballs! and i'd LOVE to know the actual footage (including regeneration zone)? I know one place says they advocate no less than a 16x32 for scientific reasons but dont know if thats just a higher business profit theyre looking for. The smaller of course the less expensive to install (either DIY or professionally), as well as utilizing less of your backyard so I'd like to make my dream pool a bit smaller!
The swimming area is 24' in diameter and the regeneration zone area is a bit more. I don't know the science but in my research: Northern States the regeneration zone should be half the swimming area and the warmer south the regeneration zone should be equal to the swimming area.
Looks good, I built one in north Florida and it is also very clean. I built mine 5" deep because the wife isn't a swimmer and we have no problems keeping it clean. People that say you need to go 8 or 10 foot deep in a warm climate are just plain wrong
well done you should be proud I see many aquascape ponds done and they are well over priced I suspect you spent a lot less and did it to a high level. yes rocks are not expensive.
Great job & thanks for sharing, would or could you add a few fish, not koi but I guess a local river variety, I don't now if this is part of the natural pool thing.
Fish aren't a good idea in a natural pool. You want the plants to increase and compete with algae for nutrients. Fish will tend to eat the plants and create nutrients through their waste.
Hi Andy! Can you help me with a little doubt that I have about your pool? I'm from Brazil (sorry about my english, if it's not completely correct). How deep is you planted zone?
This is a wonderful example. I want to do this so badly. However, I would also like to raise edible fish. What do you suggest i do? Can you have both or just one or the other?
One or the other. I have never had fish but hear they mess up and eat the plants and poop. You need the plants to remove nutrients in the water and poop IS nutrients. Most fish ponds I have seen tend to have water on the greenish, slightly murky side. This pool you can see clearly to the bottom 95% of the year.
You don't have enough plants. I assume you will be adding a lot more. It's no good have a the correct size planting area, if it doesn't have plants, most of your planting area is empty.
Also, apologize if i missed this, what state is this? I'm in florida...and i know they say natural pools do best in warm and hot climates edit: you said, it's georgia! cool cool
ZaphodsPlanet My intention and hope was for the plants to spread and they are, but a very nice surprise was the scores of tadpoles (some quite large) that have become my algae control. They have kept things very clean.
If you dont mind me asking what was the total cost on your natural swimming pool? I really want to start this project! You did a fantastic job, love it
Somewhere between $7,000 and $8,000 for pool, water plants, landscaping, deck and waterfall. Without the deck and waterfall, the cost was probably $5,500 - $6,000. That is almost all material or equipment rental - I didn't hire anyone to do any work. Biggest item was the 60'x40' EPDM liner. I don't have the number in front of me but it was about $1,600 dollars and it weight 700+ lbs.
Hi Andy I have one natural swimming pool too but I'm having issues with algae. What do you do to avoid them. Your pool it's the best I found on line. Please help me. I want mine looks like yours. My water is clear but the alge it's all over. Thanks so much for your help
Like 2 years ago and I have that problem since the beginning. At first there was coming rain water with dirt into the pool. I fixed that, but I think there is too much nutrients on the water because of the mud. I have 55% swimming area and 45% plants area, and it is very full I have to take out lots of them every 15 days and trash them. 1) Do you know how to remove nutrients for the existing water? 2) How long do you have your pump functioning a day? Does your water fall work 24x7 h? 3) Do you have an air pump for oxygen? I do have one, but I’m nut sure for how long I should have it working. At the beginning I have it for 3 hours a day and 2 weeks ago I set it up for 6 hrs. and it helped a lot. The water is clear now, so I’m thing to run it for 12hrs a day.
At the end of the first summer I had a lot of Algae because it was so warm and yes, the nutrients - plus they say it takes 2 to 3 years for the ecosystem to balance. The next summer I started to get some algae but i had about 30+ large tadpoles from a bull frog that made its way to the pool. I believe that these guys devoured all the algae. It was really quite amazing. The pool always has a little algae in places but the water is typically very clear. During pollen season it gets a bit green for a couple weeks and near the end of summer it may get a little green depending on how hot it is. I have no aerator. I have an entry water fall and I now have an exit water fall I use as a skimmer that goes into three pools that somewhat act as a filter so that particles aren't directly circulated back into the the pool - which was happening at the beginning. I have to vacuum the swimming area twice a year because of the build up of decomposed material build up - I too have some rain water run off that will bring some silt plus leaves that make there way into the pool. For starters, if you could introduce bullfrogs I would recommend that but a bio-filter - whether purchased or a do-it-yourself assembly (RU-vid bio-filters) may be necessary to filter out some of the nutrients. I also keep the water falls running 24/7 except in the winter. In colder weather there is no need to circulate the water.
Hi Andy, thank you so much for your replay. Your advice is invaluable so thank you again. I will increase the air pump time and I will turn on the water fall because I only use it when someone is in the pool so I´m sure that will also help as well as a new biofilter for my water fall. I will let you know how it goes… Regarding the bull frog I´m afraid to introduce some. One friend told me to do it last year but when I research on line, I found out the they are mini monsters and eats just abut anything so I decide not to. But what is your experience with them?. Are them reproducing fast? Do you know how many are in your pool? I know that I have some frogs because I can hear them at night, but I have never seen one. My son found one and he told me was very small like 3cm.
I mentioned the frogs because they were a nice surprise but you should be able to have clear water without them. The bio-filter hopefully will help. The tadpoles and frogs haven't seemed to cause any problems. The may have cleaned off the roots for the first two Water Lilly I planted because those two plants are looking weak but all the other plants are fine. I did plant a water lotus and it spreads like crazy and has broad leaves. This has help to shade the planting area. One issue was the shallow planting area and the gravel would heat up the water significantly in the sun. Algae loves warm water unfortunately.
One needs to understand the symbiotic relationship between the fish and the plants. The fish in this pond don't understand it, but the builder of the pond did. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AGc_q-R2gMA.html
I'm planning on building mine, my question is, how much of a cost did you notice having your pool pump running 24/7 percentage wise on your monthly bill?
You can get a more efficient or smaller pump than mine but considering I have a 1.5 horsepower - 220V standard pool pump, i would estimate between a 12-18% increase but I don't run it or need to run it for half the year so that helps.
I'm not an expert but I understand that caution should be taken in any body of water (chlorinated or fresh) if you feel the water has been excessively contaminated. Water testing is advisable if there is a question. But yes, pathogens will be ingested by microbes and planting regeneration zones have been successfully used for public natural pools which would inevitably be more susceptible to potentially harmful pathogens. Personally, as long as the tiny life in the pool looks healthy, I feel safe in the water.
+andy marsh thank you for your response! I've been doing lots of research, but like anything, there are many answers and versions to all areas of concern. I've found that getting real feedback from those that have actually gone through the process and learning the pitfalls to avoid had been much more useful and understandable to me. thank you for sharing this video, you did an amazing job with your pool! ☺
+andy marsh hi, I'm back. just wondering if you could/have put together a step-by-step of your entire process? where/how did you source your materials or learn the mechanics of the pump placement? did you have someone oversee your project that would ensure it's all being done accurately and efficiently? how does the waterfall fit into this? I've been doing research in my area and the average cost of a natural swimming pool (considering all the variables) is close to $80,000, which is just insane. I imagined $30k (at most) to be reasonable, but I guess for that amount, I'll have to do it myself. 😕 can you share what your best learning resource was to create this pond? and how about design, did you have to get prior approval of that as well? see? I told you I'd pick your brain! 😆
