Ramblings upon some of the questions you sent: Plunge pool in a forest, basement pool, converting a pool, pool in the winter batteries, fish in pool, and mosquitoes.
Hi lovely Sarah and lovely David! As organic matters slowly accumulate in the pond, I believe there is "mud" buildup into the media. I therefore believe the eggy pipe (drain pipe) eventually clog. How often would it be required to "clean the media" in order to remove the solids and avoid anaerobic environment. Is there a specific process to follow? I was thinking injecting air or water into the eggypipe (from the airlift pipe) and then collect the solids once they sediment on the bottom of swimming zone. Thanks Jonathan
Hi David and Sarah, a question for your next Q&A: What's your take on 'barley straw' for suppressing algae growth? I built a DPB pond (hurray, thanks David) (17m x 6m and 2.5 m deep) in central Italy with full southern exposure (on a hill). This will be my first summer and I am very concerned about an abundance of algae. Have you used this or have a particular opinion on it? And if you have time, here's my second question: a small landslide (400mm of rain fell in 3 hours) entered the pool. Most of it ended up in the bottom (2.5 m down) and the planted zone is fine now. Should I be worried that there's a cubic metre of mud at the bottom of the pool and try to pump it out (somehow)? Will it cause problems or should I ignore it and just enjoy the sunshine, swimming, pasta and wine?
Hi David & Sarah, I don't know if you still take questions here but I'll try my luck: could you give your thoughts about unusual shapes for the swimming zone? A round shape would prevent me to put insulation panels behind the walls easily... Is an pentagonal/hexagonal shape a good idea (love the look of it but...?)? Also, what about having different depths in the swimming zone (for instance 1m30 to be able to easily stand up on a third of the surface, then 3m on a second third to dive in and finally the usual 2m on the last third). You are just amazing, keep up the beautiful work. Dounya from Belgium
Hi David & Sarah, question for the next Q&A: 1. Can your bubble pump system be substitute by your bubble barrier, you showed on the other video? 2. Are you still using the organic pool's vaqum system or you have some newer invention? Thank you in advance, Peter from Hungary
Hi Sarah and David, love your chats in sunny Cromer! We're planning a plunge pool in limited space (8m along contour and 5.5m width) on a slope in the Scottish Highlands. I know from your pdf that the plant zone needs to be 50% of the pool area, but what's the minimum size of pool that you think is practical and will still form a happy ecosystem? Our bedrock is sometimes not that far below the surface, we won't know til we dig, so also, what is the minimum depth we could settle for? Thanks very very much! Ps as a fellow ADHD-er I appreciate you Sarah!
Hello from cold and snowy Nebraska in the US . I am so looking forward to the spring , need to work on my pond . I saw your videos after the fact and my pond had been built . I am trying to make any adjustments i can to make it more organic .Look forward to your videos ....... What ever happened to Goat Yoga ?
I'm designing a pool following your lead David, thank you. Does the wall/barrier separating the regen zone from the pool zone need to be sealed or can it be porous (imagine a gabion wall)? If it was porous, I assume it would pull some water through the barrier from the pool zone and not down through the gravel, in a way bypassing the filtering process. I also assume it would de-stratify the water.
I cannot find anywhere in your videos which pool liner is safe for humans from chemicals… epdm…rp liners….?? I only know that pvc leeches chemicals but I don’t know about other liners and there are a lot out there ! Please advise
Hi. Potential q for next vid at the end! I built a 21x9mt pool using your dvd/book. I was too cautious about preventing overflow of the pong and inaccurate with my final edge levels resulting in relatively steep banks into which I placed a gravel and sand mix as i did not have easy access to non-slatey(sharp!!!) rocky subsoil. Since using it the 'splashing' and waves created with swimming have etched away at this sandy bank. I have planted a reasonable amount of plants along and spread wildflowers etc to help stabilise it but am considering an edge barrier of brush/dead sticks/logs to act as a physical barrier to help prevent erosion until it naturally colonised and stabilised. Any thoughts? Would this material contribute to significant algal growth? Approx 10% of the pond surface has filamentous algae growth which doesnt look nice but is a fabulous habitat for dragon fly nymph etc so have been leaving it alone. It is completely filled from house roof and I can see to the 1.9mt bottom so happy enough with the water quality at present. Sorry for the dissertation!
I want to start to build organic pools. How ever I don’t know what size air pump to use or how to design the tubing and pvc pipe that the airlines go into. Do you have a detailed book that describes this? Thanks,
