Q & A - pondering your questions 

James May is the DPB of stuff

That made me smile - thank you

Shes the best!

Captain Flow

Alas, Sarah is my media assistant and funnier than me. I'm still better at plumbing though.

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler Yes with plumbing you have it definitely... oh and on knowing where your accent comes from :)

Fabulous! Thank you

As the tiny bubbles go up to the surface they pull water with them. If you restrict that to a small diameter pipe it will keep going up past the surface of the pond as the bubbles try to go up. There is a limit to the height above the surface vs the diameter of pipe because water is pretty heavy. If you use a 4inch pipe and an airstone about 2inches you can pump a lot of water from the bottom to the surface. If you use a 1/8 inch airhose and air input from soccer ball needle you can only lift a few tee spoon a second but you can pump it as high as you want.

Try this demonstration: just stick a vertical 2" diameter pipe into your pool's deepest part so the ends of the pipe are about at the bottom of the pool and the waterline. Then drop the thin line carrying the air into the top of the pipe to about 18-20" below the waterline. That will create low water pressure inside the pipe and will cause it to suck up water from the open (deep) end and bring it to the surface. If you want to make that a permanent feature of the pond then have the top of the pipe extend 6-20" above the waterline but place a plumbing part called a "sweep" (which is like a smoothly rounded "T" junction) near the surface and then stick a length of Shop-Vac flexible hose into the sweep. This can carry the deep water into any part the shallow planted part of the pool and keep the plants from cooking if you have hot sunny days. It is also a good idea to have a ninety degree elbow on the bottom end of the pipe and a little rubber pad on that to prevent rubbing on the liner. Or suspend the vertical pipe so it doesn't touch the liner. This method also keeps the pond from having drastic temperature gradients and improves swimming.

BTW, I've only recently discovered your work, and find it inspiring. You're videos are excellent: short, informative, light, and "spiced" with just the right dose of humor. The fact that through your videos I was able to grasp in a short time principles that took you years to gather and formulate through experience, is as impressive as the knowledge itself. Thank you for sharing.

Yes. That perfectly possible

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler thank you David!!

Hey John! I have put in a couple of these for clients. I am a big fan of the Reinforced Polyethylene Liners. In the industry they are known as RPE. I’ve done 30 and 40 mil. They don’t weigh as much as EPDM (rubber) and are easier to deploy.

For a single sheet of liner for DIY install, normally EPDM 1mm. But I have used 0.75mm. But there are many suitable products... if it holds water, it will work.

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler Hi David, thanks for the much appreciated reply. John

@@fullcircledesignsllc5408 hi thanks for your advice. John

I thought the background was fun!

Thank you. Sarah is my assistant and alas not my daughter so she hasn't got my hair issues.

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler My mistake ....... Sweet lady . You two seem to have a very good working relationship ..You have hair issues ?

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler Why is everyone assuming Sarah is your daughter? Although she's quite a bit younger than you, I was thinking she might even be your "significant other!" (Sorry if this upsets you Sarah...) I think we're all a bunch of nosy busy bodies who need to get a life! : - D

see one of my films 'making a sandy beach"

Mosquito fish are verrry invasive and WILL get out via birds etc. As long as you have good circulation and steep pond edges to keep the water 4-6" deep at the margins then mozzies won't have their most favored conditions. I use bat boxes ans plenty of swallows nesting boxes and have no mosquitos. Also, harvest some frog eggs (ask the middle school science teachers) in the springtime and the taddies will eat the bug eggs. Frog will find the pond anyway in less time than that will take. North of you.

@@machjuan that you so much. Will take your advise.

Hi Nan, have a look at one of my films " organic pools are full of mosquitoes - myth busted"

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler thank you i will.

I think that is a smashing idea!

I think they would be toxic to the plant life as they break down...in fact they definitely contain benzopyrene which is a known carcinogen, as well as a variety of petroleum and other added chemicals. Not something I'd want to go swimming in personally. In an Earthship, tires are sealed up behind the concrete or adobe finish covering, but in a pond they would not be and even if they were, water would still get to them and leach out the various petro and other chemicals in their make up into the water. But I was thinking that an earth bag approach (in biodegradable earth bags vs the synthetic ones most use in building) would work if you filled them with an earth/concrete mix that would harden up and stay in place after the bags broke down. I'm thinking you could even hammer rebar down through them before curing is complete to add structural integrity. The best part is you could just use the soil you excavated to make the pond to fill the bags. Just my thoughts as I am NOT the expert!

@@carolewarner101 Right! I'm no expert either, so we're in this together. I like your idea of using the excavated earth to make an earth bag! Yes, tires are toxic to fish. The toxicant, called 6PPD-quinone, leaches out of the particles that tires shed onto pavement. Even small doses killed coho salmon in the lab. However my recollection is that all the block, or in our hypothetical case, rammed earth tire walls and bottom are covered with EPDM or other thick pond liner that is unrolled over the entirety of the pond. Perhaps the concern of tire toxicity may be reduced by the presence of the lining?

@@carolewarner101 I’m no expert on tires or on epdm liners, but aren’t they essentially the same material? They are both made in the same facility by the same company. And if the tires are in the ground with a liner over them , the liner is water tight, so that should keep any sort of chemicals from getting into the pool.

Just be careful the don't climb up your ass dude.

If you want..send me an impregnated t-shirt..with snow.

very funny. But you can't but wigs like this. The nearest thing is a mop head.

@@organicpools-davidpaganbutler , there's a new merch slogan right there. "Plunge like a mop."

@@dannyellis3660 🤣🤣🤣

@Branislav Boba, perhaps I can help interpret. David has explained it. The plants do the filtering. The "pump" helps circulate the water so that the plants can filter the water. Most "pool people" recommend using a pool pump, which is expensive; in initial cost and in consumption of electricity. This pool pump moves the water around. They are very big filters that need to be stored belong the water line. David's innovation is to use a "bubble pump" from a fish tank (for example.) The bubbles move the water efficiency (by displacement,) which then allows the plants to filter the water. Also, you need to introduce oxygen into the pool. Than can be obtained through a fountain effect, by lifting the water high and allowing it to smash into the water, thereby introducing air and oxygen into the water. With the bubble method, airvjas already need introduced into the water via bubbles, so you do not need to construct (and power) a fountain. The "other filter" you mentioned may be "the olive?" It's an extra filter for people who have found that for whatever reason (very big pool, not enough plants to deal with the amount of sunlight etc) the water is not as perfect as they would like it to be. The olive is an additional filter that can help people that find themselves needing more plants to help filter. Hope that helps.

​@@dannyellis3660 Dear Mr. Ellis! With all due respect - made you think you were an expert? And where did you get the idea that you know better me? You had not even read Prof. Pagan's PDF book that I mentioned and yet that did not stop you from answering on it. On behalf of someone else. And as a result it's all just a vain exercise. It's nice that you think you understand but the problem is you don't. You also use the same crap language as Prof. Pagan that looks nice but in fact explains very little. So thank you for explaining me the overall principle! But that's not what I asked for. I did ask about particular details to which you gave no answer. So please - either disclose your credentials - in which case I will be interested to what you say - or leave the answers to people who don't just think they understand, but in fact have same real knowlegde on the subject based on real life experience. And by the way - who are these mysterious "pool people" you mention? Do you mean - like Prof. Pagan - people who are experts in the field but who at the same time are very very bad people because they make a profit from their knowledge? I thought Prof. Pagan does the same - yes he does these sweet amateurish videos and other stuff, however he does it for money. The PDF was not for free - I had to buy it from him. The consultations he gladly offers are not for free - people pay for them. The "courses" he offers are not for free either. In other words - it's a business. Not overtly so and not very intelligent but it just is. And the main difference between a standard business and this overt pagan business is that a standard business offers guarantees and Prof. Pagan doesn't give a shit. Every standard business also values their customers - and Prof. Pagan doesn't give a shit. He's probably too busy producing yet more crap presentations and thus has no time attending to needs of his customers. Prof. Pagan tries to build an image of someone way way way morally superior to all those bad bad business people but that image is fatally flawed. In fact - because they are professionals - many businesses offer much better expertise than Prof. Pagan. Not every small business owner is an evil capitalist. As Prof. pagan is trying to convey. In fact - many small businesses cater to their customers needs way better than Prof. Pagan and thus offer better overall value. What's more - these people have taken up enormous responsibility - not just for what they say a do for their customers but also for their employees and their families. Among them "pool people". So this thing of Prof. Pagan's - putting himself on a moral pedestal is rather a reflection of who Prof. Pagan really is and how he sees the world. It's a sad thing.

@@branislavboba1699 , you are being disrespectful to David (and to others.) If that's your goal, then good luck to you.

​@@dannyellis3660 Oh no, I've said something wrong about your guru and that made you unable to form any counter arguments! And you are leaving me alone in the darkness. What a joke! Go on then! I have no idea where you got the persuasion that I'm interested in Prof. Pagan's fan's response.

@@branislavboba1699 sure, if that's how you want to play it. 👍🏻 ("Counter argument" implies you made an argument; you said something rational to which I should contest. You just threw up on your keyboard and no one seems interested. So again, good luck and have fun. 👋🏻)