Another New Pond

[jamestaylor72]

"Another New Pond.."

First of all, what you are having built here is not a "pond"........a pond is a shallow low-lying extremity of a swamp that has definable boundaries. What you have here is a "tank" or dirt tank or "stock tank" depening. Although, I suppose, since you are paying to have it done you can call it anything you like......pond......tank.........your special place......it's all up to you.


"When I dug my ponds, I created contours, dropoffs, holes and debri piles for the fish to use."

The fish like these kinds of abberations. In many of our tanks we have large rocks or stump piles intentinally placed as fish tend to congregate and lay their eggs around such items.

"Seems like a dumb question but where will it get its water from looks prety flat there, but hard to tell grade from pictures. Fill it with a hose? Hope they are not charging much trying to build a tank with small finish dozers, wish them the best of luck. That would take forever here with our hardpan clay and caliche, better have at least a 40000 lb machine and a couple of scrapers sure makes the job go faster..."


Small finish dozers? It appears we have two 100-hp+ JD dozers working on this project.......I don't count the excavator as I reject it's serious usefullness. Many, many good sized tanks in this part of the country have been built with a Farmall and a fresno, or a TD-12, or a D-6b/D-5 Cat........having two decent sized dozers on a job is nice. And they should be charging in excess of $100/hr per machine to do the job or their ripping their own shorts.

Hi Joe,, I'm told the dozers are running around 150 HP . They seem to have a pretty good system going. The excavator digs and breaks up the clay, and the dozers push it up out of the hole. And I'm also told one of the dozers weighs around 45000 Ibs. . I don't know what they're actual per hr. charge is, I knew what I wanted to pay,, and the contractor came darn close, so I went ahead with it. The bottom will have a nice contour, probably unusual, but contour non the less. Will get more pics up soon showing the progress!! Also, I'm counting on it filling naturally,, or as the farmer across the road has,,, perhaps they'll hit a spring.

 

[EddieWalker]

Christmas trees are good to add to an existing ponds, but they only last a few seasons and then they rot away. You realy need to consider things more permanent since the pond is empty. Stumps, big logs, cement culverts, rock piles and things like that.

Eddie

 

[ToadHill]

Don't ask me how I know this but If the bottom is clay, have the operator scrape some off the bottom and onto the sides to seal them up as well. It saves a lot of leaking and swampy conditions at the dam edge of the pond.

 

[jamestaylor72]

Christmas trees are good to add to an existing ponds, but they only last a few seasons and then they rot away. You realy need to consider things more permanent since the pond is empty. Stumps, big logs, cement culverts, rock piles and things like that.

Eddie

Thanks Eddie,,, I like that cement culvert idea,,, or the rock pile. I was wanting something permanent like that !! I also want to get my air diffusers and air lines set in before it starts filling.

 

[jamestaylor72]

Don't ask me how I know this but If the bottom is clay, have the operator scrape some off the bottom and onto the sides to seal them up as well. It saves a lot of leaking and swampy conditions at the dam edge of the pond.

Hi ToadHill,, thanks for the heads up. I do remember the contractor saying that he had to scrape the topsoil off around the outer edges/berms as well, so that the clay berms would "tie in" with the virgin ground clay to prevent leaks. So, hopefully this will work out well!!

 

[knute_m]

Neat project. It sounds like you've got a good experienced contractor doing your work. But, if it is not too late, has your dam area been "cored?"

Coring uses the track hoe or a back hoe to dig a trench, or core, under the dam area. The ditch is then filled with good clay and compacted with either the dozers or a compactor, several inches at at time. This makes a very tight dam.

Keep the progress and the photos coming.

posted by JoeinTX

First of all, what you are having built here is not a "pond"........a pond is a shallow low-lying extremity of a swamp that has definable boundaries. What you have here is a "tank" or dirt tank or "stock tank" depening.

P.S. To all my good Texas friends, please don't take this the wrong way. But, to the best of my knowledge, only Texans refer to "ponds" as "tanks." When I first heard this term many years ago, I knew right then and there that Texans were really into big things when they started talking about 2 acre livestock "tanks." Heck, our cattle tank held 150 gallons of water, and it was galvanized. I couldn't even begin to imagine how big their bass might be!

 

[jamestaylor72]

Neat project. It sounds like you've got a good experienced contractor doing your work. But, if it is not too late, has your dam area been "cored?"

Coring uses the track hoe or a back hoe to dig a trench, or core, under the dam area. The ditch is then filled with good clay and compacted with either the dozers or a compactor, several inches at at time. This makes a very tight dam.

Keep the progress and the photos coming.


P.S. To all my good Texas friends, please don't take this the wrong way. But, to the best of my knowledge, only Texans refer to "ponds" as "tanks." When I first heard this term many years ago, I knew right then and there that Texans were really into big things when they started talking about 2 acre livestock "tanks." Heck, our cattle tank held 150 gallons of water, and it was galvanized. I couldn't even begin to imagine how big their bass might be!

Hey Knute, thanks for the positive input. I'm not positive, but I don't think that they've used the core method. As far as the banks though, I'm impressed to see how easily those dozers can make it up them,, they are very steep. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some more pics of their progress, as one side is pretty much done. I'm assuming that weight of the machines running back and forth , up and back down into the basin will put a pretty good "compression" or packing effect on the clay as well.

 

[srsu99]

I was going to mention coring. but it looks likethey are already far along with project. That is about the only use I can see for an excavator on a tank project. If you dont have good claycontent in dam water will seep through it, may have a marsh on backside of dam. Good place for mesquitos and snakes. We just dont build tanks like that here. If you have to push dirt morethan 100 feet then it is not economical with a dozer. Those are small finish dozers with 6 way blade, made to push loose dirt, like on a building pad. the blade is staight and cannot haul much dirt. A 6 size machine with a semi u blade is more suitable for this type of work. Scrapers are the only cost effective way to go.Not only can they haul the spoil out, they also do a great job of compacting on the dam.

 

[jamestaylor72]

Well, it's been three days now, and the pond,,, or "tank" for my Texas friends ,,, is nearly done. And to add to my excitement,, today about a half hour before quitting time,,, the guys hit a spring!!!! I started getting so soft that the dozers had a difficult time. I've been taking more pictures than a "Japanese Tourist",,, and I know we all love pics,,, so I'm posting some. The ones of what appear to be a simple mud puddle, are the most noticible part of the spring,, as if you look closely you can see the water bubbling up from the ground.

 

[jamestaylor72]

some more pics,,