Building a pond questions

[OkeeDon]

Here's a link to some pictures of the building of our 1/4 acre pond. pond pix

Remember that things are done a little different here in Florida; we don't have dams, clay, keyways, or any of the traditional things that make up a pond -- we dig a hole in the ground and let the ground water seep into it.

Still, you'll get a good idea of the equipment we used -- a huge excavator, dump truck, bulldozer and articulated wheel loader.

You'll have to get through a few pictures of how we buried our land clearing debris before you get to the actual pond construction. You can click on any of the pictures to get a larger size.

 

[B7500]

OkeeDon
That is one heck of a project. I'm beginning to think I'll get a kiddy pool and throw some goldfish in it.
I truly never thought it was that involved when I planned building one.
They are a nice addition to anyone’s property though.
-Terry

 

[PineRidge]

When we dug our pond we spent a few more bucks and hired a worthwhile engineer and an experienced excavator that had built many ponds. They brought in lots of heavy equipment and took all the guesswork out of building the dam, keying in the core trench, overflow, emergency spillway and all the other planning that goes into a good pond that will support fish over a cold Ohio winter.

I have seen my share of ponds that were poorly designed and didn't or couldn't support fish and ended up being nothing more than a expensive futile hole filled with silt, weeds, stagnant water, and mosquitoes. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

If you want a pond that will be with you for years to come do your homework ahead of time and you won't be sorry later.

 

[Dargo]

Here is a pic of it in the background of my RTV hauling firewood. I can get other pics if you want, but this will give you an idea. It's been there for about 7 years now. We swim in it, fish in it, and seem to have a load of deer use it for a watering hole. No problems or complaints!

 

[have_blue]

I'm building a 400x150' pond myself, and the only thing I can think of to help the critters is shallow edges.

Be warned that building a sizable pond is a huge undertaking. If not for wanting several types of fish, I could have gotten by with a pond half that size. You wouldn't think so, but 1.4 acres is massive. Just 1 inch of rain gets you ~38,000 gallons of water to pump out. It's good to have your pond near to a creek, ditch, gully, or some other channel to keep your pond pumped dry.

I only have 10 acres of land, so I have some real challenges to get enough catchemnt area to keep the pond filled. I think I have is enough, because my area averages 54 inches of rain per year.

I have my levees finished, grass planted on them, and am starting to go deep with it. As soon as my 2' deep topsoil is all removed and spread around the land, I'm quitting digging. I'll either give the remaining soil away or pay to have the rest dug.

Good luck, and keep us posted. Everyone likes to watch digging projects. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bluecon1]

Dargo, nice pond. Lot's of work to get it looking like that. I am wanting a fountain like yours. Is it 110 or 220 volt, and where did you get it from? Thanks

 

[samission]

Matt,

Thought I would jump in, I was looking for over a year for a reasonably priced fountain, finally found one at Sugarcreek Fountains in Ohio. Good people to deal with.

Ours is 1/2 hp, 120 VAC, with 4 different nozzles, complete including a GFCI built right into the 100' power cord, longer cords are available.

Ours cost about $550.00 complete shipped to our door.

I have included an attachment picture showing the fountain running in our pond. Check them out at the link above.

Steve

 

[bluecon1]

Thanks for that fountain link. I'll get in touch with them.

 

[Dargo]

That is exactly where I got my fountain. However, when I bought mine about 5 years ago it was just under $400 delivered. If has run 24/7 right up until the lake begins to freeze over. Last year I had to sit in the front of a john boat with a 8 lb sledge and bust the ice on the way out to fetch the fountain. If it burned out today, I'd buy another from them. My pump has frozen, been belted by my kids in our paddle boat, and one time had a piece of plastic cover it's water intake when we were gone on vacation. Some careless brick layers let the plastic blow into the lake. I still can't believe that one week of having the intake plugged didn't burn up the motor!

It runs off of 110. I had a friend who had an underground boring machine run electric out to my dock and out to my island! That is really convenient, and with the boring machine there isn't the trench to worry about constantly washing into the lake with rain.

have_blue, it two years to build my lake. It is 1 1/4 acres; if you count the island, it is 1 1/2 acres. I first took the top 18" of top soil off and sat it aside. I then used mainly the excavator to dig the depth and used the dump truck to put the dirt into the levee you may see in the background. After about 15,000 cubic yards of dirt later, I went and spread the top soil over the levee, stocked the lake with fish and all is well. As you mentioned, it was a constant battle to keep the water pumped out when I was digging it. Also, my pump kept getting clogged with fish!! This was before it was finished and had stocked it with fish. I have numerous explanations of how these fish just appeared, but I tend to believe the theory that some of the eggs were eaten in nearby lakes and were still viable in the bird droppings deposited into my lake. What do you think? I know an old fence row I put in 14 years ago is populated by berry producing trees and I didn't plant them. Same theory as to how they got there. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Dargo]

Oh yeah, as PineRidge mentioned, make sure you have a good spillway and an emergency spillway in case of an extremely heavy rain. I'd read enough to have both built into my lake when I dug it. A friend didn't, and flooded his barn after a very heavy rain one night and his 36" spillway couldn't handle all the water! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif