Digging a small pond questions

Bigbear · May 19, 2005

Last night I started digging a small pond in some creek bottom land I own. The pond when finished should take up 1/3 to 1/2 acre. Am I crazy for trying this with a 35 hp tractor with loader, backhoe, box blade and tiller. For most of the pond depth I would like it to be about 3 or 4 foot deep, with some deeper holes for winter. The pond will be right next to the creek, could I dig a trench to the creek and utilize the water from it? There are several large trees that I plan on digging around and leaving, will this be a problem? I realize this is going to be a lengthy project, but the trackhoe guy that dug my last pond (won't hold water) says it will take him about 4 days at 1000 dollars a day. I will take some start pictures and post them later. Any info would be appreciated.

bczoom · May 19, 2005

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Am I crazy for trying this with a 35 hp tractor with loader, backhoe, box blade and tiller.)</font>

Crazy? Can't say but that's a big project for a 35hp tractor.
If my math is right, for a 1/2 acre pond, 3 feet deep you're looking at around 2500 cu/yds of material. Assuming you can carry with FEL + drag with BB 1 cu/yd in a pass out of there, it's going to take 2500 passes of just carrying material out. That's not counting the time required to actually be digging to get the material loose.

I'm not certain but I'm thinking the trees would not make it if submerged.

As for a pipe into the creek... I can't speak for IN but in PA you're not "allowed" to alter the flow of a natural creek. So, when you do put the pipe in, do it quickly and cover your tracks. Whatever size pipe you put in, make sure you have the same on the far side to drain. Also, get a cap for the up-stream side so when the creek gets high due to heavy rains, you can cap it off so you don't pull in the muddy water.

have_blue · May 19, 2005

Take all the topsoil you need, build any levee's you need, then let your neighbors know you have dirt to give away. It's the only way I'll be able to finish my 1.6a 6' deep pond. It will require a lot of patience.

http://webpages.charter.net/bobad/pond3.jpg

fish_wisperer · May 24, 2005

i paid $4000 for 1.75 acre 12' deep, it also took 4 days with 2 D-6 dosers. i have a huge dam instead of hauling dirt. you can do a small pond like your talking about with just a box blade, but it will take awhile.

Bigbear · May 25, 2005

Well, the journey has started. Made some pretty good headway in the last few days. It should end up about 50 yards long and 30 yards wide. I dug around 2 trees and made several outpoints of other trees that were just too big to dig out. I think this will help with structure in the pond. Most of the top soil is pushed back to form a dyke around the pond to prevent flood water from getting in. I went down about 24" with the bucket and grade box and its time for the backhoe because the bottom is starting to get soft. A test hole of about 6 foot deep filled up in a matter of hours. The backhoe work is going slow, hard to throw the dirt away from the edge due to backhoe size. Slow going, but it's fun and seems like it will hold water even with a gravel bottom. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MadDog · May 25, 2005

I've been working on a very similar project with my B7800, but a bit smaller than yours. Mine is roughly an L shaped lagoon pond. On average about 15-20' wide and a combined length of about 80' counting both legs.

I am down to about 7-8' in the deepest part and am about ready to put in some perforated leaching field pipe and crushed rock for a drainfield before backfilling, putting down a layer of sand and installing a liner. I've had to dig out a few big boulders with my BH before dragging them out with the FEL, but most of the excavation has been done with FEL/toothbar. A larger machine would certainly have been more efficient, but this project isn't for profit and I'm enjoying the time spent working on it.

My soil is pretty much all sand and gravel so I'd have no retaining capacity without a liner, unless I brought in a large quantity of clay and placed and compacted it. I decided that a liner over a sand base, with another layer of paving stones over the liner to protect it (my dogs are sure to go swimming in it and I don't want their claws tearing up the liner) is likely to be the best solution given my soil conditions.

I'll be following the progress of your project. Best of luck on it.

Bigbear · May 25, 2005

I'm with you MadDog, larger equipment would be faster, but I'm having a great time doing it myslef. I have been removeing top soil and clay with the backhoe today, down 24 to 30 inches. If I don't stop there, it will get to soft to hold the tractor up in order to dig the rest of the way with the backhoe. Knock on wood, the chinese backhoe has done pretty good today, even with all the tree roots. My test hole has filled up even higher, almost to spill out onto the flat work area. I may be in trouble if we get much of a rain, worst case, I can fire up the trash pump. I tried a liner in my small pond, but the muskrats made holes in it, hope you have better luck. Going back to dig until dark, or maybe I can try out the tractor lights /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif