Digging Pond questions

[Meadow2014]

I am going to change the dimensions of the pond...but my main purpose of digging one is to use the dirt for leveling around house.

400 to 500 feet is that better.....

I ve broken down my land into square acres..... roughly 208 x 208 =43560 sq ft.
my apologies on measurements.

Like I said im just going to dig and I can always come back later with backhoe.....nothing wrong with just having a hole in the ground either.


Thanks Bindian

 

[Gary Fowler]

My advice is to make sure you have plenty of dirt on the back slope with not less than 3/1 slope (4/1 is better)so it has plenty of strength to hold back the force of the ponds water and to make it easier to put some grass on it to prevent erosion then mowing will be easier also. The interior slope should be not more than 1/1 (45 degrees) for at least first 6-8 feet of depth then you could likely make an almost perpendicular cut for the remaining depth if you wanted on the deep end (assuming you are building this on a slope so the deep end is downhill).

I am sure that when you start digging, you will adjust the size upward a quite a bit especially if you are looking for some fill dirt. Putting in a small pond like that will likely take most of what you dig out to make the pond dams so it wont leave anything left for fill. Increasing the size will give you lots of fill dirt after completing the dam. I built this one with my tractor but it is only about 6 feet deep but it took all the dirt to make the dam.

 

[Gary Fowler]

One more piece of advice, dig what you need at one time. Trying to dig out later after it has filled with water or even held water is much harder to do, just ask Brandi (BINDIAN)

 

[RedNeckRacin]

400-500 feet, now we are getting some where. Everyone needs a few acre pond on their property.

As always, it didn't happen if there aren't pictures posted! We all love seeing tractors working for their keep!

 

[bindian]

One more piece of advice, dig what you need at one time. Trying to dig out later after it has filled with water or even held water is much harder to do, just ask Brandi (BINDIAN)

Hey, Honda water pumps are lovable. I used it again this weekend when digging tandem septic tank holes and hit an old field line. Glad I bought that pump two summers back.
Here is my two pond's threads. First thread link you can see why I needed a pump.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/251326-instant-pond.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/135413-i-finally-started-my-pond.html
hugs, Brandi

 

[Ken45101]

One more piece of advice, dig what you need at one time. Trying to dig out later after it has filled with water or even held water is much harder to do, just ask Brandi (BINDIAN)

That's the same thing I was thinking. You are not going to enlarge a 400' pond with a backhoe or even a trackhoe. That would require a large dredge.

 

[tractorshopper]

I dug my pond and it's a small one by most comparisons here. It's roughly 80X70ish. Due to slope with my tractor getting in and out and building up the dam, the best I could do was get the deepest spot to be about 8.5'. And that is not for a large distance at all, once again due to the slope. As other's have stated, a lot of what I dug ended up in the core trench and dam, but that will also depend on your terrain. I'd estimate my left over spoils were roughy 3 to 4 triaxle loads of dirt. I actually could have used more of it (maybe half) on the outside of the dam. I will be doing more work building it up at a lesser angle than I currently have.

 

[SPIKER]

FYI gents on the EPA and they are attempting to take all our pond dreaming ability away from us. This is link to a thread I started here in Rural living but got pushed to politics. The EPA wants to control ALL rain water where it flows, or settles naturally or other methods. Lots of links to different sites mostly Government run ones.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/friendly-politics/309651-more-epa-power-grabbing-now.html

Mark

 

[Meadow2014]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I will adjust size to allow more dirt for other uses.....

lets say I build a pond that is 150 feet by 100 feet at 12 feet deep with just a D4 dozer....how long should it take me to build pond to a finish product that's including dam built, spillway in place, etc.

 

[Meadow2014]

on length of time put the amount of Hours

 

[tractorshopper]

I did the bulk of the work on a long weekend before Christmas with my L3800, mainly using the loader (with tooth bar). I'd guess your Dozer will be much more efficient and stable making much shorter work of it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My brother in law had a contractor with dozer and backhoe dig one about that same size and depth and it took him almost a week. He did have lots of trouble with large rocks to remove and one about the size of a Volkswagen stayed in the pond. He had to dig around it let it settle and keep digging and moving it till the final depth was attained. He had a D6 dozer and a 310 backhoe and the rock was too big for either of them to move. Your sandy loam should move much easier and may not take more than 3 days plus you wont be charging by the hours like he was so I would think much faster. This pond also had to conform to the Arkansas requirements as the Ag extension service was paying for a portion of the cost.

 

[bindian]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I will adjust size to allow more dirt for other uses.....

lets say I build a pond that is 150 feet by 100 feet at 12 feet deep with just a D4 dozer....how long should it take me to build pond to a finish product that's including dam built, spillway in place, etc.

12 feet deep at 3 to 1 slope is 36 feet. So the pond bottom would be, at12 feet, will be 78 x 28 feet. That is a lot of dirt coming out. How much time with your dozer will depend on how long you can stay on the dozer. I guess a week of 12 hour days should be the ballpark. Don't forget to put in a core trench under the dam. You'll have to figure out how wide a core trench you will need. Trench depth is where the hard clay is.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Texasmark]

View attachment 370657My advice is to make sure you have plenty of dirt on the back slope with not less than 3/1 slope (4/1 is better)so it has plenty of strength to hold back the force of the ponds water and to make it easier to put some grass on it to prevent erosion then mowing will be easier also.

Totally agree on 4-1....that's 4' wide for every 1' of height. The custom dozer guy that built my dams suggested and provided 3-1 and I find that too steep to feel comfortable mowing with any mower of any height; even with ballast in the rears. Also agree on the interior sloping.

Mark

 

[Xfaxman]

Totally agree on 4-1....that's 4' wide for every 1' of height. The custom dozer guy that built my dams suggested and provided 3-1 and I find that too steep to feel comfortable mowing with any mower of any height; even with ballast in the rears. Also agree on the interior sloping.

Mark

Here is what 3-1 looks like.

Not too bad to mow, but have to have 4WD.

And 2-1 on the back of the dam.

Even with 4WD, the mower tends to slide sideways downhill.

 

[jim44]

I have always used 4-1 on the back slope, and 3-1 on the front. Since the front slope is mostly covered with water, it doesn't need much mowing. I did a similar size pond in about 12 hours of dozer time with a Dresser TD 7. A D 4 will probably take a good bit longer............:2cents:

Wonder how many acres it is from Tyler to Houston?:laughing:

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Adding a nice pond is a great thing - when it works! lol

I had a swampy mess of a pond that was basically unusable. The only good thing was it NEVER went dry. Brought in an experienced pond builder and converted the mess into a beautiful 150' diameter pond, ranging from about 8' to 15' in depth. Hopes were high

During excavation, we hit limestone(?). The rock was fractured from the dozer, and now I have what looks like a miniature Meteor Crater - lol. After a few days of rain, it fills and looks like a real pond. 3 days later, I have 2 cups of water and some mud.

At this point, I'm looking to line the pond but having some difficulty finding good local clay. We'll see ... but it looks like about a $5K investment for the clay and then some expense to get it spread. Just what I needed - ANOTHER Project!

 

[lipripper]

meadow 2014, OK simple
1) After making the wet spots drain,push them out
2) Strip all topsoil and unsuitables from base of dam and where you place key dam into banks.
3)Find the good clay and as much as you can at base .COMPACTED WELL
4)cut a keyway out of the natural soil and fill with COMPACTED CLAY
5)know you should have a dam 40'wide by 15'tall and 20'front to back at this point. IF you want a drain pipe mow is time to do it ,..ManY kINds
6]Start pushing your banks down 6-12'lifts and place against dam. Again 20' at bottom up to dozer wide up top
7}keep repeating until you have finished look.
PS Even with a pipe and valve installed not a bad idea to put in a spillway top of dam to handle heavy rainingg GOOD LUCK

 

[Ken45101]

One thing that has not been mentioned is any legal requirements for engineering or inspection. Check your state and local law. When you start talking about a 15'x40' dam, that's a LOT of water which can cause serious damage downstream if it fails. For example, Ohio law exempts dams under 6', and certain other specifics depending on acre feet of water impounded, etc.

You certainly wouldn't want to build a great pond like this and then have the state come in and tell you that it must be drained.....

Or you wouldn't want it to fail and damage a county road bridge ($$$) or float someone's house off of the foundation.

 

[FTG-05]

One thing that has not been mentioned is any legal requirements for engineering or inspection. Check your state and local law. When you start talking about a 15'x40' dam, that's a LOT of water which can cause serious damage downstream if it fails. For example, Ohio law exempts dams under 6', and certain other specifics depending on acre feet of water impounded, etc.

You certainly wouldn't want to build a great pond like this and then have the state come in and tell you that it must be drained.....

Or you wouldn't want it to fail and damage a county road bridge ($$$) or float someone's house off of the foundation.

That's a good point because I'm in the beginning stages of planning my little farm pond.

TN state laws state that a "farm pond" does not need to be regulated (unless it dams a stream or creek) unless it's at least 20' high or holds back more than 30 acre-feet of water. That's one acre 30 feet deep or 30 acres, one foot deep or any combination thereof.

My little pond should be only about 25'x25 by maybe 6' high, although I really don't know yet. That's about 140 cubic yards. Doable with a L4330 with a 1/2 cubic yard FEL and 6' BB?

Thanks,