Small Pond Project.........

[dave1949]

How did the water sand seam turn out? On the bright side, it's really good it was discovered now rather than being the source of problems later.

 

[cartod]

How did the water sand seam turn out? On the bright side, it's really good it was discovered now rather than being the source of problems later.

We trucked tons of sand out and are currently sealing off the seam with clay. I will post some photos at the end of the week.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Any photos yet, us lurkers are thirsty for more pics. Love what you're doing by the way.

 

[cartod]

Ok, dam is built and compacted. I ran the compactor over it a second time this morning and added a few root balls and some rocks. Pond is 300' long, about 200' wide at widest point and 15' deep. Had to truck in 15 loads of dirt and take another 15 loads from the front of the property. Im hopeful that this project isn't one big mistake. Any suggestions on structure or anything else during this waiting phase is much appreciated.

My two concerns are:

1. I don't have enough watershed to fill it and will have to pump water up from the stream on the front side, or drill a well.

2. It will not hold water due to the sand seam.

The last photo is taken at the front of the lot and is where we removed dirt for the dam. Its where I could (if necessary)pump water from, about 50' lower in elevation.

All I need now is about 6 million gallons of water.

 

[EddieWalker]

Congratulations on finishing your pond. It looks beautiful. Nice and smooth all around. Unfortunately that is the worse thing you would want for fish. Fish want up and downs, they need hiding places and escape routes. You need to think of ways to keep your feed fish alive so the predator fish don't eat them all at once. While your pond looks great, it needs roughing up. I would start digging into the sides of the bank opposite of the dam and create some drop offs and small hills. Fish spend most of their lives in in less then four feet of water. This is about how far light can pass into the water and algae can grow. Depth is good for cooler temps during the summer, and for loss of water due to evaporation, four feet is the magic number. You need to think of what the fish will be doing at that depth and creating structure and irregular bottom features at those depths, both when full and when you loose a few feet due to evaporation.

Build a dock. stack some logs. Buy boulders. old concrete. You just need to make it ugly.

Eddie

 

[GPintheMitten]

The only thing I know about ponds is that water runs downhill, so excuse if this is a stupid question. Couldn't you haul in clay or use a man made material to seal the bottom? ( other than cost ... I suppose it would be expensive).

My daughter is going to have to haul in clay during her indoor arena construction.

 

[farmer2009]

Looks good. That is a nice pond to have at your house. What are you going to do with it?

If fish. Do you use real trees for Christmas? If so when done tie on a few concrete blocks and sink them. They make great fish habitat.

 

[jix]

A couple of troublesome points:

That does not appear to be a small pond..more like a small lake?

The pond will require an impermeable membrane to hold water..quite costly. You may also elect to place a two foot thick layer of pure clay, well tamped. That will hold water. Heavy membrane is costly stuff, Heavy, thick clay is cheaper, but harder to place well. You might think of how it would be drained, if necessary. A Sewer pipe and valve arrangement comes to mind, of you have low point to drain it to. Several millions of gallons is a heck of a lot of water

Second issue is pond scum..algae.. That will require a big filter-aerator or fountain pump to maintain the oxygen levels necessary to prevent eutrophication and stagnant stink..and to keep fish alive. Give thought to insect problems (mosquitoes). Lotsa fish, catfish, carp, suckers. Bottom feeders will help with the bugs and the algea.

Stock it with rainbow, but not speckled trout or bass or other predatory fish and feed them fish food as necessary. Birds will interfere and steal the fish, probably, if the water is not deep and has no trash structure for the fish to hide in. Big bird nets work, but are a big PIA

The pond is a lovely addition to a property, but it is expensive to maintain. It may also require fencing for safety, or because it is mandated by law in many jurisdictions. Place a set of steps somewhere in the water to use for access, egress if someone falls in.

I had one once..and had to bulldoze it in, just too muh expense to justify it. Canada geese were a lovely nuisance..They cover the area in goose poop quite severely. White ducks, swans are better. except that some species eat fish, but they control leeches and snails.

Last concern..Do you have a septic system that can leach into the pond within 300 feet of it? If so..you cannot have a pond,, you can only have a sewage lagoon.

Just in case that is not enuff to concern you, what if the containmenr berm were to fail? Where does that huge amount of water go to? That can be a MAJOR liability....AND
Do you have jurisdictional concurrence for so large a pond.. is it approved? What about the civil engineering of the berm? Is it certified?

 

[Larro Darro]

Good looking pond. Like others have said, a bit too good looking. Used tires make good fish habitat too. Trees with the limbs still on them are also great for the smaller fish to hide. I wouldn't shy away from catfish or bass, but wait six months to a year until your bream and other pan fish are well established. And just a few will do you. They will find their right balance.

Good luck on getting it filled.

Larro

 

[cartod]

Congratulations on finishing your pond. It looks beautiful. Nice and smooth all around. Unfortunately that is the worse thing you would want for fish. Fish want up and downs, they need hiding places and escape routes. You need to think of ways to keep your feed fish alive so the predator fish don't eat them all at once. While your pond looks great, it needs roughing up. I would start digging into the sides of the bank opposite of the dam and create some drop offs and small hills. Fish spend most of their lives in in less then four feet of water. This is about how far light can pass into the water and algae can grow. Depth is good for cooler temps during the summer, and for loss of water due to evaporation, four feet is the magic number. You need to think of what the fish will be doing at that depth and creating structure and irregular bottom features at those depths, both when full and when you loose a few feet due to evaporation.

Build a dock. stack some logs. Buy boulders. old concrete. You just need to make it ugly.

Eddie

Thanks Eddie, that is just what I will do. I began yesterday putting rock beds about 5' below the water line. I will cut in some ledges this week at about the same depth. I will take some photos of the progress.

 

[cartod]

Ok, I cut a bunch of ledges and Ill do some more tomorrow. I put rock on some of them, should I do it on all of them?

 

[GPintheMitten]

Cartod, what about the sand seem. Do you know how much water you'll lose through that? I don't know how critical it is to seal it. I guess I would be concerned about that.

 

[cartod]

Cartod, what about the sand seem. Do you know how much water you'll lose through that? I don't know how critical it is to seal it. I guess I would be concerned about that.

Its sealed. We mined out 31 truckloads of sand and sealed it off about 12' below the dam with clay. Spread the clay in layering it and rolling it between each spread. Then we built up over it 27'. It's the other side, the high side I'm worried about. The dam is right......I hope.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Its sealed. We mined out 31 truckloads of sand and sealed it off about 12' below the dam with clay. Spread the clay in layering it and rolling it between each spread. Then we built up over it 27'. It's the other side, the high side I'm worried about. The dam is right......I hope.

Oh. I misunderstood.

 

[EddieWalker]

It looks more like you are landscaping then creating habitat. The gravel you put down might work for spawning, but it's not enough to create any sort of a hiding place or barrier. Think of two foot drop offs and mazes that the smaller fish can swim into to escape the big fish trying to eat them. Dig a two or three foot ditch and then pile the dirt up next to it. Get some trees or stumps and pile them up into something a dozen or two dozen feet long at either end of the pond, or even in three places. Stack a dozen pallets on top of each other and put some cinder blocks on top of them.

If you plan to swim in it, leave the shore near the house pretty so nobody gets caught in it. Just remember that once it's full of water, you wont see any of this unless you have a few stumps sticking up through the surface. I did this by accident, and have found that it's great for birds and turtles to rest on.



Eddie

 

[farmer2009]

If you add brush and want to fish it. I have a neighbor that tied laundry soap jugs to the brush piles. They float and he know where the piles are. He can fish next to them and helps keep kids from getting lines hung in them.

 

[cartod]

Thanks again for any and all suggestions/criticism/observations. We are in a very dry spell and will remain in one for a few more weeks, so I have time to move around in it. I have set rocks on top of everything to anchor. Would you suggest any structure on the bottom? I have a bunch of rocks. Here is the photos of the current structure.

 

[Larro Darro]

That hollow log is nice. Lots of good hiding space in there.

Larro

 

[GPintheMitten]

You might Google fish structure. Here's a couple of sites.

Man-made structures create fishing haven and they aren't hard to create | AL.com

Building Freshwater Fish Attractors

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Stacks of cinder blocks on their sides with the hollow sections exposed.

Our pond is silted in and mostly less than 5' deep, some places only 2'. We have 7 lb bass and some catfish. Fish eating birds frequent the waterline. I shoot the turtles to help keep them from overtaking the pond. There is hardly any structure in the pond but we have plenty of aquatic weeds for the feeder fish to hide. Our water stays relatively clear. For some reason, some of weeds are dying back. Not sure why. It is hard to keep some weeds from overtaking the pond. I wish there was an easy way to get out the silt. Only thing I can think of is a dragline. $$$