The gully to pond project

[jinman]

I'm cool if you are
After you have run the compressor for a couple hours is the male prong plug on the extension cord hot where you have it plugged into the house receptacle?

The amazing thing is that nothing seems to be hot. Now, when I built my barn on the side of my container, I had a 12 gage extension cord and a 16 gage one. With both cords, the compressor would stall when it tried to start because of voltage drop. With just one cord, it worked fine. Running with no load, it starts and runs continuously without a hitch. I'm sure I'm putting excess wear on the compressor itself. When I return it to normal duty where it pumps up to 120 psi, I'll see if it struggles to make those last few psi before shutting off. I wouldn't do this for a permanent solution, but for a temporary one, it seems to have worked fine. Those fish in that muddy little pool were very active. The bluegill were jumping over the seine and out of the transfer bucket.:laughing:

 

[pacerron]

The amazing thing is that nothing seems to be hot. Now, when I built my barn on the side of my container, I had a 12 gage extension cord and a 16 gage one. With both cords, the compressor would stall when it tried to start because of voltage drop. With just one cord, it worked fine. Running with no load, it starts and runs continuously without a hitch. I'm sure I'm putting excess wear on the compressor itself. When I return it to normal duty where it pumps up to 120 psi, I'll see if it struggles to make those last few psi before shutting off. I wouldn't do this for a permanent solution, but for a temporary one, it seems to have worked fine. Those fish in that muddy little pool were very active. The bluegill were jumping over the seine and out of the transfer bucket.:laughing:

That's good news.
16 gauge is too small for most everything but a decorative candle above your
Kibo in the barn:laughing:

I enjoyed the mud pictures. My wife always says, " why aren't you down here getting muddy" I always say somebody has to take the pictures

Your grandson will have great memories of these moments in years to come so be sure he has the data in some form that won't be some obsoleted digital format in a few years. Would you have believed a few years ago that magnetic tape, 8mm film, floppy disks, zip drives, etc. would be a media that is not useable on today's equipment..
Be sure to get yourself in some of the pictures too. Most of us guys are missing in most of the family pictures because we are always taking the pictures.
Ron

 

[jinman]

Be sure to get yourself in some of the pictures too. Most of us guys are missing in most of the family pictures because we are always taking the pictures.
Ron

Actually, earlier in the day I was down there with my waders on. I felt like a beached whale in a wet suit. That darn suit has shrunk in the last few years. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

After about 1 hour in my waders, I was soaking wet from my chest down to my toes. Here's my tip on waders: You need to be in water or the shade. Walking around in the mud in 90+ degree weather is NOT fun. Thank goodness my wife had to go pick up my grandson from school and I got out of that rubber ducky suit before she had a chance to snap a photo.

 

[pacerron]

Actually, earlier in the day I was down there with my waders on. I felt like a beached whale in a wet suit. That darn suit has shrunk in the last few years. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

That would qualify for a video especially if you were wrestling a gator, or even
Eddie's pet pig.

 

[mike69440]

Those holes in the ground you are digging are a bit bigger than mine. Any guess how many yards of dirt you moved so far?

 

[jinman]

Those holes in the ground you are digging are a bit bigger than mine. Any guess how many yards of dirt you moved so far?

I don't really have any estimate, but I have close to 600 hours on my TLB that hauls 1-1/2 yd in the bucket. 1/4 of those hours have been using the backhoe, so somewhere between 400-450 hours digging/hauling with the loader bucket. I'd say several thousand yards for sure.

 

[jinman]

I recently pumped all the water out of one pond into the next. A couple of weeks ago, I fertilized my 1st pond and posted photos of how green it was. After about 2 weeks, it went from being green to sort of muddy looking with no rain or nothing to stir up the mud. The water wasn't really muddy, but it had lost almost all of the green color. As you can see in the 1st photo below, it sure isn't green. In the 2nd photo, you can see that the pond where I transferred the water is a bit muddy looking also. In the two attachments, just look at the dramatic greening that has happened in the 2nd pond where I transferred the water. I think pumping the water over probably oxygenated it and caused another rapid growth of plankton. I don't know how else to explain the sudden greening. It sure looks different from the inline photos below.

BTW: I didn't take any photos of my excavation on the first pond, but I'll try to remember to do that today.

 

[Western]

I bet your right Jim, along with the oxygen you maybe released some of the fertilizer that may have settled. Has the recent rains made any impact on the ponds and the clarity?

 

[jinman]

I bet your right Jim, along with the oxygen you maybe released some of the fertilizer that may have settled. Has the recent rains made any impact on the ponds and the clarity?

Dennis, I don't think the rain has added much to the pond depth nor had much to do with the color. The photos were yesterday between rain storms, so I'd say the rain has hardly had any effect on what is going on.

I went out and took some photos of the little pond. You can see it's a mess, but the bottom is hard as a rock (It IS a rock. . . caliche). I dug a basin near to the edge of the pond about 3' deep. I can put my trash pump into this basin to pump out all the water. Most all the water will drain into the basin. The first two photos below are views from opposite ends of the pond.

Last photo. . . Before the rain, I was digging around the edges to see where and how much water is seeping out/in. I found out that the leaking layer is right above the caliche. I can dig down to hard caliche and then watch as water fills in the hole slowly from the sand on the outside edge of the hole. The last picture shows a hole I dug below the pond overflow. It's about 8' to 9' down from the overflow. Except for the direct rainfall (no more than 1") this foot of water all seeped back into this hole from the side away from the pond.:confused2: I'm going to have to clean the whole pond perimeter down to this level and then bring in enough clay to make a sealing ring. I have plenty of clay, it's just a matter of time where I'd rather be doing other things. I may never get a perfect seal, but I think I can reduce it to a decent level. Once the larger pond fills, I can backpump to keep this pond mostly full if it leaks. My gumbo clay is very sticky, so I'm hoping to fix the problem with a 1' thick layer that's compacted very tightly. Right now, things sure look messy.

 

[bindian]

I recently pumped all the water out of one pond into the next. A couple of weeks ago, I fertilized my 1st pond and posted photos of how green it was. After about 2 weeks, it went from being green to sort of muddy looking with no rain or nothing to stir up the mud. The water wasn't really muddy, but it had lost almost all of the green color. As you can see in the 1st photo below, it sure isn't green. In the 2nd photo, you can see that the pond where I transferred the water is a bit muddy looking also. In the two attachments, just look at the dramatic greening that has happened in the 2nd pond where I transferred the water. I think pumping the water over probably oxygenated it and caused another rapid growth of plankton. I don't know how else to explain the sudden greening. It sure looks different from the inline photos below.

I feel your pain Jim. Mine just went from that aqua green you commented about to a muddyish green color, then algae broke out on the surface until I put enough dye in to turn the water a blue-green and block sunlight. The algae broke up and turned the algae brownish (dead?), then the rains yesterday washed it all out of sight. I think it is a combination of what you state above and water temperature changes.
hugs, Brandi