Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Cultured stone as structure

I have a pallet of cultured stone corners and a pallet and a half of run pieces left over from building the house. Restocking fee was so high I just kept them. They are a fieldstone pattern so basically they look like 2 inch slices of boulders in lots of different colors. Size varies a bunch. Back side is flat on the run pieces and perfect 90 degrees on the corners. Anybody ever used cultured stone as structure? See any downside? Ideas on how to use them would be great to.

My first thought is the corners set like pup tents might make good crawfish habitat? I know FHM like flat surfaces for breeding. Do those flat surface need to be horizontal or would the little pup tents work?

I would find out what the "stone"is made of and how water soluble it is if any. You don't want anything leaching out I wouldn't think


Pat

Thanks Pat,

I will check it out. I can't wait to see the guy's face at the stone supply house when I tell him I am using this expensive stuff to throw in the pond and ask him if it will hurt the fish! I'll bet you a 6 pack of Falstaff I will be the first guy to have ever ask him the question!

Been Googling and cultured stone is just cement with non-soluble pigment so I don't think contamination is a problem.

One thing to keep in mind is anything that is placed on the bottom of the pond will have the tendency to either get covered with muck and/or FA and/or weeds and eventually be of little use. The stuff I put on the pond bottom that is less than a foot tall is now about useless as structure. (I know because I scuba dive in my pond a couple times in the summer to see how things look under water).

So in my opinion, stack it and stack it high. You might even consider putting two or three pallets stacked on the pond floor, then stacking the stone on top of the pallets. Yes, eventually the pallets will rot and fail and the rock tumble down, but it should take ten or more years. In the mean time the cheap (likely found for free) pallets will place your nice rock up out of the mud and also give good underside area for FHM spawning substrate on all but the lowest level. Stack the rock with as many and as large of openings left possible.

That is my opinion, worth what you paid for it.

Thanks Snrub,

Makes sense. Each box of stone came on a pallet and I saved the ones that didn't have broken boards. Probably have 15 or 20.

Not trying to side track this thread, but my pond has a soft clay bottom. Would it add value to the pond to dump some 5 gal. buckets of pea gravel in the shallow end for the CNBG to build nests, or do you think the fish can find something else in the pond to build their nests? I thought I read that they like to build their nests (depressions) in gravelly areas...
Charlie

Yes that is correct and would help but is probably not required for a good spawn. Lots of threads here on the subject.

Thank you,

Well I found a flaw in the plan to use cultured stone as stucture. This morning, I checked out what I paid for it. Ain't no way I am throwing it in the Dang pond!

Bill,
CMU's (cinder blocks) 8×8×16 are $1.50 ea. You can get you a pickup truck full of those and build you some inexpensive underwater structure.
Charlie

Yea, I know Charlie. I was just trying to think of something to do with the cultured stone I have left. Back to the drawing board on that one!

Good news is I over estimated on how much I have left. Only have half a pallet of corners and one pallet of field, so, about $1200 bucks worth.

In case anybody is interested, here is a couple of pictures of what I bought the stone for in the first place.

Bill,
That is beautiful!

Thanks Charlie. I have missed a wood burning fireplace ever since I left the farm back in the 70's and I promised myself that someday I would have one again. Love that smell of wood smoke when the sky is gray and a snowstorm is on the way.

Bill
That is a gorgeous house and fireplace! Wow !
What is the wood around the room?

Pat

Thanks Pat!

The wood for the walls, ceiling and beams in the family room is cedar. ......I know, a lot of the PBF guys throw cedar in their ponds but we thought it was purdy!

Bill

Edit: The long skinny thing over the fireplace is an Indonesian "shot gun." It's a blow gun with a carved dragon's head made out of water buffalo bone.

Awsome

Ya done good
Pat

Really nice Bill.
Congrats on such a beautiful home.

Thanks Zep

One suggestion in one of the older threads concerning your pea gravel, was to put it in some sort of container so it does not just sink into the mud and disappear. A strip of underlayment fabric, a kiddie pool, plastic storage container, etc.

I used a tractor loader and dumped fairly big piles in my pond before it filled. But if I wanted to add some now and more limited amounts, the gravel would go a lot further and stay in place by putting it in a plastic container. If you had a five gallon square or round plastic storage container and filled it 3/4 with gravel, it would keep it in place and up above the muck and mire. Easy to set in place also.

My opinion.

Use those round plactic kids sleds. I think there's a picture in the cover/structure thread in the archives of them being used in a pond.

I use kiddie wading pools too - BG and RES spawned on them annually, but they aren't necessary. I used them so I could easily identify them on beds as they were shallow and easy to spot. Otherwise the BG and RES tended to bed deeper, and I couldn't visually identify their beds and activity.