Hello Pond Boss & Friends.

I'm Ryan from Buffalo, NY. My wife and I are in our late 20's, starting our family and building our dream home on a nice 40 acre plot in WNY. When we decided to sell our current home and build I knew we would need to bring in many loads of fill to build up house site and hopefully knock a dent in the driveway, which will run aprox 800-1000ft in from the road. After finding out how much said fill would run us, we decided to dig a pond first and use the material left over.

I finished laying out the pond site with the builder last night. We're planning on a 1+ acre kidney shaped, with a deep end of 12-15 ft. The pond will be used for recreation and as the focal point of our back yard. Construction is to start next week, so we're getting very excited.

As I read through this forum I understand I have a lot to learn. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to being part of the community.

Welcome to the site. One thing I would be sure to do is get a solid contract with whoever digs the pond (get a pond builder not just someone who moves dirt) who will guarantee that the pond will stay full except for evaporation. Make sure he has knowledge of coring a dam and proper compaction of the soil. If your builder is supplying a dirt man, get a guarantee from him also. If it ain't in writing it is no good. Unfortunately a good ol farmers handshake is no longer to be trusted. Yes, I have a leaking pond. An extra couple of weeks now may save you yrs of problems.
Good luck, take tons of pics and keep us posted.
Read as much as you can in the Pond construction forum.

Yes take a quick look at this from the archive.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92487#Post92487

So much more but it is a start.

Not sure if it's an option where you live, but I'd look into a geothermal heating and cooling system for your house. Mine uses ground water and then dumps used water into my pond to help keep it full. Essentially your heating and cooling keeps your pond full. At the time I did it there was a 30% tax credit for all costs associated with the set up of a geothermal system.

In our climate, he can put heat exchanger coils in the pond bottom rather than using ground water, both would work well.

Definitely make sure the dam is cored and compacted, and attention is paid to holding water. You dont want a muddy crater staring at you during dry weather, just when you want it to swim in!

Congratulations on the land and pond, far bwtter than a swimming pool IMHO.

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice. No dam is needed in our situation as the site is currently a hay field, flat as can be. We're hoping to find a lot of clay in the ground to line the pond with to prevent from leaks.

The gentleman putting the pond in has done various ponds in the area, has given us a lot of direction and is family of very good friends, so we're feeling very comfortable with him. Hoping everything goes as smooth as it has so far.

Our only struggle so far as been the size as it looks so small just staked out.

Double B, was gonna mention this in my first response but just plain forgot after making such a mammoth reply. I have a 1/4 acre pond and it is a great little BOW, ask my grandbrats and the few friends I let fish it. If a bit over an acre looks small on paper, wait till you have to start to battle invasive plants, species and poachers. I wish I had enough to dig several 1/4 acre ponds or even more smaller ponds. Read what Cecil does with several ponds under an acre. I understand folks wanting bigger BOWs for jet skies, sail boats or the desire to have tons of fish. That is all fine but I'm sure by the time you have grandkids that you will be tired of trying to balance such a small BOW. Be glad you are able to not live in a city.

Yes to what Bob-O says. We have a 1/2 acre pond, and IMHO it turns out to be a perfect size for swimming and fishing casually. 1 acre is a large pond to maintain, especially when you consider you need to weed the edges of small trees and cat tails. The hole will look absolutely huge once excavated, and then you will realize how much water that really is!

Importantly how are you expecting this pond to fill? In many places it is ideal to have a pond in a low area that runoff will go to. You may wish to have some work done to direct water to the pond to help fill it, and have some water exchange.

Rethink the shape. A kidney shaped pond will result in more shoreline and require two diffusers whereas a roundish-square type pond will only require one diffuser even at one acre. Minimize shallow water because all your many problems will be in shallow water not deeper water. Always the biggest problem with new ponds is the leak. Read up on preventing leaks. Do not allow compaction of the lifts with just a bull dozer.

This may sounds like a dumb question, forgive me. Is a diffuser/aerator necessary in a pond?

I only ask because I have never seen one used in any of the ponds around our area. There are at least 10 within 2 miles of our build site..... Just curious.

It will be a hard fight to get my wife to switch shapes as she is dead set on having the kidney shaped water line, "wrap" our back yard near the house.

BB, the only dumb ?s are the ones not asked. IMHO aeration is essential. Two yrs ago we had heavy snow cover from Nov till Apr I had my son go to my property several times and run the shallow diffuser overnight. Each time he did he said it opened a hole about 10'X30' I am sure that had that not been done I would have at least lost all the big fish if not all fish completely. Also aerating surely gives a pond better quality water. Ya can have a fish kill in the summer if it's pretty hot and gets a heavy overcast for 3 or 4 days. Other than the original cost, I believe my aeration system was my best $ spent.
Your wife can have her wrap around effect with a 1/2 acre pond and then you can have two other 1/4 acre ponds ta play with. Same amount of dirt.

I'm not sure it is required in our part of the country as the lakes modify temperatures, and wind keep a strong thermocline from forming except on the hottest days. I seem to get decent mixing without the aeration mixing, and my pond is 15 feet at its deepest.

It may become necessary to add aeration as the pond ages if you wish to keep organic build-up to a minimum, but for the first several years you can get away without it. Just keep any large trees far away from the pond as to prevent leaves from blowing in, and that time can be extended.

Some here require aeration as they are pushing the boundaries of what their water will support by regular feeding, fertilization, and an amazing thriving fishery. That organic load can use up O2 quickly in some circumstances, and aeration allows success.

As for ice, I prefer to plow it off and let sunlight through to make the O2, and skate on it for fun. An aerator just blows a hole in your hockey rink. Skating is a great reason to keep your pond round/oval instead of kidney-shaped. Know anyone who plays hockey?

Nobody around me has 24/7 aeration, not a single person and there are a lot of ponds. A few have the windmills, but they don't seem to run when you need them the most, like when the pond is locked in ice and under a thick blanket of snow, or when we are in an extended hot spell.

To each their own though, and a lot depends on your goals, and how much you consider a fish kill a serious problem when something goes wrong. Things WILL go wrong, aeration reduces the chances.