Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New pond project

What would be considered "normal wicking"? My pond was completed in the Spring and I still have moisture on my banks almost 1 foot above the water line. How long does it typically take for the soil around a pond to be fully saturated? Does wicking contribute a great deal to water loss or is it minimal? BTW, great work rmedgar!

It never really stops; just slows down. The amount depends on soil type, weather, location, rainfall mounts, etc. Last years major drought eliminated ground water deep enough to kill trees. My ground water level is now down about 5 ft. and it is still sucking around ponds in my area.

Todd, I figure I'm losing at least 1/2"/day to evaporation. Just got my new pump today,
so I'll try to get it started up tomorrow. The banks at the previous high water level appear to still be wet, so maybe the filling process will not take as long as before.

I haven't measured but I'd bet that I'm losing about the same per day. We had some pretty heavy isolated rains roll through the last few days so I'm hoping I'll gain an inch or two but not counting on it.
Would any type of grass seed take hold in the Texas heat on these wet areas on the bank or would it be a waste of time and effort? I've got a lot of exposed soil on the bank and would like to cover it if at all possible.

Bermuda grass. But in the month of July, it will take a considerable amount of water to keep it from dying.

That was my concern. I have no way to water it in and was hoping the moisture wicking onto the bank would be enough. I guess I'll wait till Fall and use rye and then overseed with coastal bermuda in the Spring. That's probably the best way to do it. Thanks!

Any updates amigo? Wicking and evap still taking it's toll? Evap here is killing me, easily 1" daily. Only thing missing for us is wind - been under 10 mph for what seems like 4 weeks. Huge high pressure sitting like a dome over the midwest and keeps the jetstream [plus cool temps and precipitation] far North into Canada. Not sure anything is going to change for us weather wise [5 weeks no rain 95-100 temps] unless the ocean currents shift.

Hey TJ. Welcome to Texas weather patterns.

TJ, thanks for asking. The new pump that I got on 7/7 wasn't what I needed so I sent it back. I've been going back and forth over whether to let it leak/wick/evaporate until the water level stays constant or keep pumping. I've decided to pump no more until I know what I've got (probably more practical than my previous "full speed ahead" approach!
We have gotten some rain lately and cooler weather so that has affected the loss of water per day. I'm down about 2'+. I hate to lose all the water I pumped in, but I'm just going to take a more patient approach and see what happens. I've got a "plan b, c & d", but they are on the back burner for now...

Not much to report - still losing water everyday. I'm just going to let it go all the way down, and get the bottom repacked. I think that the problem is water table related, and when we dug a hole in the bottom to burn everything, it wasn't repacked properly. You can see where the water was at it highest.

Ugh...that stinks. At least you are dealing with a manageable BOW size.

I have major muskrat issues and am wondering if I'm losing water due to their tunneling. I have a trapper coming...but still worry about the damage done.

TJ, ya mean my lessons didn't sink in?

Since you had to do so much work on the pond had you given any thought to just building a new pond where it would be easier to get water into it?

Two neighbors and I have a common creek running through our properties, and there has been some conversation about building a 4-5A pond on a corner of all of our properties, but I really don't want to do that, and even if I did, I'd want to keep my pond (which would not be in the way of the larger pond). Mine continues to lose water and soon it will be down so low that I may start losing fish. I've got a couple of other ideas, but I'll wait and bore y'all with those soon...

Back to square one!!
It leaked and I pumped it back down to down to here.


I've got a good pond builder in now and we are going to work everything out right this time. How things got back to this point is not worth discussing (many of you have been there), so I'll just look at the positive and say that I am very optimistic about the future.
We are digging out all of the old burned trees that were covered over, recoreing the front of the dam and I am adding bentonite, (I bought all the store has - 16 50# bags ($10/per). Back to work will add more later...

Good deal Randy. Will be sending you all the positive pond building vibes I can muster...looks like you'll have increased depth with the stumps gone - maybe it's time to try for the only SMB/YP/HSB fishery in Bama?

Hi TJ, thanks. What would they eat?

Pellets, bluntnose minnows, yoy RES, maybe a smaller species of shiner like spotfin

Smallies like crayfish. Get them started asap when you add other forage. Use rocks and broken piles along the shoreline as refuge. You can't have too much concrete and rocks along the shoreline if you are wanting good crayfish populations. The habitat is also very good for SMB fry. Golden shiner will work well to diversify the forage. IF you don't like the fishery, just add LMB and BG (coppernose) and they will become dominant after a few years. Please Keep us advised if you use SMB so we can monitor how well they do in your region. Remember keep the LMB out until you no longer want SMB.

Ok, recored the dam, cleared stumps, logs etc from bottom, and did a little reshaping, and this is where we are: old cedar lying in the middle, bentonite on far bank, more taper to dam and much sharper banks on right side.

I had a possible hugh lucky break today. I had heard rumors of an old well on the property (25 yrs ago - before city water was available), well, I found it and it has water. Don't know much more, but it has the 8" pvc casing, no pump, but I bought a good one today. It's at the top of the hill in the pines to the right of my house. Have no clue how much water is going to be available, but I think/hope/pray that it's a lot!!!

That's a pretty big casing! What pump did you get? Do you have power near the well casing?

Scott, I bought a used deep well pump from a neighbor. Can't remember the name of the pump. I burned up 2 pumps earlier while pumping water up from a creek - 250' away and 75' below the pond. There is power 75' away at my house. Don't want to get too excited about this, but when I checked for water (dropped small rock) I got a good deep bass sound. I've been following your adventures, and I hope things work out well for you.

Drop a cotton or fiber (natural, not synthetic) rope/string down the casing until it hits bottom. Mark the top of the casing on the rope. Measure down until it is wet, that gives you a head dimension. The total length is the depth of the well.

I tied a wrench to a string and dropped in the well, and I hit water at 30' and the bottom was another 30' down. This is actually higher than my pond. Is there any way I could set up a siphon that will pull water 30-60' straight up, and then about 100' down hill to the bottom of the pond? I'm trying to get an idea of how much water is available before I spend more $$$ on an electrician etc.

You should be able to set up a siphon, but you should have the siphon end in the bottom of the well casing. If the siphon sucks the water out of the casing before it can be replenished, it'll suck air and break the siphon.