Hello All. I am new to the forum and here is a little background.
Wife and I are looking to purchase some land north of Dallas 5-10 acres if possible as small as 2 is ok. We found a property that has 2.5 acres with a pond that has a small island but it is all dried up. I would say the overall size of the pond area is an acre and there is no well on the property that we would put in.
I am wondering if anyone can recommend a person or company that can help consult on a redesign or designing of a pond. I have never had a pond and know very little about it.
If we buy this property It would be nice to know there are people out there can can help me with it... for a cost, but that is ok!!
FlyF, Welcome and you have found the right site. There will be someone along to assist you with who to help you build your pond right. You are really lucky in two respects IMHO. One is your pond is empty and you can do a lot more with one empty to start than half full or empty depending on your perspective, and leaking. The second reason you are lucky is you do not mind drilling a well.
If you do not know about the construction under the top soil or grass etc you should find that out first and any reputable pond builder will do that for you.
If you read a lot on this site and buy Bob Lusks' book on building a perfect pond you would be far ahead of most.
As you can see you will most likely need supplemental water to either finish filling your pond and for sure keeping it full unless you have a lot of runoff around you.
I am a pond/fish lover not a expert at all. The experts will help you soon.
Welcome to Pond boss and check back often,take lots of before during and after pictures. Post them here if it suites you, everyone likes to look at other ponders success,and you the ability to show others all you have done.
I cannot remember what county Denton is in,but look it up and talk to the county extension agent for your county and ask them first if there is any pond builder they would recommend. Then ask if there is anyone they would not recommend. Whoever you talk with get recommendations and talk to the customers first before you sign on the dotted line.Pay as little as possible up front and have the job Finished before you finish final payment.
Most here will tell you this and you will read it over and over, it is cheaper to do it right the first time than to fight a leaking pond and all the hassles to get it empty, dry and reworked after it is filled.
Good luck and keep us informed on what you do when you have time.
Mike Otto is in your area and is a great option for you.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Also you should consider attending the Pond Boss Feb 2015 Winter Conference that happens to be in Rockwall, Tx this year: http://www.pondboss.com/events.asp?id=7
WOW! Thank you for all of your answers and time! So many things to consider. I have a few friends that build their own ponds and one who did not. only one of the 3 were successfull. The one success was a beautiful acre pond DIY build by a buddy of mine that studied, studied and studied. He also had an unlimited budget which didn't hurt.
The other spend 250,000 yes 250,000 on waterfalls, ponds and small river etc. and all he got was algae!
My goal is to have a quality healthy small pond that is a great fish habitate that is beautiful to look at and works in nature.
The property my wife and I are looking at has a pond already excevated a number of years ago. It did have water in it, but the owners did the infrastructure but never built the house. It takes up a large portion of the lot, more than I would want and I would most likely want to fill some of it in. I recognize that a well is expesnive, but if I am going to have a pond I want it full of water as well as the ability to irrigate the property. This would be part of the house build budget. I have attached a picture of the property so people can get an idea.
Thanks for the picture. Just a FYI. trees although great and I have some on the edge of my pond absorb hundreds of gallons of water per day I am told by my pond builder. I wanted them so I supplement with well water.
If the pond is deep(I cannot tell from the picture)say 10' or more then I would test(core) the bottom sand sides of the pond area and check with the previous owner to be sure the core of the dam was done properly. If any problems could be found while the pond area is dry or dam core etc. for that matter, could be fixed without all the wet mud and so many wet clay, rock and mud issues you would not have to deal with after the fact. In short it takes a long time for a leaky muddy pond to dry out. Time is money when one is working on a pond with equipment.
If you cannot find out the quality of the core of the dam then for convenience sake, and something else that could be rolled into the house loan!,I would have a re core estimate from pond builders so you would have the money to get that done. You said it yourself 1 out of three ponds you know of do not leak, you probably do not want to be on the leaky side of things.
Back to the core samples, they will tell you if you have clay liner, the quality and thickness of the liner and you might get lucky and find you have a quality liner and that might indicate a quality core in the dam. I.E. the contractor who built it would most likely not skimp on the dam core if the liner is quality built.
Maybe the previous owner would tell you, kinda like Dave was asking? One other idea that might help on the history of the pond is if you click on the time line on google earth you might catch some of the build. It shows some of it on my pond,just an idea for general knowledge.
I can say for us TX guys that deeper pond is better, aeration is good, structure is good, and a quality stocking program is good with feeder(s)IMHO.
Read a lot, study and it will start to fall in place for you as to what you need/want to do. A non leaking pond is a great foundation and start to what was a dream come true for me and I hope the same for you. Really all it takes is lots of money, more water and time!!!!.
Yep, the well is expensive to drill. However, that's not the only cost, only the starting point.
Look at it this way. You can roughly calculate the amount of water in a given hole or the amount need to fill the hole. Figure that one inch of water over one acre is 27,000 gallons. Just to pick a number, a 10gpm well will pump 14,400 gallons per 24 hours. About 1/2 inch which will just about keep up with evaporation. Now, what does electricity cost in the area?
That's why runoff is so important. You might be able to keep up with evaporation during a drought but go broke doing it. You will seldom be able to fill a pond without something like 100 gpm. And, recent rain excepted, we are in a long term drought.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
FYI, my pond is dug in sand, and is a groundwater pond. When the farmers start irrigating, the pond drops 1" per day. I did ia test with my well, and at 4' below full pool, pumping 25 gpm into the pond nets a retention of 7 gpm. 18 gpm leak back out. I expect that figure to more than double at full pool....
So, to keep it full and not run the well 24/7 I figure I need a well that will supply more than 100 gpm. The aquifier will handle it, just gotta properly size the well. The aquifier here is between 90 and 110' down.
That's why it's important to try like heck to seal it like a bathtub with the plug in the hole.
FlyF, another point on your well. I did quite a bit of research on what was underneath my property in the way of strata. I found out that the area where I live was part of alluvial sands, salt water bogs and ocean shore among a few or interesting items in the history of how the land was formed under my place millions of years ago when the aquifer was being established.
That said just Google your county water well maps,geology maps/history and you can find what is under your land area. In your area, although I am not 100% sure as my memory is short, I believe there are quit a few fault lines and salt dome among other things that could be of some slight problem in your area but not necessarily on your property. If you do not want to do a bunch of research then you could PM me and I will send you what I have that covers your part of the state. The files(some) are large and I would need to send you several attachments. Even some of the maps are large as well.
Since Zep gave you the agrilife .gov and Mr Otto contact info I would ask them first what they have.
As another example of a pond with well water access, my well does flow at 10GPM and is in the top 80 ft. or so of the Wilcox aquifer. We drilled through the queen city aquifer but the high volumes of water is usually but not always available in the queen city sands aquifer.
Anyway my well although new(less than a year old) has flowed approximately 545,000 gals. and two successive runs of 125,000 gals. for top off.
To put it in perspective my pond is about 1 surface acre and about 6.5 acre feet with a average depth of approximately 8' feet, max depth of approx. 17ft. The pond is built in a draw with mostly iron ore and grey/yellow clay. As many recommend on this site by many in the know the top soil was piled, then the rock and clay was separated into different piles, then dug to about 19 to 20 ft deep and clay lifts of 6 to 8 inches were laid and packed by bull dozer and tractor tires with three to four lifts that covered the whole pond and out into the land surface three to 10 ft. That was in hopes to prevent leakage although as many will tell you here that seepage is going to happen.
All that said my 10 GPM does work for my pond even though the time it takes for filling is weeks not days.I could change that with a higher flow rate pump but have not taken that choice. On my long run of 20 plus day when I was filling the pond the cost for electricity (extra) over the normal bill was about $60.00.(220 volt) Not bad in my book.
When I run it for a week or so I cannot really see a blip on the bill.
So I would say, if your pond can be sealed adequately,the dam does not leak, and the well will not be in salt water you should be good.
Last edited by mpc; 08/06/1408:53 PM. Reason: clarification and grammer
WOW again a ton of information. The property that my wife and I are looking at has a number of challenges the pond that has been dug out would be one of them. The pond is too big for the property and takes up to much of the primary spot for a home so we are going to pass. The priority is finding a great property for my wife and I to enjoy. Our ideal property would have enough land and the right type of topography, soil etc. to build a pond on it, but the house, location etc is the primary motivation and if I am lucky enough to find an ideal piece of land within budget and put a pond on it we will be very happy.
When we find a piece and own it I will then look at what options if any to put in a pond that complements the land and the home.
Thanks everyone for the awesome input. I will be on this forum a lot and will continue to ask questions!!
The priority is finding a great property for my wife and I to enjoy. Our ideal property would have enough land and the right type of topography, soil etc. to build a pond on it, but the house, location etc is the primary motivation and if I am lucky enough to find an ideal piece of land within budget and put a pond on it we will be very happy.
John you probably are already aware of these sites, but they were all quite helpful when I was searching for property.
I have found budgets and ponds a a bit of a problem at times. I look at my pond kinda like my bass/crappie boat, just another hole to pour money into, but infinite pleasure all the way around and worth it! It just is what it is. Or to look at it another way budgets = compromise as long as your OK with it!! Or how bout this one Plan for rain (cheaper) and NO RAIN, expensive!!! Just a East TX. perspective.
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