Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Pond #1

My plan right now is to stock fatheads, golden shiners, gambusia, and male bluegill. My goal is to put Bruce to shame in a few years.

If you mean with big BG, I wish you the best of luck.

If you aren't particular on how you put him to shame, it could be accomplished right now with the proper information.

I was thinking about adding some HSB just to keep the other forage under control. Maybe 15-20 depending on the how big the pond ends up being.

This is my plan for the pipe. The vertical pipe will be adjustable so that I can change the water level.


Does anybody know what size antiseep collars I should get. The pipe will either 4-6" and at most 75' in length. The cheapest ones that I have seen were 2'x2' but I was thinking of getting a 3'x3'.

Chris, I had some 4x4's made. No idea whether 3 by 3 would work just as well. I expect it would.

The 4x4's are only $7 more so it may be best to get that instead.

We put 4 x 4 on a 6" PVC drain. No regrets (so far ). My contractor spec'd 2 of 'em; Otto agreed.

I have 2 4'x4' collars on each pond's 8" drain pipe. In both cases, we dug 2' wide trenches thru the compacted core, notched 4' slots in the locations where the collars were going, then recompacted as we backfilled with a jumping jack. We set the collars flush with the (downhill) edge of the slot.

Pics available if anyone is ever interested.

I would to see the pictures Theo.

Chris:
I checked and I don't have any anti-seep collar pics on-line.

If you have an E-Mail address you can PM me, I will put together some and send them to you.

Aw, crud. I was sure I had pics of my anti-seep collar installation, but I don't. I have about 130 photos saved from the day we put it in, but none of the collars! In my defense, I can only state that it is hard to work a shovel and a digital camera simutaneously while avoiding being struck by a trackhoe.

Maybe this diagram will help a little bit:

IIRC, the collar frames were placed snug against the back (downhill) side of the 4' slots dug into the trench the draintile was layed in. This way, when the slots are back filled and compacted with a jumping jack, the front (water) side of the anti-seep collar has compacted clay pressed up tight against it.

I can think of two other "tips" my excavator emphasized during construction. He had set aside a pile of what was judged to be the best clay we had available, and used it for backfilling and compacting the drain trench through the dam core. And we carefully cut perfectly round wholes in the rubber collar sheets using scissors, 1" less in radius than the smaller diameter of the corrugated plastic drain pipe. Cut in this manner, the sheets are much less apt to tear than if cut by a knife (which is how we did it on my first pond, and I spent a couple of hours repairing a torn sheet as best I could with cable ties and silicone seal).

My apologies to Chris Steelman and Jim Secen for the lack of pictures I thought I could deliver.

Thanks, Theo.

So you placed the collars inside the core? Most of the diagrams that I have seen placed them on either side of the core.

Pub 590

Chris:

Yes, we placed them in the core. One collar near the inside edge, one near the outside edge. I am real sure about that; it was easy to tell from prior compaction by the vibrating sheepsfoot roller where the boundaries were.

I suspect there are several ways to place anti-seep collars well (just like there are a variety of materials that can be used for collars). This was just one of them.

I got my 2 anti-seep collars in today. I ordered them from Agridrain Tuesday morning and they got here this afternoon. Talk about fast service.

Chris:

That's the same model I used last year, which is an upgrade of the ones we got in 2001. Take a staple gun and put a LOT of staples in to help hold the rubber sheet onto the frame. It will probably help during soil compaction after the collar is placed

I got 90% of the clearing done this weekend. In the one area I have left there are a bunch of trees. I will have to convince him to let me take them out. That way I can raise the dam about two feet.

It started raining Sunday at about midnight. By 9:30 it was still pouring so I went out to check on the amount of water that was flowing through the area. The pond should stay full most of the year. I think that I will need a bigger pipe.

Pictures are will be posted tonight.

After you post the pics, Young Man, let us know how your grades are doing.

Check out the "Branta canadensis down" thread.

Chris Steelman wrote: "Let's just say that hey could be higher."

Outstanding, Young Man!

Always thinking ahead. Why get straight As? It gives you nothing to stive for....(wait, thats not right).

Gitcher butt back to the books Chris. We're counting on you take Lusks place at some future date.

Picture looking west across the dam.

Before


After


Main area of the pond.

Before


After


East Bank

We have a friend that is a manager of a construction company. He said he can get us all the PVC Pipe we want.

Since we aren't going to have to pay for it I am going to use 8 inch pipe instead of 6 inch.

I am going down to the property this weekend. Our friend started clearing off the rest of the site and piling up the topsoil. I am going to show him how I want the pond contoured and how the pipe is going to be installed.

Chris
You have done lots of homework on your construction project.
Get it laid out out and start having fun.
Keep posting.

OTTO

This past weekend we got all of the pipe and didn't have to pay a penny. We are using 8 in. Schedule 40. The only thing we have to buy is an elbow. I will be back down in two weeks to install the pipe.

Here is an ok picture of what the soil looks like after some the topsoil has been removed. About 4 feet down you get into light gray clay. This stuff stays balled up nicely when moist and doesn't fall apart when it is in water.



Otto, check your PM's at the top of the page.