Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Pond #1

Man, that looks like it was really and truly gooey when wet. My feet picked up 10 pounds of clay apiece just viewing the photo.

Ok

Chris
Dave Davidson is sure right keep up your grades.
You can take my advice because I did not use it.
OTTO

The pond will be right at 1/4 of an acre.

We got part of the pipe and the antiseep collar in this weekend. We got a hard rain Saturday afternoon so we just dug the trench that evening.

I packed the clay in with my feet. That is how Otto recommended it to be done. The antiseep collar we used was a sheet of rubber with a wood frame. For the price($54) it was not a bad way to go. We alternated sides while filling in the trench for the collar. The rubber would bulge out if you added to much clay to one side. I used a bat and hit the opposite side to try and keep it even.



We added the elbow and called it a day. Since we weren't going to finish today we didn't worry about positioning the pipe in the correct spot on the pond side. Everything should be fine unless we get a flood. There is room around the edges for the water to escape.

Chris
Good work.
How did it all work out?

The packing around the pipe is the hardest part of the job. Once complete the rest cab be done with equipment.

Keep us posted.

Otto

I think it went well. It was probably good that it rained because it was very easy to pack. I could pack the clay up to the size of a softball and not have to break it up beforehand.

Chris

Where are the pictures? We need to see the finished job.

Otto

That is as far as we got. Our friend that is building the pond should finish it in a week or two.

I left some room on the sides for water to escape and it should be fine unless we get a flood.

Chris,

I just finished my pond as well. I built an overflow just like the one you drew in your first diagram. I did not want the "drain" inside the water because this would require me to get into the water to adjust it. I used 6" Sch 40 pipe.

Right now I am filling the pond for the first time. The overflow pipe is a lot taller than it needs to be. Once the water gets to where I want it, I will then cut the excess pipe off.

When it came to the anti-siphon, I was told that it was not necessary unless there was about 10 feet or more of hydrostatic pressure on the pipe. I will never have more than about 4 feet of hydrostatic pressure on the pipe so I did not use one.

At 4 feet I would have about 1.75 pounds of hydrostatic pressure. With a 6" pipe, this is only 50 pounds of force "pushing" the pipe. The pipe I have is 40 feet long and I doubt that 50 pounds will overcome 40 feet of friction.

I don't know what the valve is called, but it slipped over the 6" pipe and had a threaded rod that when turned it mated up the valve to the seat.

The guy that conculted me on this builds catfish ponds for a living so I assumed he knew what he was talking about.

Good luck with it all. I hope you enjoy watching your pond evolve as much as I have enjoyed watching mine!!!

I got the other two sections of 8 in. pipe installed today. I also put in a 2 in. pipe with a valve on the backside of the dam. With the 2 in. pipe I will be able to lower the water level without removing the standpipe.

I just checked the stormtrack for Gustav and it is expected to go directly over my property.

Bottom Contour

Chris
Looks like a plan for the lake bottom. The hurricane did or did not come over your place.

We got only got a few inches of rain so it wasn't that bad.

I officially have a pond as of today.

We got both standpipes in place and the dirt placed around them. We used some T-posts and ziptied them to the pipes to keep them in place while moving the dirt. The dam will be about 3 feet taller than it is right now.


To install the 8" standpipe we needed some heavy equipment. My dad was trying to line up the tractor to push down the pipe when this happened. Luckily nobody hurt. We ending up using the backhoe.



This is what the pond looks like right now. Our friend will hopefully be finished in the next few weeks.

Congratulations, my friend!

Definitley worth a couple of dancing bananas!

Awesome, Chris! It's official...time for some precip.

When I went down to the site Saturday morning to check it out I saw that the antiseep collar was ripped. I guess the rain from Ike was enough to do that. I ended up adding 8 bags of conrete around the pipes to fix it.

Here are the Trash guards that I got from Agridrain.

Way to go. You may want to keep your dad off the green tractor.

I blame Chris for all of my equipment adventures. I would not have been in that hole if it were not for his project. That is my right as his father to blame him for everything. He isn't giving me much credit for much of the work though. After he left that day I cleared all of the top soil and moved it to high ground. We will use it to top out the damn and cover the banks. We want good clean soil that will grow grass all around the pond and on the damn when we complete the project

It is a self-assured man that will let his son post a picture like that.

thats really funny. young blood, you need to take better care of the old man.

We all know who is doing the work.

On top of the dam looking north.



Upper end of the pond looking south.

And, I suspect, paying the bills.

Young Blood, this is a pond website, not a hole in the dirt website.

Where's the water?