Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water New guy here with some Questions( Pics, long)

Hello you guys, new guy here from the Sportsmans Paradise, Louisiana. My wife and I purchased a property 2 years ago, that has 3 ponds on it. Might I say poorly designed at best. Id like to show you what Im dealing with then ask some questions. Hopefully you all can help me.

This is the birds eye view of our property.



Yellow, Blue, and Green = Ponds 1, 2, and 3
Light blue = Flow well water supply 1.5 in PVC
orange = ditch from pond 1 to pond 2
pink = water drainage
white = natural creek
black x = no longer a pond

Now then. The water supply is in pond 1, and is a flow well with a 1.5in PVC outlet flowing directly into pond 1. Pond 1 has a drain(pink) to a natural creek as well as flowing through a ditch 6'x 8'(orange) to pond 2. Pond 1 is completely covered in Lillypads, and is surrounded by reeds. The ditch has a poorly build bridge, and is filled with concrete boulders in an attempt by the PO to quaranteen fish. The water in this pond is crystal clear, almost green. The fish are equally beautiful. LMB, BG, and sunfish

Pond 2 has a healty amount of Lilly pads, and reeds, and drains via a 10 inch pipe into pond 3. The water in pond 2 is dark stained almost black, and the fish are as well, the fish seem happiest in this pond, and readily take floating fish food. LMB, BG, SF, softshell turtles, and streaked head turtles.

Pond 3 has virtually 0 vegitation, because of a grass carp in the 15-20 pound range, that I have only seen twice. The inflow from pond 2, and the drain to the natural ditch are about 10 feet from each other on the same end(pink). The water in this pond is turbid varying from tan to green, with no more than 12inches of visibility at any time. LMB, BG, SF, SST, SHT, channel cats, blue cats, at least one grass carp, and possibly some white perch.

Pic of pond 1


Pic of ditch between pond 1 and pond 2


Pic of pond 2


Pic of drain from pond 2 to pond 3


Pics of pond 3




Pic of drain for pond 3



Livestock pics, and clarity in pond 3





So my problems are too much vegitation in pond 1, perfect pond 2, and no vegitation, turbidity in pond 3. I feel like this is flow related since pond 1 has fresh water, and two drains, pond two has a good intake and output of clean water and the I/O are on opposite ends of the pond, and pond 3 has barely any flow, and a poor water level stability.

I want to saine pond 3 to find out exactly what is in it. Put the grass carp in pond 1. Get the bridge, and concrete out of the ditch between pond 1 and pond 2 to open them into one pond. Close the drain on the North of pond 1 to force all water down through the others. Move the drain for pond 3 to the southern border, as well as build a standpipe for drainage instead of a horizontal pipe in the ground.

What do you think?

Hi Phatboy and welcome to Pond Boss. I think that you have a jewel in the rough with those three ponds. And you posted photos right off the bat, we like photos.

Hang on and one of the experts will be along to answer your questions.

Thanks for the quick reply. I can imaigine in my head how it could look once all the necessary repairs are done. Im in the process of cutting away 90% of the brush around the edges, its hard work. Have to cut with the blade on the brushtrimmer for a while, then rake it all back into a pile, then mow it with the push, then rake it again. I can manage about a 10ft section at a time before taking a break in this Southern Louisiana heat.

Oh and dont worry there will be plenty more photos to come.

Also I believe this to be the species of carp I have.

Hi Phatboy!

That appears to be a Common (German) Carp.

Grass Carp (below) do not have barbels (whiskers) on their mouths.


If you indeed have common carp, they could be stirring up the bottom of pond #3 while feeding contributing to the cloudiness. Other fish (CC) could possibly be stirring up the bottom also.

NOTE: Condello has some experience seining Grass Carp. I understand they will forcefully jump over the net at times to avoid capture.

P.S. Those pond3 pics don't look too awful cloudy. How are you measuring your visibility?

I think its a common carp due to the golden color, its deffinitly not silver. Im measuring my visibility looking at the fish. Take a look at the pic of the channel cat... Is there another way?

The most scientific way is through the use of a Secchi disk That link will give you a rough idea of what it is...

Very nice looking ponds...

Welcome to the PB Forum. We should ask first what are your goals for the ponds ? Does the creek ever get high enough to connect with any of the ponds ?

Goals for the pond are fishing, and natural beauty. We wont be swimming in them.

No the creek never gets high enough to connect with them.

Ill have to build a secchi disk, and measure that way. I have more pics...today the pond looks more green than tan, like its trying to bloom.

Took a few more pics of the wildlife in and around the ponds today, as well as a few of the drains, and water color.

This is supposedly the northernmost drain for pond 1. Yeah right.


This is the fill for all 3, this runs 24/7.


This is the best I could get for the water color in pond 1.


whole shot of pond 1


whole shot of pond 2 facing ponds 2 and 3


Clarity in pond 2


The way too close fill and drain for pond 3


Water clarity in pond 3


Some kind of water loving feathered creature..Heron i think.


This pic is decieving, hes kinda big. We callem bannana spiders down here.

SEE


The queen of these parts watching over her servants work.


Nom Nom Nom



Water snake I caught in a minnow trap that wasnt in the water.



Tree frog, he was shortly dispatched by a hungry LMB.


IDK..it was about 2.5 inches long.


at the risk of jacking my own thread..I think its a happy ecosystem out here. I just want all the ponds to be at the same clarity, and level, with proper flow, and vegitation.

Moth pupa, species unknown.

Very nice pics... That last pics looks like a pupae of a cicada.

If cicada had pupae. Their lifecycle is egg -> nymph -> adult, with the final nymph stage molting directly to adult.

Wikipedia Cicada

Well my wife had en epiphany today...She asked..."Isnt there a bunch of old pvc pipe out behind the shed?" Why yes there is. Some 6inch stuff, as well as some 4 inch stuff. So I think I have all the length I need to move my drain in pond 3 to the other end of said pond.



So if you look back at the first pic with the layout of the ponds from the air. I will be moving the drain in the green pond. The lowest pink line. Down to the bottom corner of said green pond. There is a levee there. Now I just have to decide if I need a siphon or a standpipe overflow. Ill draw up a diagram for yall in a bit.

Learn something new every day... Should've known that! With the giant 17 year hatch we had around here back in 2004, they were everywhere and I do remember the nymphs crawling up trees, walls and buildings and cracking their shell and turning into adults.

Well, what do you think it is Theo?

OK, I did a little more research and answered my own question. It would be the pupa of a member of the Sphingidae also known as sphinx moths or hummingbird moths.

Here is a representative photo of their pupa...

Cool looking bug.

OK so here are my two ideas for an overflow/drain. Let me know what you think, this will have to run 24/7.

Will a siphon maintain a water level if valved back to less than 100%. Id really like to be able to drain down to 6inches of water if I need to. I will only be able to build one of these, and Id rather build a siphon to keep from breaking my dam with the standpipe. But 6inch pvc fittings arent cheap.

I have no idea whether or not that will work but I have got to tell you Phatboy that is one of the coolest design graphics I've ever seen. Did you do that yourself?

Solidworks?

Phatboy,the problem your going to have with your siphon is sucking in air from the discharge end with that big a pipe.What you'll want to do is turn the end of the discharge up so the air cant get in.Other than that,barring any leaks I dont see why it wouldnt work.Please excuse my manners,Ahem,Welcome to the forum.Thanks for the pics.If all else fails,and you get really frustrated,theres always dynamite. Just kidding.Ill bet you have that place looking like a jewel in no time at all.

Yes Jeff I did the design myself. Its a free program by google called Sketchup, download it and watch a few tutorials. Its rediculously simple to use.

Thanks for the tip on the discharge end there Tom. I think for the time being just to get by Im gonna rig something up with the current drain, or go ahead with the more simple design. I just need to raise the ponds level about 10 inches.

Thanks for the welcome. Ill take more pics as I do more work.

Ps, the Queen cat mentioned above was killed today by some roaming neighborhood dogs, they crushed her rib cage, and she suffocated in her own blood. Ticks me off.

Sounds to me like the neighborhood dogs need to get accidentally perforated by a lead projectile moving about 1600 feet per second.

I have my .308 with winchester rangers, and a flash light ready to go Walt.

Amen to that!

By the way, Phatboy, I think you're going to end up with some really nice ponds there. I would guess fish in a well-managed pond in LA can get pretty good-sized.

Thanks Walt. From fishing here all my life. Ponds this size can produce at least a couple 8-10 lb bass, and a few 10-15lb cats, all the big bg you wanna catch.

I just want to get it healthy.