Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site On Lassig Pond

lassig

You are going in the correct direction by waiting to make the decision. The budget is as big a factor as the amount of water loss.
Otto

Updated water level video on my pond. It has been a month since I have been there and the level is lower than I would of guessed. Not totally sure what the problem is now, will wait a couple more months before doing something, just need to figure out what that somwthing is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuivq3QpYNY

Water level still more down than up. Hoping to start working on correcting the situation here in the next week or 2. Going to remove all the trees/roots/etc on the north shoreline, enlarge the pond by resloping the north side to 3/4:1, and compact the heck out of it. Hoping this will fix the problem. If we find good clay while doing the resloping work, we will push it around the bottom of the whole pond as just an extra precaution. Here is what the pond look like last Sunday



http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/plus%209%20months/lookingnorthsmall.jpg

Here is the water level timelapse video of the pond from the middle of december till last weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI440tQfoaw

UPDATE, The rain will not stop. As soon as I get the pond drained it rains again. Hopefully we can get a two week period with little to no rain and get it done.

I did get a bucket test done this weekend to see if bentonite would help my situation or not. It appears I need between 1/2 to 1 pound of bentonite to seal my silty clay. Going to go with 1 pound to be on the safe side. Now I need to find someone that will deliver 30,000 pounds of bentonite in 50 pound bags and unload it for me. I have one quote on the material and delivery just they cannot unload it. Waiting on another quote from the local FS to come back. They said they could unloaded it for me. Still looking for other quotes, does anyone know of a bentonite supplier in west central Illinois? Anywhere to rent a heavy duty forklift?

The contractor came over on Saturday and we set a plan. I going to try and keep the pond drained out (see picture above that is about as full as it ever gets) so it dries out. Once it is he is going to come over and remove the trees and make it about a 1/4 slope on the north side of the pond. I am going to till the rest of the pond, spread the bentonite, and till it in. He is going to compact it and then cover it with clay form the north side that we saved. How does this sound as a plan?

On a brighter note than the post above the prairier planting (wildflowers and prairie grasses) is coming in nicely on the east side of the pond.

Here is a pick facing NW the shows the pond and pump in the background



Here is a better picture of the flowers still not as nice as the full size version. The annual flowers ase really pretty right now



For larger version go here http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/plus%209%20months/IMGP1400.jpg

And finally a piece of equipment that I am going to become very familiar with the next couple of weeks/months.

With the pending addition of Bentonite to the pond I am wondering what is the best way to compact the soil after adding it. My contractor has a habit of just running over it with the bulldozer while I think we need to get some sort of roller. Whats the opinion on this?

Got to the land last night and the pond has more water in it now than it every had. I drained it down to only a foot of water left last weekend and 3.5+" of rain during the week brought it all the way back up and more. So going to run the pump all weekend and try to get it empty. Looks like after Sunday there is no rain in the forecast. Plan on staying till Monday to get the pond empty. SUre wish it didn't leak we had more than enough rain to fill it a couple of times over.

On another note suppose to be getting the Bentonite delivered Monday. Hope that happens so it is here for when we do get the pond empty.

The wildflowers on the east shore are coming in better than last weekend, they are looking great. Much more color than last weekend.

You need a compactor in there, it's the only way to do it.

20,000 pounds of Bentonite chips showed up this morning along with a JD bulldozer. Now I only nee the operator to show up. He is suppose to be here in the AM with the trackhoe. Looks like we are ready to start the repairs. Figures rain in the forecast for all of next week.

Here is what the pond liked like today, fully drained



Larger version here http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/pond/before%20repair/facingnorthsmall.jpg

I need to learn that all things dirt take time. My contractor finally showed up around noon yesterday and with the hoe. So he and his son started on the trees on the north side. Here are a few pics of the work in progress, the last one is roughly how it sits right now. It may be that way for quite a while with rain in the forecast the next x days. Some say x is 3 while others are calling for a chance of rain the next 6 days. I surely hope it doesn't rain that long.

Well managed to get a full day done yesterday with my contractor cleaning up the pond adding a little good clay to the existing basin. I work 6000 pounds of Bentonite into a third of the pond and compacted it. He covered it with some more good clay but didn't get the chance to compacted it since it rained both this morning and this afternoon for a total of 1.4". He also removed over 200 yards of muck from the bottom of the pond. He got a couple of hours in today doing more clean up. With the rain this afternoon I doubt we will work on the pond again till Friday at the earlest. Here is a pick of the pond tonight, no trees on the north side and lots of water I have to pump out.



We did managed to cut around 500 board feet of lumber this afternoon before the rain. This was from a few trees we removed on the north side and one the wind storm of 2 weeks ago pushed over

Between Tuesday and this morning we have had 2.7" of rain, so no pond work will be done for a while. Hoping something can be done by Saturday. I am pumping the water out of the pond right now. As it turned out I was better off buying the trash pump than renting one. I have used the pump on 6 different days now and the rent on that exceeds the purchase price. I thought this was a 3 day job max but with the contractor stuck on a different job for a couple of days and that pushing us into a window of rain this could easily be a 2+ week elapse time job (already a 1 week elaspe time job). Hopefully not longer, it is tough sitting here and seeing all the work that needs to be done and not being able to do anything.

I bought one when we renovated the pond and found out that it was cheaper in the long run rather than renting the pump as well. I was suprised at how expensive the suction hose and the quick disconnect fittings were.

Well quite the day of work. I got on the tractor at 6AM and didn't finish until 4:30. We srpead an additional 12000 pounds of Bentonite yesterday. We did this in two lifts of 6" each. The second lift didn't get finihsed until this today. I tilled it in and compact the entire pond basin (atleast what is finished about 90%). I stille have 2700 lbs of Bentonite left (out of 20000 pounds). Here is the bentonite spread on the pond this morning



After tilling it in, I also tilled the south (right side) since I spread 6000 Pounds of Bentonite on it last Monday and didn't get a chance to till it in.



Here it is after compacting it for 7 hours with a 70 hp tractor



Here is the pond looking north as it sits now. I hope the rain holds off and we can finish in the next day or two.

Looks good now. If the clay and bentonite dont do nothing will. What is your source of water-rain?

Yup water source is runoff from about 10-12 acres. Contractor is suppose to be here shortly, hopely we can get close to finishing today

I hope you finally get the leak fixed. You've been fighting it long enough.

Thanks Scott, I sure hope this fixes it. Two guys are here now knocking out the remaining work. I hope they finish today, or at least come close.

Well we are at this point again, the pond is finished for the second time. Here is how it looks now



I am thinking of planting a pasture mixture for the ground cover but looking for suggestions on trees to plant. Thinking of a couple of river birches by the diversion ditch on the right, some norway spruce or colorado blue on the mound in front of the corn field, and a couple of maples that turn red in the fall. Any other suggestions?

Looks great, Lassig! Congrats on being done! Again.

I don't know a whole lot about trees and which do/don't make good pond accompaniments, but think you're on track with finding trees that will add nice color with the seasonal changes. Maybe look for trees that also have nice spring time coloration. And I'm sure none of us need to tell you - KEEP THE TREES AWAY FROM THE POND!!! Would hate to see you back where you just were!

Great looking place there Lassig.

Not to hijack the thread, but how far away should trees be planted from a pond?

Also it very nice looking...Good luck!

Lassig - wow, what a journey. I'm glad for you it's finally over. My best to you on creating and keeping a seal.

I love your coniferous choices. While slower growing than White Pines, they form a denser, more effective wind break. Also, both cultivars you mention, the Colorado and Norway, are beautiful.

River birches will grow large no idea on their appetite for water.

Many Maple cultivars that provide brilliant fall foliage exist. Check with a nursery but I'd stick with Sugar or Red maples. Fall Fiesta is a hardy Sugar; Autumn Spire and Autumn Flame are good choices for Reds and are more tolerant of drought conditions.

Thanks guys, it has been a journey, I hoping I can start on the next phase on stocking fish next spring. I still need to add structure to the pond this year. Thinking of changing my PVC trees to porcupine fish structures and having less of them. Also, need to get the dam reseeded and seed the north side that was just worked on. I don't plan on doing that till September when grass has a better chance to germinate and grow.

I believe keeping the trees 25' to 30' from the pond should be good enough.

We didn't find anything in the north hillside the suggested a leak so I think it was leaking out of the bottom. Hoping the bentonite solves that issue.

Bossone, while I was kind of kidding with lassig who felt the leak he was experiencing may have been caused by the trees (looks like from his last post that this may not have been the case after all), trees right at the edge of a pond can create a couple of potential issues I'm aware of, though they certainly work on pond edges for an awful lot of people. In particular, some species are incredibly thirsty and can be responsible for measurable water loss as they suck it up to meet their needs. Not all of them are this thirsty, though, so it's certainly not a blanket prohibition as to trees as the pond edge. The other issue is just the falling leaves adding organic matter to the pond which can create nutrient issues at some level or another. Like I said, many ponds work just fine totally surrounded by trees, but there are definitely some reasons to at least consider placement when you have that option available as lassig does here.