Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Siphon Installed

After finishing the excavation of our 60 x 80 pond in the Fall of 2010, we decided not to line it right away. Knowing we had marginal soils at best we thought that lining it was a possibility. After two summers we made the decision not to line it and to go ahead and put rock structure in as well as the drain. The pond hardly dropped last summer and dropped eighteen inches this summer. We decided to live with the fluctuating water level.

To date, we have relied on the spillway to handle all overflow. It has handled heavy rain events very well but stayed wet for months through the winter and spring. Of course we were not comfortable with it being our primary water control so we decided to go with a siphon. We decided on a 4" Schedule 40 pipe due to cost, the fact that the spillway will still be able to handle any overflow, and the ease of installation.

The pond is down about six inches, so it was a good time to install the drain. Here is the strainer:



And the pipe run to the bottom of the pond weighed down by rocks (which we obviously have plenty of) hand placed in the cold water by yours truly.



Ran the line down the backside of the dam and backfilled with about 1500 pounds of bentonite that was lying around.





To test it I put a valve on with a reducer to two and a half inches for the shop vac. I sealed the vent and reduced the pressure in the outflow line using the shop vac. The siphon started immediately. I then removed the reducer to allow the four inch line to flow and it worked like a charm. When I uncovered the vent the siphon stopped.





If I would change some things I would have put a 'T' at the top of the line so that I could start the siphon simply by closing the valve at the bottom, opening the T cap and filling the pipe with water by bucketing from the pond, closing the T, capping the vent, and opening the valve at the bottom. It would make it a little easier.

Overall, the job was pretty easy.

Here are some pics of our pondscaping done in the last couple of weeks, too.

Victor -- that looks fantastic. I'm a little surprised it dropped so much this summer. I figured you would have gotten as much rain as we did. We've been above full pool all summer as we've gotten far above normal rainfall this summer.

Ken

Thanks Ken. We are officially above normal precip here, too, but springs still aren't running - which is weird. Once they start it will overflow pretty soon after. Weirder yet is that we had trout survive the brutal heat - rainbows and goldens. We are enjoying this pond thing.

I am impressed all the way around. Good to see some siphon instruction with photos for all of us, and that landscape terracing is very cool. You are blessed with abundant natural resources [granite] - I want to do something a lot like that at my place, but the rock is cost prohibitive. Great post, great work!

Landscaping looks great! I love the look. Lack of rocks is both a pro and con on a farm. Mainly a pro for us farmers; but would love to have inexpensive access to a lot of rocks like that.

TJ -- If you come get them, I'll give you all of that kind of rock you can carry out of here. I'm sure Victor would say the same thing.

Victor -- after I looked at your photos yesterday, I had to go take a nap. That is beautiful. But, I can only imagine how much work it was. Just thinking about taking the rocks out of my garden every year tires me out.

If you ever get bored, the guys who built my new pond (near where you were nearly speared by a falling tree branch when Lusk was here visiting) put lots of those kinds of rocks in two piles above the new pond. They would look great if re-positioned like at your pond.

Ken

Bored? Nah, no time to be bored between the pond, the woodstove, the tractor...well you get the idea. But if you want help moving it, let me know and I will schedule a day down there. TJ - as Ken said, I will trade you all the rock for all of the topsoil and clay you probably have out there. We have sandstone - and tons of it.

Wouldn't that be great? I have 44 acres of clay and black topsoil and a stray rock here or there left by retreating glaciers 10,000 years past. I collect and cherish each one of those volleyball sized rocks - in 5 years probably collected around 50 and they're part of my landscaping at home. Wish transport wasn't so darned expensive. You may not believe this - but a ton of that rock of yours goes for $250 here - that's maybe 15 pcs...unbelievable.

Wow, 250.00/ton. Here in north east Ohio, I live among about about six gravel pits. That would sell for 35.00/ton, or less.

Limestone is common here, and is $25/T, so technically I shouldn't whine so much as we do have some options. Limestone has it's advantages in that one can manipulate it easily - creating steps, blocks, etc. However, it's not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as the stuff you guys have out East, West, North or South of here.

Very nice job, Victor. It looks like it was done by one of them anal retentive pond geeks.

We need a shot looking across the pond and uphill to the house.

Nice job Victor !

Victor said "If I would change some things I would have put a 'T' at the top of the line so that I could start the siphon simply by closing the valve at the bottom, opening the T cap and filling the pipe with water by bucketing from the pond, closing the T, capping the vent, and opening the valve at the bottom. It would make it a little easier.'


That is how ours works absent the bottom valve (have a screw on cap at the bottom). Plus we have a very small air release valve at the top to keep air from being trapped in the siphon end. A small water pump works well to fill the siphon so no bucket carrying.

Thanks again, guys. Brettski, here is a panoramic I took today while playing around with my iPhone. I'll see if I can find a better pic, but I thought this one was kind of cool. The iPhone stitched this together in about fifteen seconds - amazing where technology is today. It makes the pond look small, but I am secure enough in my pondsmallness to share the picture.

Neat pic !

Looks awesome Victor! I always admire those that take pride in what they do, no matter the task. I had ideas of doing something like what you have here with the tiers. The rock we get up here in NEPA is mostly all bluestone. Can't drive 5 miles in any direction without passing a bluestone quarry. I like the yellow/brown/red that you guys get further down state.

Do you ever run into problems with snakes around those rock walls?

Nice pictures on the siphon install also.