Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions 1st pond . need tips

The upside down rootballs give the fish more places to seek shelter from the sun, and I don't think you'll be looking at them much once they're covered with water.

But, if you had planned on leaving some of them out of the water, then that's a different story.

yes sir...

yeah, not real sure this is gonna work...its got more water in than its ever had,but still seems to drop anywhere from 6-10 inches between rains or snows. doesnt seem like it should drop that much to me but not sure. maybe it takes longer than im giving it to tell for sure

Nope, shouldn't drop like that. There's gotta be an area that isn't sealed somewhere.....

yay. good luck finding that. shouldve left the woods there. oh well its ruined now...lol

Well the leak has to be in the portion that's seen water so you know where to start.. Does it stop dropping at a certain height if so the leak is above that.. Do you see any wet spots down stream or on the backside of the dam? 6-10 of drop could be possible if its not a big bod of water yet.. Post some pics of how much water you've got in it so far.. Are you sure it's dropping that much or just a estimate.. Place a measuring stick in the water mark the water level and see what happens over a week with no rain..

forgot to mention. its really never went down below its last known level before a rain. basically if it was 5 ft deep then rained and filled to 7 ft, it wouldnt go back to 5 but fall back to 6 or 6.5 . so im not sure if its just soaking in that much or what yet.

it is wet behind the dam,but its wet everywhere today and thawing out, so that doesnt mean anything. the old streambed at the base of the dam is not very wet at all. actually drier there than most other places.. the last pic i posted has water in it and theres 2 steel T posts in the right of the pic. water level is up to the concrete base of the higher one currently.

Give it sometime it'll fill to the top with a good downpour then you'll know what you got going on or it'll dry out and you'll find a wet spot on the back of the dam then you'll know you have a leak.. Kinda in a play it by ear stage.. Did you core the dam?

maybe it is just soaklng in the water if it goes up 2 ft. and only drops 6" after a while. Don't get discouraged as I rather sure you will be stocking fish in no time. Good luck.

yeah im gettin a little ahead of myself...lol. it may be fine. the dam is cored. ive not seen any water back there yet when its dry. judging by the rain we've got itll take more than a downpour. i need a few of em...:) i really dont think its the dam leaking if anything. im just worried about rock underneath the whole thing since i did find a couple spots in excavation. not much i could do at that point but carry on and pack over it. i guess one good thing is it has had water in it since the first day back in october i think and even though its fell a bit here and there its always been going up for the most part.

well its dried up a bit around the pond and it still seems to be wet behind the dam. more than anywhere else anyway. so maybe it is seeping a bit there. theres no water running down the hill though. . its just wet about a 1/4 of the way up which is approx the same elevation as where the water level is. whats weird is it isnt wet at all at the bottom and never has been since i started checking it. and not wet above the area either. guess ill just let it set over the winter and keep an eye on it.

and if anybody is curious...i got the hornets nest...and its currently hanging in my shop by my deer mounts lol

Don't those hornets come out of hibernation when they warn up ?

Bott.,I put a cinder block in my ponds a couple of feet under the water. Then I get a baseline measurement so I know exactly how much my water level fluctuates. You may want to do something like that. Hopefully it will be a wet spring.

no. there are no hornets in it. they arent in there after the frost starts . plus the birds start in to eat the larvae. notice the holes. its been in my heated shop since dec so its all good...lol. and i have the water flagged so i know where its at.

Lol that coulda been bad

which is why i waited till it got cold...lol. they dont stay in it over winter. they build new ones each year

well the back of the dam is dry enough to find something. only spot i find is one about big enough to stand in. pretty muddy and wet, but JUST right there. and not running down the hill at all. its dry below it and in the old creek ditch below it. not sure here, but it cant be good

Take a pair of post hole diggers and hit a few whacks straight down. If it is leaking you will be in muck quickly. To be sure go 25 ft. each side of pilot hole, then dig a hole at each spot. If they are dry,you know you have a leak. I have used this method to find leaks in water lines(black plastic tends to start going bad after 20 some years). Good luck.

i did that around in that area and it was drier underground than on top, but it is definately leaking and filling my hole up. doesnt ever really run out and down the hill, but fills up the holes. so...guess its back to square one sometime later this year. due to the water that came in the pond on me before i was completely done, it really didnt get packed on the inside of the dam like it should have. maybe i can get in there after i dry it up and repack the face of the dam and the bottom and maybe even add some more dirt to it.

Since you have the equipment,it might be best to breach the dam where the leak is. I wouldn't rush it as it may be a super wet spring. It should be an easier fix now that you know the leak is up on the dam. Good luck.

yeah, ill probably leave it alone till summer or fall or something, just in case it wants to fix itself...which most likely is not the case..lol

If it was me I would stock a couple of hundred CC to just have fun till you drain it. good luck!!!

If you are going to remove the water, I would do it by pumping. If you breach the dam, there is a good chance that you will send an awful lot of that dam material downstream. You will need that soil to rebuild.