Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? DIY Stock Tank Renovation Question

I have a dry stock tank located in south Texas and would like to remove about three feet of dirt from the bottom of the tank with my tractor, box blade and FEL. Any tips for safely entering and exiting the tank?

Hi PD3 and welcome to the forum!

I've worked with a skidloader around my ponds quite a bit, on 2:1 slopes. I learned quickly it's very important to enter and exit perpendicular to the water, directly up or down the slope. I nearly tipped my rig multiple times until I figured this out - not smart to do in a five point harness near 16' water. Might seem obvious, it wasn't to me. Maybe this helps.

One other consideration when excavating the old pond is the risk of breaching the clay liner and creating a fissure. When excavating ponds in SE NE [where I live] a clay liner isn't typically installed as we're blessed with natural clay soils. However, we must be very careful not to hit a sand vein which are fairly common. If one does, one has to either stop and layer/pack the clay over the sand with a sheepsfoot roller or keep digging until you get it all [which could be many more feet]. In either case, it's a significant additional project expense.

Be careful with getting into and out of your pond, and be on the lookout for sand/pourous soil. It's a crapshoot to know what's lurking 2' beneath your pond bottom - no way to really be sure until you dig that I'm aware of.

We love photos - feel free to post some of your project. We have the best professional pond engineers in the world as regular forum members who can provide some more detailed advice hopefully soon.

Welcome again to the forum, PD3!

What TJ said. The only thing I can add is to make sure that the pond is dried out enough to support the tractor. Some muck gets a hard crust on it, and when you break thru you won't stop until you hit bottom. If it's 3' down, you better have big tires on the tractor!

Keep your bucket down! As you go up the bank lower your bucket or blade as close to the ground as you can that's your counter weight. Going down all you can do is fall on on it, lift it till your comfortable with its balance. Steep slope going up with a slope you can use your hoe as a arm to pull you up.

Welcome PD3

Sounds like you are going to have some fun. Be safe keep the wheels out of the mud and you can work for ever.

One of the first ponds that someone paid me to clean was not typical. Most of the mud had to placed on the upstream side of the pond, a little dike was needed to ensure the mud did not slide back in the hole. Usually the back of the dam is the best place to store the material. Depending on the amount of moisture in the material it may take a while for the mud to dry out. In South Texas maybe not so long, but do not be discouraged if it cannot be dressed up as soon as it is removed from the pond.
Otto

Make sure you have liquid in the rear tires.