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

Any updates??
Did you pond fill??

nah. its a waste. same thing. water stays the same. i just got a 6ft mudpuddle i guess

pond just stays at the same level as the pic on page 4 (#325812) it gets deeper, but disappears in a week or so and re stabilizes. im assuming thats the level where a leak is and i only have one good idea where it could be. luckily i know exactly where that is. in about the middle area of the pond i hit a nice solid rock. i could only chip up about a 4x6 ft chunk off the top of it. so i packed over it. how much i cant remember. but it is about spot on where the lake level is from what i remember. im thinking maybe i will trench down out past the waters edge till i find it and see if water is penetrating there.

Either that, or it's leaking out from the very bottom. When the water gets deep enough it forces the water out, but when the water level drops the pressure is reduced and the leak closes back up again.

yup, thought about that too...i can try this with very little effort though, so maybe ill get lucky, but i highly doubt it. wish i had stuck with my gut and left my woods alone

I think I'm having the same problem
When I excavated I had rock on the bottom of the pond
My gut told me to ripe it out and compact it with clay
But time and money was an issue, mostly time.

I'm Also a little more the half full (or half emty )
I'm hopping that the bottom will seal itself but I'm running out of patience.
You must believe one day all your hard work
will pay off

well all its done this far is destroy what was there...its now below that rock area, so it has to be leaking out the very bottom, which is probably following the rock under the dam. i believe this fall i will be ripping up the dam for real and busting through the ledge to get down under it and pack it off and try that.

well, decisions, decisions. after all this time i still have the same mudhole preety much at the same basic depth. lol.not sure if ill just dig around the outside in the areas i know where rock is and try to find somthing, or if i should just bust it out and go under the dam and rip up the rock(its a big one. lol) this valley all runs down hill from the shallow end(obviously) and has rock in 3 or 4 spots along the way. then the one i hit in the core. i dug down to that one last winter in the dam, but it was dry. i guess it could be transferring under it though? only reason i think that is about 2 or 300 yard down from the dam there is a nice sinkhole. the question is, would busting through it on the dam help or would it be better to pack over the pond on the inside? i have a feeling ill be doing both before its over lol

I'd pack the whole pond basin first. If there's a chance that it isn't leaking at the dam, and that's what you repair/pack. then you'd be doing the inside next.

yeah kinda the way im leaning too. think ill take some more dirt from the shallow end and transfer to the deep end and pack it in.problem is, is there is rock in the shallow end too. but at least if i solve the deep end problem, then later i can haul more dirt in if need be to fix the shallow end. i know its not coming THROUGH the dam,. i was just concerned if it is maybe going under it through the rock seam somewhere

Screen the rocks out before packing, and you should be packing the pond bottom with good clay, not dirt. If it's just dirt and not clay, I wouldn't waste diesel fuel on it.

well, i said dirt, but i meant clay. really no rocks other than the huge ones down under. lol.

Well aftera whole year,it has stayed the same level all this summer. Had a good rain that raised it a foot or more about a month ago.i expected it to go away but oddly, it isholding strong.weird,but ill take it. Things may start to work out now.if it gets better,ill have to work on the muddy water. It has been mudd since day one.

I really think that this will come in and your like most first time pond builders paranoid all your hard work is for not if it wont hold water. It really takes time for the built up banks to take and hold. You need enough rainfall to perk through and pack. The fine plates in the clay do take time to line up and seal.

I truly believe that the PH or polarity of the clay has more to do with sealing than most of us think. Different elements in the clay will retain more ions of water and take more water to fill. Then if the water and clay have equal polarity she just will not seal or lump up. I have walked the edges of my pond and found areas where I can go clear to my knee in clay muck and other areas where I barely sink in an inch even after being packed. This pond is only a year old too. We have very very heavy clay so heavy years ago our township was Ontario's largest producers of clay brick.

You only need to really worry if you have very very clear water and the pond is still leaking. Try to work on other projects and don't over think the leak. It will be fine in time.

Cheers Don.

Well,believe me,it aint clear.hasnt changed color once since day 1 . Lol

Got some rocks from a job i did and made a nice firepit. Made a nice addition.

Something my wife has been asking for is a BIG rock along our dam at waters edge for her to sit on (and think deep thoughts I presume)for her morning walks. I think a bench would be easier but she does not have the appreciation for how much a BIG rock weighs and the difficulty of placing it on a pond bank with a full pond like I do. We will see. We may end up with a BIG rock rolling down to the bottom of the pond for fish structure LOL.

I mention this, because some well placed rocks like in the picture in strategic locations along waters edge might be a nice addition and something much easier done before the pond is full. Fire pit is nice. I have a big old combine steel tire rim I plan to use for a fire pit then rock the outside of it for looks.

Glad to hear it is starting to hold water better. Would some lime help to flocculate the clay to get it to precipitate out quicker (to plug the seep)? Also help with the water clarity at the same time?

I have heard of putting bales of hay in will help with the clarity and add some nutrients to a new pond that might be void of nutrients.

In an old pond I renovated it was chocolate milk brown from the native clay so I put a big loader scoop of some hay/manure mixture that came from an area hay was fed to cattle for quite a while. I imagine it was 90% hay and 10% manure, well composted. My thinking was the hay might help clear up the water and the manure help with an algae bloom. Hard to tell for sure but I think it might be helping. I also limed and added crushed rock around the shore line to stop shore erosion which was also adding to the problem.

Just some thoughts. Some of those with lots more experience than me can say if what I did was a good idea or not. Water is still muddy but it has gotten a little better.

In our big pond we dug new I lined it back with topsoil saved from the excavation and it made all the difference in the world. Our new pond has excellent clarity only limited by the algae level. NRCS had suggested we do that if we wanted clear water as the silt particles (from topsoil) are larger than clay particles and will settle out. The type of clay we have, well some of it does and some does not settle out depending on the particular type of clay hit during the excavation. Old ponds that eventually get enough silt will clear up. Otherwise most local ponds that are relatively new are muddy looking.

See this for clay turbidity

https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/108/

Hay can help sometimes as can ag lime but it depends on the situation.

For placing big rocks on steep banks so they don't roll, get a bunch of smaller rocks embedded into the bank and excavate a bit to cradle the larger rock. Regardless the larger rock will eventually slide downward over time on a clay bottom. It is best to put something towards the top of the dam instead, not on the slope.

If you have the thickness of liner and are not worries about breaking the seal, use rebar or concrete rebar 3' spikes driven in to prevent slippage, cradle with smaller rocks, then roll in the big-un slowly.

With that said, I did all of the above by hand. Managed to roll a 500lb+ rock into a garden trailer which groaned
(used physics as my friend). Had everything prepped to accept the stone... and promptly rolled it too fast into position. Went right up and over my cradle which I thought was robust enough. The large rock just squashed the smaller ones into the clay, and now I have structure on the bottom. I could see it the other day about 12' down.

I really would love to have a tractor... but until I win the lotto, everything I do is on a budget.

Thanks for the tips. Will keep those in mind. Looks like it will be next summer before I attempt anything.

No worry about a liner here. Your small rocks to make a cradle gives me the idea of some rebar and some portland cement mixed with small rocks to make the cradle. I have a pto powered cement mixer and that sounds like the ticket.

Heres a shot as of now. Still holding somewhat. Lol. But not ideal

Looks like to me the water might be a foot deeper than the summer picture. Is that about right?

Is the pond holding at this new level or will it be going back down?

Maybe the leak is starting to slow?

well, that was from thanksgiving, and yes it is deeper now. it still leaks, but it seems to be slowing more and more. such a slow process but im afraid to do anything but wait since it doe show some hope. lol. its almost at the point of at least being somewhat usable.

been thinking, and after spring comes,depending on what happens with it,i am leaning towards wasting some money on db110 and give that a try. ive very skeptical that something like that would work, but i understand why it 'could' work being that my leak is not what i would consider 'fast'. any thoughts?