Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Full scale renovation, Louisville, KY.

It has begun. The pond has been draining for three days with 4 pumps running. First day they ran for eight hours and then we got 2-1/2" of rain overnight.
Lot of bass & bluegill looking for a home or...

The plan:

[img][IMG]http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e188/buzzworth/Small%202_zps2rzxxlju.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][IMG]http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e188/buzzworth/Small%203_zpsik2l0jze.jpg[/img][/img]

Buzz if you don't mind me asking who is doing your work?

After reading the plan, I'm left wondering why it's necessary to mix 45,000 pounds of bentonite with the 741 cubic yds of clay which is being trucked in. If they're going thru the trouble of trucking in 46 loads of clay, shouldn't they use clay which doesn't need to be supplemented with bentonite?

I also don't understand why they are attempting to repair the dam with a 10' deep trench back-filled with concrete, if they're planing on relining the entire pond with clay anyhow. I would think that the new clay lining itself would be sufficient.


I don't know the whole story, so perhaps I'm missing something here. Not trying to be snarky, I'm just curious.

I'm with Gully Washer. Why the concrete?

Golf Development Inc. They own the golf course that is right next to my house. They have done many ponds in the area and have had great results.

How we proceed will depend on what we find as the 50 years of muck is removed. We have already modified the plan after 3 days of draining and cleaning.
The corner of the dam that harbors the leak is along the line of the former creek that was dammed years ago. The leak is obvious on the backside of the dam and when we get to that level on the inside, we will know more about how to plug it.

Amazing amount of sludge from 50 years. It now appears we wont need to dig the trench. The bottom appears to have a rock bottom so cleaning and lining is the current plan. When we get all the sludge out we will have a better idea.
The dam is in very good condition. So far we have uncovered 4 springs that will have to be dealt with.

Renovation took the better part of a month and when the 2 feet of muck were removed we found that the entire bottom is limestone "plates" that had obvious fissures where the water was percolating out.
After total removal of sludge, the 28000 sf was covered with a foot of good, clean clay and then 45000 lbs of bentonite was spread over and ground in by tiller and dozers. In the last couple weeks I have had a couple well pumps dropping about 3000 gallons a day in and had a couple good storms feeding it through downspouts and runoff. About 5 feet in the deep area and aerator running.
Turtles have returned, bullfrogs are at it and the tadpole population is astounding.
I'll post some pics or video when I find a good source for picture hosting. PB is a goner.
I'd like to get (at least) some forage introduced asap this fall.
Question: If my future objective is to have LMB, BG, HBG, and CC, should I just load it up now with minnows and wait for spring for other species or also introduce the BG and HBG now?
Jones Fish will deliver right to my pond later this month for free with a $300 order. I don't think it will be hard to get that covered with a good base of forage.
I have some large stumps we placed and some PVC structures but there is no plant life yet.
I lost everything when we drained it, loads of BG, both large and small. Many LMB were caught and transplanted to other ponds but many were not so lucky.
Having a fresh start is exciting, but I'd like to get a balance started now.
I've been reading through posts about plants and getting restarted but having a chance to get it started this fall would be such an advantage.
Thanks for all the help, this forum has some very knowledgeable folkd who have "been there, done that".

Sean

Buzz,

How big is your pond again? Where did you put all the muck?

Asking because we have 2.2 ac pond with 2' muck across the whole thing.

Pond is just under 3/4 acre. The muck was scooped up with a small excavator and we used a tracked dump vehicle to take it over the dam and dumped it in the wooded area there. It is an unused part of the golf course property. The company that owns the golf course was who did the heavy work for me. It worked out well but there was ALOT of muck.
I had hoped to be able to use some of this for some yard projects but it may be next spring before it is dry enough to be worked.
I'll post pics soon.

Sean

Here are some pics from the job:
https://pix.sfly.com/B6gff5
https://pix.sfly.com/Zu7K5G
https://pix.sfly.com/SnEBeG

https://pix.sfly.com/1N201y
https://pix.sfly.com/DiXBJt
https://pix.sfly.com/4Y_D90
https://pix.sfly.com/ZQY3yj
https://pix.sfly.com/KTq5Tw

This is just a few from the month of work. We were pretty lucky with the weather, we only had one day when it wasn't supposed to rain and it did, but it was the first day of trucking in clay. After 17 truckloads it got so messy we had to stop. It was a friday, so by monday we were back on track. 56 truckloads and then the bentonite.