Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat started on my floating island

I had 3" pvc laying around so I thought I would give it a try. I really didnt want a square island but what the heck maybe this time next year it will be over grown with all kinds of stuff and you wont beable to tell
If I did my math right I think a 4' square 3" pipe frame will displace almost 50 lbs of water, I didnt think that would be enough so I installed 2 swim noddles and a block of foam in the middle to increase the amount weight that it will float( Hopefully they dont leaK)

I didnt have any of my craft stuff at the house when I started this but I did have alot of phone line wire so I striped back the installation and soldered a needle to the end and used it to sew everything together

OK, Trialsguy...I'm gonna watch every step of what you're doing and try it myself. What is the dark material exactly that you're using to cover the island? Are you purposely making it sag a little? Good thread. Thanks for taking the time.

Don't they make 60 degree connectors so you could have made a hex form?

Bruce

The dark material is shade cloth from Home depot, they use it to shade decks and plants, I bought it to try and make a filter type screen to drag through the pond.

Yes they do make other angles but in the rush to get this thing started I didnt think about it.

I had forgot to check on the bio mat stuff as this has still got me stumped, I havent seen it before.

When I sarted sewing I had orginally planned to let it kinda hang loose but as I sewed the fabric next to the pipe it started tightening up so then I figured it would make kinda a bowl that I could lay the bio mat in there. Its actually very taunt except on a couple corners the fabric is folded over.

I hope it floats about half way when it is complete, I figure if it isnt bouyant enough I can slip the noodles in underneath.

I really dont see how I can make this look like a natural island but maybe it will take shape next year with some local grass and plants growing on it

This is close to the plan I have, I am stumped as to the planting mixture, I am thinking about coconut husk covering the bottom and clay to cover that. Mostly because that is what I have radily available. Any thoughts here would be appreciated.

I am thinking that the bio mat will sustain plants but I may be wrong

I get a lot of wind and have eager eaters where the fish are concerned so I am worried about the plants staying on the island. Plus I don't have biomat, only a nylon mesh. I am a couple of weeks away from the launch so I will keep looking.

I Googled "biomat" and didn't come up with anything applicable. Is there another name for it?

I also googled bio-mat and got some sort of pre seeded stuff you buy. I think Eric posted that he bought his at home depot but I havent gotten back by there to see yet

Hi Guys! Sorry about the confusion of what it is called. When I got it from Home Depot they called it a bio mat. I think I have found out what most people call it.

I think I found the link/links to what I had used for my bio mat. aka Erosion control blanket. I had gotten mine at Home Depot but they dont show it anymore on their web site.

There are many varieties if you search using the Erosion Control Blanket key words.

http://www.conwedplastics.com/productdetail.asp?DocID=61

http://www.nswplastics.com/straw_netting.htm

http://www.erosioncontrolblanket.com/category/3.aspx

http://www.state.me.us/mdot/transportation-research/approved-products/errosion-control-blankets.php

http://www.erosionblankets.com/products.html

Eric, thanks. So what you're using definitely involved straw? Interesting. Might the straw itself add nutrients? I went to the Earl May garden center yesterday and they thought I could buy a shade cloth, then integrate a crushed ceramic material where the particles were just bigger than the shade cloth gaps. They said the plants would definitely grow in the ceramic particles because they had seen it before. What do you think of that?

I am especially interested if Eric or another forum member has an idea of what easily located plant species will grow on our islands.

...by the way, where can we get those swim floaties?

I did use the material that looked like straw. But mine was a combo of plastic and straw material. It was like a fake wood type of feel. It looked like a ground up straw in an extruded plastic.

At first there was some FA growing around the island as the blanket/mat started to break down. But most of the nutrients stayed within the island due to the landscaping cloth. I used the FA to wrap around the sides of the island and up to the top to provide somewhere for the plants to grow on and reach down into the water. This helped mellow the harsh edges of the shade cloth and made it look more natural.

As for the ceramic, I am sure it will work but my concern when I looked into that is that ceramic is very heavy and to fill the island with that may put it under water once you have the plants and any wildlife on it. I was also concerened on how to keep the ceramic material in the island structure as waves hit the island. Another thing I was concerned about was wildlife using the island. The ceramic bits would have been hard on the feet of anything going on the island. I went with the blanket because it had a net structure holding it together and I could sew the net structure to the island and thus keep everything tight together.

As for plants, I chose not to add any exotic or crazy types of plants to my island. I went with straight grass and the local weeds. I did get a cattail or two that wanted to start out there and a oak tree that stared ( I got rid of both of those fairly quickly ) but the structure did hold them in place and both were about 28 inches tall before removing. As for other items I would experiment. I have water Iris that has worked well on it and have a small wild rose bush that is doing just great there. The good thing about it is that if you dont like whats on it just take it out and start again.


You could look at the Biohaven or any other hydroponicsite to find which plants to use. As I said I went with the grasses because I wanted to make mine look as natural as possible to the surrounding area.

I also have added some sticks and other material on the island now for the frogs, dragonflies, ducks, etc.

Let me know if I can help further.

I would use a combination of quick and slowly biodegradable, and permanent materials. Straw, light shredded mulch, sawdust, vermiculite, plastic. Add to it as needed. These are really great ideas, and expand on my floating 4x8 plywood thought emmensely.

Burger, That is why I liked the material I used. It was a plastic composite material with straw/wood material as part of the structure. It didn't degrade much for over 1.5 years. By that time leaves and other organics added to the mix and have kept things going. By keeping the plastic mesh stitched to the lanscape fabric I have something holding the bio material in place as it degrades. I would also have to say that the root structure had held things nicely in place. Just a good experience all around and not bad for 2nd plus year and no sign of failure yet for a few small $.

Hey I found out today that the hard plastic pallets float just about 1 inch above water. I threw the sucker in the water thinking that it would sink right to the bottom but nope, I am now thinking about attaching a carpet to it and adding some sort of mesh to it like shade cloth and adding it as a floating island, and have decided that if it starts to sink I can add a noodle to it to help it float if needed. I dont think I want to achor it but just have it float around. Its the chep brand type pallet

trails - before you progres very far with additions to the pallet, first check out how much weight it takes to submerge it. If the bouyancy factor is not very much, then once loaded with plants it will easily sink. Add the necessary floatation now, it will be easier.

Good Thought! Thanks

I agree with Bill on that one. Once my island was loaded with plants it went down about 3 inches. I had planned for about 2 but I was able to handle 3. Sounds like yet another unique way to create a floating Island!! Let us know how it turns out.

Once I figure out the bouancy what do you think about carpet or something like that laid down first then the shade cloth? I am thinking that I could just throw the seeds on there and see if it grows like that without getting to extreme, I just realized that the carpet would soak up the water and make it much heaver to start with so yes I bet it will need floatations added, Hey a thought just popped into my pea brain!! I wonder how long a inner tube would last under the water? If it was a long term or semi long term you could take your handy bicycle pump down and adjust the height out of the water as needed.

Here are a couple of shots of mine, 4" pvc and as Eric said, fully loaded they sank about 3". One still needs more plants. Mine are a meter sq. I have two more waiting to see how the plants do on these two. I have not anchored them, kind of fun to see them in different places. But, when all 4 are completed I will tie them together and think about anchoring.

Nice looking RAD! I love seeing creative new ideas working out. At first I did not achor mine down, but after a while I wanted mine not to be up against the shore from the wind all the time. I also needed a place to tie off my line from my areation system. Thus I tied it to the island. I left a great deal of slack in the line to let the island float around the general area.

One of the key benefits of having it anchored to the areation system is that as the bubbles come up they bring up organic material that has settled down. You might notice your fathead minnows swarming around the bubbles when it is on. Well if the Island is tied to the system and it brings up the material, the plant roots from the island do a good job of taking that material and using it as food and helping the plants on the island to grow faster and stronger. In turn the minnows\fish love to hide out under the island and nibble the root system. Thus you have the plants growing strong and eating the extra bio material that would otherwise cause problems and the fish get a nice place to hide and a root system to eat while being close to the bubbles that they tend to like to be around while on.

Thus that is why I tied it to my areation system. It sort of ties the eco system all together.

As a note, on the sides of your PVC tubing, when you start to get FA (which you will) you may want to take the FA and put it over and on top of the PVC pipes. when you do this you provide a bio base for the plants in the island to grow on to. When that happens the plants will start to cover the PVC and it will look less like a square contained manmade structure and more like a natural Island with plants growing right down and into the water. That is what I have done around the sides of the Island.


Also as a note of how low the island sunk. I actually took a piece of my floatation system out to allow one small piece of the island (about 12 inch opening) to go under water. This allowed easier access for the ducks, frogs, etc to get on and off the island. If it sits too high no animals except the ducks will be able to find their way on the island.

Great job and looks cool!!!

Has anyone overwintered a floating island yet in a Northern climate? I'm curious on how 1) the plant life does after being frozen in ice and 2) what kind of anchoring scheme might be needed to resist the power of a big loose sheet of ice in the wind. Perhaps they should always be taken out of the water before ice-over.

Theo, Mine is on its 3rd winter coming up. I leave it in the water. I had actually thought this through before making the structure and that is why I didnt use PVC or wood or any other solid material for the sides. When the pond freezes and the ice freezes around the island, my island takes the expansion and deals well with it because it is a soft structure.

Thus long story short I have over wintered it 2 previous years and had no problems. The pictures on most of the threads where I posted them show it after thefirst or second winter. I did not post any or many prior to the first winter. I wanted to make sure the design was right and was able to handle winters prior to sharing it.

The plants did well, however I do have to say my plants are truly only natural grasses and plants that are natural to the area and to a pond. Thus they are used to being exposed to those conditions.

As for ice sheets. Once again I go to mine not being a solid structure and being able to handle the bumps and expansions and contractions of mother nature.

I hope that helps!

Eric,
Thanks for the tips, I was wondering about the side growth, algae is scare around here because of the tilapia and the pacu.
I will let the islands free float until I get the sides covered. After that, I will need a way to reel them in to cut the vetiver grass. The other plant, legume (bean) will probably be controlled by the fish as it grows into the water.