Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat PVC Trees; more fun than Christmas?

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...an update with an answer to my own question; all prompted by Theo's thirst for vulcanized knowledge as he prepares his Pond #2.
Not a single tire showed any signs of movement as the water backed up. I bumped into one the the tire pyramids with the jon boat while under 1/3 throttle on the 45# trolling motor. They ain't goin' nowhere. I don't know about the smaller car tires, but I'm very confident that truck and tractor tires are not buoyant. I will say, tho, that Ed Eitel's point that anything semi-submerged that gets trapped in frozen water and then lifted by rising tide is something to keep in mind.

Is tire material a possible source of toxins in a small pond? My neighbor's 1/10 acre (corrected area) has no structure or spawning beds currently and he has plenty of tractor tires. I considered laying the tires flat and filling them with sand, but I wonder about the chemicals that might be released in this warm pond.

I've never seen any issues with tires in a pond. If they're shredded, then you might see a little rust color from the steel belts. We've always drilled holes in them to get rid of any air pockets and allow them to sink if putting them in a full body of water.. Maybe, others on the forum have had a different experience?

I seen your pic on what you did and I would suggest next time to cut the pipe in half this will allow the pipe to collect a food source for minnows and frys. Don't leave a sharp edge or they will stay away from it. Now the best way I have done this was to put them in a radius with the center open atleast 15 feet. This works great for the fish to circle around inside and becomes your HONEY HOLE. I would also suggest using larger pvc pipe on some then cut them in half long ways in order for plankton to sit on top side of the pvc.

i forgot to tell you when putting in the cement install 4 steel rods galvanized would be best on the bottom of the bucket about 2 foot long so when you do drop the buckets in and goes to the bottom it won't fall over.

My attempt at some PVC trees.

I like, Omaha.
I might have made them with a few more branches, but I doubt that adding branches would necessarily make them better....just "bushier". It looks like you used 1.250" or maybe 1.500" for the branches. You might be able to take the design over the top by adding one piece of 1/2" x 36" thru the end of each (or at least some) of the branches.

I found these scraps on this farm we were hiking around on earlier that day so I used what I had. I like your idea of going a little nuts with the ends of those branches. Will have to look into that.

Not sure where else to post this, so I'll throw it in here. I saw in the Structure Thread (http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463) someone utilized some of those disc snow sleds. First of all, what are the target species for this structure and how do you place them?

That's Brettski's pond. I suspect he is out in the country for the weekend; I believe I can give some of the answer.

The saucers were possible SMB beds (note the gravel on the ones that already had their feet wet). IIRC they are each secured to three pieces of rebar driven into the bottom.

He placed them near PVC trees and the crib structure which should help provide cover for baby SMB after they leave the beds. The crib is also a likely YP spawning habitat.

Ingenuity of people with their structure ideas amazes me... Truly a wealth of knowledge for anyone looking to put new structure in their pond!

Gotcha. I won't be putting SMB in my pond, but I was curious what these were used for.

Is there any way, like the Structure Thread, that we could have a generic thread specifically for structure questions and ideas? Possibly make it a sticky?

I finally made my pvc spheres about three weeks ago. I made them on the driveway then loaded them onto my truck to drive to the pond.

My truck has been great to me...no major work needed...only bought one set of tires, one starter, one battery and new brake lines(8yrs in PA) it has over 150,000 miles on it and is 11 years old. I thought for a split second it would be easier to put them out if I just drove the whole thing into the pond

No way...but she is for sale now

Correction: Josh meant to say he WILL be stocking SMB in his pond. Silly mistake - we accept your apologies!

Great looking trees btw!

Back in July I wasn't stocking SMB. Now, however, that picture and those ideas, are very much relevant to my "new" project. How cool is that?

Maybe Bski can jump in here and offer some specifics on these. I can see the rebar poking out through the disks there, but some more details would be awesome.

Holy moly - I didn't see the date of the post. You're right - things change don't they? Cool progression. Are you excited to head over and try to coax one of my new SMBs to nibble a jig/crawler? Hope I didn't have a winterkill...so much snow for so long.

About as giddy as a schoolgirl. I actually just ordered some handmade/painted roundheads from a guy at HuskerLand. Can't wait to see how they turned out.

s'all buried in here

Thanks Bski. When are you going to compile all these threads into a single publication?

I was going to ask about snags, but it looks like Bruce commented on it in your thread. Still reading....

Most of it is here: linked from the 3rd page of the archives

You are inspirational Brettski. I think I'll will try something like this. I might try for tighter distances between the branches. And a different anchoring system. But the upright design and the 1/2" branches gives me a great idea.

As far as taking bream/bg/sunfish out. I run my LMB ratios past any normal scenerio. I have to add 500 bream a season minimum. I really could thin out the bass, but I prefer to add forage.

Thanks Pond Frog.
Any inspiration is simply a hand-me-down based on creativity and guidance from the knowledge base within this forum.

+ 1

True dat

I was thinking( really outside my capasity) But to cut a few 30gal.
barrels in two add the rebar leg and graval and set them in my little pond for bedding sites. Bass and gills what ya thing
South Texas