Our pond is pretty much done!!!! Now it is only a matter of waiting for the fish and vegatation to grow. We had problems getting it filled but were are able to finally get the bottom sealed off after an application of bentonite. The water color is staying a real pretty green which makes the wife really happy.

The piers worked out well and I am happy with the level of the piers in relation to the top of the water. I cut the overflow pipe so that the water can rise to the level it is at in this picture.



I will be filling this pond exclusively with well water. I drilled a well close to the pond and put a high volume pump on it. I have not measured it, but I think I am getting over 100 gpm. Anyway, I have plumbed it so that there are 2 different methods of putting water into the pond. Below are pictures of both. When I want to change how the water is added, I just slip on the different extension pipe.

The first is for normal use. Because the well water will not have any oxygen in it, I wanted to do something to increase the turbulance as the water hit the pond. I took a 45 degree PVC fitting and flattened it at the end. Generally, this is the application that I will use almost exclusively.



If for some reason I ever want to circulate the water in the pond and pump well water into the bottom of the pond, I would use this extension. It is a bit longer than the other one and the fitting at the end is pointed down. This will direct the water to the bottom of the pond. I am not sure if/when I would ever need this but it is an option if I ever feel I need to recirculate the water. The rope and shovel use is just for the sake of this picture. After I backfilled the trench, the discharge pipe is right at the waterline.



I ended up stocking it with only perch and minnows this year. Next spring I will stock bass and possibly some catfish. This year I put the following in it

Fathead Minnows - 12,000
Golden Shiners - 3,000
Coppernose Bluegil - 1,200
Hybrid Perch - 450
Redear - 300

also 6 domesticated ducks (roens and muskegee) but only 4 of them are still on the pond. I think the coons and coyotes got a couple of them.



The pond is about 1.25 surface acres so this amount of fish may be a bit of overkill but I lost probably 25% of those fish when I lost the water on one end of the pond.

I am about to have a couple of bald cypress trees planted right at the water line