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Joined: Jul 2009
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,505 Likes: 3 |
Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 6,692
Hall of Fame 2015 Lunker
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Hall of Fame 2015 Lunker
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 6,692 |
Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Easier to get in a wide gate and slip by if you are straight and narrow
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 414
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 414 |
POND BOSS / January/February 2005 page 24 and 25 Will a Well Fill Your Well-Heeled Pond? By Bob Lusk
PAUL
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Aug 2009
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Pond Boss subscriber Bob Durham dropped us an email asking about using a well to fi ll a pond. During my travels around this great country, I am privileged to be involved in a diverse range of projects. One thing about wells always strikes me during conversations with landowners. Here’s a typical exchange. Landowner says, “If my watershed isn’t quite big enough, I may just drill a well and fi ll the pond.” Or, one might say, “If the pond leaks, we can just punch a well and keep it full.” It ain’t quite that easy, folks. Here’s where I always start. Remember this number…it’s of huge value as you think about a well. One acre, one inch deep, is 27,000 gallons. That’s twenty seven thousand gallons of water! Many wells are drilled for domestic uses, water for the house, maybe for livestock. But, do some math. If you have a well which produces 10 gallons a minute, 600 gallons an hour, 14,400 per day…hmmm…and you have a three acre pond? People tend to think a “well” will do them well. Not necessarily so. While I never discourage someone to drill a well, I do think it wise to do a little research and think it out, forgive me, “well.” A well thought out well will be better than an expensive hole in the ground. While volume is important, so is quality. You don’t necessarily need to go way down deep to get water of pond quality. Fish and plants like hard, mineral laden water. If a shallow aquifer has iron, lime, other minerals and metals, it’s likely pretty good for fi sh. Don’t drink it, though. Hard water with lots of minerals doesn’t taste like Ozarka. There are several well stories to tell. I have yet to see pure water come out of the ground. Contrary to popular belief, most groundwater is loaded with something it absorbed along it trek toward the middle of the Earth. As water seeps downward, into aquifers, it digests rocks, metals, gasses, and organic matter it might pass through. When it sees the light of day, everything changes. Don’t be surprised if your well water leaves a nice coat of orange on everything it touches. Iron. Or, it might bless you with the ever-effusive aroma of rotten eggs. Sulfur. Or, here’s my favorite…. Got a call from a man north of Dallas a few years ago. He had built a small pond in his yard. But, it was muddy all the time. I had him send a water sample. Analyzed it. Yep, it was muddy, for no apparent reason. Looked at the cations and anions. There were more negatives than positives. I knew that couldn’t be right. After all, I had been taught nature wouldn’t allow anything other than a balance in water. As we all scratched our heads, educated minds eased our pain. We learned water always seeks a balance…always. This man’s water was balanced. With dirt. Tiny suspended pieces of dirt added the missing positive charges his water desperately sought. Why? I drove down, took a look. Sure enough, he had a well, pumping crystal clear water into his pond. Then, he had a pump hooked up to irrigate his lawn, pumping water from the pond bottom. The mystery was nearer to being solved. His well water came out of the ground pretty and clear, but was so out of balance coming out of the ground, it did what it had to do to balance itself. It was literally picking dirt off the pond bottom, and physically holding it in suspension. His water was heavy on carbonates and bi-carbonates. It needed more charged particles to seek a natural balance. The water chose dirt. Once we fi gured it out, we were able to buffer the stuff with gypsum. He stopped irrigating with the water when turf experts explained what this water would do to his lawn. He left the pond as a scenic landscaping spot, amended the water, planted some pretty water plants, and now enjoys it as it is. Here’s another story. One conscientious homeowner drilled a well, and decided to aerate it by running water over a waterfall. Great idea. He built a beautiful waterfall, cascading down a pretty creek through the yard, into the pond. Well water is devoid of oxygen, and by breaking it up over big rocks, letting it fall a few feet, added oxygen. Oxygen is good. After a month, the entire waterfall and its pool was coated orange. Iron. Not such a big deal, but his Labrador retrievers couldn’t wait to immerse themselves in the pool below the falls..every day. The black labs came out looking like some sort of punk rocker with January/February 2005 / POND BOSS 25 funky colored hair. Not exactly what the landowner had pictured in his mind’s eye. Toss in the fact his dogs would shake, rattle and roll themselves in the least kind places. Iron was beginning to be painted all over the place. How did he solve the dilemma? He re-routed the well water straight into the pond, and set up a pump in the pond to pick up water for the waterfall. Within a week, all the iron was gone, and he was still aerating pond water. Problem solved. Before you drill a well, do some homework. Contact reputable local drilling companies. Odds are, they have drilled a well somewhere nearby. They will have logs of the well, and can tell you quite a bit about the water, different aquifers, and quantities of water you might expect. Use the well driller as a consultant, and be confi dent when asking questions. You need answers. I had a well drilled just more than a year ago. The driller I chose has been a client for years. I stocked his pond years ago. He is also the main well guy I refer people. He is knowledgeable, and willing to answer all questions. I told him I needed at least fi fty gallons per minute to serve my fi sh vat shed, and to fi ll any one of six ponds on my home site. While he couldn’t honestly guarantee what I might get, he took away much of the guesswork by drilling a hole big enough, and fi nishing the well appropriately, with the correct size pump. As long as there was water in the aquifer, the well would do its job. So far, so good. The well produces 75-80 gallons a minute. It has iron, a little sulfur, but is buffered very well, with plenty of lime in it. It serves the purpose we need. Here’s what you need to do. Defi ne the purpose of your potential well. Calculate volume of water you will need. Then, defi ne the quality of water. Do you intend to drink it? Often, there sits more than one aquifer underneath your land. Pick the one you want based on defi ned need. Next, talk to the driller about costs and your expectations. My well went to 360 feet of depth, pump set at 180. Total cost? Slightly less than $10,000. Don’t be cavalier about your thinking. After all, you may not want to toss ten grand into a hole which might produce just enough water to bathe. As you can see, it’s a pretty big operation to drill a water well. Do some homework before drilling. Photo credit: Schroeder Rotary Drilling.
PAUL
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 529
Fingerling
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Fingerling
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 529 |
Todd,
I think we will just have to agree to disagree. Not only was he sarcastic, but his answer was wrong. Seems to me the focus should be on correct answers, and not being flippant with someone you don't know. (:>)
Sniper, I apologise if you thought that the answer was flilppant or sarcastic, it wasn't meant to be. I truly thought I was giving you the correct answer, but JKB's post corrected me. I learned something that day and I hope you were able to use the information that he gave to answer your question as well. I misjudged you. You are a scholar and a gentleman.
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Joined: Nov 2012
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Joined: Nov 2012
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This blog has been most informative and entertaining. I have a pond that's about 3.5 acres so can relate to you'alls concerns about adding water to avoid losing pond balanced against financial considerations. Georgia is midst of extremely dry weather (roughly 12-13" below annual average) so I worry about losing my pond and fish. Keep up the information exchanges!!
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 12
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 12 |
Can anyone recommend a good pond guy to fix a dam and deepen a pond in the Noble, OK area?
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Joined: Nov 2012
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Joined: Nov 2012
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Well, a lot of water has flowed under my dam since last post. I found I had a weak breaker on my well pump along with sick electrical part. Replaced breaker and got well installer to fix pump electrical and now can use my 2" pipe to fill pond. I've added about 1 foot water so now waiting to see if Mother Nature will help fill it up another 12-15" to full pool. At least fish aren't in jeopardy! I just had to pay repair bills and added costs of electricity to get me back in my comfort zone. Hope you all are making progress with your various issues.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 40
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 40 |
I had the same concern with the rough drought we have had here in East Texas the past couple of years. Luckily I had an existing well and all I had to do was replace the pump. 3hp 3 phase pump is providing me with 25+ gpm. I ran it 3 weeks in November and all of December 2011 and the month of December (don't recall Novembers increase) it added about 120 dollars to our electricity bill. The well shed is on its own meter and that is the only thing besides one electrical outlet that is on the meter. I had my well water tested prior to filling my pond and it was PH 6.75 Alkalinity 20ppm. It was well worth the investment for my situation, I just wish at the time I would have went with a 10hp pump @ 80gpm.
Last edited by I JWM I; 04/03/13 07:46 PM.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Ben Franklin
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."-Thomas Jefferson
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,687 Likes: 892
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,687 Likes: 892 |
I had the same concern with the rough drought we have had here in East Texas the past couple of years. Luckily I had an existing well and all I had to do was replace the pump. 3hp 3 phase pump is providing me with 25+ gpm. I ran it 3 weeks in November and all of December 2011 and the month of December (don't recall Novembers increase) it added about 120 dollars to our electricity bill. The well shed is on its own meter and that is the only thing besides one electrical outlet that is on the meter. I had my well water tested prior to filling my pond and it was PH 6.75 Alkalinity 20ppm. It was well worth the investment for my situation, I just wish at the time I would have went with a 10hp pump @ 80gpm. Why so much HP for so little flow? I'm using either a 3/4 or 1 hp 220a motor and I'm getting 25 gpm from my well.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 40
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 40 |
I haven't actually measured the flow myself just going by the info I was quoted by the installer. I know the output out of my 2 inch pipe into my pond is pretty strong.
Last edited by I JWM I; 04/04/13 09:38 PM.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Ben Franklin
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."-Thomas Jefferson
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Moderated by Bill Cody, Bruce Condello, catmandoo, Chris Steelman, Dave Davidson1, esshup, ewest, FireIsHot, Omaha, Sunil, teehjaeh57
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Algae
by Boondoggle - 06/14/24 10:07 PM
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