Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New pond project

Don't be too much in a hurry to get a heavy rain. Take a few light rains and some warm weather to let the newly seeded grass take hold and stabilize your soil. A lot less erosion and better results in the end. Congrats on the pond!

Have made a final decision on what fish you are going to stock?

Where is the pump located? What size is the pump? Does the pump run full time or do you have a device that stops it when the pond is full?
I like photos of pumps.

Looks excellent!!

Dwight, I don't have any photos of the pump, but I do have these of the setup
down at the creek. We damed up the creek, and made a two foot pond. We put an old
well pump in the pvc sleeve cut holes in it and wrapped with 1/4" netting and it's
working fine.


Got a cut-off switch down at the creek as well as at the pond, and a valve that will
allow me to drain the pipe in the winter.

Fatties go in tomorrow. They might as well learn early in life that they can't always live
in luxury like they have been for the last three weeks in my wheelbarrow.

What time are you going to let Freedom Ring tomorrow (for the fatheads)?

The fatties will start their Spring Break about 2 pm.
With no predators to worry about, things could get wild!!!

I'm only going to be able to offer a belated toast around 5:30PM.

We talked briefly about fish stocking, but now I am ready to go. The water is up enough for them, and I can't wait any longer. I'm thinking about redears & CNBG. How many for a pond that is about 1/5A now, and will be 3/5A+ when full in 2 weeks max. Predators (probably HSB or female LMB) will come later.

What are your goals for the pond?

I think I'll go for large BG this time.

Bump. Any suggestions about the number of CNBG & RES.

If your goals are large panfish and not LMB, then 800-1,000 panfish per surface acre. 80/20 or 75/25 CNBG/RES. Greg seems to have success when growing LMB fast by doubling that stocking number (IIRC).

Ok, here's the latest. It's been slow filling up with very little rain and only this source of water being pumped up from the creek - been on 24/7 since March 6th.

When the water gets above the bridge in the rocks, I'll probably turn it off.

I built the little dock, and it's working out ok. I piled a ton of sticks and logs under the dock and put a mesh net around the dock to keep everything contained until it sunk. Should be a good place for little ones to hide. Also, got some things planted in above ground boxes on the dam.

In addition to the man-made creek near the dock I ran pvc about 200' further down that side and built another inlet for the water - still the same amount of flow but I can have it entering in two places.

Still got another 2.5-3' before it's full - another month unless we get a good rain.

Looking better. The grass is filling in too.

Your comments, TJ!!!!!!

That place looks great, you did alot of work in a short time, nice progress pics.
Charlie

Thanks, it looks like the water has quite rising. It's been hot with no rain, but I might have some kind of a problem, because the pump is still going 24/7.

Just found this, nicely done Randy - looks like she's filling nicely. I love the dock and raised beds, too. Going to build a feeder platform maybe?

The pond looks GREAT! You sure did do a lot of work in a short amount of time. I'm a little curious about what it cost to run your pump 24/7 for a month.

I'm surprised the water level hasn't risen more though. Is there a way to calculate how much is evaporating a day vs. what your pumping in a day? You mentioned a spring in an earlier post is that under water now?

TJ, yes, I've got the TH feeder, and will put it down at the dock end of the pond when the pond fills a little more. Right now, I hand feed off the dock 3,4,5,6 time a day - just about every time I go down there. And I walk around and throw feed here and there for the fatties. The fish are growing - still no predators, yet. I'm going to wait until fall, when hopefully the water is higher and cooler.
Loretta, thanks for the compliments. I work on it everyday - pickup rocks & stick, and watering this & that. I still think that there is a spring at the far end of the pond. There is wet clay in spots where everything else is bone dry. Years ago (I"m told) there was a creek running thru where the pond is now. The little springs I mentioned earlier in the post are no longer active - probably just pockets of trapped water. When I get the right equipment I'm going to see if I can find a spring at that end - the good thing is that it will probably be above the pond.
As for the cost of the pump: I've only lived here 5 months and the 2 bills that have had a full month of pumping have been $196 & $172. Not bad, since my house/cabin is all electric, so that includes the total amount of electricity that I use.
I've done a rough calculation on the gph that the pump is providing and I get at least 500-600 gph. That's not a lot, but the pond has risen almost an inch a day until about 4-5 days ago. I'm going down to the pond now and re-check my figures.
More later...

Just checked the gph and it is more like 300-350...

After 3 months of 24/7 running, my pump died. Got another one yesterday and we're up and running again. This one is a 1.5 hp and will produce about 12gpm or about 700gph.
I used a ball valve and set it at about 90% flow, hoping this will not stress the motor too much. Is this a good idea???
A neighbor gave me this structure so I'll take it out in my boat and "plant" it this eve...

Looking good Randy...back to pumping and at 200% flow. Be sure not to do any swan diving wherever you place the structure!

If you can, check and see what the pump is drawing amp wise, and see what the motor is rated for. I was told that I should adjust the ball valve so the motor is pulling it's rated amp load.

Here's a picture of my pond now.

The latest pump died after 10 days (bye, bye $400). The water level was completely covering the big rock below my little creek.
I've been losing about 1" per day. Most is probably evaporation, but I still think that there might be a leak, or possibly just effected by the water table. With all that said, I'm buying another pump and charging forward. The two pumps that I've ruined before were deep well pumps, now I'm going with what is called a "shallow well jet pump". It is not submergeable and should work. The smart thing to do would be to let the water slowly go down and down, until I might be able to find the leak, but unfortunately, that's just not the way "I roll" - I'm impatient and too old to change!!

May just be normal wicking and high temps. Good luck. Post a pic of the new pump.