Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Building structure, questions / opinions

I have a new pond filling up now. I have read a ton here about structure and have gravitated towards drain pipe / Pex pipe laydowns. I am trying to come up with a way to hold the pex up. Drilling a hole just tight enough to firmly hold the pex pipe in place will be difficult if not impossible. I have attached two pictures. One using an aluminum wire and another with smaller pvc pipe and smaller diameter wire to fasten it. The wire only setup would be easiest but not sure how long the wire would last. Thoughts? Any other more permanent solution ideas?

Pond Seeker,

Welcome to PBF!

As soon as I see PEX piping, I think ultraviolet light. Please make sure you are not using PEX piping anywhere that will be exposed to direct sunlight. PEX piping can't tolerate UV.

Bill D.

I have lots of structure in my pond that was renovated in August 2015. I think there will be NONE other than a few removable pallets in my pond under construction, because I will have only CC, RES, and FHM.

Pond seeker, I built the same type of structures you are looking at. I used two different diameters of black tubing to run through the plastic pipes. For both of them I was able to find a drill bit that ended up with a very tight fit for the cross tubing sections. It became somewhat of a chore to get all the tubing started and through the pipe, but it worked fine. I was thinking I would need to run a screw up from below each section if tubing from the pipe into the tubing. I did not. They've been in the pond for over a year, and the tubing hasn't moved at all. My only boat at the time was this old canoe. I don't recommend getting them out to the middle of a pond in a canoe. I didn't tip, but it's not all that easy on the back, as each 5 gal bucket had a lot of concrete in it.
I also wished I would have put a bigger base on the 5 gal bucket. I did have one tip over when dropped in. I went swimming this summer and stood it back up.
The fish are always around them. (I did sink three huge cedar trees in the area also.)

On some of my similar designs, I drilled stainless steel set screw in the tubing on each side of the larger pipe. Worked well

I have not built any pond structure with plastic tubing of any type, but I have done plenty of mickey mousery with various plastics. I think your wire solutions to hold the tubing firm will work for many many years. I can't speak for PEX's UV resistance, but then again, once it gets submerged and algae covered it will see much less light.

I would experiment with heating the tubing with a small propane torch at the PVC just enough to make it pliable and then push it back on itself to create a swell (or a goober bugger), then hold it until it hardens. The only draw backs would be if the plastic gets brittle after it cools and hardens, and it could get a little unsightly. Obviously, brittle plastic will not take any flex and the experiment would be a failure and it's cosmetic appearance will not affect it's function, only the pre-submerged photos.

Stainless steel hose clamps might also be an option, but at a dollar or so a piece, it might push the budget.

Thanks for the feedback.

I read, on here I think, that to attract bass it is best to have the structure laid down. Crappie like the vertical stuff. Kind of makes sense in my experience bass love tree lay downs. My plan was to fill both ends with concrete and place in my pond. Probably two 10' sections running from deep to shallow water. I would like to make 30 pieces so whatever I do it needs to be easy.

I am leaning toward the aluminum wire to hold them in place. I may try the heat method to squeeze the pipe into the bigger pipe. Maybe just scrap the whole thing and buy the Porcupine balls.

Attached is a picture of the pond

Pond Seeker,

Based on my reading of a few Pond Boss articles (I think specifically Bob Lusk wrote on this year) and various forum threads regarding structure, I think a good mix of both vertical and "laid-down" structure is desirable. Vertical structure provides structure for the entire water column and may increase catch rates at different depths. In any event, one of the big goals is attracting your BG so that bass have a place to get a quick, easy meal. In this way, vertical structure may actually have an advantage to the angler for catching closer to the surface. Just a thought.

About your structure- I did something very similar to you and Setter Guy, using PVC and 1/2 inch poly tubing (rather than PEX tube). My one inch drill bit housed the poly tubing like a glove with no movement.