Pond Boss
Posted By: wannapond0001 Found trash during excavation - 01/04/19 11:03 PM
So out of the 4 or so contractors I talked to, wanted to put the pond at the lowest point for better water shed. Well I didn't want it there but that's where they all wanted to place the pond. Test holes were dug but apparently we weren't lucky enough. During the start of the pond dig we encountered trash. It appears to have been some kind of landfill at one point. Tires, bumpers you name it. There goes the pond idea. Going to try higher up towards the house. This is the spot I wanted to put the pond in the first place, but it has lower watershed. Oh well. I'll find out tomorrow once he goes deeper. It's going to be much smaller than a quarter acre.
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 12:47 AM
If I had hired a contractor, and he started digging at a place I did not want a pond, rather than where I did want it, he would be told to load his equipment and go!
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 01:32 AM
Well you know I thought that because they all said it should go in that spot, i figure they must know something I don't. I really wanted away from there due to tree removal. This is why I don't want someone that rents. I'm paying the same even if he did have to fill it back up. So I end up with a smaller pond MAYBE. All else fails I will just have to settle for a koi pond.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 03:03 PM
Well so far no trash in the new spot, but only couple feet deep. It's 85% clay from what I can tell.
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 05:31 PM
So far so good, then. Fingers crossed here! Compact, compact, compact!
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 06:20 PM
The damn isn't very high at all, more of a dug pond. It's almost done. It's half the size I wanted but that's mainly due to less water shed and we didn't want to go near the trash site. It is ALL clay. Sheeps foots working well.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 07:12 PM
With a good well compacted and sealed pond, you don't need a watershed. New ponds in my area for domestic water use are now regulated to not have a water shed. My neighbor has a 0.2ac pond that is dugout and built with surrounding liner of good well compacted clay. All surfaces slope away where drainage moves away from the pond. Pond is around 23 yrs old. The most this pond has ever gone down is 12" even in our 'drought' summers. Annually we in toledo area average 33.5" precipitation per year and Dayton area averages 41". Both precipitations are more than enough to keep a well sealed pond full or near full year round. This is why I emphasize proper compaction of clay lifts are very important.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 08:03 PM
That's good to know Bill. Unfortunately the other reason being space. Don't want to get too close to the neighbors. What do you think of filling the pond with well water? It's not great well water though. I would never drink it but I do cook with it. I calculated 30 days to fill with 227k gallons at 7gpm.
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 09:13 PM
If it's only 1/8 acre, maybe you could go a bit deeper to increase the capacity a bit. Deeper is always better to a point.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/05/19 09:39 PM
Dozer keeps slipping as we try to go deeper. It's about 9ft in the middle. I'm happy with the depth. Will need to aerate.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/06/19 02:27 AM
Well water has low nutrients and usually higher minerals. These ponds are slow to develop algae and weed problems due to lack of fertility. Feeding pellets soon increases fertility to where plants are growing too well. Precipitation in your area will likely get the pond 1/2 full by June. It did that last year in my small rebuilt pond. The first 4-5 ft of water is relatively a low volume compared to the top 4 ft. It is a funnel shape you know.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/06/19 02:55 PM
I might put a bit of well water to help it along. There's already a big puddle due to seepage. Water table is at least a hundred feet here due to being on a hill.
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/06/19 04:05 PM
Seepage in could mean seepage out. Better to compact that seep area very well.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/06/19 08:29 PM
Looks like it's too wet earlier this morning to do much compacting. Compactor getting clogged. He's going to cleanup the area once it's dryer. The part that takes the longest is filling up the old trash site.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/06/19 09:16 PM
After further investigation it appears to be seeping from the top soil. My yard is wet and muddy during winter. There isn't much water at the bottom. Just waiting for the rain the next 2 days. Overflow has not been installed yet.
Posted By: canyoncreek Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 02:08 PM
Wannapond, pictures do you have pictures?

Also Bill you mentioned a pond renovation? That would be interesting for you to give us the history and the story on how you went through planning a process like that. Again pictures would be so awesome if you had time to post.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 02:16 PM
I took some pics. Will post them once I find a hosting site. Don't really like them hosting sites...
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 04:23 PM
You can post pictures directly on here.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 05:08 PM
Didn't know, last time I tried it wanted me to put in a url. I'll figure it out.
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 05:16 PM
Go to full reply screen. Then go to file manager.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 05:55 PM
Thanks John. It's too big, so I'll have to shrink it. Posting pics really shouldn't be this troublesome, it should automatically resize. Probably why people choose to host it elsewhere.
Posted By: wannapond0001 Re: Found trash during excavation - 01/07/19 07:35 PM
You have to zoom in to see the trash. That's the pond mostly done. Need to cleanup and install overflow.

[img]https://ibb.co/DKGGSsP[/img]
[img]https://ibb.co/RPGH7wn[/img]
[img]https://ibb.co/3YDF15g[/img]
Posted By: Tbar Re: Found trash during excavation - 08/15/21 07:06 PM
Originally Posted by wannapond0001
You have to zoom in to see the trash. That's the pond mostly done. Need to cleanup and install overflow.

[img]https://ibb.co/DKGGSsP[/img]
[img]https://ibb.co/RPGH7wn[/img]
[img]https://ibb.co/3YDF15g[/img]

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]
[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]
[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]
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