I have 3-4 concrete culverts.
Could they be used for habitat?
What species of fish would use them?
How should they be oriented?
In what depth of water?
So many questions......
What diameter culvert are they.
I think they are 24" ID....
What species do you currently have in your pond? I think all large predatory fish will appreciate these, but especially catfish if you have them.
What species do you currently have in your pond? I think all large predatory fish will appreciate these, but especially catfish if you have them.
LMB and BCP......very few cats.
What depth would be best and do you figure depth from flood stage or lowest summer level?
I don't think there's any exact depth these should be at, but I would shoot for 4-6 feet when the water is at it's lowest. If you have a dock, maybe I'd consider placing one close to it, in shallower water, just for fun, to watch what utilizes it.
I would stack them pyramid style. Three on bottom, then two on top of the three. Another one if you can find it to put up on the very top.
Vertical height on structure is good so fish can move up and down the water column with changing temperature, time of day, etc.
Depth to place them would be so that the top layer is deep enough to not bother anything like a boat or whatever at the lowest expected water level. For the best fish benefit, the structure coming near the surface of the water is good. But you may not want to see an eyesore or hit it with your boat propeller. So how close it comes to the surface will depend on these things.
If your culverts are 24" and you have enough for two layers, maybe place in 5-6' of water and have them come to within a couple feet of the surface. Or if you have enough for three layers in 8' of water.
On the bottom layer, if you can, drive some T posts on each side of the bottom layer so until they get settled in they will not roll out from under the upper layers when you place them on top.
My opinion, the way I would do it. Your mileage may vary.
If you don't want catfish spawning in them, might consider wrapping the ends with black plastic fencing so that small fish can use as refuge inside but larger fish can't enter. Just another idea. Could also stuff the centers with brush or cedar trees for small fish cover. Lots of different ways.
The more vertical height from the bottom of the pond up you can get for cover the better.
A lot of those links in the structure thread do not work.
To fix them the URL needs to start with this:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreadsInstead the bad links will come up like this:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreadsSo when the link comes up as an error, edit the link that looks like the lower one and make it look like the upper one. In other words move the word "forums" to the left in the URL and get rid of the www.
Don't know why the old links do not work, but this is a fix when they don't
Yes, I tried that and it does work snrub.
I wonder if Ewest, or some moderator, should make that notation that you say above, to the beginning of that thread. That way others will be able to pull them up, that is if they want to go thru the work. I suppose someone could go thru and fix all of them, but that's a pretty big undertaking, and it has to be someone who can get into it to make changes.
A lot of those links in the structure thread do not work.
To fix them the URL needs to start with this:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreadsInstead the bad links will come up like this:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreadsSo when the link comes up as an error, edit the link that looks like the lower one and make it look like the upper one. In other words move the word "forums" to the left in the URL and get rid of the www.
Don't know why the old links do not work, but this is a fix when they don't
Finally got them to work.......thanks!!!