Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat $15 Bucket Structure

Hey folks,

Found this video...maybe some of you have seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmKw9YBnk1c
Seems like it will make pretty decent structure/cover

I prepped 5 of these to add to my pond. It cost me a total of $75 after tax.

• Use a 5/8th inch spade bit -> I drilled 40 holes into each bucket, and 10 holes into each lid.
• I used a 1 inch spade bit to drill 3 holes into the side of each bucket for bait fish access to the inside of the bucket.
• Cut up the 500 ft tube into 2-ft sections. I'm going to use 2-ft sections of tube on the lid as well (in the video he used 1-ft for the lid). I used a radial saw and a block jig at 24 inches to cut these. You can use a pair of strong clippers as well, the tube is not that strong.
• Then lightly sanded the buckets/lids inside and out to help algae attach. But with the 500 ft of tubing... yeah right!
• I threw the tubing in a big box. It'll be nice and easy to haul to the ranch -- then pressing the tubes into the holes, adding concrete, and dropping in the pond!

50 holes on each of 5 buckets...250 holes total
500 ft tube, cut into 250 2ft sections.

Shopping List:
500 ft of 1/2 inch Drip Tubing $44
5 Gallon bucket: $2.78 each -- $13.9 Total
5 Gallon bucket lids: $1.28 each -- $6.40 total
Quikrete 80 lbs: $3.65

I grabbed the buckets from Lowes but the 500ft roll is online only... Home Depot had it!


[EDIT]
Added them to the pond!
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=342599#Post342599

Nice work !

Drag the hose down the road before cutting should get the desired sanding effect haha. I am hoping to do some of these also. Great stuff

Great idea, thanks for posting!

Thanks

I guess it wouldnt be too hard to sand the tubing. wrap a piece of sandpaper once around the tube, grab it, and pull the tube all the way out...250 times.

I'd like to eventually get 20-30 of these out in the pond

It all depends on how fertile your water is. I've put PVC pipe in a pond straight from the store and a week later it's green. Water clarity in that pond was 18" due to a bloom.

Richard had us managing his pond for awhile. Honey Hole guy told him he would sue if he does not remove this video. I hate to report this but based on Matt's shocking this spring the buckets had not helped the fishery but still a good idea and good price.

Who's the honey hole guy? I'm guessing someone who claims they own the design of the bucket structure?

Apparently honeyhole thinks is violating his patent (if he even has a patent...) to post a DIY video on how to make something homemade that's similar in concept. I thought it was only a violation if you copied design and SOLD the product or design.
Anyways, I'm no expert on patents... I just need some habitat for my fish!

Greg, I wonder if there were some other factors to the pond that caused the buckets not to help much in his case...? Also, do you have any idea how many of these he put in his pond?

I think you are right Nathan.

I thought we were copying Ray's pickle barrel idea?

Here's what I did and I will post photos.

3 - 5 gal buckets (cut each bucket in half, leaving each piece about 7" tall)

3- 500' rolls of 1/2" poly ($38 each = $114)

60# bag sakrete ($2 each)


Used cut in half buckets as forms, used 1/2 bag (30 lbs) of mixed crete and added about 90' of poly each, poly about 3' long. The beauty of this is the buckets are forms, therefore easily removed and reuseable.

About $8 each.

Tip! The bottom half of bucket needs to be cut down ONE side to make removal a snap. I simply used a piece of ducktape across the cut to hold it till crete set.

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone have positive results from man made structure? Im talking structure ideas that are 100% artificial. I know placement could play a large role in success regardless of the structure.

Nice, StanV.
I was thinking something similar for the next batch I make...

How long have you had these in place in your pond, and how are the results?

I placed them 6 weeks ago, I guess. And within a week they had growth on them and they are now covered. I catch fish around them every trip. They are made tightly, for small fish to survive a while to grow before feeding my bass. The next ones I make will be taller, wider and not as many branches. These will be set in deeper water in front of the first ones I placed, which are in 3-4 ft of water. For larger fish.

I think it's one of the best ideas I've seen. We have no structure in our 3 1/4 acre lake except these and boat docks.

Here's the 16 I made:

Thanks for the info Stan! I'm happy they're working for you. We've added some structure (pallets and pine trees) to our pond but i feel we need a lot more.
We don't really have anything in the way of natural structure, except for a couple of small areas with brush.

I'm going to put together a few that only use the bucket lid (may instead do a bucket with shallow concrete shallow, 1-2 inches), and will have short, 1-ft poly packed in tightly, sticking straight up

Great to hear a positive report StanV! and that they how growth on them so quickly!

Your right, selling is the key to patent infringement. He does have the patent, which is quite specific to his design/materials.

We on the other hand, promote the do-it yourselfer's of our industry with our patented habitat products. Keep that siding out of landfills and give it back to the fish.......just don't try to sell them or we will come and take your fishing gear away from you and put you to work at our shop!

Here's a few pics to prove our point

PVC habitat pics

See this from the archive on structure. Thanks and I will add your pics to the archive.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Peepaw, thanks for the info, are those made with metal siding? Haven't had time to dig through the websites yet.

They are made with vinyl siding. Works great!

Built the buckets and got them in the pond!

Me with my creations:


Some of the smaller ones, I was tinkering and came up with these:

I like them!

Hey, how did you sink/anchor the telephone poles into the pond bottom for the pier?

Thanks esshup,
We dug holes, I think 3 feet deep, then put the poles in and got them as level/lined up as we could. Poured in Quikrete, filling it above the ground level, then added water. Then made final adjustments to level/lining up. It's very solid, and the telephone poles can bought from the city (maybe county, I forget) for cheap

Oh, side note -- we took advantage of the drought in Oklahoma in 2011 and did this while the water was down.

Thanks!

I have a client that told me that he contacted his utility company and they will be dropping off a bunch of poles at his place. Problem is pond is full of water, and banks are steep - 2:1 slope.