Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Manufactured structure questions

I've got a few questions on some of the structures I'm building.
Here's my first attempt. It's made from scrap I found around the farm. 5 gal bucket, 4" conduit, 1 1/8" black tubing, and some plastic strips. This first attempt is about 5.5' tall. I've got 7 of the tubing cross pieces in place.


Another pic has a folding chair in it for scale.



Questions.. Do I have the cross pieces close enough together? I was thinking of adding a narrower piece of tubing between the ones that are there. Which leads me to the next question. Can you use regular garden hose for the cross pieces? I've got miles of old hose at the farm..

Next question, and it's one where I'm really stuck.. Where do I place these structures?
The pond is about one acre now, but it will get larger as it fills. It still has about 4' left to full pool. I have three cedar trees submerged in the shallow end. They are in about six to ten feet of water now. Obviously they will be four feet deeper when the pond is full. I have made SMB beds around the shallow end. I've sunk a few pallets in even shallower water.
Should I place the four artificial structures in deeper water? In a line towards the deeper water? (Towards the dam) any advice appreciated.
FYI the pond has FHM, GS, RES, and YP now. I plan on stocking SMB in the fall. I'm running a feeder, and plan to add aeration next summer. I have a couple of pics that show the shallow end. You can see two of the three cedar trees.
I'd like to have these artificial structures set up so swimmers won't run into them.


Pic two.. Shows shallow end from the dam..


Pond has little or no vegetation. It was finished last August..
Thanks
Jeff

For additional pipe trees I would make some with the cross pipes closer together for diversity. More smaller fish will orient toward the slightly denser trees. Smaller fish attract larger fish. I would cluster all the pipe trees together similar to a large brushy area. Since they are 5 ft tall you will have to locate them in at least 7ft-8ft of water.

Garden hose could work if it doesn't collapse & hang down. Maybe shorter arms?

Thanks Bill. I'm going to have to buy some pipe. I'm afraid the hose won't work.
I'll cluster them in deeper water. When you say 7 to 8 ft of water for 5.5' structure, are you saying that now, or at full pool? With 4 more ft of water. How far below the surface should the structure be, at full pool?
Thanks

Setterguy, like you, I hade some old garden hose around the place. And I try to recycle as much as possible, so I will pass on what I did with the water hose. I had some 4" green pvc pipe and I added some 1" pvc at both ends of the pipe, where each end had a big X pattern, keeping the 4" pipe in a horizontal position, just a couple feet off bottom of the pond. I then added short cut off pieces of the garden hose,( 2 to 3' ) cut offs and placed them into holes drilled into and all around the horizontal 4" pipe. it worked out pretty good, (I thought) and will provide some good horizontal structure. I sank it in about 7' of water, nest to the deeper water. Sorry no pictures.
Hope this gives u an idea of what to do with extra stuff laying around your place. I also pick up things along the road side, like discarded tires, etc.

Tracy

Tracy, you mean like the one on the far left?

Scraps of pvc is exactly what's going on this one. Our summer thermocline is normally around 8' down. Hopefully, I'll get this one to span that depth. Thermocline+Cover should hopefully provide a LMB ambush point.

yep, that it Al, but I then added the garden hose to the horizontal pipe, and drilled the holes all around the horizontal pipe and then added the sections of the garden hose. it really worked out pretty good and I did not have to haul the hose off to the landfill.
Thanks for posting the pics Al.

Tracy

Al, how about a close up shot and explanation of your weight.

Dave, you talking about the tree you saw? If so, I'll take some pics.

Ya didn't have Dave stick his nose in the old siphon pipe did ya?

I did not, even though I patted him down when he got here. I've been around old West TX guys before, and I tread lightly when I am.

Scott, Robbie still won't let me shoot down that pipe.

You've got a smart wife!!!

I've got four of these to make all together. That's all the 4" conduit I had laying around.
I've got the three big cedars weighed down with cinder blocks spread out so that they are not touching. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't reposition the cedars so they form one big clump, and then I'll just position these new artificial structures around the edges of that?
I will add the additional cross pieces. Of the four or five worn out garden hoses laying around the barn, I think one might have enough strength to at least, not droop straight down.
Thanks all for the advice.
Jeff

The garden hose I used was fairly stiff and would droop when I added it to the top side of the horizontal pipe but it should provide additional body and height to the horizontal pipe structure.
Anyone here, who could recommend a type of drill bit for drilling holes in pvc or conduit pipe? I can get it done but sometimes the drill bit will take out chunks of pipe and not perfect holes for adding additional pipe or garden hose. I have tried several types but still looking for what bit works best.

Thanks
Tracy

FWIW I drill PVC in steps if I want larger holes. Small pilot bit, bigger bit, bigger bit still....I suspect a stepped bit would also work.

Tracy, I use a 7/8" bit for 1/2" pvc, and a 1 1/8" bit for 3/4" pvc. I've had the best luck with forstner bits. Hole saw bits cut the cleanest hole, but they are a PITA. They have to be cleaned after every hole.


Bill, I agree. A large enough step bit did work great, I just didn't have one big enough.

I'd never even thought about old water hose, just black tubing. We've got hundreds of feet of old hose ourselves. I'll add that to the mix.

Unibit. If you have a local Harbor Freight, for the type and volume of holes that you'll be drilling, less expensive is better.

Unibit

Tricks of the trade: Figure out what size hole you need. Take a black magic marker and color the next step larger. Drill so that the color is the next one to go thru the pipe and stop.

If the pipe is thick, then the Unibit might not go deep enough - it's made for thinwall material.

Anyone ever try a spade bit for cutting holes in pvc? Cheap, and no reason to remove the "plug" after every hole?

Sparkie,
Yes, I have...spade bits work great on PVC pipe and 5 gal. buckets as well, when I made and sunk structure in my BOW.

I used the flat blade drill bit (1 1/8") to cut the holes in the 4" conduit. I imagine it would be the same as a spade bit. No issues at all.
Also, Rainman told me to rough up the plastic with sandpaper prior to sinking them in order to get algae to grow on it. I took a round wire brush drill bit and went all over the conduit with it. It scratched it up fairly well.

Bit selection, most types I have tried and the problem I have had is when drilling the larger holes. Like a 2" hole cut into a 4" pvc. The spade or wood bit will grab and will take out chunks and or will grab and twist my wrist due to a jerk caused by excess torque. Or when upsizing from smaller to larger holes, it not so easy to upsize to a 2" hole due to bit selection in the 2" range. And the Forstner or barrel type bits will jump all around till it might take a bite and that may cause for the 2nd hole not lining up and like Al said, it is a pita to remove the core from the barrel.
Snrub, I have looked @ your bit recommendation and I am guessing the unibit will be my next to try. I have looked @ them but the cost has caused me to pass them up in the past, and I buy very little from harber freight due to the poor quality of what they sell (sometimes), but I might have to try harber when looking 2 these expensive unibits.

And Al, I really liked how the garden water hose worked when adding to horizontal stuff. I like the hose not being uniform in the way it lays out from the horz. pipe. And like I said it helps me reducing the loads I take to the landfill.

Tracy

IMO I would be tempted to try a hole saw bit for the largest holes. If getting the plug out of the bit is a problem, I would drill a small hole first to have a way to get a hold of the plug to pull it out of the bit. FWIW I think a stepped bit (unibit) would probably work but will be dang expensive at a 2 inch size.

When drilling those large holes, I think a holesaw will be your best option. Using a 2" spade bit on a curved section of 4" pipe will have such an uneven contact area that it will no doubt try and grab. If you could feed it slow and straight it would most likely work, but trying to do it by hand would be difficult.

I would probably use a spade bit below 1.25", and a hole saw for the bigger bores.

I'll bet a 2" unibit, or stepped bit, would be pretty expensive, Harbor Freight or not.

For those large holes, a drill press with lots of room around it, a piece of light duty, 4" angle iron welded to a base for use as a v-block, and a hole saw will be your best bet, in my opinion.

+1

I am using old waterhose on my structures now. Mine are about 5 ft. tall. Don't be too concerned with the droop. Cut a little shorter pieces. Also the water keeps it from drooping as much as might think. I have photos of mine if you go to my posts. In my opinion they are working great. Good luck. We just got 2 inches of rain here in deep east Texas and it is still pouring!

Would the garden hose retain a straight or slightly curved shape if you shot some expanding foam in one end? Not sure how far the foam would travel down the hose before turning solid but maybe you could do 18" or so sections of garden hose to get it to stay in its designed shape. Probably would need highest density expanding foam.

I love my Harbor Freight unibits for cutting into plastic. They blow through plastic so quickly and almost without effort. I think 1" may be the biggest they sell.