Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Officially joined the forum

I've been reading threads off and on for a couple of years since we started thinking of building a pond but finally joined so that I can dig in a little more.

We built a pond in west central IL toward the end of last summer (probably around 0.5 ac and ave 15' deep though I haven't actually measured it) and stocked in late fall with lm bass, bluegill, res, and a few channel cat. Trying to get the vegetation established and beach area finished up have been my primary goals so far with many more goals to come...

Two main issues I've dealt with so far is dirty water due to runoff and I'm concerned about possible leaking. As far as runoff goes, that's why I'm working so much on vegetation. The soil isn't the greatest and it's pretty steep slope all the way around so both of those are working against me. When it comes to the possible leak I would say that's the main reason I'm here at the moment. I don't know enough about leaking vs evaporation rates but my gut tells me there's a leak. I've had a measuring pole in there since early spring and while I haven't recorded the rate of loss it seem like a lot. There is a spring about 12' deep (when full) that I wish I would have had plugged when we ran into it so I would at least know that wasn't pulling water out now. My intention is to research what I can find here in other threads to hopefully decide what to do next!

Looking forward to the wealth of knowledge!

Tyler

Welcome to the forum.

If you have steep slopes around the pond that will hinder you in your effort to get vegetation established, and it will hinder you in the future maintaining that said vegetation. Now is the time to taper those slopes back before you get anything established. You will be kicking yourself in the future if you don't.

As for the leak, the way I see it is you have two choices. 1) Bite the bullet, drain it, dry it and get the proper equipment in there to compact the whole pond basin. or 2) Get in touch with teehjaeh57 here on the forum to use the polymer sealant that he sells to seal the bottom and sides of the pond. Talk to him first so you have the best chance of success.

In any case, you are going to need to get heavy equipment back in there to taper the banks anyway.

What type of slope are we talking about anyway? 2:1? steeper? shallower?

Thanks for the reply! The slopes are steep enough coupled with the poor soil that it's not been easy but I'm managing to get things going. I don't know the exactly what the slope is but I can get it mowed when it's dry at least so will be able to manage it well enough. And I did just have a couple of terraces put in (for recreation purposes) on one side so that will make it a bit better also.

I will talk to teehjaeh57, appreciate the suggestion!

TCP, welcome to Pond Boss!

TJ's product is called soilfloc. There are lots of threads you can read if you search using that term.

Many of those threads include discussions about evaporation rates, how to locate leaks, the most economical ways to fix leaks, etc.

Here is a link to one example:Leaking Pond Story

As regards your run off problems: I was going to recommend some terracing, if it was going to be too costly to re-grade all of your slopes. It sounds like you have tried that in one area. You can probably evaluate that area to determine your cost/benefit to building more terraces.

Another option is to build up a little berm around the edge of the pond. Make it wide enough to be attractive and support expected pond activity, such as kids shore fishing etc. That will reduce some of the sediment run off into your pond AND some of the water. In a drought year, you might have to breach the berm in a few small spots to get maximum water into the pond for a season.

A perfectly level berm with good soil (do you need some amendments?) and good vegetation should be capable of catching a lot of your sediment input.

Good luck on getting your pond up to the level of your pond design dream!

Thanks FishinRod, I wish pictures would work as that would give a better overview of what we've done. We did put a berm above the terraces to divert water which will still end up in the pond but I'm going to put a few "stops" along the way to slow it down. The soil (it's all timber soil that hadn't been disturbed in decades) could definitely use some fertility but I'm getting vegetation established well enough without it I think I'll just let it be and build up on it's own. I'll be digging into the past threads looking for tips, tricks, and solutions!

Sorry boys been on the road all week. Tyler feel free to contact me via text or email and we can connect on a call. I provided my contact info in reply to your pm. Happy to help however I can.

TJ