Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Creating Habitat

Before the pond fills !!!!
Before my pond filled with water, I built fish structures that fish love. I built two large artificial reefs using rocks, bricks and building blocks, leaving tunnels all over. Also, I lashed 9 old tires together into a pyramid, 4,3,2. I drilled holes in the tops of all of the tires to let the air out when they were in water, except the top two which hold air and keep the whole thing upright. I weighted the bottom four tires with rocks and pulled the whole thing onto the ice, and it sank when the ice melted. I built a wood 4 ft square base of 2" x 2" wood with about 40 2"x 2" x 4 ft fingers rising upward for fish structure and weighted the base with rocks. I put in a dump truck of gravel 4 inches deep and 6 feet dia in 2 feet of water at intervals around the pond for spawning beds. Also, now is a good time to put in posts if you plan to build a deck or pier in the future. I was racing against rising water while trying to get my post in for my gazebo deck.

John

John,

What kind of posts are you using for the gazebo deck??

Russ

Hi Russ,

I use the green treated post of 4x6 or 6x6. I forget now. It's been 10 years and they are holding up just fine. I painted everything with a brown deck penitrating coating before the pond filled. If you to to my home page you can see it about eight years ago. It still looks the same.

John

http://hometown.aol.com/jmonroe85

Hi Russ,

I use the green treated post of 4x6 or 6x6. I forget now. It's been 10 years and they are holding up just fine. I painted everything with a brown deck penitrating coating before the pond filled. If you to to my home page you can see it about eight years ago. It still looks the same.

John

http://hometown.aol.com/jmonroe85 [img]http://hometown.aol.com/jmonroe85[/img]

Hi Russ, I used 4 inch diameter PVC pipe for my posts drilled them for bolts and then with the bolts in place put 4 pieces of rebar in them and then filled with concrete. Very sturdy and will never rot. Check them out. Bob Bob\'s Homepage

Bob and John,

Thanks for the reply. I like the idea of the PVC pipe and concrete. Its just the project I need to use up those pieces of PVC pipe I've had lying around the place. Thanks again.

Russ

John Monroe,

I read your reply, under How should I shape my pond, in which you talk about creating spawning beds used by your bluegill. I'm going to have a small pond excavated and the layout offers me the option to incorporate spawning beds in a shaded area of the pond or in full sunlight. I'm curious, where are your spawning beds located? Thanks.

Russ

Hi Russ,

When I built my pond I didn't have any shade and I put the spawning beds at equal intervals around the pond. It's been a while but I think I put in around 17. I have some shade now from some trees I planted on the leeward side of the pond so the leaves blow away from the pond in the usually prevailing winds in the fall. But watching the blue gills, they seem to like the warmest water in that they would stay in the shallowest part of the water as possible but on the gravel beds. Now that my pond is 10 years old the gravel beds silt over but when the blue gills start spawning they all ways find them and clean them off before spawning. Then the ones that didn't have the room to spawn on the gravel beds would spawn in the mud. So you wouldn't have to put in spawning beds but I have read that the blue gills have more success spawning their eggs on the rocks where the mud does cover some eggs and kill them.

John

Concerning a gazebo or dock, I am getting bids on a 14 X 24 covered "cabana" that will go out into my lake - I would prefer the stable approach of driving piers into the lake bottom even though cost is much higher compared to a floating dock - several contractors are suggesting the floating approach but I am concerned about movement when there are more than a few people on the dock - anyone have experience with a larger floating dock, the pluses and minuses of it , and the stability? Thanks Tim

Hi John,

One plus about the planning stage of pond construction is the latitude it gives in laying out the entire project. Since I have the option, I'm going to experiment and have the contractor excavate two areas for spawning beds, one in full sunlight and another in partial shade. For beds, I plan on using the approach outlined by Rich Bowling in the July-August 2000 issue of PondBoss. Weather permitting, the contractor should be on site by the end of the month.

Russ

Hmm, when/if we build one, I might throw some space saver spare tires in (narrow) and fill them with gravel. Think that would be a good idea to keep the silt from diluting my spawning beds as bad?

J.

In past issues of Pond Boss, barrel bottoms were used for fish beds. I went to a local tire dealer and got old used farm tractor tires. Sliced them in half, resulting in two large saucers. Cut out the center ring (that mounts on rim) so the side walls will lie down. Stapled landscape fabric to cover the hole ( so mud would not come up through hole). Placed the tires in shallow water and filled with pea gravel. Works great, just a lot of work pouring in all that rock with a five gallon bucket over the side of a jon boat.

Harv