I've not built a pond of any kind myself, but I have done some excavating and have some food for thought...

1.) Digging a rectangular pond with shelves is easy in soils like you describe (no rock) so long as you start with the top shelf and the work your way down with out driving back over the upper shelves. This would risk a cave-in while your on the shelf. Scary.

2.) Expect the shelves to cave-in after the pond fills (or during) so make the shelves wide enough to account for that if you want some flats remaining.

3.) Will you be aerating the pond? I think a sloped bottom will circulate better with aeration compared to a shelved bottom.

4.) Will you be swimming in the pond? Shelves can be more dangerous, especially in loose soils due to cave-ins.

5.) Part of me likes the shelves concept, but then another part says why not cut the shelves out and make it sloped all the way around... This removes more of the soil in the same foot print and leaves less to slide back in and start filling in the bottom.


Not quite two cents, but it's free and welcome to the forums!


Fish on!,
Noel