Getting ready to dig my own 1/3 to 1/2 acre pond with a excavator and dump truck rental. Both neighbors are into helping me. One neighbor wants all my fill dirt for his low spots and the other farm neighbor reminded me I have tiles running through this area that ties into his fields and down to the culvert and then finally to our watershed. I've run a backhoe before and also drove a 13 ton track vehicle in the Army so I think I can handle the equipment. The only thing I'm doing different is maybe going deeper to about 10-12-15 feet. Up here in Michigan we can get a foot or two of ice and on some small ponds it can freeze right through and kill all the fish. I had about 8 - 10 inches of top soil, 2-3 feet of rough sand, hit clay mixed with water and gravel around 4 feet. I'll make a small edge for small fish habitat...then a gentle slope down. I'm guessing I work from outside the pond around, but I'm going to have to work from the center too. I'm going to watch some more videos and I'm sure I can figure it out. Thanks for all your help.
Another great vid Chris...You have the best vids on here,I look forward everyday to see whats new.I like the way you explain the details on what exactly your gonna be doing.Great operating and smooth on equipment.Keep up the great work-Cant wait for the next vid !!
Will this thing fill up naturally or do you need to pipe in water? Is there any kind of non pourous base material to add to keep from fast drainage? how deep do you need to go to sustain fish habitat?
Wow I live between a heavy flow brook and a town rain run off so I figured I would be awesome and hand dig my 3x3 shiner pond for a natural bait habitat. Start to think I am Not thinking BIG Enough! Yes that’s in feet for you slower folks ;-)
OK, I have to ask. In another series of videos you were repairing a dam that was leaking because (as you thought) a piece of tree had been buried in the dam and rotted over time, and the water found its way thru the dam by following that rot path. And in this video, you purposely buried a stump in the dam. So what is to prevent the stump roots from rotting and causing the same problem you fixed in another dam?
Lots more can be learned in this forum.... Join for ongoing new tips like *clearing algae without trying* plus.google.com/communities/106122096790923657121 Those yellow flowers in this video are native plants called golden rod. They look great around the edge of ponds, especially when mixed in with many other plants.
Wow. Sorry but very wasteful with your raw materials, the wood, the top soil etc. All that top soil could be used up around the edges of the pond to build up the plant material or even for raised beds some where else on your property.
I would have dug it much deeper. It seems to shallow to me. If the customer wants to keep fish they will probably haft to add a water fountain to ad oxygen to the water. Could've been a lot better instead of digging a pothole.
