On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:40:07 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:
Tristan wrote:
Link to photo album before pond was full. Further pics to be added
now that its full and stocked. Pavers have been put down on walk
around and lead on to the pierand gazebo has been started on the end
of pier.......currently in a temporary hold due to other necessities
that needto be taken care. The standpipe is 18" diam heavy walled PVC
with a concrete collar of 6 yards of concrete poured around it to
prevent potential for seepage or leakage along the pipe. At least the
pond is now full and grass is on breast of pond so erosion is not a
concern anymore.
http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p121/Sonoma1720/
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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!
Now that looks pretty neat....can't wait to see the photos now it is
full (of water I presume) and stocked.....and if you can ever "wax
lyrical" your experiences of sitting on that pier and just watching the
fish or the sun go down..... :-)
The pier was specifically laid out to face west, as the wife likes to
do just that. Set outside and watch the reflection of a setting sun on
the water....ONce the gazebo is finished hopefully there wil not be a
skeeter issue. I seem to doubt skeeters wil be a problem, but were
fixing to find uot come summer / spring.
I am curious as to how you would deal with drainage in the case of an
overflow or do you have a natural spring to use...
POnd has an 18" diam standpipe that handles overflow. Its not adjusted
to its final height yet, but once it is established, the pipe wil be
cut and the water level set. Then a trash/fish guard wil be installed
on its end to keep fish and trash from entering pipe when water
exceeds pipes height. Water siply flows down pipe vertically, and then
goes horizontally until it exits out of the ponds dam at the bottom
and into a sort of sluceway or drainage ditch. YOu really do not get
all that much water out of it even on heavy rains and certainly no
more than would be in a roadside ditch in a thunderstorm anyhow....
1..I'm also quite
fascinated, and this just isn't aimed at you, as to how you get the
necessary water flow and circulation to stop it becoming just a very
large stagnant pool - but also realise, that at least in the UK, we have
these natural ponds that have no in/out flow that sustain life and
indeed the "village pond" is part of rural life....
My plan is to aerate with air diffusers. I have 4 panels 3'x 4' that
is sort of like a huge assemly of airstones, that are to be spaced out
in pond. Air is supplied by a compressor whgich is connected by
weighted air hose to each diffuser panel, and it is just like an
airstone in the old fish tank. It creates upwards water flow and
breaks up the strata, which further reduces algae outbreaks or low
oxygenated waters. Fountains work also but most folks go for a more
decorative dainty spray which does little for surface movement which
is needed, so an aerator or a simple paddle wheel is more effective
than a decorative type fountain is. Also a fountain that provides
enough surface movement in a larger pond takes a big pump to operate
and is more cxostly and not as effective as diffuser aeration. Most
fountains here in this region acquire a buildup of algae and crud,
where aerators do not and they are easy to clean once a year without a
need to pull them from the pond. We may add a decorative fountain and
lights for aesthetics since thw wife is into that stuff more than me.
She is the boss. At least we do not get ice here. I have had Ice one
time in over 20+ years on one of the other ponds and it wa only paper
thin in a shady area in a small depression.......Just the same, the
aeration I have will do fine at keeping water open if it deed freeze.
Where air bubbles diffuse to the surface it sort of looks like a low
boil of water. As the bubbles rise up from thre depth they actually
spread outwards, and having an area of 20- by 20 feet appear to boil
from a small 3 x 4 is not uncommon. My pond only requires 3 panels but
the setup came with 4 so its not gonna hurt adding in the extra
diffuser panel. I may buy a few more panels and pipe it to the one
other pond as well as the air pump is large enough to handle 3 more
panels.
..I don't have the
land to even attempt such a thing but it has a great appeal - creating
something like this....my experience, albeit 2nd hand is of a 5 acre
lake/pond fed by two 1 acre grow out ponds.....the first fed by a
natural spring, which feeds the second, which feeds the big one...and
eventually all the water goes back to the feeder spring.....amazing when
I saw it as the pond/lake was under 1 foot of ice but you could still
see the hole in the ice where the water swirled out to the spring -
totally like water going down a plug hole....and when you looked at the
outlet to the spring the water was still gushing out....Now with a feed
from a spring/stream you have the current and flow which give the
natural movement......a pond/lake on this scale obviously cannot use
conventional "back-yard" methods....so it becomes a curiosity to
me...even though all I can aspire to is a "back-yard mud puddle"......
No springs, just surface water run off, rain fall and ground
water..thats what 99% of the ponds that are not aquaculture and made
to rasie and sell fish are constructed in the south......I have 6:1
fill ratio on this one and the other two have a 4:1....Eventually alal
3 ponds wil be joined by way of concrete spillways / canals with
barriers. The ponds breast or dam is higher than the back side so if
ponds standpipe ever clogs, water can flow from back and around on
heavily planted soil so it wil never ever have water except for what
falls there to run down over the ponds dam / breast. Virtually
eliminates any potential for a wash out and breach....
I also totally love the concept of the mud pool that you, Jim & Phyllis,
Galen, Gary and whoever the new poster was (can't find the thread for
all the other noise)......and the one where my Dad lives.....should be
back up there in a few months time so will take some pics (wasn't
appropriate last visit)....
I am not into viewing koi in crystal clear water. I have a means to
view them that way if I choose. I like to have koi ni a natural
environement. I find koi do a lot better overall in a large natural
mud pond than they do in a pond managed by pumps, filters, and
chemicals.
IIRC you have a number of "mud ponds" so it would be great to hear not
only from you but the others on the pro's and cons....having only a
small area but a heavy clay soil I did consider it when I built the
ill-fated pond around 7 years ago but wimped out for pond liner....but
talking only a few hundred gallons it probably would not have been
sustainable and would have needed multiple top ups....
IMHO I would not go any smaller than 1/2 acre if its a mud pond.
Smaller may work but water can heat up in some areas quite quickly and
evaporation and top off is a concern since topping off a 1/2 acre pond
or so with a hose would be fairly expensive. What ever size mud pond
yu build its important to lay it out and measure measure andmeasure
some more so yu can get a good close idea of how many gal it contains
just incase. I treat my other ponds 2x a year with PP to oxidize
nutrients etc and to knock out any pathogens that may build up since
lots of other critters also inhabit the ponds. It also does the fish
good as fungus is a big time problem in this region come spring with
lots of warm rains, its not uncommon to see folks ponds with fish and
lots of fungus growths on the fish. Also ponds that are filled
infiltrated by runoff and atmosphereic conditions (hurricanes and
winds etc play a part here) can add junk that causes problems like it
did tomy ponds after Hurricane Ivan. Potasssium Permanganate fixed it
and my friends 2.5 acre pond and we have made dosing our ponds 2x a
year as a prophylactic a routine job every years since, and we have
not had any algae blooms nor health problems and water is pretty darn
clean considering its a natural mud pond.I routinely have 4 to 5 feet
of good visibility . All due to oxidizing the nutrient buildiup....and
reducing turbidity.
Gill
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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!