Pond (large) construction
Discussion
Does anyone have any experience in building large ponds?
I am just about to have planning passed to make a 0.4 acre pond in a 1 acre field at the side of my house which I have recently bought. I have dug test pits as deep as I can by hand and it just pure clay and percolation tests have shown very low rates of percolation. The pond will be about 6ft deep and be designed with coarse fishing in mind.
My worry is as it is going to be a pond filled by rainwater and surface run off only, will there be a sufficient amount of rain to fill it and keep it filled and will I need to put in some form of drainage such as a monk or a standpipe to stop it overflowing at times of heavy rain and snow melt.
As I am in Scotland and have to get a license to stock non native coarse fish it is beneficial if I do not have an overflow link to the little burn at the bottom and wondering if percolation through the topsoil will be great enough to cope with any excess water. The only thing is if I don't build in a standpipe at the start it will be far harder to make one after the pond is finished and filled.
Hoping the digger driver will arrive in the next week or so to start and need to make some decisions quite quickly. Was also thinking about putting a pond building diary on here with photos if anyone was interested.
I am just about to have planning passed to make a 0.4 acre pond in a 1 acre field at the side of my house which I have recently bought. I have dug test pits as deep as I can by hand and it just pure clay and percolation tests have shown very low rates of percolation. The pond will be about 6ft deep and be designed with coarse fishing in mind.
My worry is as it is going to be a pond filled by rainwater and surface run off only, will there be a sufficient amount of rain to fill it and keep it filled and will I need to put in some form of drainage such as a monk or a standpipe to stop it overflowing at times of heavy rain and snow melt.
As I am in Scotland and have to get a license to stock non native coarse fish it is beneficial if I do not have an overflow link to the little burn at the bottom and wondering if percolation through the topsoil will be great enough to cope with any excess water. The only thing is if I don't build in a standpipe at the start it will be far harder to make one after the pond is finished and filled.
Hoping the digger driver will arrive in the next week or so to start and need to make some decisions quite quickly. Was also thinking about putting a pond building diary on here with photos if anyone was interested.
I have no idea about the answers to your questions but I would love to see some photos/diary.
There are some good forums on http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/ that might be able to help with your queries.
There are some good forums on http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/ that might be able to help with your queries.
cerbfan said:
Does anyone have any experience in building large ponds?
I am just about to have planning passed to make a 0.4 acre pond in a 1 acre field at the side of my house which I have recently bought. I have dug test pits as deep as I can by hand and it just pure clay and percolation tests have shown very low rates of percolation. The pond will be about 6ft deep and be designed with coarse fishing in mind.
My worry is as it is going to be a pond filled by rainwater and surface run off only, will there be a sufficient amount of rain to fill it and keep it filled and will I need to put in some form of drainage such as a monk or a standpipe to stop it overflowing at times of heavy rain and snow melt.
As I am in Scotland and have to get a license to stock non native coarse fish it is beneficial if I do not have an overflow link to the little burn at the bottom and wondering if percolation through the topsoil will be great enough to cope with any excess water. The only thing is if I don't build in a standpipe at the start it will be far harder to make one after the pond is finished and filled.
Hoping the digger driver will arrive in the next week or so to start and need to make some decisions quite quickly. Was also thinking about putting a pond building diary on here with photos if anyone was interested.
Small pond then I am just about to have planning passed to make a 0.4 acre pond in a 1 acre field at the side of my house which I have recently bought. I have dug test pits as deep as I can by hand and it just pure clay and percolation tests have shown very low rates of percolation. The pond will be about 6ft deep and be designed with coarse fishing in mind.
My worry is as it is going to be a pond filled by rainwater and surface run off only, will there be a sufficient amount of rain to fill it and keep it filled and will I need to put in some form of drainage such as a monk or a standpipe to stop it overflowing at times of heavy rain and snow melt.
As I am in Scotland and have to get a license to stock non native coarse fish it is beneficial if I do not have an overflow link to the little burn at the bottom and wondering if percolation through the topsoil will be great enough to cope with any excess water. The only thing is if I don't build in a standpipe at the start it will be far harder to make one after the pond is finished and filled.
Hoping the digger driver will arrive in the next week or so to start and need to make some decisions quite quickly. Was also thinking about putting a pond building diary on here with photos if anyone was interested.
Ours is somewhat larger, and has dropped 18" from winter norms in the last six months, which in turn puts it about 36" down from top level. It's fed by run off and a couple of natural springs underneath, but the groundwater level is so low in the county I doubt they're contributing anything at the moment.
You would be wise to be using sheepfoot compaction and pond clay if you want to keep the thing vaguely watertight and controlled. If you just want a wet hold in the ground, then just dig until it's the size you want and then sit back and wait. The overflow can be put in anytime you want, and you could perfectly well use a brick/concrete lined spillway with a sluice gate so you could control the flow (and obviously grilles / gratings across it to keep your fish in place.
Remember too, fish will grow to the size of the body of water - so whatever you put in there (and how many) will have a theoretical max size.
RedLeicester said:
Remember too, fish will grow to the size of the body of water - so whatever you put in there (and how many) will have a theoretical max size.
Bit of an old wives tale that, fish growth will be determined by lots of things water quality, O2/ORP levels, diet, competition for and availability of food to name but a few. A healthy fish should grow to the size that nature intended irrespective of the the volume of water (within reason) provided its needs are correctly met.You need to dig the pond to shape size and depth and then remove another foot deeper, once this is done then you need to puddle the clay basically knead the clay and put back in layers ad this well help back the clay even more waterproof and give you a good base.
Also install the stand pipe for filling the pond up just keep hidden underground.
Also install the stand pipe for filling the pond up just keep hidden underground.
RedLeicester said:
Small pond then
just 'cos you've got acres of lake. Flash git. 
To the OP, have you got something feeding this pond? Aquifers or ditches? It's probably worth having a run off of some sort, but I doubt it would run that often.
Will you build an island in it for ducks?
Cheers for the responses looks like some people on here have some experience which is what I was hoping. Below is the field and I own up to the tree on the far side, I have a fence installed now but no photo at the moment.
And below is the plan for the pond although I think the shape will change a bit from this depending on how things go with the digging. The small pond is going to be a wildlife pond without any fish in it and be a lot shallower. I plan to pump water from the main pond up to this and then let it flow back down a stone lined waterfall. The top pond will be circa 6' above the main pond.
The field itself is pure clay so I was hoping, this being the case that I would not have to puddle it as well but maybe I do. For around 6 months of the year there is a constant large puddle in the centre of the field and it is completely water logged which gave me the idea for the pond in the first place. The test pit that I dug a couple of weekends ago had dropped about 20cm, however we have had quite a lot of rain for the past couple of days and even though it was covered up with a board it completely filled again and actually spilling out over the top. This makes me think that a stand pipe overflow would have to be installed. I see someone mentioned a spill way but I cannot use this as whatever I have will have to be fully screened to ensure that none of the fish or fry could escape.
As for fish size there are plenty of 1/3 acre ponds around with 20lb plus Carp in it which is what I'd be hoping for eventually.
And below is the plan for the pond although I think the shape will change a bit from this depending on how things go with the digging. The small pond is going to be a wildlife pond without any fish in it and be a lot shallower. I plan to pump water from the main pond up to this and then let it flow back down a stone lined waterfall. The top pond will be circa 6' above the main pond.
The field itself is pure clay so I was hoping, this being the case that I would not have to puddle it as well but maybe I do. For around 6 months of the year there is a constant large puddle in the centre of the field and it is completely water logged which gave me the idea for the pond in the first place. The test pit that I dug a couple of weekends ago had dropped about 20cm, however we have had quite a lot of rain for the past couple of days and even though it was covered up with a board it completely filled again and actually spilling out over the top. This makes me think that a stand pipe overflow would have to be installed. I see someone mentioned a spill way but I cannot use this as whatever I have will have to be fully screened to ensure that none of the fish or fry could escape.
As for fish size there are plenty of 1/3 acre ponds around with 20lb plus Carp in it which is what I'd be hoping for eventually.
Paulbav said:
Bit of an old wives tale that, fish growth will be determined by lots of things water quality, O2/ORP levels, diet, competition for and availability of food to name but a few. A healthy fish should grow to the size that nature intended irrespective of the the volume of water (within reason) provided its needs are correctly met.re: big pond. definitely definitely clay line it...unless the area you're in has a good number of shallow land lying bits of water. Otherwise it'll vary so much over the year it will seriously p
s off the inhabitants IMO. overflowing could be dealt with using a bog garden all along one edge (which is cool anyway)I'm hoping to lose most of it on site by raising the Northern part substantially and flattening it out. I'll loose some more around the site and any remainder will have to get trucked out, I'm hoping this will be minimal as it starts to get expensive otherwise.
Pond depth will be 6' but will have 1m wide shelf round the whole pond with a depth of 2' and an island so spoil should not be as much as it initially looks.
Got to remember to install the intercom system so I can buzz the wife and get her to bring a brew out whilst I'm fishing.
Pond depth will be 6' but will have 1m wide shelf round the whole pond with a depth of 2' and an island so spoil should not be as much as it initially looks.
Got to remember to install the intercom system so I can buzz the wife and get her to bring a brew out whilst I'm fishing.
I recently purchased a property with a pond around the same size as the one the OP's proposing. One of the neighbours gave me some photos of the pond under construction around 10 yearts ago(below). Depths and profiles are pretty much as stated, but with a maximum depth in places of around 8'. Soil is clay, and the pond is topped up by rain-water run-off from the property which is uphill and around 300 metres away. I had to top up via standpipe for 4 days recently. It gained about an inch! Better check I'm not on a meter...
Then...
Now...
The seller told me that there are 2,000 fish in there, but I take that with a pinch of salt, although I have seen a few carp around 5-6lb break the surface occasionally. Pond's not been fished yet.
Then...
Now...
The seller told me that there are 2,000 fish in there, but I take that with a pinch of salt, although I have seen a few carp around 5-6lb break the surface occasionally. Pond's not been fished yet.
How on earth are these ponds, more like small lakes 
Seriously awesome though, i'd love to do this.
Years ago i worked for a bloke who had a small pond lake thing. Iirc it was maybe 30mx30 ish and a few feet deep.
I'll tell you how it worked....
He had fields on the back of his house which were hideously wet and muddy making them un useable. Land draingae was fitted every meter or so apart down the length of the field. At the end of the land drains was an 8" diameter pipe which picked up all the water from the land drains.
This then fed into this pond.
On the other side of the pond was an overflow which went down a small ditch maybe 200ft long which was within a meter of huge great conifers, this then joined into the proper drainage system out on the road.
Two things.
I was the poor bd who had to dig the overflow trench, my god i will never ever forget that, the weather was horrific, as we were digging the trench it was filling from the overflow, i was so wet lol. And imagine what its like digging within 1 meter of conifers which were maybe 40ft high !
Secondly this wasn't really a pond as such, more of a way of dealing with the excess water. That said there were lots of fish in there, loads of koi actually as you could often see them breaking the surface.
Not sure how well it lasted as parted company not long after but was a pretty cool thing in general (oh and the field became totally useable all year round). It really did work well though i must say for the time i was there.
Seriously awesome though, i'd love to do this.
Years ago i worked for a bloke who had a small pond lake thing. Iirc it was maybe 30mx30 ish and a few feet deep.
I'll tell you how it worked....
He had fields on the back of his house which were hideously wet and muddy making them un useable. Land draingae was fitted every meter or so apart down the length of the field. At the end of the land drains was an 8" diameter pipe which picked up all the water from the land drains.
This then fed into this pond.
On the other side of the pond was an overflow which went down a small ditch maybe 200ft long which was within a meter of huge great conifers, this then joined into the proper drainage system out on the road.
Two things.
I was the poor b
d who had to dig the overflow trench, my god i will never ever forget that, the weather was horrific, as we were digging the trench it was filling from the overflow, i was so wet lol. And imagine what its like digging within 1 meter of conifers which were maybe 40ft high !Secondly this wasn't really a pond as such, more of a way of dealing with the excess water. That said there were lots of fish in there, loads of koi actually as you could often see them breaking the surface.
Not sure how well it lasted as parted company not long after but was a pretty cool thing in general (oh and the field became totally useable all year round). It really did work well though i must say for the time i was there.
JFReturns said:
Nothing to add, other than this is awesome and looking forward to updates.
Oh, I also think that fish size is determind by the amount of room they have.
Only in the sense that if you put a lion in cramped cage and feed it poorly it would not be as large as one kept in a huge safari park with space and good diet...but you dont say "lions grow to the size of their home"Oh, I also think that fish size is determind by the amount of room they have.
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