Pond construction begins

[koifishgirl]

I have seen his ponds and what is to stop the water from going under the liner? I wish he would post on this topic as I need some help and he might just have the answer I need. I can see that it would stop the sides from caving in but Im not sure about the holding of water. If this works that will solve my problem, still have the mud ponds and be able to get them full of water.

[Eclipsar]

Maurice explained that he dug the hole, spread something over the bottom to stop the water going through the bottom, cannot think of the name of the stuff he spread over the bottom at the moment, then put clay over the bottom, which covered some of the side liner, but the line could have been deeper and covered with the stuff on the bottom and the clay then there would be no chance of the water going under the liner.

Will try and come up with the name for the stuff spread on the bottom.

Hope this makes sense

Regards
Chris

[bekko]

Maurice might have spread bentonite. It swells when wet and helps seal the bottom. I am sure Maurice did his cost calculations. However, I would have been inclined to line the whole pond and then put soil back on top of the liner if I wanted it absolutely leak-proof. With an 8-10 inch layer of soil over the liner, you can drive machinery on the bottom to work the soil between crops. Sometimes the layered clay approach become problematic when you start walking around in the pond at harvest. Every time you take a step and your foot sinks into the bottom, you are effectively poking a hole in the clay barrier.

However, there is something to be said for a leaky pond too. Some of the best ponds (in terms of production) have percolation problems. The percolation may improve the bottom conditions. Perhaps the depth of aerobic conditions and biological activity is a little deeper in a leaky pond. I could also be that you have to keep pumping water to keep the leaky pond full and the increased water exchange accounts for higher productivity.

KFG, your problems are going to go away. The question is, will the ponds be sealed by next March? From the looks of it, you have good soil for pond building. However, the construction process disturbed the soil so it needs some time to work itself back into an impermeable layer.

The important thing right now is to get a little water in the bottom of each pond - even if its only an inch at one end. Then fertilize to keep it green and nasty. Spreading cotton seed meal at a rate of 1000 pounds per acre will probably help too. The biological activity will create sludge which will be carried down by the percolation and will slow the rate of water movement. You can think of the leaky pond bottom as a big screen, or perhaps a bead filter bed. When enough gunk is pulled through the screen, it will clog. The more fertilizer (within reason), the more biological activity. The more bio activity, the more gunk. The more gunk, the faster the pond seals.

As the pond seals itself, the puddle will grow to cover the bottom and the water depth will slowly increase. It sounds like you can probably count on pumping 24/7 for the next year. My guess is that they will hold enough water to grow fry next spring. However, its important to get the bottoms wet and get some biology happening down there while its still warm.

-steve hopkins

[Maurice]

If you have looked at my web site you will see how I reduce water loss through made-up sides.

http://www.koi-uk.co.uk/koi_farm_page2.htm

The ponds are dug into the bed clay and sit just above the water table.

One things for certain, YOU AIN'T GOT ENOUGH WATER.

and if you're working out your pond gallonage from the water you are pumping in, you'll be miles out. Cus it's all running away.
Maurice.

[koifishgirl]

Thanks Steve and Maurice. I have seen big ponds around here stay full with less water than I have, so when they become water tight Im thinking running my water maybe 8hrs a day. I think I will split the difference in water going to the one pond into the other and just have 3 gallons a minute running into both, It might take a while to get both of them full, but at least I can get some good green gunk in them. The other ponds should do better than the pond I am trying to get full now as their is more red clay, the pond that is filling with water now filled quick the first 2 and a half feet within a week it was doing fine, then the water level came up the the top soil and it has been hard trying to get this one to top off. The way I have my pipe work in one pond will fill then the other and so on, so that what Im worried about is the one pond filling so I can get water to the other ponds. I do things so backwords sometimes I started with the lower pond and should have started with the upper ponds Im not going to waste any more time on getting water into the other ponds and get some sluge going, heck grass is starting to grow in them.

[koifishgirl]

Water still not good and green so I added six more cups of ferterlize and took a few pics. Also started the water running to the other pond and put 12 cups of feterlizer to that pond, going back out today to take the hose pipe up and put a tee in the pipe and turn equal amount of water to each pond. I think you can tell from the last pics that the water is green its just not pea soup yet.

[Bob Hart]

Excuse me for being ignorant, but I thought that in Japan they turned over the clay and then compacted it again. The clay in the pond you are filling just doesnt look compacted. If it wasn't compacted, wouldn't the water just find a way through easier?

Am I getting this totally wrong? Perhaps I misinterpreted the pictures I've seen wrongly.

[koifishgirl]

Hi Bob the clay was pack very good when the ponds were dug, the rain has softend the top layer a bit but when the water goes in the pond it will hold. The pond that I am having trouble with has to much top soil around the top and will not hold water well, the other ponds have more red clay and will hold water fine. I am thinking of filling in this pond as I dont want to dig it out deeper, and move the water to one of the other ponds or I might just keep this pond to use as a drainage pond when I empty one of the ponds, it holds water up to about 3 feet but thats it.

[koifishgirl]

You guys are not going to believe this I have fry in my mud pond. I was shocked as I did not think any of the koi were old enough or even big enough to spawn. The largest female is only about 10 inches, I have what looks to be a very large # of fry. I just cant believe this, Im glad that I ferterlized the pond and it is good and green now so the fry should have plenty to eat. I still can not believe that the koi would spawn I thought they were to young.

[koifishgirl]

The fry look to be maybe two to three weeks old. How long should I wait before I drag the pond and seperate the koi?

Also what size net do I need to buy in order to get them out? What about tobies?