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    Thread: Mud Pond

    1. #1
      lifeoffaith's Avatar
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      Mud Pond

      So I had this great idea hit me yesterday. My wife actually seems open to it which is scary enough as it is. I was originally thinking about a lined pond but then realized that would be difficult and figured it would be easier and hopefully less expensive to do a mud pond. My idea was to build a moat around a play castle for my daughter and future son (going through an adoption for him right now) which would double as a mud pond. What I need to know is 1. what kind of water volume would be absolutely necessary for a mud pond to how many fish 2. what else I absolutely need to ensure a healthy pond. I've seen that aeration is a big part in a mud pond and of course a way to retain water. The good news is that the property has a high content of clay and I probably won't have to add anything to it. The bad news is the property is just over an acre in total and my house is on it and my wife won't be accepting of a 1/4 acre pond, nor would my association/neighbors. I'm thinking a 5' wide moat around an island of about a 12 foot diameter, castle and drawbridge.

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    2. #2
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      Because of the nature of mudponds and the slope you need in the walls to stop wall slippage a 5 foot wide pond would only be around 2 foot deep maximum. If you are limited to that width even with a liner pond you will need to build a cement collar for the liner at the very least and with no liner you'll need a vertical block/stone wall to get more depth for fish.
      Stocking rate will depend on water quality and water quality will depend on volume in an unfiltered pond. If there is no filtration you will at least need to aerate. Personally for that small a sized pond I'd go with a liner and run some filtration. And because you are incorporating a pond in your childs play area you will need to think seriously about safety with small children so you will need to fence it securely. A fishless pump fed shallow ornamental stream bed may be more practical and safer around the fort until the kids are bigger?
      Last edited by Bindi; 09-24-2012 at 02:59 AM.
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    3. #3
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      Mud ponds are muddy!
      Mud ponds with fish are even muddier!
      The sides are slick and the bottoms suck your boots off!
      I think you'll be happier with a hard surface waterway with water that can be drained and cleaned and maybe chlorinated. But, no fish. A moat around a play castle would be pretty clever and fun for kids to splash in. No sick fish emergencies, either.
      IMHO



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    5. #5
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      Quote Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
      So I had this great idea hit me yesterday. My wife actually seems open to it which is scary enough as it is. I was originally thinking about a lined pond but then realized that would be difficult and figured it would be easier and hopefully less expensive to do a mud pond. My idea was to build a moat around a play castle for my daughter and future son (going through an adoption for him right now) which would double as a mud pond. What I need to know is 1. what kind of water volume would be absolutely necessary for a mud pond to how many fish 2. what else I absolutely need to ensure a healthy pond. I've seen that aeration is a big part in a mud pond and of course a way to retain water. The good news is that the property has a high content of clay and I probably won't have to add anything to it. The bad news is the property is just over an acre in total and my house is on it and my wife won't be accepting of a 1/4 acre pond, nor would my association/neighbors. I'm thinking a 5' wide moat around an island of about a 12 foot diameter, castle and drawbridge.

      For a "pond" that size I think you would be limited to a couple of fish.
      people like to vehemently defend their purchases and find it incredulous that anything could be better

    6. #6
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      Sorry that I am not addressing your questions, but I'm not comfortable with the concept as I understand it...

      I love the moat/castle idea. Unless your kids are over 12 years old, or the pond is enclosed by a pool fence, and they are not allowed to play there without adult supervision, I would not make the moat more than a couple of inches deep.

      Would be great to be able to combine the two ideas, but water and children need constant supervision. Tragedies happen fast.

      Regards, Eric

    7. #7
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      I love Bindi idea for the moat. Maybe you could do a shallow stream around the moat and have it flow into the pond area further away that is fenced in to protect the kids. Alot of this would depend of the ages of the kids too.
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    8. #8
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      I'm revisiting the mud pond idea. No moat though. I'm just curious about the minimum size you would need for about 10-15 fish. I'm sure this question has been answered somewhere here in the mud pond forum, but the search engine never seems to work for me. My soil has lots of clay in it, and I think it would hold water without problems at all. Then I would just need air stones, correct? I guess I'm just starting to look into the idea of a mud pond again, and I am not sure what I need to make it successful. Thanks!

    9. #9
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      This is a picture of a 60 x 70 x 9' deep mud pond that built 4 years ago. I started with 20 koi 8 to 12" and now have 100s. We net koi and give the better looking ones away. We kept track last year and gave 267 small koi away and with at least 10 to 1 cull ratio disposed of 2,700 ugly koi (bass food for my big pond). It is impossible to keep only males or females and it is impossible to keep them from spawning multiple times if you constantly add fresh water. The pond is 100% gravel bottom and sides but with koi it is impossible to keep the water clear. I add approximately 9000 gallons of water a week and use a 40 watt air pump for aeration.
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    10. #10
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      Hi lifeoffaith
      You could line it first if your in any doubt about your water table and clay !
      I have done this in many situations and if you line the banks with coir coconut hair works well to grass the banks and gives extra strength and you could add a concrete
      base one end and a monk drian and over flow to help control water levels and a liner works well when you get some drought years or problems not getting enough rain !.
      It all depends on budget and what you want to do with it and it helps to cover all the things that may go wrong as well as its more difficult to correct them after the event !.
      so you have it all in place as and when needed !.
      and depending on your source water a GH= buffer like limestone will help keep algae under control and clearer water also due to a good mineral content and will help oxygen content as well in summer months also keeping it all in balance .
      and it all depends on what size the 10-15 koi are or fish you want to put in it but you need to what they could potentially grow to not the size they are now to get the best out of your new mud pond and it's potential as stock rates are important here and that's also about maintence as well and what plants are used around its banks and in it !.







      problems
      Last edited by wayne1; 03-06-2013 at 07:26 AM.

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