How to build a mud pond?

[koibabykoi]

Hello everyone, I want to build a 8x20 KOI mud pond in my backyard without using liner. Ground water is within 3 feet of the ground surface (I do have a 8x11 pond with liner right now so I know and there is a natural pond for the goft course about 50 yards away in the back of my house that has clean and high water year round.

I don't know anything else about mud/natural pond.

I guess maybe I want to know how deep do I have to dig to bring the water level up near to the ground level?

Your help is much appreciated.

[cindy]

First thing you need to do is find out what type of soils you have. Mine is sandy/loamy so no chance. I'm not sure where you live so I can't look up your soil types. Looking to see if the link I use is nation wide.

[cindy]

http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.go...oilSurvey.aspx type in your address, below that there is a place for state and county.

OUtline your selected site with the square ADI and then click soil map.

This is mine. I had no chance without a liner.

[RichToyBox]

Without a clay liner to allow the water to be brought up close to the surface, it will just stay at ground water elevation. If the ground water is close to the surface, you may not want to line it and just rely on the ground water to maintain the water level.

Mud ponds are typically much larger than the one you are proposing. They rely on small fish populations and mother nature to filter the small amount of waste. As you get smaller, then it becomes more like a typical liner pond and needs to have filtration to process the ammonia, and other wastes, and a mud pond is going to be muddy, so it cannot be processed through our normal filter systems.

Koi like to excavate looking for the bugs, crayfish, and other natural foods, and will widen the mud pond over time, filling in the bottom, so it is a good idea to make the slopes fairly flat going down to the bottom. If the top were only 8 foot wide at the top, then the maximum depth would probably be no more than 2 foot safely. I would recommend that site be made into another liner pond, rather than a mud pond. Just not enough room.

[koibabykoi]

Thank you guys, I was just curious and want to know more about the mud/natural pond, but I think i'll stick with the liner.