New 1.5 Acre Koi Pond Being Dug - Suggestions?

[KoiNC]

Hi all- I'm moving to Newburgh, Indiana and as part of my new home prep I have a pristine location for a 1.5acre pond which I intend to use for water plants and Koi- and on a very rare occasion probably a swim here and there as it will be pretty deep.

My question is this: What would you suggest for this pond? I want to make sure I'm not missing anything here up front that could make life a lot easier down the road for me, or the fish. The pond is not stream-fed, but it is being built on top of a natural "dry stream", meaning it will get a lot of new water from rains. It is also nestled into the woods on one side, so it will get leaf matter in the fall. I imagine it will be pretty dirty for a year or so, but then likely good clear water. Will of course take the "normal pond building measure" such as overflow, spillway, and a 3' ledge around the edges.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[cindy]

Are you doing a mud pond or liner? Might want to do a soil survey with your local Natural resource office. They can pull up a soils map.

[coolwon]

How porous is the dams natural earth for leaching water?

You might consider montmorillinite to reduce water loss thru the soil as they do with

the mud ponds in Japan.

No idea about the avalability or cost.

Just offering a possibility.

Could be worth a look.

[KoiNC]

Are you doing a mud pond or liner? Might want to do a soil survey with your local Natural resource office. They can pull up a soils map.

It will be a "mud pond" but the soil is a lot like KY (this is just across the river in IN) so it won't be "muddy". The area I am using already holds water naturally, they will dig it down to about 16' deep at the dam. There's a ton of ponds in this area and they seem to be naturally clear so must be decent soils. Should be a pretty nice setup for fish life.

[cindy]

It will be a "mud pond" but the soil is a lot like KY (this is just across the river in IN) so it won't be "muddy". The area I am using already holds water naturally, they will dig it down to about 16' deep at the dam. There's a ton of ponds in this area and they seem to be naturally clear so must be decent soils. Should be a pretty nice setup for fish life.

Nice. I live outside Louisville but my farm in Hart county has loamy sand even though ponds around the county have clay soil. I had to have a liner for my 1/2 acre pond

[BWG]

Even with neighbors with ponds soil in your area can still vary. Best advice from someone that has built many is to dig a minimum of 4 test holes spread across the 1.5 acre site and do an evaluation. My neighbor didn't and wasted over 30k for a dry hole. Wasted another 15k trying to seal a 3 acre pond with bentonite.

[stephen]

Even with neighbors with ponds soil in your area can still vary. Best advice from someone that has built many is to dig a minimum of 4 test holes spread across the 1.5 acre site and do an evaluation. My neighbor didn't and wasted over 30k for a dry hole. Wasted another 15k trying to seal a 3 acre pond with bentonite.

Excellent post!!!

Same here. A pond of mine that was 20 miles away had high alkalinity/hardness with a high pH vs new pond with zero hardness and pH in the crash zone 24/7.

Also the water wants to be at "IT's LEVEL" very badly. I got flatbeds of clay from Wyoming and put in 70,000 pounds to no avail. Artesian welled in 100,000 plus gallons daily to keep it at desired level.

Another pond that I dug less than a mile away was held water amazingly well. Go Figure.

Research the soil 1st with mud ponds

Below some of current and past mud ponds Soils 180 degrees apart all in close proximity!


Good Luck!!

[cindy]

Stephen. Incredible ponds

[KoiNC]

Beautiful ponds, I hope mine will rank with those in about 3 years.

Thank you for all the comments. The location I am building the pond was a natural low with a dry stream bed (wet in the rain of course). We dug multiple holes to test the ground and the grader was very pleased with what he found (he's build literally dozens of ponds in the area). That said, it was actually too wet- so he dug a 4' channel about 200' to let the surrounding ground dry and drain over the winter. So the plan now is to build sometime after the new year. I'll try to grab some pictures of the progression!

Then of course once it is in, I get the joy of waiting a year for it to clear, likely. And also turn and balance a time or two before I can put anything in there excepts plants. But year one, I am going to load it with lilies and lotus for sure.