Digging an existing pond to make deeper ???

[tprice]

Some what ignorant when it comes to ponds

Son in law/daughter have about a 1-2 acre pond on their land , seems kind of shallow and has some weeds and crap in edges and about half way across pond

Best I can tell the deepest part at dam is about 6-7’


Have a buddy with excavator that said he could dig it out and make it deeper and maybe even enlarge it some


About only knowledge I have is what I have read and same for SIL

Any guidance on this would be appreciated ,looking at doing this sometime this spring early summer

[Carolina Counsel]

Just make sure he doesn’t dig through the core.

[CurLee]

What's your question? To make it deeper, remove more dirt.

[charlie horse]

Full send buddy with excavator..take video(s)

[Fowlmouth30]

Next thread: Why won’t my son in laws pond hold any water?

[tprice]

Just make sure he doesn’t dig through the core.

Next thread: Why won’t my son in laws pond hold any water?

That was my concern, some things I have read mention disturbing the hard bottom and then pond would not hold water any more ??


Was wondering if we better off to leave well enough alone. Pond has been there at least 25+ yrs

[wob]

Leave well enough alone unless you have time and money to throw away on a hole in the ground.

But, I'm cheap.

[Palmetto Bug]

Is it a water-table pond or is it fed from some water source? If you dig a hole 50 feet from the pond, how far down do you have to dig before you hit water?

I'm in the Lowcountry and my ponds are water-table ponds. The soils is sandy. I could dig to hell and the water would stay the same level, once it filled back in. The water level fluctuates with the drought conditions.

You need to talk with someone who has built ponds in the area.

[WoodieSC]

Next thread: Why won’t my son in laws pond hold any water?

[Huntinjunkie]

I wouldn't fool with it. My dumbass BIL dug a pond at mu inlaws and it never did hold water. The guy who bought the property has tried all kinds of stuff and it still won't hold water.

[Carolina Counsel]

I’ve got an $80k five acre hole in the ground that sometimes gets wet for a few weeks. Let me know if you want the name of the guy who built mine.

[tprice]

Thanks , figured some of you had lot of experience w ponds

Will leave well enough alone

[Silentweapon338]

You can mess it up as others have said and my advice would be get some Talapia or there are several aquatic chemicals on the market.

That said last pond we dug was supposed to be a 18' average depth with 1 end going to 25 & the shallow being 12'. It's a long story, but we moved way more dirt, and 1 end was closer to 30'.

We had to stop digging due to so much rain coming in we couldn't pump it out fast enough to dig, so we stopped for close to 6 months. When we started back and finished, we couldn't get water in it.

We had a 320 & a 330 digging.

We took the 330 and just started digging a hole as deep as we could in the shallow end....nothing. We went to the deep end. Same thing and all of a sudden about 3/4 of what the boom would go down we hit water. And I mean water! It just started boiling out the ground. We quickly moved and dug 2 more holes before we decided to get out. Held water ever sense. The first hole in the shallow end had the most beautiful blue water in it for almost 6 months you could see it. Finally the whole thing filled up.

Really neat to see that sort of water coming out of the ground, holes were roughly 8-'9' diameter and 18-20' deep beyond where ever the machine was at that moment 28-30'.

It was in a natural run that we had artificially damned long enough to dig the pond, but I guess it was that dry at that time.

I would leave it, and treat it.

[tprice]

I put some grass carp in 2 yrs ago but not sure they will eat that stuff that is there

Can you explain the benefits of Tilapia in a small pond ?

[charlie horse]

The benefits are knowing who the shitheel yankees are.

[tprice]

The benefits are knowing who the shitheel yankees are.

Some what confused by your comment ?

[Palmetto Bug]

Carp will only eat rooted plants, not algae. Tilapia will eat algae. Tilapia won't over-winter. They'll die when the water temp gets low. According to my pond guy, tilapia will make babies and feed the bass.

I wouldn't put more than two carp in a 2 acre pond. I put ten in a five acre pond and know that at least seven have survived over the years. The pond is practically denuded of vegetation. The carp are the size of large channel bass.

Water much deeper than ten or twelve feet is pretty useless to pond fish. A deep pond without aeriation will stratify with low oxygen water at depth. A heavy wind can cause the water to "turn over" and bring the low oxygen to the top and kill all the fish pretty suddenly.

I've not had to resort to herbicides in any of my ponds. In one, before the carp, I had to fertilize it every month or so in the summer. It seems like a paradox to get rid of weeds by fertilizing but what happens is plankton sized plants bloom and keep sunlight from penetrating, which kills some of the pond weeds. The water clarity signals when you need to fertilize. I white soup can lid should vanish when it gets about two feet deep. The fertilizer will help the whole food chain and the fish thrive. You can also use dye to color the water to control weeds.

Be careful what fish are introduced. Do not put crappie in a small pond. They'll overpopulate. Live bait can even introduce fish you don't want. Other fish will miraculously get in the pond anyway. I found bullhead catfish in one pond that had only been stocked with bass, bluegill, shellcracker and carp.

A feeder with floating fish food will boost the size and number of fish a pond will support.

[Silentweapon338]

The"bait" fish eggs hitch a ride on hearing and other birds that travel from pond to swamp feeding.

The Talpia have to have a hard freeze to kill off, unless the pond is deep enough. I can usually get about 3 years out of a batch. Fun things to catch too.

1 carp can handle a whole lot!

[tprice]

Where can you buy tilapia ?

I have bought some shellcracks, bream , grass carp from the fish truck that comes to Anderson , Southland fisheries . I assume they would have them ?

[Catdaddy]

Where can you buy tilapia ?

I have bought some shellcracks, bream , grass carp from the fish truck that comes to Anderson , Southland fisheries . I assume they would have them ?

Yep

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