Bill -
<font color="blue">I did attach a picture, but it's not where we are accustomed to looking for attachments (yet)</font color>
Oops! [img]/forums/images/icons/ooo.gif[/img] I did miss the attachment. I knew where to look, since I posted a pict of my own at the top of this thread, but like you say, I'm not used to looking there yet. [Don't want to invite computer critics here, but the word "Attachment" is illegible on my system/browser, too. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] ]
Kilt -
<font color="blue">what fills your pond?</font color>
I think ponds just have to be cleaned out from time to time because of their nature. Runoff brings silt and the banks erode over time until you end up with mud flats. This leads to even more evaporation as the volume decreases while the surface area remains the same. It's true that somewhat steep banks are good for ponds.
So, how to clean them out? Dragline, excavator, or dozer are about the only ways. I don't know how your soil is, but here in clay land, trying to dry out a pond enough to use a dozer is a pain. That mud at the bottom of the pond is real deep, and it stays wet for a long time. I spent about 30 hours cleaning out a neighbors little 1/2 acre pond (that looked dry) with a Deere 550 dozer and I think I could of dug a new pond faster.
Dozers are just not worth a hoot in mud, and it's hard on the machine also.
Excavators are a better machine for the job, but then you need something else to move the spoils to their resting place.
There really isn't any good answer, it costs whatever you do.
<font color="blue">it costs whatever you do</font color>
That's the honest answer I didn't want to hear. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
I know what you mean about the pond bottom. Even when mine is pretty well dried out, there are soft spots that could easily stick a tractor or even a bulldozer. I saw pictures of when my dad brought in a bulldozer to clean and enlarge our pond, but that was after several years of drought and the thing was baked dry for several consecutive months.
Too bad. If I was sure I wouldn't get stuck, I think I could do some real good with my box blade and FEL (hope y'all understand tractor talk over here [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )
We put in a pond (about an acre) a couple of years ago and the edges were gently sloped to encourage wetland bird habitat. The edges have started to grow up in cattails and such but the water is still clean. The aeration idea sounds interesting and it would provide a nice visual for our B&B guests as well - I am thinking of small windmill with a line running to the deep part of the pond. Anyone done this - ideas about suppliers?
Harv:
The ammonia in the chicken manure may be the active ingredient that helps clean up.
Is the surrounding area fertilized or are the feeder steams subjected to fertilizer runoff?
Altering the PH of the pond may stop the algae bloom but I can't recomend on how to do this.
Bob -
Please share your experiences with the rest of us as your own pond matures and you try various things. I have a hunch I'm not the only one listening. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Egon -
I'll buy ammonia as being the "active" ingredient in the chicken manure, although I'm also ignorant about the benefits of ammonia. I know that PH is a big deal in our swimming pool, so it shouldn't surprise me that it works the same way in ponds. Hoping for a larger scale and more natural solution than we use in the pool. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
The area around our pond has been left natural -- no fertilizers.
Chuck -
Thanks for the web site. I went there and ordered a catalog. There's a spot on the form that asks where I heard about them, and I had my first chance to say "I heard about it on CountryByNet.com". [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I don't have a pond and get my water from Poland Spring, Maine, but a mountain creek fed pond will certainly silt up physically in addition to whatever is going on in the chemistry and biology of the water. Look at Mono Lake. (Wasn't it a tragedy that Galen Rowell recently died. Sorry, a tangent.) Seems inevitable that you will have to scrape it out or say bye bye to the pond. Maybe these things take geological ages, however, and you won't have to worry about it.
You sure don’t want to put chicken litter in to a pond. If you do the algae will grow like crazy. Chicken litter is high in nitrogen and it will make the algae very happy [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] and it will not leave.
Harv, I don't remember if you have electricity at your place. If you do, I would recommend going with an electrical powered compressor/aerator as opposed to a wind-powered aerator. Even in the best of circumstances, windmills only put out about a quarter of the air that a small compressor can, and that just happens to be about 25% of what you need [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] -
A 1/5 or 1/4 hp compressor and a single diffuser should be able to aerate up to a 1 acre pond with a maximum depth of at least 12 feet. This allows a lot of the organic material in the bottom of the pond to decay without that process using up all of the dissolved oxygen in the water.
As always, what to do depends on what you want. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
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