Questions about making a duck pond.

[theballingalls]

I should mention we are totally new to this and getting the ducklings in April. Thanks so much!

 

[sikes0368]

Great pond post, I'm planning on a livestock tank 8' diameter with bottom drain.

 

[furbabymum]

I built a pond last year that relied on bio filtration. I can't say how successful it will be yet as I just had plant starters in there and I believe the entire area will need to be filled with plants before filtration will be successfully realized. My biofilter is fenced off from the ducks.
This year I'm planning on getting minnows (for mosquito control) and crawdads for bottom of the pond cleaning. I had goldfish that escaped being eaten and grew quite large.

My pond is 30' x 14' and is 3 feet deep at the deepest part.

I used cement and it has not worked well at all. Took a lot of cement and $$. Then it needed sealing and after settling has some pretty hefty cracks I'll need to seal this spring.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Ok here is my question about this... Anyone familiar with the old time method of using manure to seal a leaky pond? Seriously, google it if you haven't read of this. So, in theory, I'm guessing the manure could be beneficial to the pond? After the initial sealing of the pond, well my guess is then that one is looking at either 1) manual removal 2) chemical removal or 3) plants to do the removal. Right or wrong? Thoughts please? And what bog-friendly, water tolerant plants are you all using? I've got wild cat tails that some wild bird brought I guess. But I can't get flowers or grasses established for anything!

 

[Amiga]

I was told about using manure for sealing ponds some years ago. To my recollection, the manure is not removed, but becomes part of the lining of the pond ever after. The microbes that dwell in ponds work on it to break it down. Initially, I would expect it to release some nitrogen and phosphorus. Phosphorus contributes to freshwater eutrophication (lots of algae and emergent plants). Not the end of the world if you plan for that. Some folks harvest the abundant plants that spring up for a while and compost them or use them as ornamentals (like lotus seed pods).

Anyway, the manure has what's called humic material in it. In plan language, that translates to goo.

The goo can (I am told) seal some leaks. It's going to depend on what is causing the leak. If you are in a karst area (limestone underneath), that could be difficult at best to fix with manure.

pH matters to aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, so I would test the water for that. Bogs are acid, and bog plants are very specialized.

Are you thinking of just dumping manure into the pond? I have seen some folks drain the pond and then line it with a layer of bentonite, then refill. The old stories were of people running sheep or hogs in the pond area before filling it to add manure and compress the soil.

 

[furbabymum]

Ok here is my question about this... Anyone familiar with the old time method of using manure to seal a leaky pond? Seriously, google it if you haven't read of this. So, in theory, I'm guessing the manure could be beneficial to the pond? After the initial sealing of the pond, well my guess is then that one is looking at either 1) manual removal 2) chemical removal or 3) plants to do the removal. Right or wrong? Thoughts please? And what bog-friendly, water tolerant plants are you all using? I've got wild cat tails that some wild bird brought I guess. But I can't get flowers or grasses established for anything!

I did start out with organic pond liner. The manure or goop as Amiga said. It just didn't work for me. I live in such a dry area that I was having to put way too much water into the pond every day to keep it up.

I have parrots feather, pennywort, hornwart, frogbit, duckweed, arrow arum, pond grass and cat tails in my bio filter. These were all purchased for my climate zone. You'll need to do research into yours. I spent a lot of time on Ebay buying starters. The parrots feather grew exponentially and is great for filtration. The frogbit and hornwart also did well. The cat tails died upon replanting but I'm hopeful that they'll come back this year. The arrow arum also did well but it's a slow one.

The biggest thing is keeping the ducks from getting your bio filter. I did a fence but I used tposts and my fence just wouldn't stay up. My ducks got into the bio filter and decimated it. Hopefully the roots are alive or I'll be buying new plants. Building a better fence this year that's for sure.

 

[furbabymum]

So this is basically my pond. You can go to my page to get better pics. You can see how I have the bio filter fenced off. If you are planning on bio filtration you'll need to keep the water running/aerating. I built a basic waterfall out of 3 planters. Worked well.

Also forgot to mention I had water celery and that grew great.

 

[Talihofarms]

We have a dedicated pond for ducks and geese. Fish are in a separate pond.
The duck pond uses a combination of fresh water which runs from our drain tiles Incorporated with a bog filtration system.
We lined the pond with Firestone pond liner and installed a bottom drain.
We drain half the pond from the bottom at least 3 times a year.
By opening the bottom drain the waste is removed due to the pond having an upside down ash trey shape.
The pond slopes towards the drain, this is the deepest part of the pond at a little over 4 feet.
Fish don't do well with ducks unless there is a large quantity of water.

 

[hellinic]

how will you "clean" the droppings at the bottom of the pond when the submersable pump is indundated with duck poop ?

 

[Deleted member 94844]

Whatever filtration you think is reasonable, triple it. We have three filters on our 3000 gallon pond and it is barely enough to handle the bioload. We have a large Savio skimmer with dual filters and UV that leads to a filter falls with bio balls and natural filters, plus a bottom drain that leads to a canna bog that feeds back into the main pond. We stock the pond with feeder fish which helps with the algae and entertains the ducks. This is still not enough filtration. We will probobly be adding a dedicated mechanical filter off the skimmer to help balance the pond. I would add this in upfront and more bottom drains if I could do it over. Nexus filters are great, but huge and $$$$.

Edit: Sorry... didn't realize this thread was so old. Any updates?