I think my pond shrank..... :(

[Mmathis]

Long story short...... If I remember, it was originally 17' x 13' with an average depth of, say 2 1/2'. Had a few deeper spots. It calculated to around 3200 gallons.

Have been doing renovations, off & on since winter. Deepened the old "turtle bog" area to a consistent 2 1/2' depth and added a cinder block wall on that side [due to clay shifting], and took away maybe a foot of width.

Most recent reno has been to install a footed cinder block wall on the opposite side, as well as install a cinder block collar around the remaining perimeter. WOW! Pond looks huge!

But, I measured it the other day...... It now measures 13' x 9' and around 2500 gallons..... I don't understand...... Am I going crazy? Nothing I did [except the "turtle area"] should have SUBTRACTED from the length & width.......



ARGGGGGG!!!!!

 

[Big Lou]

Should not have washed it in hot water. You know hot water shrinks your laundry. Oh, you're talking about your pond. All I can think of is a miscalculation.

 

[mrsclem]

Key words - if I remember- Don't know about you but most days I can't remember what I had for breakfast. Maybe you wanted it to be 17x13 but got tired of digging?

 

[j.w]

Maybe the Dingo's got your pondy?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Maybe the Dingo's got your pondy?

LOL! j.w You are bad! Funny but bad

 

[Big Lou]

There it goes down the road!

 

[Mmathis]

Ah, come on guys! Seriously, it WAS bigger before I started the renovations! I promise! And I just looked up my stats -- it really did start out at 17' x 13'.

I wonder, could all of the wall shifting [clay] have moved the top-line of the pond inward? I know there was a lot of settling with the berm and with the collapse of 2 sides [which we fixed]. But the collar was placed in the exact placement of the previous rock-shelf, so if anything, it should have gotten wider/longer. So confused....

 

[JBtheExplorer]

17'x 13' to 13' x 9' is an awfully large change in size. Planet Earth does what it wants but I've never heard of a change that dramatic before. where is all the extra liner left over from the shrinking?

 

[Big Lou]

Oops! I missed the figures. Yikes, something is amiss. Good luck Maggie. Please keep us updated.

 

[fishin4cars]

Maggie, How thick is a cinder block? How many sides did you add them on, multiply that by each factor. In other words, If you measure across one axis and you have blacks at both end add two, if you added black at one end and not at the other add 1. You reduced the pond down because of the collar around the pond. Also with some of the cave in took place the side moved out some and you didn't notice at that time. You can always get more gallons by adding depth.

 

[Mmathis]

Maggie, How thick is a cinder block? How many sides did you add them on, multiply that by each factor. In other words, If you measure across one axis and you have blacks at both end add two, if you added black at one end and not at the other add 1. You reduced the pond down because of the collar around the pond. Also with some of the cave in took place the side moved out some and you didn't notice at that time. You can always get more gallons by adding depth.

Well, as careful as I thought I was being at getting the block walls placed just so, you might have a good point, Larkin! I know that the side nearest the turtles ended up losing a foot or so, but I was trying to compensate with less width for added depth [recall that I wasn't sure if we'd have enough liner]. And on the opposite side, we dug into the existing wall to make room for the blocks.

• Maybe we didn't do enough math to factor in the width of the cinder block....and see below
• But maybe, too, if there was some soil shifting going on under the surface, what we THOUGHT was the footprint of the original wall, might not have been....

The cinder blocks are standard size, 8" x 8" x 16". The "wall" blocks are placed end-to-end, and the "collar" blocks are placed side-by-side. You can see that in the pics I sent in my FB post.

 

[dieselplower]

Remember one extra foot of depth uses twice as much tarp as one extra foot of width. Could explain where the extra liner was used up.

 

[Mmathis]

Have decided to deepen a section of the pond ( per Larkin's suggestion....). This will involve removing a good bit of soil ( grrrrrr! ), but I want to regain as much of the volume as I can. At least the liner isn't back in yet....

 

[fishin4cars]

Make sure and lay out the liner and double check measurements vs actual pond measurements. I have more than once dug one deeper only to go back and back fill because I dug to far! GRRRRRR

 

[Mmathis]

Make sure and lay out the liner and double check measurements vs actual pond measurements. I have more than once dug one deeper only to go back and back fill because I dug to far! GRRRRRR

We just added that to our game plan for tomorrow. We'll have a 4th person (hopefully) here tomorrow who can help with the liner. I just hope our friendly local rodents (rats & squirrels, but mostly rats!) haven't done any damage....