ADAPTIONS FOR DEPTH

[Mmathis]

Just wondering.... If I'm unable to dig down deep enough to make my 3 feet, I'm going to raise the sides and go slightly above ground (probably using boards and backfilling). My question is: will the NEW 3' be OK as far as protecting the fishies from heat & freeze? Have no idea what our freeze line is here (NW LA, zone 8), if we even have one....

 

[addy1]

You don't need to worry about hard freezes, just heat. Going above ground will help also

 

[sissy]

looked up footings for your area and they range from 24 for some areas but most say 3 feet and that is usually a clue to your frost line ,well at least in normal conditions but after last year not to much you can say for normal .Here in VA it is 3 feet except farther north VA they want 4 feet

 

[Mmathis]

Footings for buildings? Is the frost line how that's determined? Never knew that -- interesting.

 

[taherrmann4]

You should be more than fine on depth for freeze but the heat could be a problem for you. Fishin lives in Louisiana and may be able to give you better info, I would go 4' if possible as it will help keep the pond cooler, even if that meant going above ground a bit. My pond is 40" deep and I live in zone 6, I wish I would have gone deeper as my pond can really heat up in the summer, my waterfall faces south so it gets a ton of sun and I have a 25 long creek with no falls and this also heats up a bit. If I ever have to redo my liner I will dig about 18" deeper, I also only have a 4x4 area that is 40" deep the other part of the pond ranges from 2' to 3'. I thought I was deep enough and returned the small dozer then realized I should have gone deeper but I couldn't dig into this clay I have, I had to use a pick ax to get any dirt out and I just got lazy and said the hell with it.

 

[fishin4cars]

You can get away with it, but I would recommend trying to go at least 3' if at all possible. 2 foot in the ground in the heat of summer has been my biggest issue, not the winter. Even when I lived in Vicksbug Ms. (which is pretty close to the same zone as you would be) I had far more issues with heat than cold. My first pond in Vicksburg was 24" deep and 8" above and I still had water temps that reached close to 100 degrees, Down here went three foot deep and I've yet to see temps above 92-93 and we are basically 150 miles direct south of you. Between Vicksburg and here I've been keeping ponds for 20+ years and I've never seen ice any thicker than 3" and that was in ponds that were shallow. deeper ponds in the 3'-4' range I've not even seen freeze over.

 

[Mmathis]

If I can only get a small area of the over-all dig to go deeper, say a spot 2' x2', would that be better than not having any of it at that depth? Did that even make sense? Just hoping that what's underneath won't be too bad to dig through.... In the past, when we've gone past all the different kinds of clay, there's been some pretty solid, hard dirt.

 

[sissy]

I did that with a small part of my pond is 4 and half feet deep on one end .I do notice they hang out more there or under the bridge in the summer