Earth pond question

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Hi everybody,

I took on a ambitious project in creating a earthpond consisting of 2 connected pond (upper and lower because of slope).
The idea was to have the first one flow into the second one and therefore excavated straight down to make a rock wall with overflow.
The rest has gentle slope with pure clay and will be compacted. Now I wonder how to construct this wall which has to be strong, esthetical and ecological. Maybe first a concrete wall and then cover with rocks? But cement might be a problem for the fish (tilapia)....

Any advise anyone?

Thank you!

Dennis
 

sissy

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welcome and I'm sure someone can give you the answer on those type fish ,the only time I have seen talipia is in the seafood store or a plate .Never saw a live one these were breaded and fried .LOL
 
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Are you in the US? When I was growing up I was way into earth ponds. The Department of Agriculture had experts that would help with pond building for free, at least back then. They'd advise on location, test soil conditions, cost estimates, building suggestions, etc. The government would even help pay for some of the project depending on its use, like if it benefited wildlife.

I would think the connector could be like the drains made for catfish and shrimp ponds. Berm is earth, concrete around inflow and outflow to reduce erosion. Size of the pipe depends on use. Smaller pipe is used in catfish ponds, larger pipe for shrimp because it has to drain fast or the shrimp die.
 
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Wow that's sounds great! But no, I am in Ecuador and try to figur it out myself. We want to have organic tilapia farming going on here. I'm just worried about the rock wall and compacted clay part. Where they touch it might not be possible to make it waterproof. And cement is poisonous right? Just need some appropriate design where the upper pond flows into the lower one.

And yes I thought of the drain system. Probably a 4 inch PVC pipe throught the 2m heigh embankment. Encased in cement and with a gravel/sand filter at the end of the embankment. A diaphragm filter might be overkill for this size. You have experience with this system?

Thank you so much for your help!
 

addy1

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Welcome to our group!
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Can you post some pictures? of where you are building sometimes that helps us when we can see what you are trying to do.
 
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The only earth pond drain system I have any experience with is just an overflow pipe.

Clay will seal around a pipe. I don't think encasing the pipe in cement helps since you still have the clay to cement bond, same issue, just larger diameter. Cement is used where there could be erosion from moving water. Search for "water scouring".

And cement is poisonous right?
Cement is not toxic.This is why I get a little peeved with myths. For backyard hobby ponds it's not that big a deal that these myths get repeated over and over. But then someone reads the volumes of text repeating the myth and it's taken as fact. And you're trying to do something good for the world and have to deal with misinformation.

The myth says cement will raise pH to levels that would kill fish. Although after being repeated enough I have seen people morph it into cement being a poison. The idea is lime is used to create concrete, lime raises pH, therefore concrete must raise pH. Believers don't want to be bothered with any actual research. Search for cement used in waste water systems. Sewage is very acidic, and flowing through concrete pipes would erode the concrete. So there are a lot of studies that look at pH levels and effects on concrete. The bottom line is as you get below 6 pH the concrete doesn't last as long and these things are really expensive to replace. Ponds aren't kept at low pH. Concrete does react at pH under 14, but is so slow it isn't really an issue. We talking the concrete lasting 100 years instead of 200 years type of deal.

It certainly doesn't raise pH in any measurable way in normal ponds. There are thousands of concrete ponds around the world. Been used for decades. A very easy myth to test and disprove. Not that this myth will ever go way. Luckily the myth is spread way less than it was 10 years ago.

Not to drive you away...but there are other online forums for earth ponds and also for growing catfish, shrimp and tilapia. Many people from around the world too who might understand your local conditions better. I'm strongly thinking of raising tilapia in my next pond so I've been researching in those forums for the past couple of years. They're pretty no nonsense because it's their livelihood. They don't really like myths and have serious in depth discussions on whether something works or not. In hobby pond forums you get a lot of repeated things people heard some where and very unscientific opinions that can be wildly wrong. It does no harm here and seems to be great fun. But you're looking at spending a lot of time and money, so misinformation would be very expensive.
 

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