LEVELING POND -- WATER LEVEL?

[whiskey]

IN REPLY TO THE ABOVE .......YOU MUST STAY LEVEL HEADED AND STOP SHAKING.......I NEED A BEER :beer: HE HE

 

[SE18]

Well, Hubby now sees this as the excuse to finally buy that laser level . Guess we'll try that and if not pond-satisfied, will try the water level.

Sissy, when I was looking up info on water levels, several sources also said, in addition to food coloring, to add a few drops of dishwasher rinse aid to the water. Guess that's to make the water flow easier ( surface tension, friction?). Don't know of anyone whose tried it with & without to say if it makes a significant difference, though....

Actually, dishwashing soap will break the water's molecular bond and allow it to flow to its correct level. Builders of models who dilute various glue with water add a drop or 2 of dish soap to the mix. Instead of water, it's called "wet water."

Here's a link to "wet water"

http://books.google....0dilute&f=false

Notice that adding whiskey or other alcohol to the water does the same thing

 

[Mmathis]

SE -- Thanks, just looked at the "wet water" section. I do some crafting, so this is good to know. But rubbing alcohol? Not a chemist, but how does it work? Doesn't alcohol evaporate quickly? Just curious (again, from the "crafts" viewpoint). Since this is a little off-topic, can send a PM, or write here if no one else minds

 

[Waterbug]

TurtleMommy, the net is a big place with lots of, lets say, "creative" people. It's a great skill humans have putting to different facts together to form an idea. But they don't all work. A little science can be very misleading.

Soap would reduce the water's surface tension. Rubbing alcohol and many other things have less surface tension. People think this is important I guess because when you look into the tube the water would be more of a straight horizontal line. Modern humans love straight lines.

With surface tension (normal water) the level line will look like a shallow U. It's actually cup shaped, but looking from the side it looks U shaped.

The point being missed is that a straight line isn't needed. It isn't even a good thing. You take the measurement at the bottom of the U on both ends of the level. The surface tension is the same at both ends, so the size of the U is exactly the same. Even a fair builder will train people how to use a water level properly. The net, not so much.

All these other things like soap reduces surface tension, they don't eliminate it. Rubbing alcohol still has hydrogen atoms and therefore surface tension. So instead of a nice tall U with a clear bottom point that's easy to see you get a much more shallow U with a much wider U bottom making it harder to tell where the bottom most point is. In theory, you'd want to increase surface tension so that in some perfect world you'd have more of a V shape which makes finding the bottom even easier.

 

[Mmathis]

Yea, it worked! We planted half a dozen or so stakes around the perimeter and "hooked up" the sophisticated water level . The only spot we had trouble with was close to a tree. Apparently that area is higher than the rest of the yard (though dosen't look it), so trying to get everything else "level" was making that area too high in comparrison (or something or the other...). But that's where we plan to put the waterfall, so guess it's not crucial.

Tomorrow, THE LINER!!!!!

 

[j.w]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[addy1]

take pictures!

 

[Mmathis]

Have taken a few along the way. For pics, I have to coordinate camera, big computer, plus getting pics off the iPhone. Most of my posting is via iPad; some pics are on the camera; most pics are on the iPhone. So gotta get all the pics onto my big computer file, then post from there (and not from iPad)......... Yawn, too lazy most days ( or too tired from working on the pond ).

BUT, far as the leveling job goes, we actually (YEA, US!) got the liner installed yesterday and with the first fill, it looks about as eye-ball level as you'd hope for. I finally had to give up on any tweaking I was doing, and just accept the fact it wasn't going to be absolutely perfect no matter what I did. At least with the tips & help from you guys, I felt hopeful

 

[addy1]

lol tm with time it will look perfect, you start to overlook little things, put them on your tickler list to check back on and see if you want to work on that spot...........later

 

[joesandy1822]

The best water level.................. fill the pond and it will show where it is not level..............

I know this is an old post, but I am at the point of needing to level the top edge and need to finish up tomorrow morning. Addy, did you mean this sarcastically, because I thought you were being serious and I don't understand why this wouldn't work. It's not like you fill the pond all at once. It takes time to reach the level you want it. As the water level raises, you can get a feel for where you need to remove dirt. I am definitely a newbie, but I have not learned when people are joking or serious. I wouldn't even have second guessed it had I not read the comment by Waterbug saying this is not a great idea. I'm confused. Please enlighten. It's not like a person has to overfill the pond and let the water start leaking out before they start to notice an "unlevel" situation, right? Then you can correct it at that time?

I don't want to offend anybody or start an argument here, but somebody please tell me if trying to do it by the water level itself is a dumb idea.

Thanks!

 

[DrCase]

The water in your pond is going to be level. No mater what you do
You can measure off the top of the water any were around the pond ,
Use the water all the way around and add the exact height you want

 

[addy1]

I know this is an old post, but I am at the point of needing to level the top edge and need to finish up tomorrow morning. Addy, did you mean this sarcastically, because I thought you were being serious and I don't understand why this wouldn't work. It's not like you fill the pond all at once. It takes time to reach the level you want it. As the water level raises, you can get a feel for where you need to remove dirt. I am definitely a newbie, but I have not learned when people are joking or serious. I wouldn't even have second guessed it had I not read the comment by Waterbug saying this is not a great idea. I'm confused. Please enlighten. It's not like a person has to overfill the pond and let the water start leaking out before they start to notice an "unlevel" situation, right? Then you can correct it at that time?

I don't want to offend anybody or start an argument here, but somebody please tell me if trying to do it by the water level itself is a dumb idea.

Thanks!

If I recall right, was just being funny. Actually with my pond, built on a steep slope, that is what I did at the end. I used laser levels, string levels, normal levels and still had low spots once the water went in. At that point went around and adjusted the edge to the nice level water.

One edge of my pond is dug down 4 feet, the opposite edge is raised 6-7 feet to get a level spot for the pond. I filled it with crossed fingers hoping my leveling job was level, water told it all. (even had to add a small piece of liner to one spot of the edge, where the liner, which I thought was way high, ended up being 1 inch too low). Darn slope, makes great stream beds, horrible for building a pond though.

 

[Mmathis]

If I recall right, was just being funny. Actually with my pond, built on a steep slope, that is what I did at the end. I used laser levels, string levels, normal levels and still had low spots once the water went in. At that point went around and adjusted the edge to the nice level water.

Addy, if I recall, at the time you made that comment, I was so frustrated by the whole "pond-build" thing, that I wasn't amused..... I thought you guys were making fun of me...... But I know better, and I'm over it, now

Our home-made water level worked for what we wanted, and that was to fine-tune the height of the berm all around the pond. Our yard is fairly level, but we'd manipulated the area SO MUCH with all the transporting and trampling around, that you couldn't rely on visual cues to know where the high & low points were.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

The water in your pond is going to be level. No mater what you do
You can measure off the top of the water any were around the pond ,
Use the water all the way around and add the exact height you want

My pond has a noticeable difference in the water level from one end to the other. It might have something to do with the pumps running? :biggrin:

@joesandy1822 -- I leveled out the edge of my pond before ever cutting the liner. I just left the excess liner laying around the sides, and as the water level came up, I shoveled in dirt underneath the liner to build up the bank. My only suggestion with using this method is that after adding dirt, make sure you pack it down really well, because otherwise you'll be re-doing some of it within a couple years (like I did this Spring). I had three low spots in the edge of my liner causing the loss of water when I would refill my pond. After rebuilding my edges, I was able to add another 2 inches of water to the pond, and still have at least another inch of liner above that line.

 

[mgmine]

A water level helps but what I did was only use it as a rough guide. I built the berm but left the liner sticking up quite a bit. I then filled the pond and let the water seek it's own level hitting the lowest first. Once there I built the berm up where needed which was almost a foot on one side, One tip tough if you are building on a slop you will find that on the high side of the berm there will be a lot of liner showing which isn't a pretty sight.To get around this I pulled the liner back and cut a shelf into the dirt then put the liner back. On the shelf I put rocks that came up to the top edge and finished off the edge around the pond with more rocks. You could put plants on the shelf but in my case the rocks worked out better.