Recommended fill material to make pond more shallow

[COMOPond]

The pond/waterfall/stream came with the house we purchased. The pond is a major maintenance nightmare because the previous owner provided no filteration and built the pond too deep. The existing pond is 10 ft X 7 ft. with two 18 inch shelves with the majority (middle) of the pond 3.5 ft. - 4 ft deep with vertical walls. I am adding a Atlantic skimmer,waterfall filter, and pump. The deep middle area creates the greatest maintenance and child safety issue. I plan to pull the liner and fill the deep hole to make a shallower pond with more shelves then install new underlayment and re-install the old liner. A minimum of 2 ft. of fill will be needed. My question is what would be the best fill material? I was thinking concrete grade sand but seeking advice/experience from others.

 

[sissy]

That is about normal depth for a pond .I would not use sand pump will pick it up ,you can use pea gravel or river stones .

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I would recommend compacted clay. Less chance of settling considering you are making a two (2) foot adjustment.

 

[Lisak1]

@sissy - @COMOPond is talking about fill under the liner, not in the pond.

I agree with @Meyer Jordan - clay makes the most stable foundation. If you really compact it (or it comes that way with your yard!) you can basically carve it out and it will hold it's shape forever.

I hope you take photos as you do your de-re-construction! We love to watch people work! Welcome to the GPF!

 

[Mmathis]

Where do you live? That depth might be good for your area if you have very cold weather. But like others have said, I agree about the clay.

 

[sissy]

I was thinking of saving him time for now and you never know he may want it deeper later on .I have had people here that just want to make it childproof for awhile and later go back to a normal depth .I put shallow crates in one pond with flat rocks on top to cover the crates until they were ready to go back to the normal pond or like they said they may want to go bigger and that would save them from redigging the hole again .The you never know with ponds .

 

[mgmine]

Clay might be hard to find and it can be very hard to get smooth. Just a load of dirt would work but it would have to be completely settled before putting the liner back in. You could rent a tamper of soak it a few times. A deeper pond is better if you plan of fish.

 

[Mmathis]

Clay might be hard to find and it can be very hard to get smooth. Just a load of dirt would work but it would have to be completely settled before putting the liner back in. You could rent a tamper of soak it a few times. A deeper pond is better if you plan of fish.

But I think child safety is an issue.

 

[mgmine]

But I think child safety is an issue.

I know and that's a hard thing to deal with without a fence. Ponds are slippery and even a shallow one could be verv dangerous.

 

[Mmathis]

I know and that's a hard thing to deal with without a fence. Ponds are slippery and even a shallow one could be verv dangerous.

Very true!

 

[Lisak1]

But I think child safety is an issue.

Whenever someone worries about kids and ponds I think "but a child can drown in a bucket of water ... or a toilet". My kids grew up playing and exploring around the natural ponds in our neighborhood - they learned water and pond safety at an early age. Did I trust them 100%? Of course not. We kept a close eye on them and reminded them all the time of the rules. But we also teach them how to cross the street safely and reinforce those lessons all the time and yet kids still get hit by cars. Sometimes bad things happen. People still have pools even though drowning is a danger. I would worry more about kids who didn't grow up around water. Having a backyard pond would afford lots of opportunities to teach and reinforce water safety.

And having a pond has so many educational pluses for kids, opportunities to learn about nature and the life cycle. I wish we had had ours when my kids were younger - they would have loved it. In fact, they still DO love it. When my grown up sons show up, they first thing they each do is check to see how many frogs they can find!