Right discussion board?

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello

Querorz Wrote:

Miranda, i thought, only pumping the water in the lake and let the rest to evaporate would be healthy but i guess draining it is also necessary.

Yes If the water pumping in and the water evaporating is enough then yes you would be in good shape.
Yes evaporation just might not be enough,
And water changes could be very expensive if you don't have a solid Water source from wells or some other source.

Looking at that picture I would say they are planning on having a lot of filtration.

I

made some real fussy calculations . 300,000 Galons look like a lot of water. I Agree with that but this means only 1600 galons of water daily . And a 20 gpm pump only needs to work for 1,5 hours a day and only in summer months. Does it still look like a huge amount?

I am not sure I understand this part.

Ruben

 

[Querorz]

Ruben i just made a calculation over there. Here i do it again.

If i will need 300,000 gallons of water from my wells in 6 hottest months. This mean i will need 1600 gallons of water in 1 day from well. Is 1600 gallons of water for 1 day , too much for a wells capacity?

 

[sissy]

I would check with a well driller as he would be the only person that could answer that .He may even know the kind of pump to use .Remember water coming out of the ground is not always clean .I have a storage tank and a whole house filtering system and test my water yearly and a well driller can give you all that info .Here my neighbors pond 2 miles from my house had there water test come back that it was contained a lot of bacteria and had to treat there well with bleach and now cannot use there water for at least a month and will still have to be tested to see if the bacteria is gone .

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello

Wrote:

If i will need 300,000 gallons of water from my wells in 6 hottest months. This mean i will need 1600 gallons of water in 1 day from well. Is 1600 gallons of water for 1 day , too much for a wells capacity?

Well I can not answer that :redface:
Well are drilled down to under ground rivers (For the lack of a better term) weather it is to mucn or not would have to be determined by use.
From what I know the under ground rivers AKA wells are fed by rain water or mountain run off or snow melt.
If this is not constant then the well will dry up or slow down
If it is not a big water flow then you will not be able to get that much water out of it.
You might end up sucking more out then it can replenish.
As for water changes I myself do not think of evaporation water replacement as a water change.
Evaporation on its own do's not remove as much toxins such as Ammo (For example) then a straight out water change MHO
And of course the fish load would come in to play here also
If you have a big fish load that is producing more toxins then is being removed via evaporation then the water being added won't be much good since it is now being mixed in with the bad water.

As I tried to explain that in a natural lake
You have good going in and bad going out threw rivers and such not only from evaporation but from open canels plus it is not a sealed bottom so the toxins also get removed threw there.

that is why when you here of somebody that has a 2000 G pond they have a 2000 GPH or better pump there needs to be that flow or current ot the water turns stale and turns toxic.

I would think you would be better off
Having a bottom drain then when needed you open the drain run out so many Gallons and replace the water from the well.

With my little ponds I do 4 or 5 water changes a year this is not counting water I put in do to evaporation
And I have bio/mech filters and water falls and plants.
And have a heavy fish and turttle load

No matter what for a healty pond/lake do not skimp on filtration the more the better.

Ruben

 

[brandonsdad02]

I think for a pond of that size, its going to take a massive pump to turn the pond over at least once a hour. Thats a good rule of thumb to go by on your size of pump. The amount of water that it would take to keep it full would be a huge amount. With something that large, you would almost have to have a clay bottom pond. No liner. The liners we use are great for holding water for our fish and turtles, but I don't know about how well it would stand up to swimming in it. If you were to get a hole in that liner, it would be almost impossible to find. With your heat that you are talking about, I think algae would be another issue you would have to deal with. I'm not saying what you are trying to build isn't possible, because anything can be possible if you put your mind to it, just not sure if I would want to take on something that large.

 

[sissy]

some ground water wells are positioned on ledges where under ground streams run and if the ledge is fractured it can run under your pump and burn it out .That happened to wells here after the earthquake .true if mine is 1 horse power and pumps 20 gallons per minute and to me that is a lot of water

 

[Querorz]

Ruben, i found the solution for that problem i guess: I will use my pond's water for watering my plants. This way, i will provide some draining for it. What do you think?


Ryan, thanks for the answer. I will need a pump with 600,000 GPH power to turn the water once an hour. It is impossible to get such a pump. For a pond which is in 1-2 acre area, i don't believe there is a need to turn the water so fast.

Is using clay, an expensive method? I always wondered: What happens if my liner starts to leak? I already lose whole lot of water...

Sissy , you always tell me about bad scenarios . I guess none of your bad scenarios happen to me . Just kidding. I need to know about bad scenarios to take pre-cautions.

TY guys.

 

[callingcolleen1]

You are making a man made lake, not a pond. To keep within budget, use a liner that is not to costly, and pack the bottom and sides with good quality clay to help prevent leaks. Gets lots of rocks and line the edges with rocks. Plant the shallow edges with natural sedges (in clay) from your area, such as rushes, cattails, and grasses. These can be obtained from lakes in your area and transplanted pieces to your man made lake. If you can divert water from the stream and have it flow into your man made lake that would be great. Pump not necessary for such a large volume of water, contstant flow of little stream and with time the sedges will grow and clean your pond very nice.

 

[Querorz]

Colleen, thanks for the answer man. What do you think about the filtration system and draining that we have been discussing for my project?


Guys, i guess i found a spot with little rivers, that's 15 miles to my city. I will try to find about those lands' prices...

 

[callingcolleen1]

Pack lots of clay very well, then place a liner, then pack more clay over the liner. Large man made lakes require lots of good clay as liner cannot be relied upon completely as the sheer weight of the vast amount of water will stretch liner and could even bust the liner with time. Spend your money wise, so I would spend the most on good quality clay, as clay will ensure the lake will endure the effects of time.

 

[callingcolleen1]

If you plant the edges with lots of sedges that will be the best filter for a man made lake. Purchase the pump you can afford to buy and to run. Most man made lakes around here have a floating windmill that turns when the wind blows and pumps the water that way.

 

[Waterbug]

I am Fatih , from Turkey. I want to construct an artificial lake to a 1-2 acre area, mainly for fishing and maybe for swimming. I am seeking information about that and i don't have a single clue.
So, am i at right discussion board?

You might check out the Pond Boss forum. They discuss the type of pond you are wanting.

Many people think a 1000 gal backyard pond can just be scaled to be 1 acre, or 10 acres, but it is not true. A 1-2 acre pond has nothing in common with the kinds of pond discussed here except both have water.

 

[callingcolleen1]

We have lots of man made lakes around here, they all use lots of clay, a cheaper liner, (clay is the main support for large man made lakes) rocks and lots of sedges. They do not have any pumps, just water flowing in from time to time from near by creek in the spring. If you ask me the liner is just there to support the pond until the clay is packed and settled. If it was not winter I would get you some pictures of the large man made lakes here that was built by the city, one of them is Echo Dale Park, it has fish and people swim in it too. Water is pumped from South Sastatchewan river to keep lake water moving slowly. They did have a leak one year and I believe they pack more clay and relined the pond. (Reported in the newspaper) Then there is another man made lake at Strathcona Park, which is very old and still holds water quite well. That pond has fresh water pumped from the nearby creek in the sping. It also has one pump that sprays water up for decoration every now and then when the pump is on.

 

[Querorz]

Waterbug, thanks man. I registered to that website.

Colleen, i guess you are absolutely right about clay. But in 1st page Missy said fishes would root the soil up and i didn't need a clay over the liner. She might be right maybe? Sedges make a lake so beautiful. It looks like a very cheap solution as well.

The parks you showed me are so beautiful. Can you watch this video? I want an environment like this http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTJxYb3XOig . I love it. This is the closest place to heaven for me. I don't know how to do it in a droughty place like my city but i guess if i buy that land between 2 rivers, i can have pretty much water to water plants.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think Missy meant the large koi would root up small baskets of soil, but in a natural setting in a large man made lake things work different than a small pond. Most people here just have small ponds not man made lakes, like waterbug said. I like natural river clay and used it when I first planted my pond plants years ago, but it can be messy in a small pond if not done right. I don't think most people around here have seen man made lakes and so some may not understand the concept. Man made lakes are very much like a lake, and if done right can sustain its self for generations. Are you planning on stocking the lake with natural fish?