I need to upgrade my electrical service to my barn currently I can't even run my 15 amp air compressor! It looks like I will be burying #2 Al in conduit while I have the excavator rented I'm thinking about putting in a water garden. Who has one, would you do it again, if so would you make it bigger or smaller? What I'm thinking about is more of a mini pond than true water garden, I'll put cattails, water Lilly's, water plants, goldfish etc. in it. I may hook up my gutter downspout to keep this full of fresh rainwater. Size wise either 10'x20' lined with plastic or 20'x30'ish max of about 3 foot deep. If I don't do the water garden I may just rent a trencher but why play with a trencher when you can use an excavator for the same price!
I really like the water garden or mini pond idea. Unfortunately I have never made one so I am no help to you. I would love to see pics though as it progresses.
I dug a small one by hand once and it was terrible...... Never again lol. The excavator would definitely be the way to go if it is going to have any size at all! Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Waiting on electric coop and utility locating company to come out this week, and find out where I can dig safely. So far since we purchased this property I've managed to hit 1 unmarked electric line and 1 gas line, fortunately both were minor events and privately owned lines. I'm going to try again to have the privately owned lines located but I'm not sure how successful I'll be.
Just do good surface prep for the liner regardless of what it ends up being. A fish pond is more complicated than just a water garden. It gets expensive fast. A water garden is a shallower more carefree solution. I keep koi and I also "manage" my mother's larger koi pond. Once you have fish the requirements change. Depending on roof material. If asphalt I would not run roof water into the pond. Even a painted steel roof I'd be Leary of. You also need filters,pumps, bublers etc. Keeping open water in the winter requires thought as well. I would make mine bigger and in a different location. It's in the center of our circular driveway. It looks cool but is a pain. We move our fish into a homemade lined tank into the garage for winter as our 3 foot pond probably won't sustain them through winter. My mother's Pond is around 5 foot deep. Bubblers keep the ice clear in the winter,with UV filters pond filters in the summer. Bubblers can fail resulting in a big pain in the rear...Messing with a pond in the winter isn't fun.
Koi certainly are beautiful but require more work and expense than I'm willing to put into it. Maybe later in life when time and money are not so tight. They make a sediment trap called a first flush diverter which allows a lot of the roof debris to be diverted from the pond/water storage system.
Don't you have 811 ? Call Before You Dig ? It's the law here. Utility companies have three days from your call to come out and mark the lines or they give you the go ahead that they have nothing in your area. They usually are done in 2 days.
I have to call 811 on a daily basis during my landscaping season. They will not locate privately installed lines, just those put in by the utility companies. Dont matter if you had an electrician, plumber or a buddy put in a line past your meter to another spot on the property they wont or cant locate it. 2 years ago I bout got kilt cuz a home owner had put in a 100 amp line from his panel in the basement to an out building. I was only digging a 4 inch deep trench for bullet edgers with my small trencher. The home owner didnt know no better when he installed the line so he only put it right under the sod. Well I tell ya what, when I hit them 3 wires with that trencher the ground lit up like a lightning strike. Thank God the trencher cut them wires so fast it blew the breaker in the house quick enough to not fry me like a bluegill.
Yep I call 811 every time even though I know they will tell me there are no utilities on your property. Last year I spent 2 days calling every utility locating service I could find in a 3 state area asking if they could located privately owned utilities they all said "sorry we can't help you and don't know anyone who can" the last tech who was out told me to call back and have my site marks refreshed and he could locate them for me. The county nixed my plans; now that I've worked through and around the county requirements I call and that tech no longer covers this area. Strait line goes over 2 buried electric lines, septic tank and lateral lines that I know are over there, plus my electric service (200 amp) to the house is somewhere over there. Non strait line requires taking out significant shrubbery and digging near a buried 4/0 aluminum triplex electric not in use but no idea where it terminates! I may be able to use or incorporate this line if I find out where it goes. Public Service Announcement!!!! Make a detailed site map with notes and measurements if you ever do any buried material work not just for you but your kids and future home owners!!!! Still working out the details of the water garden but leaning towards a 10x20x3' for plants and maybe a few goldfish.
I bought one of these years ago and it was some of the best money I ever spent! I can trace out just about anything that is buried and have pinpoint traced gas lines buried close to 3' deep with no problems. I use on everything from water lines to dead outlets in houses and everything in between. It provides quite a bit of piece of mind. Tempo 508S Wire Finder Mini Locator - Circuit Testers - Amazon.com
I like it very much!!! Dig rite (811) was out and was able to trace the unknown lines for me now I can hand dig to find exact location. Water garden may have to wait a few weeks/months as I can do this without an excavator.
Yikes, well you are quite the electrifying guy Butcher. I wonder if other states besides Iowa don't locate on private property? I remember when they officially did, now it's up to the person locating it if they do. I still have good luck with most of them doing it for our projects.
My bad...I was referring to utilities like secondary electrical lines. Some won't but most still will.
Your lucky then cuz they wont do it around here. I s'pose if the home owner was home or I was on site and some sweet talking it could be done but it just dont happen that way when the locate is 3 to 4 days out some times.
We were at the feed store today buying chain link fencing and I noticed these huge black rubber(?) stock troughs that were oval shaped. They looked to be about 8 ft. across and 2 2 1/2 ft. deep. Would they work for a water garden?
Ya that's without a pond liner. Now the real hard decision line it or allow it to be a natural bog/pond that aids in draining my garden.
At Lowes and 3/$20 water lilies followed me home. I'll go dig some cat tails up and see what else I can put in this pond.
