my new dam

[moorie86]

Im sure others following this thread (like myself) would also like to hear your "inside help" reelchippy if you would be so kind as to post it for all to see.
Cheers, Cam.

[OPTI]

well from the info i have received so far ,its going to take time ,ive got at least a year before i put any real fish in there ,got to get the enviroment established ,plants etc,ive bought firetail gudgeons and rainbows ,as well as shrimp and crays,there all going in on thursday .then nothing until november if the lillies etc are looking good by then il start to add some fish ,at this stage im thinking of only putting mangrove jack and saratogas in there,if i can get them to survive in there il be really happy.
here is another photo.
ps reelchippy il give you a call tonight

[SandStorm]

Really interesting thread this guys thanks, please keep it going..

[FNQCairns]

Hi Opti sounds like it's coming along well! (shame one of those moreton containers didn't spill a little into your pond:...hint hint...google anyway a good way to ascertain where your pond is up to is with plankton, proper plankton nets are expensive but you can make your own very crude one with a loop of wire and a good quality stocking (if you just happen have any hanging around using the thicker foot portion as the cod end, heave the unit out and pull it back 10 times just under the surface away from the bottom at all times then flush the contents into a white bottomed container say a casserole dish using as little water as possible (can be tap water to keep it clear), then look very hard to see movement from all the tiny critters, use a magnifying glass or even better a kids microscope kit.. If you see lots then you can assume it's ready for the smaller fish and fingerlings also the bottom dwellers - actually with these lots of native dry sclerophyll leaf litter is handy, grass clippings even...go to town early, within reason it all adds grist toward creating 'an environment'.

This method will only net the larger variety's but usually if they are there then the smaller ones and all of the bases needed should be there also, it's a worthy 'test' IMO.

cheers fnq

[snagking]

Now I wish I had a house with a big enough backyard to have a dam....

Does a pool count

[shayned]

Hey Mate,
Good looking dam, as a rough guide to stocking rates you will need to calculate the surface area of your dam. That is length x width eg 100m long and 50m wide equals 5000 sq metres of surface area.

As a rough rule of thumb allow 100 fish per every 4000 sq metres of surface area. If you augment the pond with fertiliser or supplimentary feeding you can double this amount.

If you go the Mangrove Jack Route remember they are voracious feeders and will require a very good food source. Spangled perch or snub nosed gar should be considered as both are prolific breeders when the conditions are right. Also remember Jacks are very territorial, with the baddest holding the best structure and the second toughest holding the second best etc. With jacks I would suggest that the stocking rate be much reduced only adding a small amount each year while monitoring your other fish population levels. With plenty of feed and no overcrowding this species will reach around 60cm in 5-6 years. Reports from Awoonga indicate fresh water jack at this size feel similar to a metre barra in a fight.

The only other thing I would have advised is go and trap your forage fish from a local creek in the same catchment as your dam, it saves money, ensures you do no damage from overflow escapes and ensures the fish are well suited to your local area. Bear in mind a female fire tail can lay up to 2000 eggs in a season, you don't need many to produce a good population in one season.

Hope this helps.

As to structure, think about your placement, deepest spots may not necessarily be the best. In 4000 sq metres start with only 4 peices of structure and think about placing them around the 2.5 - 3.0 m mark close to deep water areas.

[shayned]

Another thought you might like to try is getting 7 peices of 1.5 meter electrical conduit to make your own light weight easily moveable artificial snag.

If you can imagine a square block of timber which has been drilled through the centre from every face of the block and from every corner to the centre, this will give you an idea of the angles to lay the conduit on. Of course you could actually drill out a block of timber and secure 14 lengths of 750 mm conduit into the holes.

When finished locate in the dam, mark with a float if necessary and simply retrieve and move to a new location if needed.

[OPTI]

well i didnt have to wait long for it to be full,woke up thismorning to this,ive got 500 shrimp and crays in there and 2 kg of fire tails and 50 rainbows,just got to play the waiting game now before i get some real fish .

[shayned]

How are you dealing with overflows and fish escapes??

[OPTI]

How are you dealing with overflows and fish escapes??

thats a good question,if you look at the photo of the spillway ,its mabe out of big rocks that have been placed in with the excavator,the water runs through the rocks,its very tight ,id be pretty confident anything of decent size wouldnt get through it ,but you never know i guess,im open to any sugesstions.

[Bearclaw]

OPTI,
Nice dam, but I would get some ground cover on the wall you don't want the wall to wash away. I have spent more money than I care to remember on having batters wash away on me.
Did you have the dam wall engineered, or was is the excavators operators design. It looks like it there is a big drop on the dam wall side to another dam. I would say there would be a lot psi of water presure.
Keep us up to date.

[OPTI]

its been engineered ,20 ton roller over it every 300 etc,yes the wall is 11 m high at the highest point,they layed geo mat over the back of the wall to stop erosion ,im going to add ground cover plants as well,so far its all good the spillway works perfectlly,it feeds the neighbors dam .

[Bearclaw]

I bet a bit of money spent too. Keep us upto date. I watched a show in the States showing how they put structure in their dams. They use 100mm PVC sewer pipe, using fittings etc they make box shapes and even tree looking things. Due to the shape of the pipe lures don't snag up very easy on them, so you can toss the lures right in tight to structure. Just drill a few holes in the top and bottom and sink them were you want.

[OPTI]

just a bit of an update,the water has cleared up a lot in the last few months,i can see 2 to 3 ft from the top,i can see schools of firetails[small schools about 20 or so,but at least its a start.ive had up to 6 cormorins birds working it over ,im forever chasing them off ,so there must be some bait for them.i planted some lillies i got from my neighbors dam and they are just starting to get going,im going to get a few more kilos of firetails just to speed things along a bit.il proably wait another year before i put in some jacks and sarotogas,the water is down about a meter,i didnt get much rain over christmas,so all in all not to bad.

[Chimo]

Hi Opti

Looks to be a lovely site. I used to work in Soil Conservation and if it was my dam I would definitely do something about the spillway.

Ideally it should be a grassed outfall slope that carries runoff for only a few days at a time so the vegetation is not washed out. To achieve this one needs to construct a suitable "trickle flow" system that carries the low flow "trickles" down to the drainage line downstream of the dam embankment. As well as an inlet structure installed a little below FSL there needs to be an energy dissipation structure where the water exits the "trickle flow" pipe or you end up with an outlet like a high pressure fire hose that you could go gold mining with.

Its all fairly straight forward and the system inlet also reduces the loss of fish etc from your dam. The grassed up spillway especially at the FSL also acts as a filter but in your 1:100 event the grass will lay over and perform much like a thatched roof so protecting your spillway surface. I think, if I can find it, I have a pic from years ago of a vegetated spill channel after such a flow. This channel led from a gulley and fed the flood flow to a fibreglass drop stucture that delivered the water to the gully about 5 or 6 meters below. Amazing to watch in action!

Anyhoo if this stuff is of interest let me know.

Cheers
Chimo