# Looking for rocks for pond perimeter.



## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

Hi All, 

I'm trying to get some flat rocks around the perimeter of my new wildlife pond before the Winter comes. If anyone has any extra rocks or lives near a creek or public area quarry where flat rocks can be taken, I would appreciate the help or insight. 

I am looking for about 100 rocks that are 8" in diameter up to 15" in diameter. This pond is only about 14' wide x 20' long. so I don't need more than a ton. 
I live in N.E. Ohio close to Akron Canton area.

Thanks,

George


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Georgio_P said:


> Hi All,
> I'm trying to get some flat rocks around the perimeter of my new wildlife pond before the Winter comes. If anyone has any extra rocks or lives near a creek or public area quarry where flat rocks can be taken, I would appreciate the help or insight.
> I am looking for about 100 rocks that are 8" in diameter up to 15" in diameter. This pond is only about 14' wide x 20' long. so I don't need more than a ton.
> I live in N.E. Ohio close to Akron Canton area.
> ...



Hello George
Your doing a project that I wanted to do,,,, so I compiled about a 1,000 sandstones, flagstones, bricks & blue granite.
The flagstones are 1 1/2" thick & every length & width.
If you would want to 'search' them up, I have pics already posted.
If your interested,,, let's make a deal?
I'll PM you my contact number.


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## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

Hello, 

Thanks for the information and the offer. I am looking for more natural flat stones than flagstones or bricks. I am not sure what blue granite is, but will look it up. I will keep that in mind as I look around for stones. Much Appreciated.
Thanks,

George


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

George - He has a thread in the Marketplace forum......

Sand Stones, Mantle Stones & Blue Granite


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

FYI,,,
As you drive down the roads, look for steep rock/ shale cuts in the banks.
(Or find a highway construction job.)
There's usually TONS of broken-off shale rocks in the ditches. LIKE down rt11, Lisbon, Liverpool, Wellsville area.
I've make many a walkway/ wall out of 'em. 

EVERY farmer will gladly allow you to pick the rocks out of their fields, before they plant. (the hard round ones sell for $300 a yard )

It would be interesting if you Posted some pics as you build!?


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## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

Hi All, 

I wanted to post a few pictures of my pond build that took place from late June to late September 2014. You can see in final pictures that the extra EPDM liner and extra geotextile underlay is taking up a lot of room on the perimeter, so I am hoping to cover it in flat rocks and save it from being cut away.

Here is the site being marked and surveyed, E-Dig was called around this time:



All excavation was done by hand (and back). The first few weeks of digging, also uncovered a Time Warner RG-6 Cable buried you can see it in the picture, even though E-Dig said by the little flag marking that no buried lines were in this section of yard!!!!!



Here is the final Excavation, about 276 cubic ft. of soil (spoils) removed in order to make 2500 gallon holding excavation: measures about 12' wide x 21' long and 30" max depth. Used 40' of landscape edging to make a rim as a liner protector. We had tons of rain at this time, and I had to buy a sump pump to drain the excavation several times at this stage so that I could continue excavating by hand. About 25 cinder blocks were used to raise and level the perimeter , since the yard had a slope that affected the low end..The GFCI was installed near the edge around this time too. This part took up most of the July progress.



Here I added some extra cardboard that the liner and materials arrive in beneath the underlay just in case there were any hidden\buried sharp rocks and to cover the cinder block edges.



Here is the 15'x25' underlay and Firestone liner in the excavation with the first 200 gallons of water: Cost about $15 in city water (softened)for 1536 gallons, the heavy rains we had in August took care of the rest.



Here is what it looks like now. The waterfall was redesigned from an aggressive slope to a relaxed slope, added 36W UV Sterilizer, floating skimmer, nine submerged LED lights, 18# of salt, timers, 2150GPH pump and waterfall filter. I have a real need for flat rocks to cover the liner still on the edges, but can't use boulders since the wall is elevated above the ground and would get crushed. 
Total cost of materials used was $1165. Still trying to determine how many hours I spent on this, since it spanned 4 months! Ha. 
Thanks for looking....
George


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## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

You mentioned driving down Route 11 near Lisbon or Liverpool. Is that an area where you can just park on the side of the road somewhere, and pick up the flat rocks? 
Do you have a more specific location, like near a landmark or intersection on Route 11?
I tried to PM you, but this site says that your inbox is full.

Thanks again,

George


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## buford2 (Dec 16, 2010)

if u end up having to pay try seville sand and gravel....they have a great selection but u gotta load ur self. they r one exit south of 76 by outlet mall.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Georgio_P said:


> You mentioned driving down Route 11 near Lisbon or Liverpool. Is that an area where you can just park on the side of the road somewhere, and pick up the flat rocks?
> Do you have a more specific location, like near a landmark or intersection on Route 11?
> I tried to PM you, but this site says that your inbox is full.
> 
> ...



Hello Georgio,,,
Ya sorry, Pm box ALWAYS going over full,,, too much going on right now,,, that's why I pass a contact number to most of you guys ??? 
I was hoping you'd call,,, You should just call. 

I also have an OGF friend (Pa line) that wants to dismantle his small front yard pond,,, that's full of coy. I also have a limstone quarry down the street,,, The hardest limestone in PA,,, & farms with tons of stone across the street.
You COULD fill a semi. 
lol, I'm a scrounge/ a pack-rat,,, I know where to get FREE *&^!.

I believe that a person can still park on the grass, along side of rt11 ( I do it to bow hunt, 12 hrs before a tow away ;>)). As long as you are picking up the fallen rocks, out of the ditches, nobody should complain or hassle you. Like I said, I did it all the time. 
You can Use Google Earth,,, & look for those fallen shale rocks along the road.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Please post more pics this spring, looks great!

Im guessing you plan to put fish/koi in there - are there herons around? If so have a plan (pvc tubes work well) before you invest in costly fish. 

Keep up the great work...


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## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

OK..great..Thanks, I will post more pics in the Spring for sure, especially since it looks different now, using rock I was able to get. 
I've seen herons flying over the neighborhood, but none so far at the edge of the pond.
I decided a year before building that this would never get stocked with any 1 fish costing over $1 each.

I have dozens of rosy red minnows at .13 each, about 2 dozen baby bluegills in there for free by scooping at other pond's edges, tadpoles, snails, and getting ready soon to add some shiners at about .33 each. 
The heron can have at it that way, and I won't lose any sleep. 

I went to the "Parade of Ponds" that http://waterxscapes.com/ hosts every year, for $10 I toured about 30 ponds in a weekend and took best ideas, lessons learned, fails, and concepts from each. 
I did a ton of research as well even before digging. 
I suggest attending this if you can. The knowledge gained here very worthwhile before making this investment.

I have some milk crates at the bottom where it is 3' deep and the small fish will go in their artificial reef when there is any panic. 
I am guessing a heron would get a few fish at least before the others can smell the  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreckstoff .

No Koi in that case. 
The rosy reds are a nice community fish that you can see in the water from far away, like goldfish, but I will try to get more native fish in there as long as none of them are id'd as being babies of any apex predators (bowfin, bass, pike). Baby bowfin are really cool looking though......too bad they get so big and aggressive.
Thanks,
George


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

I like that style. Nothing I bought was tooo expensive. I think the most I paid was about 15 for a small black and white koi (Eminem is its name and it was still kicking it about 2 years ago). The lady whose pond it is put a couple of albino cats in behind my back. They were much bigger than the smaller fish and I know they munched a bunch bc the smaller fish started diasappearing soon afterwords(hrrrrrrummmmphhh, even with goldies, I would make the high schoolers working at Jacks catch specific ones out of the big feeder tank lol). Thanks again and please post updated pics.


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## Georgio_P (Jun 4, 2010)

> I believe that a person can still park on the grass, along side of rt11 ( I do it to bow hunt, 12 hrs before a tow away ;>)). As long as you are picking up the fallen rocks, out of the ditches, nobody should complain or hassle you. Like I said, I did it all the time.
> You can Use Google Earth,,, & look for those fallen shale rocks along the road.


Can you PM me the location? I drove up and down 11 from Lisbon heading down towards Wellsville, this past weekend, and didn't see any fallen flat rock along the sides in either direction.


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