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[Afromullet]

I have tried to create my first moat but filling it with water failed horribly.

I channeled out some ground near a pond of water and then mined into it so that the water begins to flow into the area where I created the channel. Unfortunately, after a few minutes, it was all absorbed into the ground and mud was created.

Is there any way to work around that? I tried covering the ground with floor constructions, but that did not work either.

[WrathNail]

I have tried to create my first moat but filling it with water failed horribly.

I channeled out some ground near a pond of water and then mined into it so that the water begins to flow into the area where I created the channel. Unfortunately, after a few minutes, it was all absorbed into the ground and mud was created.

Is there any way to work around that? I tried covering the ground with floor constructions, but that did not work either.

How big is your moat relative to the pool? Water will always evaporate if spread out to thinly (1/7). A better way to fill it is to either tap into a river or pump water from the caverns up to the surface.

[MagmaMcFry]

A pond isn't enough.
Up to 7 units of water can fill a tile (look with [k]). 1/7 water won't spread anymore, and will evaporate sooner or later. You'll want at least as many tiles of water as there are tiles of moat. So try to fill your moat with a brook, stream or river. If you don't have a river, tough luck. Dig for underground water and pump it up. You should inform yourself about power, pressure and pump stacks. A dwarfier alternative is to use magma.

[greycat]

An "air moat" is actually more effective than a water-filled moat, although it doesn't look as nice.  More creatures can swim than fly, so a channel that's got nothing but air in it will keep out more creatures than one that's filled with water.  (You'll need to remove the ramps down inside it, though.  If the ramps are left in place, creatures can just walk across.)

[Gullydwarf]

If you really want to have this moat filled without having to search for underground water, what you can do is this:
You have to be in a rainy climate for this to work, I think..
See how much water is in the pond. Calculate how much tiles that much water will fill to 4/7 depth. With W being the amount of water and T being the amount of tiles you can fill: W / 4 = T.
Now count from the point where you will break through to the pond and build a floodgate when you reach the amount of T tiles from the pond.
Break into the pond and watch it fill a part of your moat. Now comes the hardest part...WAIT for the water to refill by rain, which can take very long depending on how often it rains.

This way I am digging a well for my hospital from a couple of surface water reservoirs. I will block the entrypoints with grates to keep the occasional fish/turtle out of my hospital.

[Chocolatemilkgod]

An empty moat as said previoiusly is easier and better. Plus theres no risk to flooding your fortress...Not that I did anything like that...

[Nameless Archon]

An "air moat" is actually more effective than a water-filled moat, although it doesn't look as nice.  More creatures can swim than fly, so a channel that's got nothing but air in it will keep out more creatures than one that's filled with water.  (You'll need to remove the ramps down inside it, though.  If the ramps are left in place, creatures can just walk across.)

Additionally, land-based creatures who dodge into the empty moat are often stunned when they fall. A cage trap at the bottom can trap them while stunned - even normally TRAPAVOID creatures can sometimes be snagged this way - just leave them one ramp to exit in some place that forces them to walk the long way back around!

[Lord Darkstar]

Plus, air moats lets you gather up "goodies" have spilled out of dead or dieing entities. If you fill a moat with water, then you have to drain that water to get access to anything dropped in it. Without a constant water feed, this makes it hard to fill your moat back up after you empty it.