Phil, until I got more experience with the pond and was sure about what's there, I wouldn't do much. Maybe about 40 pounds of tilapia and about 6 grass carp. Grass carp are usually stocked about 10 to the acre but, at that rate, they can pretty well wipe out the pondweed and that doesn't sound like a good idea. Allen Hall(Fire is Hot) has found that Lusk was right when he said that when you wipe out one weed another takes its place. You might not like the new one.
My point is mostly that you have no experience with the pond and could screw things up. Toss in some carp and tilapia and watch, KEEP A LOG, and see what happens. Have some patience. Using up the $2,500 budget all at once doesn't make sense until you have seen it for 3 or 4 different seasons.
You need to fish it to find what is there but if you over fish, you can expect the fish to become hook shy.
BTW, don't dye it. That stuff can do a good job on weeds but it can/will also clobber your phytoplankton base which is the basis of the food chain. Build or buy a sechi disk to identify the amount of phyto that you have.
A couple of things I would do if I was you. Subscribe to PB magazine and buy a couple of books from the PB office. My favorites are Raising Trophy Bass which is about a lot more than bass and Perfect Pond, Want One? All of these things give info that you can't find on the web because it will take a long time to even figure out what questions to ask.
Put the rest of the $2,500 on hold until you know more about what might need fixing.
Oh yeah, at some point you will need to know that one inch of water over one acre is 27,000 gallons. Remember that # in August.
Last edited by Dave Davidson1; 03/23/14 06:25 PM.
