smhog,

Another option would be to get a soil and water test from your local county agent and tell them that you are raising fish. They will then recommend the amount of ag. lime needed for that purpose. Depending on the results, and in a 1/4 acre pond, you can probably handle the task yourself by purchasing 50 pound bags of ag. lime and spreading it around and in the pond....assuming we are talking about 20 to at most 40 bags of the lime. In about three weeks your water will clear and remain so for up to about 5 years, again assuming lime is needed.

This approach may not work for you depending on the chemical make-up of your soils. It works great in my area, but each place is different. The advantages of this approach is that it is very forgiving, meaning that you do not have to be a water chemist to get good results...but you do need a soil/water test first.

p.s. according to my rough math you would need about 9 days to fill the pond and in summer without rain, would need to run the water hose about 18 hours a week to maintain pond water level.