Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry new well-sulpher smell-need help

We had a new pond constructed and well drilled. I got a line hooked up yesterday and I have 2 problems.

First question; will a sulpher smell go away after a new well has pumped a while or is this going to be there forever if it is there now?

Second is a well problem. I won't go into why the people that drilled the well were asked never to set foot on my property again but let's just say they are not going to be asked to help me. The nearest "other" well folks are a very long way away. The problem is when I turn on the valve to the new pvc line running over to the pond. There is a big whack and the pressure drops to 0. if I use the valve where a regular hose is attached the pressure stays up and the pump kicks off and on like it should. It's stick not producing pressure like was hoping. Anyway, when running over to the pond, about 200 feet through 1.25" line it does not put out much. At this rate it may take a year to fill up a 2 acre pond.

Please rely with ANY info on wells as, even though I've always had a well, I've never known much aobut them. Thanks.

The sulpher-water wells that I have long-term knowledge of have had long-term sulpher presence.

It sounds like the 1 1/4" line will take all the water the pump can put out, so there is no (back pressure) to build up and shut off the pressure switch. My pumps (1/2 HP, 110VAC, about 11 GPM output at the depths they're at) will run flat-out like this through a 1" line or a pair of hose bibs. If you put a restriction on the far end of the 1 1/4" line, like a hose bib or sweeper nozzle, that should cause the pump to cycle instead of run constantly. Of course, you'd be getting less water out that way. It's not a problem in my mind unless you want the pressure for some purpose - to get maximum water flow it's the way to run.

My wells will normally run out of water to pump if run constantly, which is bad for the pump itself. So you don;'t want to run flat out unless the water supplied by the well is sufficient.

When we dug our 1 acre pond, the kids asked if we were going to use one of our wells to fill it up. I did a quick and dirty calculation and figured it would take about a year pumping 24/7 ("No").

Ok, thanks. Sounds like I've wasted $6000 as the pond filled half-way up with just winter rains in the last 3 months. We wanted the well for the horses too but I know no one will want to use it now. I was hoping the gas had just built up after sitting for 4 months since being drilled while I waited on the electricians. This well was put in specifically for the pond and back pastures. Oh, well, this pond has been nothing but a mney pit since it started. It started out as $5000 including getting some trees taken out of some pastures. I now have $20k in it. I should have just bought a boat. This is one of the biggest mistakes I've made since getting married. I think maybe I'll just let it grow over or get the dozer guys back to fill it in. I've given up. This has been a miserable 8 month project.

Oldcane,

Sorry for your miseries.

The sulphur smell will not go away, but may abate by a good bit. The first water out of the well will normally have more dissolved gasses, and less as time goes on. Problem is, H2S is so smelly that it takes only a few PPM to stink to high heaven. The good news is, it's harmless in moderate quantities, and will quickly diffuse into the air in an open pond.

If your watershed is small, your well, even if it's slow, may be a life saver. If your pond gets down 2-3 feet and still dropping, it will certainly beat nothing!

If you have lots of land, it would certainly pay to contour it in order to collect most of the runoff.

I'm going to turn it back on this afternoon and let it go. If it kills all of the newly stocked bluegills and minnows it will be the least costly mistake I've made in this fiasco. Thanks for the answers everyone. As far as runoff, it gets it and it may be full by June anyway but i want to fill it faster if i can.

If you run the well water over rocks or concrete blocks or probably even grassy ground for a distance before it enters the pond, this would probably help reduce the dissolved H2S (the same way it helps oxygenate well water).

well, that's not reall an option. I am really confused now. this morning i talked to a state fish biologist, he said it's not THAT big a deal. I just got a call from a pond consultant and he said not to do it because it was toxic to fish. I'm glad I decided I don't really care one way or the other.

I too have a new well (6 mos old) that I use for all of my water that too has the sulfur smell. I had the water tested and it has a level of coliform bacteria in it whic is causing the sulphur smell. What I am going to do is shock the well with chlorine bleach. This is supposed to be done by the folks drilling the well and by the people who set your pump. It sounds like your well drillers weren't the best so that might be an avenue to try. Just a thought and good luck.

Oldcane,

Give these guys a call and see what they think. I believe they have the same water you do (stinks to high heaven when the well is running), but apparently the gas blows off and they are able to raise fish in it. They might make you feel better.

Remlinger Fish Farm Limited
18740 Us 224
Kalida, OH 45853

(419) 532-2335

And one thing to keep in mind about "consultants": Anybody can call himself a consultant. Some are outstanding and some know less than you do.

The confusion is about quantities.

Yes, H2S is poisonous... in high enough quantity or concentrations. So is the chlorine in city water, but we drink it without harm. Too much of anything can kill you or your fish. Fortuantely, it's almost impossible for enough H2S to dissolve in water to be harmful. It is so volatile, that a tiny amount can stink up the water. The volatility makes the odor disperse very quickly when the water is exposed to atmosperic pressure.

let me ask you a couple questions about the well and tell you a bit about wells.....the well driller should have been able to test the production in gallons per minute (gpm). do you know what your well produces? how deep is the well? what is the static water level? the well depth, production, and static water level DICTATE the size of pump you need for the most efficient pumping of the aquifer.

do you have a pressure tank on the system? pressure tanks provide fairly even pressure in the distribution lines and protect the pump from sudden changes in pressure which can blow the insides of the pump apart. it sounds like your pump system was thrown together by inexperienced drillers and obviously cannot support your 1.25" distribution lines which may be too big for the well production, or the pump is undersized. the only way to remedy this situation is to determine the well production and make sure to have the right size pump (i.e. horsepower and number of stages). your distribution lines may or may not need to be replaced.

if you pursue this, i can provide you the manufacturer names of several pump companies. the companies i've dealt with are all very helpful in sizing the correct pump if you have the basic information i ask about above.

the sulphur smell is from H2S, it is basically harmless and dissipates quickly (except as as bob mentions - unless at super high concentrations which doesn’t normally happen with groundwater). fill up the horse trough, they'll get used to it. let it splash on the ground before going in pond..it wont hurt the fish.

oldcane, you've done the dirty work. the pond is dug and presumably holds water, yer well is drilled and produces water, the money is spent.......its now time to be fired up, encouraged, you're very close....... i can sense through your frustration....hang in there.

when these problems are fixed, and your catching plate size bluegill, you'll never regret the problems that you overcame to reach your goals.

thanks to all that responded. I pumped solid for 3 days. the smell seemed to go almost away over the 1st night. the well is 140 feet, 15gpm. i know the problem now. I should have used 3/4" like I thought but all of my know it all friends said I need bigger pipe. The well at the barn has 1 1/4" pipe from the well and past the pressure tank if you know what i mean. I figured this one did too. it didn't. It had 1" pipe. So I have 9' of 1" going into 240' of 1 1/4" The well doesn't produce enough water to have used 1 1/4". no pressure building up, my fault.

the well drillers are very experinced. they just don't give a crap. they put the tank and fittings in the wrong place twice. they are not setting foot on my propery again which is a real problem. they are the only ones in this area anymore. I went out and bought more garden hoses and I'm going to run them over today and turn it back on. it will shoot out farther into the pond and pass through more air on the way down. It may take forever to fill it but it does maintain a normal pressure level when using the 5/8" hose (or "hosepipe" for those of you native to Tennessee).

Like I said, I just really don't care. I'm not putting any more money into this hole. I may or may not go ahead with my bass this summer. I'm sure i will, I'm just mad right now. I may be mistaken but it looks like something has already spawned. of course, they may be tadpoles.......

I think I'm different than most folks. I take pride in planning, not in overcoming adversity. My planning was on the fly and mostly by other "experts". I think I should have just bought a boat. Like i said, this started out as a $5k project including reclaiming some pastures. As it went on it got more and more. I thought for $5k I could buy an old boat that would take a lot of maintaining. I now could have bought a new fiberglass bass boat with a 150hp engine. Instead I have a stinky pond with a well I didn't really need, torn up driveway and a magnet for kids. We have a boarding stable on the same property and I'm getting ready to kick everyone out to keep them from bringing their kids and grandkids and letting them run all around the pond. I should have known. I should have known. Thanks again but I'm done with this. It'll either wok or not. I don't really care anymore.

You're not the first guy that's laid careful plans, and not have them work out.

Look at the bright side. You have a nice pond, and it will get better and better. You have my personal guarantee that you will grow to love it, and feel that it was worth it some day. You also have a 15gpm well for emergencies, and you will definitely need it some hot, dry summer.

The kids? Maybe put up signs requiring PFD's for anyone under 12. That will probably keep most of them away, and the rest will be pretty safe.

But I know what you mean about the boat. A man can do a lot of fishing with a $5K boat and $15K spending money for bait.

Oldcane,

I don't know if this will make you feel any better but I wouldn't trade my ponds for a Yacht. Why? I'm tired of lugging a boat around fishing public waters that are overcrowded with rude people and frankly the fishing quality just isn't there anymore. With my ponds I am in charge and if I don't want anyone to fish them so be it. No trash, no rude people, no fishing days that are a disappointment and best of all much much bigger fish!

Hang in there. It will get better!

Cecil is right. I too have had the the bad experience of trying to fish in public waters from an overpriced boat. Believe me, if you want to see a money pit, buy a bass boat.

H2S is a reducing agent that is quickly oxidized to sulfates. The smell will disapate with time and oxidation. With the size of your pond and well pump rates, you should not approach any toxic levels. The SO4 will actually add to the buffering capacity of the pond.

As far as pipe size for a 15 gpm pump, 3/4" is too small. I would rather have a larger pipe size and install a reducing orifice then have installed too small of a line size and restrict flow and suffer higher pump horsepower costs. Consult a good plumber for nozzel size recomendations for a 15 gpm flow at operating pressure going to atmospheric,( if I remember tomorrow, I will look up design engineering data for a 15 gpm flow at a 30 PSIG backpressure) or just install a throttling valve and an anti siphon device to keep the line full when the pump cycles. This will reduce water hammer. PVC ball valve and a couple of els will do wonders for solving the water hammer and letting you zero in on your well true capacity without sacrificing the pump.