I have been experiencing a higher growth of pond weeds which I am quite sure is because I am supporting a relatively dense fish population and I am feeding as well. So rather than have to go into the pond to do battle with the weeds, and seeing as we do eat the fish chemicals are out of the question, I am considering building an aquaponics setup to circulate the nutrient rich bottom waters into a flood and drain grow tank placed alongside the pond where I can grow some harvestable crops. I can easily start with a 4' wide by 20' foot long bed and plant something that is a heavy feeder like corn to soak up the nutes.

Has anyone tried this before with pond water? I can easily build some flood and drain tanks which are constantly fed by a small pump in the pond and automatically drain when filled so the water constantly is passed over the plants to provide them with their needed fertilizer.

This isn't much different than an algal turf scrubber that are used to clean up farm runoff when there are excess nutrients except I am substituting (selfishly) something I can eat instead of growing algae.

Is there any sanity in this plan?

I have done something sort of similar by pumping a small amount of water continuously back up onto drainage feeding the pond. Water was dispersed by a distributor pipe. Setup was able to draw down nutrients but provided additional challenges as well.

Evaporation and transpiration I had ways to deal with. Changes in soil, especially as relating to traffic where more problematic.

Are you sure this is from fish and feeding?? I consider myself to have a pretty good amount of fish and I feed twice a day and don't have weed issues from that? If anything my pond is not near as clear as it once was because of the feeding and the sun can't penetrate past about 12 to 15 inches so I have even less weeds than I used to. Just a thought...Not saying you don't have a issues I am just thinking out loud is all....

RC

Pond too clear? That is hard to beat this late in the season.

Not really sure why there are more pond weeds. The pond was dug in 1985, it has steep sloping sides and is pretty deep, 25 feet. For years the fish population was minimal and I relied on Mother Nature to provide for the residents. There were some weeds but just around the perimeter.

Then 3 years ago I built structure and stocked it more heavily and began feeding daily. So my assumption is it is nutrients from heavier use. And I assume this because it is all that has changed, with the possible exception of climate change! Now I am dealing with more cat-tails and submergent weeds and this year duckweed. I know that all of these weeds will sink and decompose and just add to the problem so I'm sizing up my options.

I considered just pumping the water over a sloping meadow that returns directly to the pond as Centrarchid did but the appeal of growing food from fish waste makes me want to try aquaponics. Plus I do a lot of gardening, hydroponics and wicking beds already.

The advantage of a flood and drain tank over a wet meadow is the return is through plumbing and there is no muddy field or erosion to deal with. But the concept is the same.