Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat trout pond

hey all! brand new to the site, and i figured it was a good spot to answer a few questions. ive built a few smaller garden ponds and having just bought a home with a yard big enough, im looking to build one for myself. one catch, (no pun intended) i want to stock a few trout. Ive got a good idea for temp control. I run geotechnical drill rigs for a living and want to use a geothermal loop to keep it cool in the summer. I am planing on drilling a 50 foot hole 10 inces in diameter at the bottom end of the pond, casing it with 10" pvc pipe to circulate the water through. basically, i would have a pond with a REALLY deep spot.. i just need to move the water.. (i think) also, i would need a good way to join the pond liner to the pipe. im not sure of the best way to do this in a leak free manner. other than that, i suppose simply having a balanced environment, Ph, water circulation, algae and or weed control and keeping it cool enough, i should be ok? right? anyways thats what im thinkin about doing.. any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks ahead of time!

Mike, welcome to the show.

This is a new one to me so you might be wise to ignore what I say. My assumptions might be pretty flawed.

First, I assume that the pond size would not necessitate the "well" as the water source. Thus, you could plug or cap the deep end and just use it as a REALLY deep spot. Along with the loop, drop a submersible pump down and keep the water circulating, maybe on a periodic basis so the cooler bottom water could always be coming to the surface. Or maybe the loop or pump wouldn't both be needed. I don't know. A plastic adhesive joining the the casing to the liner should make it water tight.

Maybe drop a small diffuser down there and use the upwelling bubbles to raise the cooler water and aerate the water at the same time?

Welcome to the forum! This is a new one on me, and it'll be interesting to see the suggestions.

Would there not be a risk of a major water drain source at the bottom of the PVC pipe? If you're drilling that far down, I presume it's to get to a water source, which means in addition to having an inlet, you're going to have an outlet at some point. I may be wrong in my assumption, though, that the pipe will be "open" at the bottom, but I don't know that I understand why else you'd have that deep of a hole other than as a source for water. If so, again, how well the liner is matched to the pipe may not make a difference as the pipe wouldn't be sealed and you'd have a leak source, I would think. I don't know jack about that sort of thing, though, so my ramblings may be worthless.

The entire thing would be a closed system. The only reason i need it to be that deep, is to give the water time enough to cool before being pumped back into the pond. I should clarify, the pond will be small, maybe 12' by 10' give or take.. being a closed system, i would need a good seal at the pipe, otherwise i would have a great big bathtub drain. i wouldnt mind getting the pipe into or past ground water, i believe it would help dissipate the warmer water being pumped to the botttom.. essentially it would be somewhat of an "artificial spring" welling up into the pond..

12' by 10' is pretty small for more than a couple of trout.

maybe 6-8 depending on how big they get.. i wont be afraid to pull a couple out if they start out growing the pond though.. much better table fare than koi...