Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Input needed

Here is your chance to stop and think about topics of interest and provide needed input on what is missing in your opinion.

While there is extensive info in the prior threads including the Archives it is sometimes difficult to know what large topics are not covered or not adequately covered to the PB forum members satisfaction.

Here is a chance to tell us what topics you feel are or missing or lacking in a general since.

Any feed back is appreciated and should help provide a better product. Thinking outside the box is allowed. Keep in mind there may not be a known answer to specifics.

Which box are we allowed to think outside of, all of them? All the good food today is slowing me down.

Sorry for the confusion about the box. I am not attempting to change the scope of the Forum - Pond related or the headings etc. I am trying to find out which of these type of topics the members think are not covered or not covered adequately. Which topics are not explained so they can be understood. For example I think we need more info on water quality and easier to understand answers. By outside the box I meant to see the forest (big picture)not the trees ( a specific question). Any ideas are welcome even if they may not be what I am talking about.

I'd love more information on water quality, but dumb it down a little for some of us. Maybe some simple ways too make observations on whether or not our pond's water needs treated or altered in some way.

Thank you, ewest.

Water quality is a basic issue

I wouldn't mind seeing a pros & cons sheet about Grass Carp.

I had started a thread on it to solicit everyones opinions & experiences, and I was going to compile a summary. What we ended up with, I believe, was the most current & comprehensive summary of grass carp. Anyone with questions could read that and know the full skinny.

I never got to finish it, and now I can't find it.

One time Lusk told me that there were certain sort of "esoteric" signals that a pond was having problems. Examples were poor frog health, and funny smelling water. They could be kind of a cool "outside the box" topic. Sort of an early warning system for water quality. Great topic idea, ewest.

The "esoteric" signals would need to include the bryozoans as a positive health indicator.

Oh, yeah. Very, very good Sunil. You're right the signals could be both positive and negative.

Here's what you were looking for, my friend.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=6257&Number=58466#Post58466

Thanks for finding that.

Shorty had come up with an interesting comment when we were looking at the guts of a grass carp that catmandoo posted.

We've all discussed what all GC eat, and some feel that GC will eat FA. I wonder if it does have anything to do with organisms that may be on the plant in question.

I would like to see more about working with aquatic plants in a proactive way as opposed to just controlling unwanted plants. My perspective is that most pond owners build the pond and then wait to see what plants show up. I hope to "stock" plants with the same thoughtfulness that I stock fish with.

While I enjoy reading almost any post/topic sometimes I would like to see information more specific to my climate/area. Not sure if this is what you are looking for.

I'd like to have better access to the cold-water pond info. I really enjoy the warm-water LMB, BG, CC discussion - but I really NEED better access to all the trout threads.

The problem with what I propose, and with many other threads is that usually any question can be associated with a variety of topics. So it all depends...

As an example, how does Cecil pump water from a well, and oxygenate it without warming it up before it enters his ponds? (I really do want to know!) To me, the only reason someone would want to do this is to keep the water cold and have it enter the pond at the bottom to keep the thermal stratification as a protective layer during the heat of summer. For brookies. Just spraying well water on the surface or with micro-diffuser aeration isn't as effective. This topic could go in a variety of places, but I think it is really about managing cold-water fisheries.

Those are some very good ideas. We need more on cold and cool water fish. GW a good idea on positive plants. Understanding water quality including DO and temps as well as the other factors is needed. More Northern pond info would also be good and broaden the horizion.

More ideas guys ?

I would like to see a soil/soil additive thread in the common question section. Some of us don't know dirt. Something that would show picks of soil types and explain which are good for what. Same thing with soil additives like ag lime, hydrated lime, gypsum, bentonite and those sorts of things.

I don't know if this would be a topic, per se, or a category. But I would like to see an area -- either here on the website or in the magazine -- that covers new or recent studies and findings about ponds and pond fish by state and university (and even Fed., if there are any) researchers.

What brings this to mind is a clipping a friend send me from Illinois -- the DNR's monthly magazine had an article about some really fascinating work on bluegill populations being done by the Illinois Natural History Survey.

It made me wonder -- are other states doing work like this? Either at land grant universities, or through the state fish and wildlife agency? If so, how does the word get out? It seems to me Pond Boss would be an ideal venue for making information about these studies more widely available. My hunch is readers of this board and the magazine would find these studies interesting and possibly quite valuable. Even just a synopsis paragraph and web link would be a great help.

There's also probably a lot of "grey literature" (Masters theses, etc.) published each year that might offer some worthwhile nuggets.

I wish I were more "tech savvy" to search some of these things out. I would be delighted to do so, since I am retired and have some time to spare. But some of the public websites I've searched, such as those for the Fish & Wildlife Service and USGS, are vast and pretty intimidating -- and their internal search engines don't often yield many relevant "hits" when I enter "farm pond" or "farm pond studies."

Just a thought. Appreciate this thread you started -- some really good ideas.

Mike Smith, Lexington, VA

DJT and ML more good ideas.

I would love to see some info on GOOD aquatic plant life, how to establish it, where to get it, etc. All I can ever seem to find is what NOT to have!

Eric,

How about a Wiki on desirable or semi-desirable pond plants (for game fish ponds)? We could designate 1 or 2 "editors", and everyone could contribute their experience with a yea or nay for various plants. Maybe just a table stating the basic facts and caveats. For example, duckweed wouldn't even make the list. Water hyacinth would be "OK" for northern ponds only, and widgeon grass would proget a universal OK.

If water quality information is required consult Dave Davidson – he’s the expert.
“Jump in the creek with a bar of soap and see whether the water is hard or soft?”

I would caution against “technology overload” – our moderators do a remarkable job answering questions and giving advise, but unfair to ask more of them.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it...

ewest,
Any consideration given to the ideas mentioned, or did it get a pocket veto due to lack of input?

Opps -thread killer at work ...
Sorry about that Eric....

Never fear, George...I'm always lurking in the forum bushes, waiting for a member to mistakenly fall into a thread-killer trap that I so often seek. Allow me to free you by making a subsequent post in a feeble effort to appear useful and (possibly) knowledgeable about something other than the 3 Stooges. Stand back as I draw from my quiver and unleash another Bski broken arrow...
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I would like to see a summarized chart or graph to explain what the heck YOY, F1, F2, blah blah really mean. When you guys start talking about fish age or fundamental genetics, I have no idea how old it is or what cross breed or whatever. Sometimes I think you're just texting cookie recipes. The Mod's should open just one post in the Archives and build it in a simple to read, condensed format. Instead of adding a couple dozen posts of afterthoughts that ramble on, try to contain it and condense it to a format that Moe, Curley, and Larry could understand. Take your time and shape it, each of the Mod's adding improvement and facets over time.

Thanks for bumping this thread. It is still open for ideas - like the good one Bski just made. The process is moving forward. Bob has seen this thread and we will be working on this idea and others soon. The purpose is to gather ideas on how to make the Forum more helpful (info) and user friendly. Thanks.

Cool, can't wait to see the always great stuff you guys do!!