Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Too Much Iron

Can too much iron in water affect fish in any way? And what is too much iron?

How many ppm are we talking?

I run 2.43 ppm into my 1/10th acre trout pond with a flow of about 45 gpm and it doesn't hurt them a bit. Of course it get's dilluted as it's precipitated and settles out.

I do know I could have problems with gill irritation in fingerlings and problems with eggs if I was producting my own trout. However with the larger trout it's no problem. I was told it's because the larger fish have larger gill filaments.

Good question, a neighbor of mine has an old well he isn't using, uses city water now. Says the well water has too much rust for his house. Says I can put in a Shurflow submersible solar powered pump, we're talking 1.5 gpm for 5-6 hrs a day from 80 to 100'. It should keep his 200 gal cow trough topped off then overflow into my .2 acre pond. Guess I should have the water tested. Probably need to line the pond, but hard to say with so little rain. The pond has an undersized 1 acre of watershed so fluctuates between 1' to 3'. I'd have to guess if 7,500 gal monthly assist would eventually fill it along with some heavy rain someday.