Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization PERFECT POND / LIME / ??

Hi, I have a 3 acre pond that we renovated in Jan. Feb of 2009. I have a leak somewhere and will lose about 2 feet over a months time and then the water level stabilizes... until heavy rains bring it back to full pool... just totally clue less on how to figure out where it is leaking and how to stop it......

my real questions is what is the test to determine if you need to lime, is it ph? Can I use a swimming pool test kit to determine this? What are the disadvantges if I dont lime and I need to...

also, I have been putting the perfect pond plus in since June but have never had an algae bloom... any ideas why? One more to throw out.... when we get heavy rains I get some sediment red alabama mud that washes into pond... is this a detriment to the fish.... by the way I stocked with 2500 CNBG, 1500 RESF, 4000 FHM in March.... was going to wait until spring to stock my Tiger Bass.... does that sound like a good plan? Sorry to post so many questions in one post..... Thank you in advance for your response...

Not an earth guy, so I can't give you any ideas on your pond leaking problem... You may want to put together more details and try posting in the appropriate subforum on here...

A swimming pool test kit can be used, but isn't completely accurate. If your pH is too low, it can affect fertility and can affect the species of fish that will do well or even survive in your pond. Your lack of a bloom may be because of a low pH...

It depends on the species, but some species or more suseptable to suspended particulate than others. It can also affect the phytoplankton make up of your pond as the suspended clay can block out sun light.

Your stocking numbers for CNBG and RES seem a little on the high side, but it depends on what your goals are? What are your goals for your pond? If you are going for trophy sunfish, you may have stocked too many sunfish and stocked the bass too late. If you are going for trophy bass, you may be well on your way...

I am wanting to raise bass, I love to bass fish and of course I would love to raise the world record but really what I hope to do is to be able to consisently catch quality sized 2 - 3 pounders with an occasional lunker thrown in... (is this pie in the sky??) .... the bream are just a bonus for now... they are fun to catch... we can go and catch about 40 - 50 in an hour...

I have a Texas Hunter Feeder and I am feeding 7 times per day for about 2 seconds per feed. Its pretty awesome sight to watch them feed it looks like boiling water out there when they feed.

In regard to the rain runoff that gets into the pond it normally clears back up in about a week. I have at least two springs that feed the pond clean water...

oh yeah one more thing are turtles a problem for a pond. We have a few regular size and one very large probably 2 diameter long neck, soft shell, he comes up and feeds occasionaly on the left over fish food... do we need to try and remove these turtles or just leave them alone?

Not at all pie in the sky. Lots of folks here have a quality fishery with 2 -3 pound LMB. Raising a trophy bass on the other hand is an entirely different matter and would require a different management plan. But your stated goal of consistent catch of 2 - 3 pounds should be way doable (is that even a word?). This is especially true given that you are feeding. At one of Bob Lusk's ponds on Sunday, I witnessed him run a feeder with huge pellets designed specifically for LMB. It was amazing to watch the bass feed. They hit the pellets with the vigor of hitting live prey. They jumped completely out of the water when attacking a pellet. Quite an amazing site. I wish I had a video camera with me at the time.

Oh and by the way, I'm no expert, it's just that I've been to the Pond Boss conference so I feel like one.

As JHAP said, numerous 2-3 pound bass on average is not pie in the sky... Having a couple trophy bass, say 8 lbs or larger isn't unreasonable either. However, if you are shooting for a world record, you will have to forget about numerous 2-3 pound bass and focus more on smaller numbers of larger bass. 3 acres is a a fair amount of water to work with though...

I wouldn't worry about the turtles.

Thanks for the posts, I'm not worried about the world record...If I can catch the 2 - 3 pounders it will be worth it

I am going to take a water sample to a pool store today and get them to check my ph for me. What is the targe ph level for my pond?

Thanks

In Michigan when we have our water analysis professionally done the Target Range is: 7 - 9 Standard Units, that range is considered healthy.

feel free to sent us a water sample. ALkalinity much more important than testing pH, pH has a diurnal flucation (changes daily) so it really depends on what time of day. ALkalinity would better tell the story.

Wouldn't water with high alkalinity also show a high ph or at least higher than a neutral 7. I have no clue about bass or sun fish or.....but my koi like it between 7-8. It's been awhile but I recall jumping from 7 to 8 is like a 10 fold jump in ph. Yes sunlight can drive ph up a little but, I didn't think it would be enough to worry about. Just curious is the alkilinity test a kh / carbonate hardness test like one would use for a salt water tank????

Hello if you are in Alabama you should be consulting with American Sportfish Hatchery. Tell them your goals and they will tell you exactly what you need to do. They can do your lime and anything else that you need. They are very nice and you can talk directly to the scientist. I have delt with them while stocking my pond. I have a 8 acre pond designed specifically for raising trophy bass. Two years worth of planning. I stocked 10,000 Bream, 20,000 FHM and 10,000 shad and 2 years later topped it off with 300 tiger bass. I feed bream 4 times a day for about 12 sec from a texas hunter feeder. Starting in end of November i will cut back to 1 feeding per day then in the spring it will go back to 4. I also fertilize with perfect pond plus. The bass was put in on May 27th of this year as 2 inch fingerlings and when i was home in September i was messign around with a bream jig and i started catching bass that was 8"-10" long. I was very impressed. Talapia and crawfish will also go in durign the spring. They will put you ona good management program and as long as you buy fish from them they will consult for life and help with any problems even if they have to come down in person. The FHM school very well without any problems. The shad are thriving and the bream is gettign fater. The bass are growing could life get any better !!!!!!!!!!!!! Deffinantly give them a call !!! I freind fo mine has a 20 acre lake and he used them and in 2 1/2 years he was catching 7 and 8 pound fish. I will try to upload some pics of pond when it was under construction.

There are quite a few very good pro Fishery Scientists who work in Ala ,TN , Ga and MS in addition to ASF. There are several like Greg and SEP and others who are active on this forum and in PB. I have used all 3 of those mentiond in this thread. Greg has already offered to help on this thread - can't beat that.

My appolagises just trying to help the guy. With help from somebody i knew. Dont know where all the tohers are from or anything like that. Just trying to be helpful is all. Sorry if i opffended anyone.

No apologies needed - we all like first hand info from pond owners. Good and bad recommendations help everyone here. My job is to keep the info balanced and complete so all options are on the table. No problem with your post at all - keep posting and thanks for joining in.

No problem Manchester American Sportfish is a great outfit and they can grow some big bass just like we can.