Hi, I am a newbie to this site and really like all the info that is contained in these pages. I have a pond that was dug in November and the grading was finished just last Saturday. It is about 0.4 acres in size and more or less rectangular in nature. It is approximately 12 ft deep on one end and 14 feet deep on the other with pretty step sideslopes. Probably close to 2:1 or steeper. The pond is a combination of groundwater and surface water fed. I will be installing a dual aerator system this coming weekend. Probably a 1/4hp rocking piston type compressor with two air stones. The drainage area that contributes to this pond is approx. 120 acres, most of which comes from a roadside ditch that then flows thru about 300 feet of woods across the surface to the pond. In this area I left about a .1th of an acre of area separated from the pond which I will let fill in with wetland type vegetation to act as a filter before it comes into the main pond. On the other side of the pond I have two 8” pipes flowing into it which comes from a front yard drain and also from along the side of our 600 ft gravel drive. I am thinking of combining these outlets approx 40 from the pond edge and then excavating out an area some 40 feet long and 25 feet wide to create a wetland filter to help filter some of the sediment etc.. which comes off the gravel drive. How much deeper should the filter area be from the surface water of the pond? Should I leave a dike, 12” or so, between the filter area and the main pond? What is the best type of wetland vegetation should I plant in this filter area for the purpose of filtration and also nutrient removal (ie. Fertilizer from the front lawn area). The pond does have and 18” screened outlet for overflow conditions. Any help, ideas, or pointing me to other sites is greatly appreciated. Sorry about the long windedness of this post.

Its not how well you do something,
Its how well you look doing it!