Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Supplementing water

I am buying some North Texas land that has a pond about 1/2 to 1 acre that is getting very low (drought). I do not want to lose the fish so am thinking ahead about either buying water from someone with a water truck that could get water out of a creek or lake. Anyone ever done this? I have a well that I could potentially use but understand that there may be an lack of oxygen with well water and/or a lot of other issues. I am not lookig to fill the pond as much as keep it at a safe level. I consider myself absolutely a rookie with this and this post is the beginning of my education. Subscribing to Pond Boss mag is next. Thanks

Cormac,

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but if the pond in question is almost dry now - it may be a never-ending task keeping water later in the year. We are running about 6 inches below normal (in my area), but no where near as dry it will be later in the year. Can you ask a neighbor if the pond usually dries up? If so, maybe you can make some decisions from there...I can’t comment on supplementing water, but it perhaps the well is a good option.

Cormac, I'm also about 5 ft. low in North West Texas. Like you, no rain. The non oxygenated well water isn't a big problem. You can aerate it by running it through baffles. Cecil Baird posted his well thought out contraption here once. Essentially you run the water through a piece of pipe where the water stream is broken up by some kind of materials like mid sized rocks before entering the pond. I have splashed the water onto a piece of tin before it gets into the pond. I doubt that these kinds of measure are really needed if you are just adding top off water but I could be wrong (I usually am).

Cormac,

In East Texas, home of 60 inches per year rainfall, we haven't seen measurable precip in weeks.

I'd be very careful about transporting water from local creeks or even lakes...there's just no telling what kind of small fish fry or other creatures you might pick up.

I've run well water through a simple lawn sprinkler to add oxygen...seems to be effective.

If you guys know any rain dances, it may be getting time to warm them up. This could be a tough summer for our ponds in the South.

Cormac,

If you run well water into a good size pond all you really have to do is splash it into the pond or something. By the time it gets around in the pond it should be fine. My trout pond gets a healthy flow of about 35 gpms and the pond is only 88 by 59 feet so I drop it via gravity through plastic media to aerate it and I flow it up into an elbow to allow it to splash back down into the pond. All of this is gravity flow except for the well pump.

Hauling wate does not sound economical whatsoever and you'd be surprised how little difference it would probably make to the pond.