Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How small can a trout pond be?

My 54x54 pond is handling the trout fine as of now, the trout weight about 4-6oz now x 600 trout, the ammonia is staying at 0 and on warm days the temps creep up to 68 degrees. Water temp is mainly around 64, I run about 4k gallons of well water a day to help with evaporation. ph is also staying at 7.8-8.0. The fish seem very active and healthy

Rich,

What is the purpose of the sand filter?

its to filter out any particles in the water and a place for the bacteria to grow to eat the ammonia.

That's what I figured but didn't think you would need that in an earthen pond that size if your fish load isn't too high.

Oh wait I see in your first post it's lined. That will reduce nitrification.

Doesn't your sand filter clog rapidly?

so far I only cleaned it once, I have a woven poly sunshade over 3/4 of the pond so not a lot of stuff other than fish waste is in water. And from what I researched the bacteria should eat most of that.