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#436724 02/03/16 09:22 PM
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Last year I built a house over looking a ~.5 acre pond. It was in rough shape and I've slowly tried to ship this pond into shape.

So far what I know. I've taken some rough depth measurements and it ranges from shallow to about 7-8' as far as I can find. In spring time it is tons of tadpoles that eventually hatch into thousands and thousands of frogs. I've seen turtles in it. I did talk to a neighbor that property does touch the pond and they said they put fish in it 5 years ago, however, when I told them they need to add around ~300 BG and ~100 LMB for that size they kind of looked at me weird. So I'm guessing they didn't put in that many. I have tried fishing in it only a hand full of times with my 5 year old daughter and her attention spanned lasted only as long as the worm stayed alive on the hook.


(What it looked like initially)

(Started the small pond on top of the wall)

I did just buy a pond water test kit to test for pH, ammonia, nitrates and phosphates, but currently I have 10" of ice on the pond. I did put blue dye and an algecide in it last year thinking it would help the floating weeds (before I found out what I think it is). Which I think it's Watermeal that is covering the pond.

What I want: I want it to be nice and free of Watermeal. I would like for it to be stocked with BG's and LMB. Nice for swimming.

What I was working on in the fall and will continue this spring, since I have a nice limestone retaining wall. I am digging a smaller pond on the top of the wall to put Koi fish in and have it spill over the wall and run into the big pond. I have a pump that will circulate the water. Also, I want to keep cleaning it up and plant nice plants around the edge.

What I want to know, is that deep enough? I've heard, yes and no. Is it Watermeal? I've read some forums on how to properly eliminate it. Any other information would be great.


(This fall)

(Cleaning up this winter)

Last edited by Stephen L; 02/04/16 09:28 AM.
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Hey Stephen,

Welcome to PBF! That is a very pretty pond and setting you have there!

I'll ask a few questions that might help the pros advise you better....It looks like it is down in a hollow so I suspect it does not get a lot of wave action and water mixing? Can you tell us more about the pond construction such as is there a dam with a spillway, flow thru water or water shed fed? I see you have lots of trees near and in the pond. Do you have a lot of muck on the pond bottom?

Again, Welcome!

Bill D.


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Stephen,

I see the deer like it. Nice pond. Give it a few minutes and the help will start flowing in. The people here have been nothing but nice and afformative.

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It is kind of down in the valley. I don't know what feeds the pond other then rain off at times. The level stays pretty much constant. Goes up at times but not much. It does look like it was damed up at one point a long time ago, if you are looking at the 3rd picture the bank all the way to the left looks like the dam. There isn't a whole lot of water movement other than the wind will push the watermeal to the sides at times. That was the whole idea of the waterfall, that it would help move the water more and create a pretty cool feature. There doesn't seem to be a lot of muck, but I haven't been in it a whole lot.

Yes, there are deer everywhere, turkeys and animals in general.

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Another welcome. Bills ? about muck should be investigated. If its got lots of muck and you put cute little KOI in the small upper pond, they will end up in the pond. Once in the pond they will root around and get lots of sediment suspended in the water column. Might want to put in some hardy forage instead. I hate Koi, just fancy carp !!!
If ya got 10"s of ice and your area usually gets heavy snows and or snow that sits for awhile, you should consider aeration.
Dman has a good eye. If you're wanting to swim, that looks like a fine spot for a beach. If the slope is too steep ya might consider a pier with a climb out latter.
Might want to look up a pic of Duckweed. Duckweed floats on top like that but will appear quickly and the same with it disappearing.
For a 5 yr old, that's a long att span.
Good luck and stick with it, ponds and kids go together.


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Bluegills will taste test swimmers. So hopefully your swimmers won't care about the fish nibbling at them to see if they're edible or not. smile

See how much muck you have.

Check out Google Earth and Satellite images going back as many years as records are to see variances in water levels.

Consider mapping the topography of your pond to identify structure and cover, be it a gopro if water is clear enough or a sonar/depth finder.

Look around the pond and identify which of the trees you want to remove, and remove them before you place your artificial structure and habitat (so you don't have a tree fall on your newly placed artificial habitat!).

Place your habitats where best in the water and ideally where you can reach them to fish them.

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I used the old satellite photos and this pond dates back to around 1980's. It was definitely not this full with water back then. But to me it's pretty cool.

I'll try to measure the muck here within the next couple of weeks. But was wondering what it will tell me and how much much should I have?

I've been trying to clean up all the dead trees around the pond so the banks are pretty clean and clear.

Lastly, the main thing I'm still concerned on is the depth and it it's suitable for fish and I won't have a fish kill coming winter time.

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Stephen,

My questions on muck and pond circulation are do to concerns you may have a toxic layer of water in the pond where fish cannot survive. Without significant circulation and a lot of leaves and other organic material entering the pond, over time anaerobic bacteria will build up in the muck (layer of decomposing organic stuff) and create a layer of water above the muck that is a "dead zone." That layer of bad water can be several feet thick. There are many threads here that discuss that. IF you have that problem, you will probably need to address that before you can have a thriving fish population.

Again, I am not a pro, just my 1 cent

Last edited by Bill D.; 02/04/16 08:54 PM.

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If ya got 10"s of ice and your area usually gets heavy snows and or snow that sits for awhile, you should consider aeration. Let me restate that.
You had better plan on aeration.


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Bill/Bob,

So it's probably going to take most of this summer to finish the upper pond to working conditions, so while I do that. I was going to take my pump and make a homemade fountain and have that out in the middle of the pond. To help aerate the water. Will this suffice?

Also, Bob, when you talk about a must of aerating, are you talking about all year round? So keeping the ice open in an area?

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Stephen, I'm probably not the one to be givin advice, I'm still learnin.
I picture your fountain as a floating or barely submersed sprayer. I would think that would freeze up during the cold. If you're sharp enough to fabricate something like that I'd think you could put together a DIY aerator fairly inexpensively. Do a google of DIY aeration/pondboss. There are also summer kill offs that I'm not qualified to explain but I just run my aerator for 4-5 hrs pre dawn everyday. Don't know if a fountain would provide proper protection.
The winter kill problem is usually caused by snow depriving the water of sunlight. without sunlight the plants and planktons die off. As they do they absorb the oxygen out of the water thus suffocating the fish. I only turn a shallow aerator when the pond has had snow cover of 3 or more inches for 7-8 days. I leave it run till there is about an 18-20' opening. That is probably being overly cautious but it took awhile ta grow the fish to a good size and I don't like gambling.
My personal opinion is that aeration is one of the most important things I've done to make my pond healthy.


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So, I've been thinking about some ideas to help move the water and see if I'm to far off. Take a look at the picture. My modeling skills are a little better than my paint skills. So I was going to make this "basket" out of PVC pipes. Suspend my pump (the black thing) in the middle of the basket, put that on the pond floor. Have the pump like 1' off the bottom. Then run a PVC pump out the outlet and up to the surface. Which I think can drill holes in the end as a "fountain" display. But will pull the water more from the bottom of the pond. Something worth it???


Last edited by Stephen L; 04/27/16 01:25 PM.
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If you're going to make a fountain, do it for aesthetics and not for aeration. If you want to aerate the pond, get a compressor and diffuser system. Air will move more water per kWh than a fountain.

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well I went out on the pond the last couple days before the ice started to melt. I drilled probably 20 holes and measured depth of ice and depth of water. I also got a 4" diameter PVC pipe and stuck it down the hole. I would measure how deep it went until it hit bottom with no force. Then I would add force the pipe and push it down into the much as far as it could go. Measured that delta. I did this in several locations and depths and found that it was only going down around 4-5". I feel that, that is a good representation of muck depth.

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Stephen, Watermeal feels like a gritty sand if you get some in your hand. From the distant picture, it looks like an algae to me with the swirling spread.

In Dubuque, I would say 7-8' depth causes annual winter kills. 10-12' would be much safer, and only if you keep snow cleared off at least 20% of the ice.

I'd suggest using a piece of 3/8" rebar to measure muck depth. 4" PVC can't cut through all the leaf litter that has to be there with all the trees surrounding the pond, and from a 30+ year build-up.

I would venture to guess muck is only 4-5" in 3 feet of water or less, and 3-5' deep in the deepest areas.

As was mentioned on using a water pump, do that for aesthetics. Pumping water only moves a fraction of the water volume tiny air bubbles can lift...air is a fraction of the electric cost also.

That is a gorgeous setting and well worth investing time, money and effort into!!!

Last edited by Rainman; 02/19/16 12:22 PM.


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So the ice is starting to melt so I wanted to get out there and do some tests. I tested pH, nitrites, ammonia and phosphates. My pH level was around 7-7.5. My nitrite levels were 0ppm. My phosphate levels were 0ppm. My ammonia levels were around 2ppm.

I do agree that aerating is more effective and costs less. I have been looking into systems. I was going to wait to save up and get the right one. But for the time being since I had the pump laying around I thought I would throw it in there just to help a little. Better than nothing I thought.

A local hardware store does fish days and order deadline is this week. I was going to put in an order in for 250 BG and 3lbs of FHM. And wait until fall to order the 50 LMB.

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Hey Stephen,

If I had an aged aquarium that had 2 ppm of ammonia, I would be concerned there is an issue with the nitrogen cycle in the tank. I am not a pro on pond water so hopefully someone that is will chime in.

A lot of folks have had problems with fish truck fish. I'm sure some have had good luck as well. If you go that route, my advice is to look at every fish before you put it in your pond to make sure you are not getting an undesirable stowaway in the mix. 3 pounds of FHM is 600 to 900 fish but take the time.


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So a lot has changed since I first posted here. And I've learned a lot. Some of it thanks to this forum. I tried the fountain and it looked cool but found out that electricity and water don't like each other. So instead of dealing with the pump in the water. I ended up buying a compressor and diffuser disc.





I didn't take pictures of the disc setup before I submerged it but those are the pump and what it's held in temporarily. Currently this setup is running 12 hours a day.





It makes quite a bit of bubbles/current.


Also, I stocked the pond with roughly 350 BGs, 75 HBGs, and 50 RES, 2 GC and 2lbs of FHMs. I pellet feed them but have yet to see them come to the surface yet. I've only had the fish in the pond for about 2 weeks.

I had a friend who works for the DNR come to check it out before I stocked it to see if it was worth it. He said so...but also informed me that he thinks the dam is leaking. We found the spill way pipe buried under the trees. So slowly we have been clearing off the dam. From what I can tell is that the pond leaks down to the current level and then levels off, where it doesn't leak much more.



You can tell from the stakes I have been marking since this February. The far left one is from winter freeze and when all the snow/runoff went to the pond. On the right you can see a bunch of closely marked stakes where it's at now. Which I think is more of evaporation and lack of rain.

Lastly, you can see in this picture on the dam the star...that's actually where the spillway pipe is. Right now the pond is about 7-8 feet deep. If the pond was up to the height it would be about another 6 feet.



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