Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Neophyte Pond Owner

I have been "lurking" on these forums for several months and am now prompted for a more active role:

I am a neophyte pond owner having just purchased property in east-central Indiana (near Marion) with a small (about 3/10 acrea) pond. The pond is a run-off pond with no other source of water and this year has been particulary dry. I had a small (?) fish kill in July and the pond is currently looking bad with floating algae and the proverbial "pea soup". We have caught many bluegill and several LMB during the time we have lived there.

The pond has not had good care in the last several years.

I have read many posts and learned alot from these forums but now I have to get serious and develope a plan and get start on some real action.

I want to take good care of the pond but don't want to spend all of my time doing it. Some happy medium. I think I need some help: Instruction, coaching, a primer or some "dutch uncle" level of guidance.

How do I go about learning the very basics of caring for and improving this pond OR must I be willing to devote large amounts of time on discovery?

I think I might need a mentor.

Thanks for any help.

RodE

Hi Rod, I'm also new to the world of ponds. I live just north of Muncie. You have came to the right place for good advice. Like I said I'm new to it so will let others give the advice.

Howdy Rod.

How far down is your pond from full pool? It might be a good time to rule out any leakage problems before proceeding.

Next door in Ohio, I am down about 14" right now due to evaporation - maybe 8" more than ever before.

WRT a primer, Bob Lusk's Basic Pond Management, Trophy Bass, and Perfect Pond books are tops. The first one might be the best for your situation, but all three contain useful info (I reread Trophy Bass about twice a year even though I'm a big BG guy).

Do you have any aeration? Properly used, it can help prevent and/or alleviate many problems including fish kills. Read some of the Aeration threads to get a gist of what it's about.

Please have patience waiting for better suggestions than mine, as Server problems have made the forum slow and less-well-travelled of late.

I would throw some aeration at it.

As far as time goes, it kinda depends on whether you get hooked like Theo and I. Once you get it pretty well under control, you can spend more time fishing than maintaining. Of course, like a car, sometimes it's gonna require maintenance.

hey rod, in addition to the excellent comments by theo and dave, start keeping track of the fish you catch (numbers and body condition). eventually you will want to manage towards a balanced and healthy population of predator/prey. search the forum for the "relative weight tables" and use to determine if yer LMB and BG are skinny or fat or just right, these data will help you decide what to keep and what to cull.

Thanks for the replys. This only my second year with the pond so my history is somewhat limited. (The previous owner is out-of-state.) The pond is about 24" below the culvert that is the overflow. Last year, it got down to about 15" below the culvert at about this same time. Again, there is no natural inlet so I am at the mercy of the weather which has been dryer and hotter than usual.

It seems like a general concensus to aerate. I am looking at a bubbler option - I really don't want a fountain. I want to keep the pound as "natural" as possible - natural edge, etc and a fountain doesn't fit. Also I don't have electricity to the pond so am looking at the option of runnnig about 200 ft of air hose from a small aerator/compressor located near the house.

Given that it already September, do I wait-out the rest of summer and fall or get aeration going as soon as I can? Do I "attack" the algae with chemicals (would like to avoid this if I can. Being environmentally responsible is important to me.) or let the natural fall cycle set me up for a better start in the spring?

I am also considering a geo-thermal heat pump for the HVAC in the house and could, with an open-loop system, deliver well water to the pond as the discharge. Is this a good idea? Any experience with this sort of approach in the group?

I appreciate the opportunity to ask these questions. Maybe I'll have something to give back sometime.

Rod.