Snrub, I think your post illustrates what I'm thinking. If I'm understanding you correctly, you were satisfied with the performance of your fish on the 32% feed. THEN you discovered pondboss. I wonder how many others are in the same arena as you used to be?
I see it as "us's", and "thems". The "us's" are like what we see here on the forum. Serious about ponds and fish. The "thems", are the overwhelming majority of pond owners. The notion of hiring a consultant, or buying pedigreed fish, is not something they would ever consider. Fish come from a truck that stops in the parking lot of the feed store, and ponds are dug by the same guy who put in your septic system. Certainly neither is preferable, and I think we would all agree on that point. But you know what....there are a TON of satisfied pondowners, who are living this very existence. "They" might have a leak in their pond...."we" have leaks also. "They" might suffer a fishkill in their unaerated pond."We" might very well do the same in our bottom diffused, engineered ponds. "They" might have a problem with "moss". "We" fight FA and pondweed.
Where I see a difference is with the size structure of the fish themselves. "We" pour money and time into our ponds like the waitress pours free refills of sweet tea at a Cracker Barrel. Over and over again. "We" want 11 inch bluegills and double digit bass. "They" are thrilled with the kids catching a stringer of 8-9" bluegills, and the occasional 18" bass. And once the fish go in, the only other money spent on the pond might be for some copper sulfate. And the kicker to all of this? "They're" happy with their pond. We're" happy too, but does the ratio of dollars spent to enjoyment gained, work to our favor or theirs?
Does happiness diminish once knowledge of what MIGHT be, is gained?
Low cost, easily obtainable 32% will grow some pretty good fish...speed costs money, how fast do we want to go.
