Northwest of San Antonio, we put in a one tenth acre pond, seven to eight feet deep, lined with 30 mil poly. Stocked with too many catfish (channel and hybrid blues), bluegill, a few bass and three types of minnows. I also threw in some ugly crossed koi/goldfish to get them out of our little koi pond. This pond is nineteen months old, the fish are fed, the catfish approaching 27 inches...pushing the limit of biological load. At one year, I put in aerators...two bottom diffusers and one fountain. I also started regular infusions of aerobic bacteria to eat bottom muck and suspended organics. Also use dye for color. I have two pumps to circulate water up a ravine to feed a fake river. This summer I put in a sand filter between the pumps so I can run one pump through the filter and discharge through the intake of the other, inactive, pump. Two months of heavy rain fired up various plankton blooms and delivered dirt into the pond. I tried a flocculant that cleared the water nicely. I'm about $40,000 into this project...$25k for the pond, etc, and another $15k working on the river and landscaping.
