Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction logs in the pond; water clarity

Hi All. I am continuing to improve our 3/4 acre pond in Ohio. We use the water for the house and all is good. I have maybe 6 12" logs submerged in the pond. I have added Christmas trees, pallets, and now have some vegetation including cattails.

My question is about the wisdom of adding more logs. I will be taking down some 6" to 16" logs - Maple, Oak, and several species I am not familiar with. I was planning on putting them in. My wife is concerned the logs could have a negative effect on the water quality.

Are some species good and some bad? Leave bark on or remove? Any advice much appreciated.

Keep an eye on cattails. They can get out of control and too abundant rather quickly. Keep them contained to a specific area or length of shoreling. aI prefer water iris to cattails - shorter, slower growing, shallower, less fodder decay in the fall-winter.

I am on your wife's side - why logs? They will only benefit anglers and where can fish go in a small pond as yours? It probably would be a whole lot easier to find them that catch them in just 3/4 ac.

Hey Asleep...long time, no post...missed your participation. I believe I understand the undercurrents, but glad to see you back.

Skip the oak. It has a lot of tannins which is lethal for fish. I once killed a pond by pushing a lot of freshly pushed oaks in for structure.

I'm kinda with Bill, why? I would think less is better for a 3/4 acre pond. I have a 3.5 acre pond with 10 artificial structures tucked way up under my dock and I think that's too much.. Just my 1/2cents

The why was "structure". I need more. Does not have to be logs. I have one White Pine (5" trunk 10' high) and some fir trees that are about 8" x maybe 25' high, and 2 larger blue spruce (just like a Christmas tree) that is maybe 12" x 35' high.
Not doing them is easy. I will continue to see what else I can come up with. thinking broken concrete blocks, pieces of broken clay sewer pipe if there is still such a thing.
Thank for the help and kind words.

The SMB are at about 12-13". Some nice YP at 10".

So what all trees should we stay away from, we have some ponds that have tons of trees that could go in them but do not want to put anything that will cause issues to the fish or water.

Thanks

Just remember the general rule of thumb that structure should not exceed about 20% of your overall pond area. Don't go nuts on it.

thx all again. OK logs are out brothers and sisters. The pond is 5 years old and is a dug with no water inlet - only rain and not a lot of runoff. So it was basically a clay bottom and sides. Not great for fish habitat.
I did as I said add some logs, pallets, Christmas trees. A couple of stumps and what few stones I could locate at the time. There is a small dock.
I am hoping for my SMB and YP to reproduce even to the point of having enough for a few meals. The for the SMB I did add a single axle dump of 3-5" washed gravel hoping to provide nesting. I placed it with wheelbarrow so it is a long narrow strip goes out about 25' and has maybe 3' of water over it.

The improvements to habitat I have in mind would be to provide more cover for the smaller fish especially the minnows and preferred habitats for the larger fish like the stumps and other structure. The rest of it is doing what I can to create better for the rest of the supporting life - plants, fish, crayfish, turtles, amoeba whatever - everything the is positive and alive.

Because the bottom is clay bottom mud and now gathering dead leaves each fall, I think the pond would benefit from more stones ala the SMB, more hiding places for the minnows, and in general structure type items along the lines of a stump, some concrete blocks, more Christmas trees?, etc. I want vegetation and its oxygen.

Thx again for everyone's help. Last spring I had ribbons of YP ribbons attached to various branches semi submerged along the shore. That's what I'm talking about.