Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site want to build a trout pond

Supertrout,

I run the 45 gpms 24/7 into the pond during the summer to keep the water cool. The inflow not only cools the pond, but dilutes and removes ammonia and nutrients by outflowing into another pond. The pond it runs into is a much bigger warmwater pond and the inflow actually creats an algae bloom for me that does not require adding any fertilizer. The seechi dish reading in the warmwater pond averages about 24 inches.

45 gpms is actually a lot of water, and you need a place for it to go after it leaves the pond. 45 gpms is 2700 gph, and 64,800 gallons a day. It's important your aquifer can handle the flow without drying up or lowering your neighbor's wells.

Your proposal to remove a little water and add a little now and then probably won't cut it to keep the water cool enough in hot weather. But being in Minnesota and if you are shaded maybe there is a chance.

I drop my approximately 52 degree well water fresh out of the well into a series of five gallon buckets filled with plastic media to break it up adding oxygen (well water has zilch for oxygen)This also blows off gases like nitrogen and sulfides and carbon dioxide if you have any.

Aeration of the pond itself of some type would be needed in my opinion. Aeration does several things; It adds oxygen (trout need lots), it helps break down wastes, and it breaks down toxic ammonia which is a metabolic waste of fish.

You could go with surface aeration, but I can't advise you on that. I prefer a diffuser that sits on the bottom in the deepest water with a compressor to mix the water column and prevent an anoxic layer on the bottom. This also helps break down wastes.

Jeff Markel, that also has a trout pond, should see your post and give you his two cents. He uses a surface aerator and does not feed his trout. He is located in Nebraska. It seems to work for him.

As far as expensive that is relative, but my 1 1/2 horse submerged 220 volt well pump uses about $100.00 worth of electricity a month running 24/7 from sometime in April to the end of September.

I sell my trout for roughly $10.00 per pound including shipping depending on if they have any defects. However the regulations for selling even frozen deseased trout are a nightmare. Every state is different, with some requiring permits, and most require a paper trail to show they did not come from public waters which is illegal in most states.