Steely Joe,
As stated earlier by CJBS2003, (and outstanding advice from the others here too that have hand on experience), smaller is better in pond size for trout as far as keeping the water cool enough in summer and diluting nitrogenous wastes. And they don't have a problem with small, as if you've ever been to a trout race way you'll notice they aren't very big.
My trout pond is only 88 by 55 feet and if it wasn't for the iron issues (this pond by it's size dilutes the incoming iron from the well) I could get by with an even smaller pond.
My pond uses a well pump of 45 gpm 24/7 seven months of the year. This keeps water temps in the mid 60's max in the hottest part of the summer. This also flushes out ammmonia, nitrites, and nitrates.
I use a calculation of 12 lbs. of trout to gpm of well flow so I can safely have and feed about 500 lbs of trout maximum carrying capacity. I've had the trout stress in the fall even when temps were cool enough, if I shut off the flow too soon, which caused a build up of nitrogenous waste. This was a double whammy as I now know that as temps fall in the fall the beneficial bacteria that break down these waste were in the decline due to falling temps. I now won't shut off flow until water gets really cold in the late fall. I've learned this by learning the concepts of the nitrogen cycle by running an RAS for other species.
My trout pond also has steep sides and max depth is 8 or 9 feet. I run a diffuser in the bottom in the center only at night in the summer to not warm temps up too much. The diffuser doesn't add a lot of oxygen but it prevents an anoxic layer developing on the bottom which would be counterproductive.
It may be overkill but I also aerate my well water via gravity by dropping it through 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out and replaced with plastic screening. In those buckets is plastic media to aerate the well water and blow off nitrogen, C02, and hydrogen sulfide. This is using gravity of course after the water is pumped to the top of the buckets.
I'll posts pics when I get a chance. I'm pressed for time right now.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 03/10/12 01:04 PM.
