Well, Juen is a bit different than May with pond bottom temps at 68-70! (Ouch!) Trout are still thriving. We added a new 2" steel pipe well and jsut added a 3/4 hp pump to get mroe water out of it. I think we're getting about 30 gpm compared to 18 gpm we used to get. That is helping, but I'm thinking the water clarity (only about 3 ft. clear and 6 ft. max) is partially responsible for too much solar heat reflecting and absorbing into the pond.
An important note si that we have an output pipe that was above the water level by 4 inches. We had put an extender on it a few years back to fill up the pond right to the top of the banks, but after the excavation work, there are slow leaks and it hasn't perfectly sealed at the highest level. SO- I recently removed the 6" inch PVC extender "S" curve and now the surface water is draining! I am guessing that will be much healthier for the pond and effectively skim the warmest water off the top, since about 40,000 gallons is going in on the other end of the pond each day. Should help support more natural movement of water.
QUESTION- would limited water clarity be primarily responsible having a strong solar heating effect. Pind size agian is 1/3 acre (60 x 225 ft.) and is average depth of 6 ft. with 1/3 of bottom depth at 10-14 ft. P.S. I have turned off the aerator (for 2 weeks during a construction phase of equipment inthe storage box we have), since there are two well splashing water onto the surface. I plan on re-connnecting it and running it at 62 degrees or lower for supplemental O2. Final note- the rainbow trout are now 13-15" and very healthy. Stocked 200, guessing we have 175.
