I have a 3 year old pond I built in a hollow behind my house. Depth is 8 feet and I would say it averages around 4-5 feet deep. It has a small spring but most of the feeder water is rain water during the winter and in the summer I pump fresh water when needed from a continous running rock bottom creek. The pond was built in the woods and I have numerous large oak and hickory trees close by. I do have grass planeted on the dam and around 15-50 feet around all of the sides but the pond does get a considerable amount of leaves in the fall. I have a powerhouse areator/fountain "aprox 10 - 12' diameter spray" that I run year round between 12 to 24 hours a day depending on the season. I run it more in the summer than winter. I stocked the pond when it was freshly built with aproximately 100 hybrid bluegill, 100 redear, 25 catfish, 25 bass, 1 grass carp, and 2 koi. I did add a few additional catfish and bass last year around 10 - 15 each. During the spring there are hundreds of frogs that dwindle down with time but early spring they are so loud you can hardly hear yourself think at night. I do also put fat head minnows in when it seems it needs them but not on any set schedule. I feed my fish floating pellets every evening in the summer and do not feed in the winter " the fish do not seem to eat" and I hear that you are to feed when the water reaches above 58 degrees anyway. I usually start feeding sometime in March and finish in November. The pond is located in middle Tennessee in Kingston Springs. I use a blue green dye to inhibit algea growth and for color during the summer. I have used lime, liquid fertilizer "one time", but usually use pellet fertilizer in the pond to help the water. I have had problems with water meal and filament algea but seem to get rid of it by pumping fresh water and sometimes it just goes away. My question is how do I check my water to make sure it is healthy and if it needs adjustment is there information to tell me what to do? I would hate to mess it up because the fish seem to grow and I never find any dead fish in the pond. There are a couple of turtles that hang around that I think I need to get rid of. I have fished it but I usually return them to the water after they have been caught. Any advice would be appreciated. I love my pond and the fish are like pets. I want to make sure that I am a good ecological neighbor to nature and keep it the best it can be.
