""My only question is can any of this be applied to what the people on pond boss are doing?"
For high carrying capacity ponds and with plenty of land the water could be passed through a wetlands for purification and then back into the pond. Many types of food organisms could be grown in the wetlands to be carried into the pond by the return water flow. I think a few unique members currently do this to some degree.
Jim- a member from Canada has a waterfalls on his pond and he gets stream spawning fish (shiners) to reproduce in the current from the water falls.
Floating Island International creates wetlands that both clean the water and help increase food production. They say 250 sq feet is equivalent to a 1 acre wetland.
Also, re pellets vs natural food, natural food is mostly water, which is why it takes about 10 lb of them to cause a 1 lb increase in predator weight. For pellets it is closer to 1 to 1.
Not saying pellets are always better, just that they have certain advantages for certain fish. Recent research posted here earlier showed that pellet trained bass must be acclimated to taking natural food in order to survive in a BOW.
