Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Pond - Help!

Welcome. We can help you with all your pond questions.
1. What you have is an aerator however it is a surface aerator not a bottom aerator. Fountains generally spray water higher than 3ft above the surface. Yours mixes primarily the top 5-6ft of water, assuming the intake is 2-3ft below the surface. Deeper water than 5-6ft remains unmixed with no dissolved oxygen from June to October. Between Oct-Jun during open water season nature mixes the ponds top to bottom in Ontario.

2. There obviously is some sort of electric supply to the pond since there is an existing electric aerator. YOu may need someone with electric knowledge to provide a plug outlet near the pond. However remember a continuous duty air compressor in a building can easily push air 1000ft to put air into the bottom of your pond for bottom aeration. See item5.

3. Your pond outline is close to 0.5 ac but the large island means you do not have 0.5ac of water; maybe closer to 0.25ac. Google measure the island size and subtract it from the total 20000sqft for water area.

4. With the relatively large island in your pond, I very much doubt it is deeper than 10-12ft; maybe only 8ft deep. Make some depth soundings which will help determine the total water volume for any chemical treatments.

5. IMO islands in ponds are a problem because they interfere with water circulation from a bottom aerator. This means circulation from a bubbler cannot get to the back side of the or around the island. This means more bubblers are needed. Bowl shaped ponds are the easiest to mix and circulate. An island does add shoreline if shoreline and shallow water are desired. Most all pond problems are in shallow water not in the middle deep areas. Thus the more shallow water, the more problems - usually weeds. Weeds(plants) can be beneficial or a detriment - depending on goals.

6. Do some fishing with a small hook, some pieces of garden worm under a slender bobber-float. Keep a record of every fish caught and time fished. From posted close-up pictures we can help identify all the fish you catch. I suspect most all the small fish are stunted sunfish which means the pond has way too few bass(predators) and it is out of balance. Too few bass allow too many sunfish to survive and overpopulate and over eat the ecosystem causing slow growth and 'starving' fish. Sampling by angling will tell the rest of the story.

In a balanced pond with the above angling method, you should catch 15-20 sunfish(bluegill) for every bass or predator. More bass/20 sunfish means the panfish are larger and bass mostly smaller. Many more sunfish per bass means smaller panfish and larger too few bass for a proper balance of a "general" fishing pond.

7. We can advise about proper aeration in winter when that time comes around in Oct-Nov.

Again, welcome. Managing your pond will be an adventure and challenge. Keep us advised of your pond progress.