Originally Posted by Bill Cody
Posting pond construction pics?

Here is the newest way to post pics.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=534153#Post534153

For new ponds in my area, my advice to the owner with a new pond especially for a swim use pond or a domestic water use pond is to live it for a full year. No or minimal fish..... IT IS THUS A BASELINE OF WHAT THE POND IS ALL ABOUT AND WHAT TO EXPECT AS FUTURE PROBLEMS AFTER THE FIRST YEAR. Is it clean and easy going or is it green and full of problematic green stuff?.

.....If they do not do it [/u]then the pond initially had a "FLUSH" of too many nutrients from the very start. In these cases the pond will be a cantankerous plant / algae problem every year. Too many initial nutrients with too much fertility for a good easy to care for swimming type of pond.

No losses of nutrients unless something such as plants or fish/critters are removed. Nutrients are trapped inside and are continually being used and recycled to continually grow more and more "STUFF". This is called Eutrophication aka aquatic succession or pond aging.

I will post pics...thanks. About 3/4 done, but going S L O W L Y for awhile now w/just one excavator guy working steadily (main guy has a lingering illness), and it's solid rock continuously; like WW1 trench warfare: feels like gaining an inch a day sometimes.

Re: "live with it for a full year"- yeah, I've heard advice on initial stocking all the way from this recommendation (leave it alone for a year), to "wait a few months, let it settle, see what happens,") to "as soon as it's 4' deep, STOCK IT!" (from suppliers.) I understand the desire to get it stocked, enjoy all the fish being in there, etc. etc......I REALLY get that; it's how I feel. But honestly....I am inclined to go with your advice on this one....just LEAVE IT, maybe a few minnows or a few Tilapia along the way..... I believe the process of watching the pond develop from nothing will be fascinating. I want to study how it develops; who/what shows up, how the whole ecosystem starts to form. And of course you and others make it very clear that seeing how the eutrophication process develops will be critical.

If I didn't live on all this acreage now, with plenty of room for a pond, I would have settled for a garden pond of some type....with koi or goldfish.....so I'm pretty jazzed I'll get to "have it all" (hopefully, knock on wood, etc.)