It's been 3 weeks since the construction was finished, and I spent the first 2 weeks getting the water ready for stocking. That meant testing nitrate/nitrogen, alkalinity, hardness, and PH levels. 400# of gypsum was added, and it not only helped clear the water, it added the hardness I needed for the CNBG. 50# of pool salt was also added. Rainwater runoff from the pasture was right at 6, so 400# of ag lime was added. The PH didn't come up to the numbers I wanted, so I thought it was smart to add hydrated lime to speed things up. It did, but the ph hit 9 PDQ. I let the pond settle overnight, then "carefully" added aluminum sulfate until the numbers came back down to 7.5 a day or two later. The aluminum sulfate also helped clear the water. After letting everything settle, the pond now has a clarity of approximately 12", and has a nice olive color. By having everything I needed on site, the pond had plenty of time to settle before the fish were added.

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We picked up 1,000 1-3" CNBG at Overtons last week, tempered their water, and released them in the pond. As is usual, I had decided they were all dead since none were coming to food for 4-5 days. I knew exactly where they should be, but there was no activity. Finally, they started feeding 5-6 days ago, but the numbers were extremely limited. Now, they're feeding in numbers that mean I'll start weighing food to get a feel for their growth, and actual numbers. I started with a tea spoon, then a table spoon, then 2 tablespoons, now weight by grams. I'm currently feeding a 1/8" and 2.2mm mix, so nobody's left out.

One of the best things I did when redoing the pond, was to leave one bank alone, and not regrade it. That was done specifically for the fish, and that meant reeds, emergent water primrose, etc. was left as cover for the CNBG, and that's exactly where they're at. Instead of trying to get the fish to come to food, I'm feeding them where they want to be. Because of that, a specific feeding schedule isn't needed. If I feed them at 7:30 in the morning, or 3 in the afternoon, they're always there and ready to eat.

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