Pond Boss
Posted By: Jackinthabox New pond owner Help please - 06/26/20 10:44 PM
Just moved into a house that has an incredible pond. We love it here but the pond obviously needs some help. I would like to stock it as well as have it healthy enough for us to swim and enjoy cleaner water. It’s quite disgusting at the moment.

I believe it to be about 3/4 acre pond. Not sure how deep it is, I haven’t had a chance to paddle out yet. From what I understand I need a fountain to aerate it (1hp?). If I had a choice I would opt for no fountain because I enjoy the natural look more but I’m not sure I have a choice. I don’t want to spend a lot of money getting this thing nice because of all the other aspects of the house that need addressed, but we fell in love with the place partly due to the pond so it’s a priority for me.

I use forums for a lot of problems I’m faced with so I figured asking the pros would be a great place to start. TIA[img]https://imgur.com/gallery/fb3nvyO[/img]
Posted By: Flame Re: New pond owner Help please - 06/26/20 11:26 PM
Welcome to Pond Boss from deep east Texas. You have a very nice setting. Looks like a algae problem for starters but you need to start at some basics. Find out how deep it is to know your volume of water. That will be handy for pond chemical treatment if needed. How many fish to stock, what size aeriation system, etc. Try to fish and determine what if anything is living in it. Try to take a water sample and get it analized. Others smarter than me will be along soon with their advise. Good luck and again WELCOME.
Posted By: Jackinthabox Re: New pond owner Help please - 06/26/20 11:33 PM
Thanks.Tried several times with worms and lures and no bites at all so I’m guessing there’s nothing in there. Darn shame all that algae is in there because that first pic in the spring made it look so nice.
Posted By: Flame Re: New pond owner Help please - 06/27/20 11:46 AM
Did you use live worms for bluegill or were you speaking of plastic worms for bass? Do you see even any minnows along the shorelines? We first started catching our bluegill on whole kernal corn on a tiny hook. Maybe throw a perch trap with bait in there for a few days to see what happens. Can you get info from past owners? Maybe they know when fish were in there and what has been caught in the past. How old do you think the pond is? How does it get water? Spring,well,runoff,creek??
Posted By: Jackinthabox Re: New pond owner Help please - 06/27/20 11:53 AM
Tried live worms for bluegill. Tons of frogs but haven’t seen any minnows. Hard to see anything with that film on top.the previous owner was a very old woman who was hard to deal with so I haven’t been able to speak to her about anything. I think the pond is at least 40-50 years old. Used to be a huge farm here that was sold off and subdivided in the 70s. Not sure how it’s fed. It may be fed from neighbors pond which is on other side of driveway and a little higher. I see a pipe run under driveway to ours but at the moment the pipe is dry and our creek running from pond is still running. So maybe it’s spring fed. Down creek from the pond I think there are a couple smaller springs because water is just coming out of the ground seemingly from nowhere.
Posted By: Semochuck Re: New pond owner Help please - 07/01/20 03:21 AM
Hello, looks like you found a nice place. I am in the process of putting an aerator system in my pond, which also has an algae problem. I have done a lot of reading on this site and found great information.
I used google maps to outline my pond and it gave the size at .7 acre. If you use a big slip bobber with a loosely snug bobber stop and a good weight ,you can measure your depth in several spots to get a rough guess of average depth.
One aspect I considered very important was cost of operation. A fountain of adequate size will use more electricity than a bottom aerator setup and cost more upfront, at least that is the way I understand it. I chose to use bottom aerators because my pond is close to 15 foot at the deepest and you can turn the water over several times per day (to increase dissolved oxygen ) for roughly 10 to 15 dollars a month in electricity. If your pond isn't that deep you can do it for half that with a linear septic tank air pump, (good to maybe 7 foot deep)like the blue diamond et120 ( 250$). I went with a rotary vein pump for more psi and volume. I needed to push air almost 400 feet with diffuser at about 12 foot deep.
I don't mean to ramble, just trying to point out that you can put an adequate system together with a septic tank air pump that will cost less than 10$ a month to run. The idea is to turn the entire body of water over at least once per day to increase the dissolved oxygen levels which will increase the aerobic bacteria activity which will process the nutrients in the water and pond muck on the bottom which will help stop the filamentous algae and other plants from growing so fast and taking over. I am a beginner at this so you should take my info as such. This forum seems to have some really good people that love to help out.
Good luck!

I am a Jack of all trades, but some people think I am one Jack off.
Posted By: Jackinthabox Re: New pond owner Help please - 07/03/20 06:50 PM
Thanks for info . My pond is about .65 acres, so roughly the same size and 10 ft deep. Can you point me in the direction of where you got your aerator and how you set it up? I would rather go this route. I’m also getting ready to purchase several hundreds bucks worth of aquacide to kill off everything because it’s quite over run.
© Pond Boss Forum