I just dug a new pond in Alvin ,Texas

Its mainly gonna be for swimming and fishing. It is approx. 55' X 110' x 8'+/- deep.

I have been researching aeration. About a billion choices out there. I am thinking about going the air pump / diffuser stone route, but not really sure what size or which items I need. Alvin is about 30 miles south of Houston. The soil is black gumbo down to about 5 ft' then goes to yellow clay. We have a cattle pond in our back pasure thats 15'ft deep and has help water for 30+ years so I am fairly sure the new pond will hold water well. This is flat land so must of the water that will be in it will be from rain saturation and our water well. Normally you can dig a post hole 36" deep and the next day it will be half way full of water...but we are in a major drought right now. I wont start filling until to next feb. or march

I wanted to get my pier in and what ever kind of aeration system I need now while it is dry.

I'm wanting to stock it with blue gil, bass and a few cat. Given the size of it how many should I start with and when is a good time.

Thanks for your help in advance
Sam

I'd stock some FHM as soon as it had a couple of feet of water in it. Let them reproduce to get a good forage base going.

You have roughly a 1/10 ac pond. If aerated and the fish are supplementlly fed, you can carry about 500# of fish per acre. If not, then drop it down to 300# per acre.

Bg are usually stocked at a 10 to 1 ratio to LMB. As for CC, I won't stock them again in my pond. I am having too hard of a time catching them out. If I catch one, the rest won't bite until the next day. My neighbor, who has a 1/4 ac pond with roughly 80 CC in it has the same problem. I'd also stock some RES in the pond, the same ratio to BG as LMB. (10:1 BG:RES) They will help control any snails, which are a host for swimmers itch parasite.

As to when, it all depends on your budget. I'd get the FHM in the pond as soon as it had some water in it. If you can afford 5"-7" BG, I'd stock them first thing this Spring, then in the Fall I'd stock 10" or so LMB. I like watch fish feed on pellets, so if it was my pond, I'd look for feed trained fish and plan for a Texas Hunter feeder and AM500 or AM600 food.

That's pretty small for LMB. Have you considered some hybrid bluegills, some HSB and a feeder?

Ok...so what I understand is my pond will support roughly 30-50# of fish. Once I get 2-3 ft of water in it load it with FHM. Then next spring add some BG or HBG or RES. Next fall ad some HSB. Based on my pond size, how much aeration do I need? I like the idea of using an air pump vs. water pump....I am looking at mcauthurwatergardens.com and they have several systems that seem fairly reasonable in price. I am just not sure how much air volume I need or what kind of diffusers too use. Any input in those areas.

I have now that you mentioned it I assume as mentioned in a previous post that I should wait until next fall to introduce HSB into my pond?

traildust, here's some numbers to remember. There are 325,851 gallons in an acre foot of water (one acre of water, one foot deep). If we assume that your pond will have (at that size) an average depth of 4', then you will have approx. 181,016 gallons of water in it.

I prefer using membrane type diffusers, especially the ones that are from Vertex http://www.vertexwaterfeatures.com/

Give Sue a call there and talk to her. While you do have a pond, it's easier to think of managing it like a small lake. That site that you mentioned looks like they cater to ornamental Koi ponds, which are typically a LOT smaller than what your planning. Koi ponds have filters, are typically lined, etc.

In theory, if you use HBG and HSB WITH a feeder, you can stock them together. The feeder is the key.

However, all things considered, it would probably be best to do it in stages. Let the BG get a little size and then put in the young HSB's.