Long story but cool. Just built a new pond probably 1/8 acre. I ran my gutters into it for fresh water supply. So the initial rainwater which was probably about 3 inches stayed in the bottom for a week. I decided I was gonna pump it full and as soon as I pumped it half full and turned the pump off it drained within 3 hours. This was odd because the rainwater had stayed for a week. I purchased 500 pounds of bentonite clay and lined the banks and as much as I could of the bottom it was still holding about 3 inches. Luckily I noticed that the water has exposed a drain pip corrugated and the water level was there. So I dug the pipe out and cut it and fixed it with cement and clay. Well I pumped it full again and this time it quickly lost about 1 foot of water and held steady for 24 hours. Believe it or not I found another drain pipe exactly in the bank where my water level was. So I’m gonna fix that one in the same manner. I have so far about 8 LMB and probably 12 huge bluegill and maybe 6 small ones. I have ordered 100 RES and a grass carp. My question is will I need to aerate. About 6 feet deep in the center.

Trex, why the grass carp? Do you already have lots of pondweeds?

None at all preventative measures I guess from what I’ve read on here they don’t harm the game fish and are good at keeping the pond clean.