Hey Everyone!

My name is Jon and I in the process of moving to Medina County, OH. The property I bought is on 4 acres, and it has a 1/2 acre run-off pond. My grandpa had a pond growing up, but I really don't know the first thing about them. Needless to say, I am super excited and a bit nervous about keeping the pond healthy and pretty.

All I know about the pond is that it is about 15 foot deep at its deepest, was dug maybe 40 years ago or so, and has no source of water other than run-off. However the pond is SUPER clean, with no algae growth I can see. I don't believe it has any kind of aeration system, so I don't know how it is so clean. However, it does have a pump that is used to supply water to the outdoor spigots on the house, so maybe that has something to do with it. The previous owner stocks it with some fish, including bass.

Here is a link to a photo of the pond which shows how clear it is.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hgy9gKaX8WaaSjzN9


Thank you and I am really looking forward to learning a lot from you guys!

Jon

GORGEOUS

Get the rod out and show us what's in it

I love a well manicured ahhhhhhhh pond. That's a beautiful setting.

Is that pond dye?

I think I just found my new wallpaper for my computer.

Gorgeous! Wish mine were half that pretty. But if the water is very clear and you have few pond plants, it may be less fertile than you'd like for maximum fish growth. Worth checking alkalinity, hardness, pH, along with fish population & relative weight.

With pond being 40 years old i predict it is now very close to 11-13 ft deep maybe only 10ft. Ponds without bottom aeration will accumulate at least 1" of sediment each year which means your pond has around 40" of unconsolidated muck, probably mostly tree leaves and spruce needles in the bottom belly. ASAP get a bottom depth measurement to help with future management activity. It looks to have a fairly high concentration of blue pond dye which helps keep the weeds and algae reduced. Maybe a couple grass carp are helping keep the weeds reduced.

I will one of these days but it's not mine just yet! A few weeks I'll have the keys!

Thanks, I'm so excited to move to this property. 1898 farm house with its own slew of problems but those don't scare me as much as keeping the pond nice!

Yeah, I know I need to test it, but I need to do some more research on what to test and why

I was able to talk to the previous owner and he said that they do have grass carp, but he didn't say anything about dying it. He said he puts copper sulfate in it I think. Is that a thing?

""He said he puts copper sulfate in it I think. Is that a thing?"" IMO and that of many others that know about environmental contamination is a ""thing"" especially if the copper is used regularly and maybe used at higher than needed concentrations and for the wrong algae/plants. Copper is a heavy metal and does not break down nor decompose in the environment nor pond. Copper is stable in the environment. It mostly stays in the sediments until the sediments are removed. Some sources say bound copper during certain bottom chemistry conditions can redissolve and move into the water column.
Highly copper contaminated sediments do not grow terrestrial plants. 2 lbs or copper per acre is said to be high for a farm field. I have measured some pond sediments with over a 1000 lbs of copper per acre. Sediments have the ability to 'accept' copper compounds, thus Copper accumulates in the sediments. Sediments have to ability to accept or 'stockpile' the copper compounds until the sediments are saturated. As the copper accumulates toward the saturated condition the sediments become more toxic with these heavy metal compounds. When sediments become saturated with copper the copper tends to remain in the water column. because sediments are 'full' of copper. Several governmental agencies consider copper contamination a hazardous chemical. Then what has or is to be done with toxic heavy metal contaminated sediments??. As the contamination increases toward saturation the bottom aquatic life in the sediments decreases until nothing will live there. Then what???

Bill. I guess the "then what" is drain, doze and start over. Damn shame.

Jon, nice place. Makes me want to drag my pond out to the road and chunks rocks at it.