Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Finally Have a pond in SE Texas

I have a pretty new pond and I sure wish I would have found this site a long time ago. I am in Southeast Texas and my pond was dug for several reasons.

1) To build up my property
2) To be used for Geothermal cooling for my house
3) To cool my beer when brewing
4) And finally for fish and enjoyment

I am sure I did not do things as best I should have, but I have a pond now.

My property is only 5 acres and my pond is 1/3 acre and 30’ deep (no, really it is!)
The property is still a pretty blank slate, mobile home and brewery, but I attached a picture of what we are thinking about doing to the property.

I have 1,000 feet of flat ditch that catches water and diverts it into my pond. Five inches of rain as we came out of the drought last year filled the pond (I'm a Civil Designer by day). I designed it, so the ditches are flat and have water in them several feet deep all the time and connect to the pond.

I first added microbial life to the pond and fertilized with a little natural fertilizer from my chicken pen.

Birds added mosquito fish, glass shrimp, crawfish and golden shiners, not too happy about the last two.

I fed the pond regularly with spent grains from the brewery and the population exploded.

Next I added 5 lbs. of Tilapia (6 weeks ago) and as of yesterday the population growth was more of an explosion. I continued to feed the pond spend grains once a week (several wheelbarrows full).
I was concerned because now I had a preditorless pond and tilapia multiply like crazy.

So a few weeks ago, I added 200 channel cats, 100 coppernose bluegill and 35 black crappie (I hope I can fish the crappie down as needed)

So, now I put is several hundred pounds of spent grain every week and the population is starting to grow (FAST).

Dissolved Oxygen will be a real problem real soon, so that is my next project.

FYI, my pond is not clear at all, it is brown with suspended sediment, not happy about that at all :-(

Anyway, I am sure that is too much info for an intro, but now you know my pond world.

Johnny MAX
Founder Texas Big Beer Brewery & Pond Owner ;-)

P.S. I have been fascinated with ponds and pond life since I was 10 years old and now as I turn 50, I have my own pond and it makes me feel like a kid again! The pond was dug Nov. 2011

Welcome to the forum! Take one of your mugs (or a mason jar) and scoop it full of pond water. Set it somewhere so it will stay undisturbed for a few days. See if the sediment settles out, or if it stays in suspension. If it stays in suspension, try adding some alum and see if it precipitates out. If it settles out without the alum, then it's mechanical means that's making it turbid. Probably the CC.

You might be overloading the pond with grains - that could result in a massive fish kill if the DO plummets.

I'll bet the 5" of rain brought the new critters to your pond vs. birds.

There's a thread in the muddy water section titled alum kicks clays butt. Lots of information there on clearing muddy water.

I'd say you are in the majority of people who come here after they have a pond and are concerned about something or other. Welcome to the club!!

Agree that the birds didn't bring the fish. That takes human intervention or another source. Birds can't do that. More than likely the crawdads came from a nearby creek or a neighboring pond. I'll also bet that the 5 inches of rain flooded a nearby pond or creek to bring the fish.

Your suspended junk is from runoff. Probably from the new ditch. Flowing or running water in a heavy rain picks up loose soil and carries it. Plant some grasses or it will continue. Not much reason to even try to clear the pond until you fix the source of the runoff. It will happen again. And, this isn't real unusual for newly built ponds with nearby or surrounding disturbed soils.

I'm not sure that a 1/3 acre pond can handle being used as a dumping ground for a couple of wheel barrows of spent grain; certainly not on an ongoing basis.

Great that you are enjoying the pond

I would lay off on the spent grain, with that nutrient load, biomass of critters, and
Lack of aeration I would be fearful of a do crash/fish kill

You could dig a small settlement pond between your feeder "ditch" and the main pond to help catch solids before the water enters the main pond