For a minnow forage or fish pond, I would seriously consider adding some fertilizer to boost the plankton growth to produce a light green color. The water should have basically the same chemistry (alkalinity) as your main source water pond. Instead on adding inorganic fertilizer you could add some form of manure, cow, horse, chicken. About a 5 gallon bucket of manure maybe mixed with straw would be enough. Initially I think less is better than too much which can cause water quality problems such as low DO especially at night or during several cloudy days. Here are a few things to read.

http://www.auburn.edu/~clinedj/Spanish%20Publications%20Website/publications/English%20WHAP/FT3%20Organic%20Fert.pdf

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/OrganicFertilization.htm

ftp://ftp.fao.org/fi/cdrom/fao_training/FAO_Training/General/x6709e/x6709e06.htm

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/07/15 08:46 PM.

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