Building a pond on my property to stock fish

[DeSite ASM]

I have started building a pond on my property and wanted to share my progress. My pond will be about 25ft deep in the center. My plan is to build a creek that will recirculate the watr to keep it fresh. The pond will hold about 1.2 million gallons. Does anyone know how much mater I will need to circulate each hour to keep the water fresh?

 

[Larro Darro]

Not sure on one that deep. Our deepest catfish pond is about 6'. We just have an artesian well [no pump] for seven ponds. How we have the flow adjusted now puts 450 gallons per hour in the big pond. That seems to do alright. But we don't have a lot of fish anymore. The more fish you have, keeping enough O2 in the water will be your problem. If they are really packed, you will need to use a mechanical aerator. We used a homemade paddle wheel built on a boat trailer that hooked to the tractor pto. But one of the pump kind is less labor intensive.

 

[zimbo]

If you only have a few fish, around 1kg of fish per m3 of water at the surface you wont need any recirculation, The plants etc will provide enough oxygen, and the ammonia levels wont get high enough to worry the fish.
The biggest problem is the depth, not many useful plants will grow that deep, and you may end up with the bottom being cold and stagnant, depending on your climate you may end up with a thermocline that can invert and could kill the fish. Another problem is you'll end up with scum of the surface which doesn't look good

A creek recirculating the water would look nice, and work well if you design it with a bit of a wetland area to act as a filter, and a small waterfall to help aerate the water.
I would put the pump inlet near the bottom of the pond, to remove the stagnant water, and try design the inflow so it creates a bit of a current to mix the water. If you change the water every 24 hours, your pumping about 50 000 gallons an hour, that a lot of electricity! Have a look at a big pool pump, say a 2 hp, you dont need much head.
In the end it will come down to what looks good in your creek.
Also make your piping at least 1 size bigger so if you need to add a pump or use a bigger one you have some wriggle room.

If your going for much higher densities (commercial fish farming) you'll need to look at the ammonia loading, dissolved oxygen contents etc according to your stocking densities and feeding, and work out your filtering and dissolved oxygen from there. In general you would be changing the water a couple of time a day.
hope this helps a little
cheers
Ryan

 

[newbury]

Check with your state and federal agencies. They may even cost share if you aren't to far along.

Back in '64 or '65 my Dad & Grandad owned 30 acres in Vermont and got the State to build a "half acre pond". About 20 yards from our walk-out basement door.

The guy driving the dozer "left it" for the weekend after he was done. My Dad turned it into a 2 acre pond. He built the dam up about another 5', raised the emergency flow area and we had a beautiful pond. He made sure the dozer was filled with diesel.

Some of my fondest memories are of walking out in the morning, catching a brace of trout and making breakfast. Life couldn't get better.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

That looks like some nice sandy soil for easy digging but I doubt it would hold any water ,Are you planning on bringing in a few dozen loads of clay ? It looks pretty deep already with no ground water seen .

 

[Gary Fowler]

Most pond builder don't recommend more than about 12 feet of water depth with 6 feet of the water containing the most fish. As said the deeper water doesn't cycle much and can become O2 deficient so no fish can live in it, therefore if you get an inversion in the winter and the water "rolls over" then most if not all of your fish will die. You would be better to make it twice as large and half as deep.

 

[bindian]

I aerate my 10 foot deep pond. I made it deep so it won't dry up. Last summer's draught took it down to 3 feet.
hugs, Brandi

 

[DeSite ASM]

I have lost of shallow area in my pond that will be between 4 to 12 ft? will this be enough for the fish in the winter. Will the fish stay away from the deep part if they find there is not enough oxygen? If I pump so oxygen to the bottom will that do the trick. I am wanting to sink an old wooded sail boat in the bottom for the fish to hide in.

 

[DeSite ASM]

I used my little portable screener and my skidsteer to screen out any stone from my clay so that I can compact a good seal.

 

[Fossil Farm]

You raising fish for sale, or just for recreational use? A decent size pond really does not need "fresh water" moving in and out of it for fish to survive for recreational uses. We have plenty of half acre and larger ponds that are only fed by runoff water and raise fish just fine. If you have water moving in and out from a stream, you may be introducing fertilizers and other things that are not helpful to your pond. Hopefully you have read some good books and such on pond building and fish management. Most soils slough off to a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 slope after being saturated with water on the inside of the pond. If you want a 25 foot depth, then you need at least 150 feet width to achieve this. Good luck.