Oxygenation for a large natural pond.

[JakeVS]

Hey everyone,

My mother is a small scale farmer, and would like to be able to have some aquatic life in the pond at her farm to help keep it clean. I don't know very much about the topic, but to begin with, her main issue looks like it will be oxygenation and water flow. She is looking for a cost effective way to do this, and a floating fountain will cost her about 3600$.

No idea what the volume of the pond is, but it is approximately 32' deep, 20' wide and 30' long, so a fair amount of water to be moving around. Currently there are a fair amount of frogs in the pond, as well as 4 large ducks and 6 ducklings roosting on it.

If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them, and information on any other topics that would need to be covered would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alspond]

Jake,

We have lots of ponds (borrow pits for road fill) near where I live in central Florida.
Most are fairly shallow (2-8') and support lots of plant life.
Lilies, spatterdock, lotus, coontail, ludwegia, bacopa, spider lilies, pickerel weed, cattails, bullrush, spike rush, red root, canna lilies, hibiscus, button bush, etc
Ponds that have horses or cows have a lot less vegetation because they eat, trample and block sunlight by keeping the mud stirred up.

We also have lots of rock pits. These are 20-60 deep. These have limited vegetation. Generally there's little shallow area and that' doesn't have good soil for rooted plants.
Water lilies like about 2 feet of water they will grow in 3" to 8-10 feet deep.

None of these ponds have aeration or outlets.
Most plants don't like moving water.

One option for deep ponds is floating pots. These come in all sizes the larger ones called floating islands.
Simple ones are just plastic pots with a foam collar. You can put good soil in the pot and the plants float around at the water level.
Pots can be suspended below the floatation for lilies. The pots can be anchored so they stay in a general area.

Water plants tend to grow and spread like crazy if they are happy.
Al

 

[Bige]

I agree with the above post. You don't need anything on a pond that large. I have two pond that are about 2 acres each. They both have lots of turtles and bass and huge catfish. All have lived this way for at least 10 years.

 

[JakeVS]

Awesome, thanks! The planning can continue now that that issue seems to be out of the way. Checking peramiters of the water tomorrow, just to be sure it isn't too toxic.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

With it that large and deep she may already have some minnow life. If it is a contained (no outlet) you could purchase minnows and add them but with ducks already using it chances are they will enjoy them for food!!! Just expect that with ducks.

Also expect a king fisher (if they are in your area) to help itself as well to diner.

My neighbor has a spot behind next to our line. I sat watching her fish one day, which by the way DNR helped her stock, and the king fisher dove in 4' from my face! Shook all over me as it shot up out of the pond with its catch!!!

 

[Tetra1990]

Your best bet fir fish would be minnows or mosquito fish. But birds and other animals will make a meal outta them. It's nature. You pointed out that frogs have flamed a home. Add some turtles and you should be set.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Chances are if the waterfowl have been using that pond for a long duration "few years" then there probably is some fish and inverts already there. Some ducks that look like they're dunking for apples in the water will inadvertently get fish eggs stuck to their feathers and actually stock bodies of water that were fishless as the birds move from place to place.

I know it's kinda off topic, just thought I'd throw that out there!

 

[MacDracor]

Fairly thoroughly established already that you won't *need* flow or aeration. But adding a small amount of circulation certainly won't hurt. A pump that goes a couple thousand per hour is fairly cheap, just run the outlet to the opposite end to ensure it circulates. Add a small fountain or waterfall for aesthetics and oxygenation. Plants will handle the rest.
Plants will also help keep the water clean. More plants than animals is the best recipe for clean healthy ponds. Also, consider the "whole ecosystem" approach. Everything from bugs to amphibians to crustaceans, then Small fish as food for big fish. I love big ponds.