Brand new: need help planning

[Farm_Mama2010]

Hi folks,

I’m brand new to the world of ponds and fish. I’ve been doing tons of research over the last couple weeks, and I have a bit of a grasp on the idea now, but I’ll admit I still have quite a few questions. Fortunately, I don’t yet have fish depending on me to have answers.


I have a 7-acre farm in Northwest Washington, and my husband has decided he definitely wants us to add a pond. We have the space and plenty of time to devote to it. The kids are big enough now to understand not to go near the water alone. The timing is about right now. We won’t actually start the building until around March/April, and don’t plan on fish until September/October, tentatively. The goal is a 10’x10’ pond, 5’ deep, tapering to 3’ on the end. We want to keep an assortment of largemouth bass, Bluefin, and Black Crappie (and a few chanel catfish, maybe.). This factors out to be roughly 3,800 gallons.


My questions:


Perhaps the “stupidest” question, but something not actually discussed on any of the websites I’ve found: I dig out the hole in the shape of the pond, I put down the liner. Then do I put dirt or something on top of the liner (inside the pond)? Or rocks? Or do I just fill it with the water? Or…?


I understand aeration and filtering are two of the biggest things with fish to keep the water appropriately safe for them. I’ve found pumps appropriate for the size of the pond, I’ve found aerators and waterfalls. How, exactly, do we do filtering? Is there a pond-size version of the filter you put on a fish tank? Or…?


Is a UV filter necessary? What exactly is the point of it?


Everyone here is talking about plants in the pond, how does that work with the liner? Are we deliberately planting water fish on top of the liner? Is there a risk of roots damaging the liner?


I will likely have dozens of other questions as I go, and I apologize ahead of time for any newbie questions that seem like common sense. I’m very much out of my element with this whole subject. I can navigate my way around birthing and milking goats, but ponds have really thrown me off. My only fish experience is my sister’s fish tank when we were kids. It was a big one (by our kid impressions) and she had an assortment of about 15 small tropical fish. They were fun, until my mom decided to sanitize the tank and mass-murdered the fish while we were out of town. Apparently bleaching the tank, rinsing it, refilling it in the bath tub, and dumping the fish back in is a bad idea. Who knew? So please, bear with me as I try to figure as much of this out as I can BEFORE we get the fish. I’d rather minimize as much learning curve as possible, for their sake.

Also, I don't think it's relevant for these questions, but for future reference, I live in the Pacific Northwest, we get on average about 20ish degrees for about a month, usually in the high 30s-40's during the winter, 50s-70s are our average most of the year, and about a month of 90s-100. Rain...lots of rain. Sometimes some snow. And during that month of heat, it's drought (everyone's always surprised, but it happens every year). Fahrenheit scale. During the winter, sun up is around 8am sundown around 4 pm. During summer, sun up around 6am, sun down around 10pm. I don't know about pH with water yet, we haven't got that far. We do have well water, but we'll be having the fire dept fill the pond, so probably city water for that part.

Thank you for patience, I get long winded and overwhelmed >.<

 

[addy1]

You will get a lot of help here.
Usually the liner is put in, on top of old carpet, padding, something to protect it.

Usually you don't put dirt on top of the liner. My plants are put into oil pans with kitty litter, then into the pond.

Make it as big as you can, fish make babies.

I don't use uv, I just filter with a large upflow pea gravel, plant filter, commonly called a bog. Keeps my pond water perfect.

 

[mgmine]

Your best place to see what others have done is Youtube. I use a UV light to keep the pond from turning green. I would recommend one to anyone that has even the slightest problem. For a filter all you need is a big tank filled with some type of material that bacteria can grow on. I use plastic snow fence. Do some research on skippy filters for details. As far as the fish go don't over stock the pond. Forget the advice about the number of fish based on their length and gallons of water. As addy mentioned fish grow and breed. I wouldn't put any more than 10 fish in the pond, but that's just me.

 

[morewater]

Hi folks,

I’m brand new to the world of ponds and fish. I’ve been doing tons of research over the last couple weeks, and I have a bit of a grasp on the idea now, but I’ll admit I still have quite a few questions. Fortunately, I don’t yet have fish depending on me to have answers.


I have a 7-acre farm in Northwest Washington, and my husband has decided he definitely wants us to add a pond. We have the space and plenty of time to devote to it. The kids are big enough now to understand not to go near the water alone. The timing is about right now. We won’t actually start the building until around March/April, and don’t plan on fish until September/October, tentatively. The goal is a 10’x10’ pond, 5’ deep, tapering to 3’ on the end. We want to keep an assortment of largemouth bass, Bluefin, and Black Crappie (and a few chanel catfish, maybe.). This factors out to be roughly 3,800 gallons.


My questions:


Perhaps the “stupidest” question, but something not actually discussed on any of the websites I’ve found: I dig out the hole in the shape of the pond, I put down the liner. Then do I put dirt or something on top of the liner (inside the pond)? Or rocks? Or do I just fill it with the water? Or…?


I understand aeration and filtering are two of the biggest things with fish to keep the water appropriately safe for them. I’ve found pumps appropriate for the size of the pond, I’ve found aerators and waterfalls. How, exactly, do we do filtering? Is there a pond-size version of the filter you put on a fish tank? Or…?


Is a UV filter necessary? What exactly is the point of it?


Everyone here is talking about plants in the pond, how does that work with the liner? Are we deliberately planting water fish on top of the liner? Is there a risk of roots damaging the liner?


I will likely have dozens of other questions as I go, and I apologize ahead of time for any newbie questions that seem like common sense. I’m very much out of my element with this whole subject. I can navigate my way around birthing and milking goats, but ponds have really thrown me off. My only fish experience is my sister’s fish tank when we were kids. It was a big one (by our kid impressions) and she had an assortment of about 15 small tropical fish. They were fun, until my mom decided to sanitize the tank and mass-murdered the fish while we were out of town. Apparently bleaching the tank, rinsing it, refilling it in the bath tub, and dumping the fish back in is a bad idea. Who knew? So please, bear with me as I try to figure as much of this out as I can BEFORE we get the fish. I’d rather minimize as much learning curve as possible, for their sake.

Also, I don't think it's relevant for these questions, but for future reference, I live in the Pacific Northwest, we get on average about 20ish degrees for about a month, usually in the high 30s-40's during the winter, 50s-70s are our average most of the year, and about a month of 90s-100. Rain...lots of rain. Sometimes some snow. And during that month of heat, it's drought (everyone's always surprised, but it happens every year). Fahrenheit scale. During the winter, sun up is around 8am sundown around 4 pm. During summer, sun up around 6am, sun down around 10pm. I don't know about pH with water yet, we haven't got that far. We do have well water, but we'll be having the fire dept fill the pond, so probably city water for that part.

Thank you for patience, I get long winded and overwhelmed >.<

a) your fish choices are game fish. The pond is too small for game fish.
b) hole is dug, lined with protective material, liner is put in, then filled with water. No soil on top of liner, rocks optional.
c) if you have a 3800 gallon pond, you need to move twice that volume per hour, you need an approx. 7500gph pump
d) several options for filtration, look into Skippy filters, or even pre-made manufactured filters.
e) build or purchase filters appropriate to your planned total pond volume. Go bigger, if anything.
f) plants are generally planted in containers, then placed in the pond. Some are invasive, some are not.
g) it is probably illegal to transport game fish. Look into it before doing it.
h) if using city water, determine if it's chlorinated by the local source. If do, use dechlorinator prior to adding fish.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The goal is a 10’x10’ pond, 5’ deep, tapering to 3’ on the end. We want to keep an assortment of largemouth bass, Bluefin, and Black Crappie (and a few chanel catfish, maybe.).

As Morewater pointed out, this size pond will not support a population of live feeding game fish. Fishery ponds and Garden ponds, though sharing the same ecological requirements, are usually constructed very differently.
If you have space restrictions a Garden pond is the logical choice. If space is not a consideration and recreational fishing is desired then a fishery pond would be the goal.
Decide which you would really rather have and we will assist you in realizing your dream.

 

[Farm_Mama2010]

Lots of responses while I was sleeping, thank you!

Put the liner on top of old carpet or some sort of padding.

Yes, I knew about that! I have access to plenty of old carpet. Are we looking for the carpet itself, or the padding that goes under the carpet? Or does it matter, just making sure we don’t get holes in the liner?

Can we go bigger? Fish have lots of babies!

Yes, we have the space available to go up to 3 or 4x the size I listed. Possibly bigger if we want to do some clearing in the back. I opted for the size I said because one of the websites I was looking at (for the type of fish I’m looking for) gave information by gallons, and suggested that 3k gallons was plenty enough for a sustainable fish pond.

Filtering?

Bog sounds good. I read about that, perhaps I over complicated it? I read about the separate-yet-connected area that has rocks and bacteria. Do you need to “plant” the bacteria? Or is it naturally occurring? Set up a pump, and it’ll keep the water moving in and out of the bog, effectively cleaning the water?

Forget the advice about the number of fish based on their length and gallons of water

That’s why I thought it best to talk to people with actual experience. It’s one thing to use a mathematical formula, it’s another to watch that formula fail in the pond.

your fish choices are game fish. The pond is too small for game fish.

As mentioned above, I can go bigger, this was tentative plans based on websites I’ve found.

hole is dug, lined with protective material, liner is put in, then filled with water. No soil on top of liner, rocks optional.

Thank you!

if you have a 3800 gallon pond, you need to move twice that volume per hour, you need an approx. 7500gph pump

I knew about that. It looks like the pump is both the most important and most expensive part of this process, so best not to try to save a couple bucks by going too small..

plants are generally planted in containers, then placed in the pond. Some are invasive, some are not.

Thank you, that was one of my biggest concerns, seems like a lot of work to protect the liner, then putting plants on it to potentially poke through with roots. That makes sense.

it is probably illegal to transport game fish. Look into it before doing it.

We can do it here, if we get a permit through the state and buy the fish through one of their approved providers. Have to have an inspection, to make sure there’s no way for a fish to get out of my pond and into a natural waterway.

if using city water, determine if it's chlorinated by the local source. If do, use dechlorinator prior to adding fish.

Right, I knew about that from the fish tank my sis had that I mentioned. I plan to be able to test the water for everything necessary before adding fish.

If you have space restrictions a Garden pond is the logical choice. If space is not a consideration and recreational fishing is desired then a fishery pond would be the goal. Decide which you would really rather have and we will assist you in realizing your dream

We can go bigger if we need to. Our goal is to have a sustainable fish pond. Our primary goal on this farm is sustainability, and everything we do is a step closer to that goal. Several mentioned going as big as possible, because fish have babies. That’s actually our goal. I’m not overly concerned about “sport” fishing. We have rivers not too far away that my mate can go play in if he really wants to. The idea is that if he wants a challenge, he can go to the river, but if we want dinner, he can go to the pond. There won’t be people coming here to use our pond, it’ll be just for our family. So it doesn’t need to hold a whole ton of fish, just a steady supply. I haven’t figured out the reproductive habits of fish yet, to understand how many to start with to keep it at the ideal capacity, and I want to understand that before we start. The goal is to keep fish that don’t need much maintenance (filters, aerators, pumps, etc. not withstanding) the fish we selected (again, according to the websites I found) seem to not need commercial feed. We are okay with using feed if necessary, but again, that seems like something to know before hand. It is also important to have optimal conditions for their comfort and well-being. I’ve seen several that talk about having so many fish in a pond that they’re practically piled on top of one another. One of the biggest “rules” we live by on our farm is that every animal is given the best conditions we can provide. The goats have a huge open pen with playground stuff; the rabbits have an open warren so they can run around, rather than keeping them in little cages; the chickens are ranged in a large area…the fish should have the same quality of conditions. So, I’m wanting to have the optimal size pond with the appropriate amount of fish.


*Sorry, I don’t know how to do the quoting thing here yet, so I just copy/pasted and bolded the comments I was responding to.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Sounds like you have pretty much decided on a fishery pond.You are correct that commercial feed is not used in this type of pond because most of the fish are carnivorous and are, in most cases, themselves the food. This is why size is all important. I don't know what website you got the information from on pond size but 3,000 gallons is not even close to being sufficient size to sustain a stable food chain. Fishery ponds are much, much larger. The absolute minimum size for this type of pond 1/2 acre (many sources say 1 acre) and they are generally earthen-bottom. Supplemental filtration is not required, but aeration is usually recommended. Any pond smaller than this that is stocked with 'game' fish is doomed to eventual failure. I might suggest that you give this some more thought balancing what you want with what can be successfully done.

 

[Farm_Mama2010]

Meyer,
To clarify, can you define the 1/2 or whole acre? Because from what I've found, acre in pond terms is calculated differently than an acre in land terms? I do have space where I could potentially sketch out an acre of land, but that would be more like a 3-year plan, rather than a 1-year, as it is somewhat wooded, and currently useless as farmland for anything. We have been planning to clear it, but we weren't making it a priority until we had a plan for it.

 

[HARO]

One acre is an area of 1 chain by 1 furlong (22 yards by 220 yards). That works out to 1/640 of a square mile, or 43,560 square feet. Land or water, there is no difference.
Haro

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I don't know your sources but as Haro has stated---an acre is an acre. It is a unit of surface area measurement.

 

[Farm_Mama2010]

Okay. I know how to calculate an acre. I was reading about surface acres and something about calculating depth as part of the acre calculation... I apparently need better sources.

 

[addy1]

Lots of thought needs to go into your pond. Everybody with a pond has one similarity, a hole with water.
Mine is only filtered with a bog, the pump turns the water over less than once a hour. No uv, my water stays Crystal clear with great water tests.
Just goldfish, no koi.
Others use uv' s love them.
I went the bog route to have a plant area, for me it works great.

I don't have a acre pond. Just around 10-12000 total water gallons.