I am in the process of planning a native (to ohio) fish pond and stream set up. I do keep a 29 gallon sumpless saltwater reef aquarium so I have experience with fish keeping, though entering the world of a pond will be very new to me. I would like to run by my idea with you all, and see what you have to say, and consider any suggestions.
Anyway, I am planning a setup with 2 ponds, one larger than the other, and a stream connecting them. The upper pond I plan on digging out to be roughly 6 ft by 6 ft, and 3 to 4 feet deep. I plan to shade this upper pond heavily with pine trees to cool the water (i'm hoping the pine trees won't deposit too many needles in the stream. Then from the upper pond I plan to have a stream 10-15 ft long. The stream will be shallow on one side to grow reeds and aquatic grasses, and deeper, about 1.5-2 feet on the other side to provide a habitat for fish and allow them to safely cross between the upper and lower ponds. More pine trees will be planted on the bank of the deeper side of the stream. The stream I plan to put smaller stones or pebbles on the bottom of, though I will keep the ponds mostly bare on the bottom to make maintenance easier, save maybe one or two larger boulders or logs to provide a habitat for the fish. The larger stream on the bottom will be about 10 ft by 10 ft, and will be up against a side of the house. The part of the larger pond nearest the mouth of the stream will be shallower, to plant more grasses and reeds. The portion of the pond nearest the house will have a small shallow part as well, again, for some reeds, but it will drop off quick, and mostly be very deep, 4-5 ft. A few pine trees will be planted around this pond. A pump (I'm thinking maybe 3,000 gallons per hour, does that sound high powered enough?) will pump water from the depths of the lower pond to the upper pond, again, to try to maintain a cooler temperature.
As far as stocking is concerned, I would like to catch some native fish from my local river and stock some of those sparingly. I plan to target a few rock bass on the fly, and stock 4 or so of those. I plan to capture some minnows as well, and maybe some sculpins or darters. Ideally this food chain would be self sustaining somewhat, and I wouldn't need to feed the rock bass (they should consume insects as well as minnows). Hopefully the plants will protect minnow and other fish fry for the rock bass to eat latter.
The biggest thing I am struggling with is filtration. This (as with most aquatic set ups) seems to be the most expensive. However, I am curious if I could rely entirely on biological filtration. The pebble substrate in the stream would provide lots of surface area for bacteria to colonize. The plants in the stream and ponds would suck up nutrients and hopefully out compete algae.
As far as filling the system, I hope to do it with mostly rainwater. We have a downspout near the location for the pond, So I plan to divert water from that to fill the pond. Also, would rain take care of water changes on the pond more or less? The rainwater would rinse out dirty water in the pond and replace it with fresh rainwater correct?
Anyway, I am planning a setup with 2 ponds, one larger than the other, and a stream connecting them. The upper pond I plan on digging out to be roughly 6 ft by 6 ft, and 3 to 4 feet deep. I plan to shade this upper pond heavily with pine trees to cool the water (i'm hoping the pine trees won't deposit too many needles in the stream. Then from the upper pond I plan to have a stream 10-15 ft long. The stream will be shallow on one side to grow reeds and aquatic grasses, and deeper, about 1.5-2 feet on the other side to provide a habitat for fish and allow them to safely cross between the upper and lower ponds. More pine trees will be planted on the bank of the deeper side of the stream. The stream I plan to put smaller stones or pebbles on the bottom of, though I will keep the ponds mostly bare on the bottom to make maintenance easier, save maybe one or two larger boulders or logs to provide a habitat for the fish. The larger stream on the bottom will be about 10 ft by 10 ft, and will be up against a side of the house. The part of the larger pond nearest the mouth of the stream will be shallower, to plant more grasses and reeds. The portion of the pond nearest the house will have a small shallow part as well, again, for some reeds, but it will drop off quick, and mostly be very deep, 4-5 ft. A few pine trees will be planted around this pond. A pump (I'm thinking maybe 3,000 gallons per hour, does that sound high powered enough?) will pump water from the depths of the lower pond to the upper pond, again, to try to maintain a cooler temperature.
As far as stocking is concerned, I would like to catch some native fish from my local river and stock some of those sparingly. I plan to target a few rock bass on the fly, and stock 4 or so of those. I plan to capture some minnows as well, and maybe some sculpins or darters. Ideally this food chain would be self sustaining somewhat, and I wouldn't need to feed the rock bass (they should consume insects as well as minnows). Hopefully the plants will protect minnow and other fish fry for the rock bass to eat latter.
The biggest thing I am struggling with is filtration. This (as with most aquatic set ups) seems to be the most expensive. However, I am curious if I could rely entirely on biological filtration. The pebble substrate in the stream would provide lots of surface area for bacteria to colonize. The plants in the stream and ponds would suck up nutrients and hopefully out compete algae.
As far as filling the system, I hope to do it with mostly rainwater. We have a downspout near the location for the pond, So I plan to divert water from that to fill the pond. Also, would rain take care of water changes on the pond more or less? The rainwater would rinse out dirty water in the pond and replace it with fresh rainwater correct?
