New Pond Help/Aeration

[whittwhitt]

Howdy guys! So we had a pond dug last fall and this spring it has filled up with snow melt - we're in Northern Minnesota. It's about 30'x60', mainly 4-5ft deep, with a gradual decline to 7-8ft. Our soil is clay, no plants or anything yet.

We added some bait store minnows from our local gas station this weekend just to see how'd they do - we know now you don't want those in your pond because of disease/general health issues - some survived/some died.

Our aerator arrived yesterday and we put it in the water, let it run for about 3 hours and then noticed some minnows had died - we didn't know you're supposed to run it in increments every day until you're up to 24 hrs/day, so it's off now. We only ran it for maybe 25 mins this morning, but we still had some minnows die.

Wondering where we're going wrong with aeration? We're specifically using this aerator - HiBlow HP-80 from Amazon. Should we not aerate/keep aerating? Any idea what's killing them exactly? Our end goal would be to have a few fish in it but we obviously want to have everything figured out before adding anything else.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Sorry, but I’ve not heard that about aerators. I thought you ran them 24/7.

 

[GBBUDD]

Before you look at aeration as a problem have you tested the water? i assume theres no filter and your pond receives runoff from the ground. Not ideal depending on what is in the area like farming a busy road parking lot neighborhood with gardens theres a million possibilities

 

[whittwhitt]

Before you look at aeration as a problem have you tested the water? i assume theres no filter and your pond receives runoff from the ground. Not ideal depending on what is in the area like farming a busy road parking lot neighborhood with gardens theres a million possibilities

Just rain and snow runoff - we're in the country but no large farming operations or anything like that to worry about, no neighbors.

But no filters and haven't tested the water.

 

[GBBUDD]

I have walked many a wooded area during power line inspections. Take my word for it it's probably not as Kristen as you may believe , logging has occurred throughout the U.s for a couple hundred years, those old logging camps can be rather nasty. One location we took out 500 super sacks for contaminated waste.

But rain it's self is acidic today and that can cause your pH to crash thus the importance of watching your kh levels.

It's your pond your area you maybe right but any ground runoff to a closed pond is not the best

 

[j.w]

@whittwhitt

 

[GBBUDD]

I have walked many a wooded area during power line inspections. Take my word for it it's probably not as Kristen as you may believe , logging has occurred throughout the U.s for a couple hundred years, those old logging camps can be rather nasty. One location we took out 500 super sacks for contaminated waste.

But rain it's self is acidic today and that can cause your pH to crash thus the importance of watching your kh levels.

It's your pond your area you maybe right but any ground runoff to a closed pond is not the best

Damn Ai .....PRISTEEN NOT KRISTEN

 

[whittwhitt]

Before you look at aeration as a problem have you tested the water? i assume theres no filter and your pond receives runoff from the ground. Not ideal depending on what is in the area like farming a busy road parking lot neighborhood with gardens theres a million possibilities

What kind of tests do you recommend?

 

[GBBUDD]

CAN YOU POST A COUPLE PICTURES? the biggest overlooked test is kh but you want to get an API master test kit available at any pet store but it does not have kh or sometimes high range ph so ammonia ,nitrate, nitrite, ph , ph high range , kh and gh. if you see phosphorus and oxygen they are good to have as well

 

[whittwhitt]

CAN YOU POST A COUPLE PICTURES? the biggest overlooked test is kh but you want to get an API master test kit available at any pet store but it does not have kh or sometimes high range ph so ammonia ,nitrate, nitrite, ph , ph high range , kh and gh. if you see phosphorus and oxygen they are good to have as well

Thanks! So we did a test kit yesterday - ammonia, nitrites, phosphates were all perfect, wide range pH was about an 8.

 

[GBBUDD]

8 is fine higher is much better than lower 7 to 7.5 ideal anything 6 too low. you still want to check kh its an imune system for your pond by keeping the ph from crashing down to the 6's which when that happens quickly it can be fatal

 

[sissy]

I know here in VA we have lots of pine tees and we get heavy green somewhat sticky pollen . It ca coat a car 19 minutes after washing it and it makes in my rain collection barrels acidic. They have been forresting the trees for the stupid solar farms here and that makes it worse . I have a hillside now of over 10 thousand solar panels only half a mile from my house . I can see them in the winter The power is not even for us . It sure did make the air qaulity go down the last 2 years .. That stuff can blow for miles . We now have bears , deer and turkeys running wild in our area . Thet just want a home . The cow farm across from me has to spray now and so does the horse farm and even that can be carried on the wind . I have not had to test my pond for years but now I have too

 

[whittwhitt]

CAN YOU POST A COUPLE PICTURES? the biggest overlooked test is kh but you want to get an API master test kit available at any pet store but it does not have kh or sometimes high range ph so ammonia ,nitrate, nitrite, ph , ph high range , kh and gh. if you see phosphorus and oxygen they are good to have as well

Here's a couple pictures as well - we can test for kh, gh, and oxygen next, we do have an aerator going 24/7 now. Any ideas what killed all our minnows?

 

[GBBUDD]

SOMEONE ELSE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT A HAIL STORM AND A F3 I WONDER IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE SAME ISSUE A TWISTER EVEN IF NOT NEAR YOU CAN SEND ALL KINDS OF NASTY STUFF INTO THE AIR AND WHAT GOES UP MUCT COME DOWN

 

[GBBUDD]

BUT FROM YOUR pictures i don't see any air stones or fountains just still water that can easily be the problem. But i would suggest that you get the run off from getting in the pond it obviously is an earthen pond but runoff is not good. sorry just read the original post , i would say areation and or a fountain can and should run 24/7 our nice pond a nd what a fish feels is nice are worlds appart