Mantaining large ponds.

[Celtic Hill]

Dose anyone have experience maintaining large ponds? Our new farm has three and they are all very icky and murkey, in the mists of doing all the other work we hope to get some better water flow from the brooks that run along our farm. Is there any kind of fish we can get to put in there?

 

[Bantimna]

Fishes - I would not know, unfortunately I have had only experience with aquariums. Take a look at indigenous varieties of fish that are natural your area.
Ponds - Firstly get them cleaned, try not using a strong liquid to disinfect/clean the pond. Though make sure that all pond nooks and cranny's are filled with a pond sealer, then try taking a look at the water flowing into the pond - if exotic breeds of fish are used to inhabit the pond the ph of the water will play a big role.

Good Luck!

 

[Celtic Hill]

Wait what is pond sealer?

 

[SillyChicken]

Please clarify if they are natural ponds with natural substrate bottoms etc or are they man made with liners?

How deep are they, and what do you want to do with them?

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

If it's a farm pond, you can broadcast nitrogen (ammonium nitrate fertilizer) in it & that will settle the soot. Wait a few weeks before stocking, though.

 

[BarefootMom]

you will probably need to get someone with a backhoe to clean the mud out if that is the problem.

If they are really scummy and have a lot of cattails you may want to get some grass carp to eat all that yuck out.

I don't know what the soil is like in CT but if you have access to white clay anywhere it would help to have some clay brought in and have it packed.

And just a forewarning--cleaning out ponds can be pretty expensive depending on the size and what people around you charge. Most people around here with a backhoe charge anywhere from $100-$300 per hour. Plus you will most likely have to pump some water out and have a dump truck to haul the muck out (have aplace to dump it too) Some backhow operators have their own trucks, try to find one that does.

Good Luck!

 

[Celtic Hill]

Sorry for the confusion. It's a dug pond, all three of them and they aren't in an area where they get run off from manure either. There is an inlet and an outlet that are brooks.

 

[gryeyes]

Go to gardeners.com and look for pond clarifiers - the company has barley stuff to clarify mucky ponds. That would be my first move, but that's just me.

Good luck!