A farm pond is a living entity.
A half-acre fish pond has a surface area of approximately 21,760 feet. If the pond is just 5 feet deep, this means that there is over 100,000 cubic feet of water in your pond. Since 1 cubic foot contains 7.5 gallons of water, there are about 1,000,000 gallons of water in the pond. This precludes you from using any type of pump filtration system since the cost would be enormous.
The Pond and pH
Basic chemistry is the key to keeping your pond healthy. Excess acidity or excess alkalinity can create a toxic environment for living creatures such as fish. The pH scale measures the amount of hydrogen ions (acid) in your water. A pH of 7 means that the water is neutral, while below 7 means acidic and above 7 means alkaline. You would like your water to be as close as possible to a pH scale of 7 to have a healthy pond.
Where the pH Balance Problem Comes From
The PH balance in a pond is affected by factors such as decaying plants or debris, acid rain or fertilizer run-off. Other contributors include fish waste and excess fish food in the water. All of these factors lead to the production of excess nitrogen in the water. Nitrogen presents itself as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Fertilizer runoff can also add phosphates to the water. At high levels these contaminants can be toxic to your fish.
Solving the Problem
A fountain helps aerate a pond
Dissolving oxygen in the water is the best way to rid the pond of excess nitrogen and phosphate. To introduce oxygen you must aerate your pond. Mechanical areation is achieved with devices such as fountains, windmills, waterfalls, diffused aerators and paddle wheels. All of these gadgets cause turbulence on the surface of the water and let oxygen dissolve. The diffused aerator, while not as visually pleasant as a waterfall, can aerate more water than the other methods. These aerators can be attached to a windmill or can run on electricity or fuel.
Filtration Options
On a smaller pond you can use filters to remove contaminants. On a half-acre pond this would be impractical because of the amount of water that would have to be moved. Luckily, larger ponds seem to biologically filter themselves.
Beneficial Bacteria
Adding beneficial bacteria will help both small and large ponds eliminate nitrogen base toxins. These bacteria actually convert ammonia into nitrite and nitrate, which are less harmful. These bacteria need to have oxygen to function, so a good aeration system is necessary.
Other Ideas
While water conditioners help maintain a healthy pond, they can be very expensive for a half-acre pond. Adding agricultural limestone and gypsum to the water is a less costly way to reduce the acidity in your pond.
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