Farm Pond Maintenance
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2021
- When we bought this farm as clueless city slickers in 2002 we were so excited about the pond! But we had no idea that it was going to require any maintenance at all. We thought Mother Nature would take care of it for us. But if we leave it to Mother Nature, she will grow things like algae and duck weed. We've tried a lot of things over the years, and this is what works for us. In addition to having an aerator and about two dozen ducks and a couple of geese, these are the products mentioned in the video that we use (affiliate links included):
PondClear amzn.to/3bpWcn4
MuckAway amzn.to/3yiM2yP
EcoBoost amzn.to/3ydjeaD
Nature's Blue Pond Dye
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You should look into an intake bay and wetland filter. The problem with algaecide is the treatment perpetuates the cycle. By killing the algae it ultimately settles as organic material to be broken down. I know that sounds terrific but isn't as it degrades and converts to base molecules that happens to release a couple forms of Nitrogen. Your nitrogen cycle is what fuels your algae blooms and duckweed blooms. It creates a perpetual cycle that makes you reliant upon chemical treatments for the duration. Another massive help is if you have a shallow area or if not build a retaining wall 0-3ft deep approximately to 15-20 percent of your surface area. By doing this you have the ability to plant Lily pads, lotus, iris, miniature cattails..... There's a lot more variety. This offers many critical things of importance. First it will shade a 1/4 of your surface from UV once established, second it offers an ideal breeding zone for panfish, place for fry to hide and an elevated zone of structure to fish. The last thing it does is filter out the bad nitrogen the type that leads to dead fish. These things will really help and fairly easy to implement. A basic intake acts as a skimmer to remove debris on the surface, column and circulate water. This will require a pump mechanism but allows you to feed water through a planting zone or build a small elevated big offering you a water feature. This would be planted as well but by far the best method of filtration. When done properly you can see rocks or fish 10 plus ft deep. Your water will be crystal clear. The maintenance of these systems once built is near zero. If properly planned with a clean out the entire system can be cleaned once a year in 30 minutes. You'll spend more time thinning the water plants growing and thriving from the process of consuming the plant poo. The actual process of decomposition of the organ material is done by bacteria living in gravel of the bog. A lot of super expensive custom tailored kits exists but it can be built with PVC from a hardware store, 55 gallon drum, submersible pump and a few railroad ties, spikes and time. It'll save you a fortune, better system and result in a more natural cleaner pond.
We are not using the dye as an algaecide because there is hardly any algae. If you had a pond covered with algae and then used the dye, yes, you are killing algae and causing the problems you mentioned. But if you use the dye BEFORE you have a large algae bloom, it's not killing algae. The shade created by the dye is preventing the algae from growing. I would love to plant things like lily pads to shade the pond and prevent algae growth, but this pond if 1/3 acre, and I can't afford to buy enough plants to cover a meaningful area.
John I could use your help. I have a mess! First I have to get some trees off my dam....
Thanks for the video!
This is very helpful!
Great tips for inexperienced pond owners!
Deborah,i heard you speak of a creek on your land.The best thing about running creek is,you have a way to create power,via a small dam,a large water wheel with pulley's,belts,automobile alternators that can be turned into generators,batteries for storage and several other parts to make it all work.I found out how to do this on TH-cam.Imagine,after the initial cost,you have free power.
We love that idea. Unfortunately, our creek is pretty shallow -- except when it's flooding. The rest of the time it's often a series of puddles or frozen.
Hi , thanks for the great tips !
Deff want to try the muck away . Have you ever seen Bryozoans ?
They can be as large as basketballs
And are colonies of filter feeding single cell organisms that live in a colony of jelly . Haha yuck ! Kind of scared me when i first saw them . Thanks to folks like you i’ve learned so much . The Bryozoans disappear when the wether gets colder .
That sounds scary! Luckily we don't have any in our pond. Glad to hear you found the video helpful!
Oh my gosh! Just can’t across this and now subscribing! We are city slickers - just bought a small hobby farm with a pond almost a year ago. Had NO idea the pond would have SO much algae. I started late with the Cutrine plus this year because of rain etc… now I know I need to start the SECOND I see algae. It’s been a battle all summer. Also- how do you keep the grass from growing into the pond? I just bought a pond weed rake and it’s coming from Amazon in a few days but any other suggestions?
Having proper aeration is also really important. We have not had a problem with any plants growing in the pond, so I'm not sure what the best answer is for that problem.
Great video - did you have to do a manuel clean out of the pond before you started using the four products ? Or did you just start adding it and eventually the pond started to clear up ?
The pond is 1/3 acre, so I would not know how to begin to clean it out. We just started using these products. Note that you also need aeration.
Thanks for the video. Do you rake out the leafs or your muck remover was able to digest those dead leafs?
The pond is 1/3 acre, so I never even considered raking it. The muck remover seems to do a good job.
Thanks for the video. Do you know what type and side air pump you have? I’m about to purchase one for the pond we are building which is similar in size.
When you look at aerators, they should tell you how many acres the aerator covers. Also see what it says about depth. Our pond is not more than 6' at its deepest, so that allows us to have a slightly wimpier aerator than we could have if our pond was deeper. If you're not sure about the size of your pond, we were able to figure it out using GoogleEarth.
Still less work then a swimming pool...
Absolutely!
How do you get your ducks to stay and not become food for animals? I have a 1/2 acre pond that is 8-feet deep. I use both a powerful fountain and a bubbler at different parts of the pond to keep it healthy. I add dye in early spring and keep up on it through summer. Works wonders. I never used muck away or similar product because of the cost and because a fish and game guy here in Kentucky said it was a waste of money. He told me that the pond if full of biological muck eaters and I just need to keep those healthy. So far, so good. I don't have ANY ducks. I'd love a few.
We have a woven wire fence that keeps out coyotes, but something else, probably raccoons, does get some. The Welsh harlequins go broody. We put mama and ducklings in a chicken tractor, so we breed out own replacements. We have found that none of the poultry really do a great job of mothering, so we always lock them up with their babies. Cayuga ducks were a disaster. They never had babies. I'm thinking of trying some other breeds for variety.
I don't doubt that some ponds have plenty of natural bacteria, and years ago, the water in our pond was clear, but in recent years it got cloudy, and we could no longer see the fish. Adding the Pond Clear and EcoBoost definitely cleared up the water for us.
@@DeborahNiemann Thank you for your reply!
What kind of fish do you stock with? Do they muddy the water at all or keep it clean? Do the fish eat the leeches?
We stock it with catfish, bass, and sunfish. I don't know if they eat leeches or not. I don't see how they would muddy the water or keep it clean.
What did you use for the pond liner ?
We don’t have a pond liner. If you dig down a few feet, we have solid clay.
Are the fish edible when you go this route for pond maintenance?
Yes, everything we use is safe for animals to drink the water and people to eat the fish. It's just natural bacteria, and the dye is so dilute that you don't even see it if you get a bucket of water.
Can ppl swim in your pond
Our children swam in there when they were children ... until they discovered we had leeches in there!
Thank you for saying "Canada geese" instead of canadian! Really helpful video tho, we have a pond just like this. Guess we need 30 ducks!
You're welcome! I learned about Canada geese from a friend who is an avid bird watcher. I'm sad to say that I was saying it incorrectly for many years before that. Good luck with your pond!