Should I fill pond with well water?

10 months ago

last modified: 10 months ago

I have a rain runoff pond which is 60 years old and 3/4 acres and at full pool 7' deep. The previous owner side she never seen it dry up in 14 years so she thinks there might be a small spring? This winter it shrunk down to 1/8 acre and about 3' deep due to lack of rains. The pond is loaded with bream and I've started added koi fish (50 koi) and it also has some catfish, bass, turtles and loads of frogs. Over the month of last April it filled back up with the rains but now is dropping 5/8" per day or about 10,700 gallons. I thought about running my well pump on a timer for 30 minutes and then off for an hour to fill back about 5,500 gallons a day. This way it would help offset to maybe 3/8" drop per day until the rains come back.

The well is about 175'+/- deep and I see 1-1/4" pvc fittings. The pump is about 14 years old so I thought about going to a solar pump system but before I do I need to figure out if adding the well water is a good idea and the cost of running the power if I replace to the same system but maybe a larger tank.

Are these pumps made to run up to an hour consistently?

Will the well water hurt the plants and fish?

Is there a type lily pad I could add to reduce surface evaporation?

Featured Answer

jrb451

10 months ago

I don’t think aeration has any impact on ph levels. You could throw in a couple of boxes of baking soda. You’d need to raise the level slowly over days/weeks. Ph test kits are cheap.

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Comments (6)

jrb451
10 months ago
Did the previous owner "top off" the pond with well water as you're contemplating? I don't think I would do that myself. Your well water is pretty acidic, 5.97, and Koi prefer water more alkaline. It would be interesting to see what your pond's ph is, given that it's filled primarily by rain fall and that tends to be acidic.

I water our garden & lawn with a jet pump and it runs 6-8 hours a day with no problem. Is your well wired 220 or 110? Do your temperatures get much below freezing where you are? I have to bring my tank in each winter to protect it from freeze damage.

Water lilies will provide surface coverage which probably slow evaporation.
catfishhoward thanked jrb451
catfishhoward
Original Author
10 months ago
The previous owner ran the pvc to the lake but she said they never tried it since she thinks the power bill would go up.

220 I think.

We do get freezing temps here in N. Florida but I put a trap and heater when it does dip below 30 but not many day here.
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catfishhoward
Original Author
10 months ago
Here's a picture from this winter when the water got low. At this point it only had 2 koi about 24" each. All the fish did good. I did just add a diy 9000 gallon fountain to help add oxygen when the level gets low again but not sure I really need it as long as there not gulping air? Don't think running the fountain really increased the evaporation much.

I have about 50 koi 5"-12" in these cages growing up until they reach 14" so they don't get eaten as easily from the large catfish and bird predators. This time next year I'll probably release them but if the water drops that low again it will be hard to push the cage in deeper water.
catfishhoward
Original Author
10 months ago
Since I'm most worried about the water test (IRB) being present I will bleach my well before filling the lake. I dont want orange slim in the lake from the IRB but I cant find a lot of info on adding it to a pond? My water has no oder or off taste so I think the IRB levels are low and it might be in my pond naturally anyway?

I will also run the fountain to add oxygen and maybe help raise the PH of the water?
catfishhoward
Original Author
10 months ago
It's been raining like crazy and the pond has over flowed the dam. I think it came up about 14" overnight and it was still overflowing the dam.

My PH today was 6.0.