Pond Owners frequently ask us what is the secret to successful DIY pond care. The first step to successful pond care is, knowing your pond! We don’t expect pond owners to be experts, but we do expect them to know their pond.
What do we mean by “Know Your Pond”?
The first thing we ask pond owners that call in for advice is, What size is your pond? After a long pause many pond owners will say, “about an acre.” The most important part in any DIY pond care plan is, coincidentally, step one in successful pond care, know the size of your pond. There are many things to consider when implementing a pond care plan, but you can’t do any of them until you know the size of your body of water.
When we ask for the size of a pond we are talking about the surface acreage or the amount of area covered by water and the average depth. Surface area is often described by comparing a familiar area to give a better understanding/visual of size. For example, a 1.3 acre pond has roughly the same surface area as a high school football field. I promised not to get to geeky or scientific, but the best way to calculate the surface acreage of your pond is by multiplying the length (in feet) by the width (in feet) and divide the sum by 43,560. The 43,560 is the number of square feet in a surface acre.
The pond below is approximately 148 feet in length and 80 feet wide. For the pond pictured below, this is how the calculation will look:
148’ x 80’ = 11,840
11,840/43,560 = .27 acres
This pond is approximately ¼ (.25) surface acre
Pond owners often give the deepest point in their pond as the average depth. Average depth is not the deepest point in the pond. Average depth can be calculated by taking multiple depth measurements (in feet), adding them up and dividing by the number of measurement taken. If a pond owner takes 10 depth measurements this is how the calculation will look:
12’+9’+7’+6’+6’+4’+4’+3’+3’+2’=56
56/10=5.6’ is the average depth
Now that you can answer the all-important question: What size is your pond? You are ready to tackle your pond care plan. If we have gone too geeky or scientific on you, contact us and we will gladly help you calculate your pond size. You can also visit our pond measurement resource page.
Next Monday we will release Part 2 of our DIY Pond Care Tips: Pond Care…I Like a Natural Pond
Part 1: Before…Pond Care (Current Post)