# YSU Pond Project



## Ward603 (Sep 6, 2008)

I am an engineering student at Youngstown State University. I am a part of a group project of building a backyard pond to grow fish for food in inner cities. The main problem for us is finding a cheap way to aerate the water. This will not be a big holding tank. We just need something to provide "some aeration. If anyone has any ideas I would love to talk. We have a budget of $100 for the whole build. Any ideas will help.


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## Ward603 (Sep 6, 2008)

Also any contacts you may know in biology and fish growth rates would be helpful.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

$100 budget for a pond?! Fish alone cost 1000s of $$$. Unless you catch carp from local streams and let them breed...


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## Ward603 (Sep 6, 2008)

$100 to create it, not including the purchase of fish. It could be as simple and literally putting fish in a barrel. Aeration, cleaning, and growing are the biggest problems.


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## Procraftboats21 (Apr 6, 2004)

shoot me a pm and we can meet up on campus one day, i'm an environmental major/biology minor. i'd love to help you guys come up with some ideas.


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## ChrisB (May 13, 2004)

I'm an Aquaculture/fish managment specialist. I have focused my knowledge towards building ponds and lakes in 3rd world countries. I'd like to hear about your project as well. Without springs or the ability to open fire hydrants for airation, it gets expensive. If your school has some solar panales or windmills laying around you can put a wheel together for cheap and use that. Or raise common carp or channel cats, they can handle low oxygen levels. Even at 2 ppm.


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## [email protected] (Feb 29, 2008)

Look for info on aquaculture at the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) website http://srac.tamu.edu/ There are RAC's for every region in the US but this one has the best fact sheets and can direct you to the other regions. 

Aquaculture is much more intensive than "fish in a barrel" if you have the intention of producing a viable source of food even on a small scale. I agree with Chris B and Mushijobah that carp would be a good choice though as long as your water is warm enough, and people do eat carp all over the world. 

As far as maintaining your budget, I recommend looking at supplier sites like Aquatic Ecosystems or Aquacenter, Inc for ideas and then figuring out how to fabricate the items yourself. $100.00 is going to be hard considering the cost of construction, fish food, and fish.


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## Fat Bill (Jan 16, 2006)

Hi. I'm a retired high school technology instructor. You need to scrounge. I made an aereator for my pond from an A.I.R. pump (pollution control device) from an automobile engine and connected it to a 2 h.p gasoline engine by means of pulleys and v-belt (a 1/4 h.p. electric motor works well too). Then I attached about 50' of 3/4" plastic line to the exhaust. Drill 1/8" holes in the plastic line about every 6"-12". Weight the line down and put it out in the water.

I know another guy who did the same thing with an electric motor and used a timer. He can keep a large area of his 1 acre pond ice free. Also, the fish gain weight and grow faster with the additional oxygen in the water.


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## cmiller (Jun 3, 2008)

Fish in a barrel? Nice idea. Here you go!

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/s...&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&CMID=TOP_SEARCH_GO


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