Building a Stock Tank Pond

How to Build a Thriving Stock Tank Pond

Stock tank ponds have become increasingly popular as an affordable and attractive way to enjoy a water garden in small spaces. While they may be simpler than a traditional rock-and-liner pond, a successful stock tank pond still needs all the same essential elements.  I like to refer to it as F.R.O.G.S.S:

  • Filtration (biological filtration through beneficial bacteria and plants)
  • Rocks/gravel
  • Oxygen (circulation and aeration)
  • Greens – PLANTS
  • Swimmers
  • Structural Integrity (the tank needs to hold water)

With proper planning, a stock tank pond can become a beautiful ecosystem.

Photo of round stock tank with aquatic plants

When you use a stock tank for a pond, make sure it has some shade. 

Which Stock Tank

For most homeowners, a 300-gallon stock tank provides an excellent balance between size, water stability, and ease of installation. Galvanized steel or poly stock tanks both work well.

Steps

  1. Level the tank.  You MUST level the tank or the water will not be even!  Use gravel or sand underneath it. 
  2. Sunlight – It will need to be where it receives at least 4–6 hours of sunlight.  (because you need plants for this pond to thrive!) But, it needs shade too.  A stock tank will heat up the water fast. 
  3. Water circulation – the water needs to be moving.  This will prevent mosquitos and keep things healthy.  Solar pumps are energy-efficient and easy to install. For best results, aim to circulate the entire pond volume at least once every 1–2 hours. That means using a 300 to 400 gph pump.
  4. Oxygenation – Oxygen is critical for fish, plants, and beneficial bacteria. if you can create a waterfall into the tank, that will give the system more oxygenation.  A small aerator can greatly improve water quality, especially during hot summer months when oxygen levels naturally decline. In many cases, a fountain combined with an aerator provides excellent oxygen exchange. The more oxygen available, the healthier the biological filtration system becomes.
  5. Biological Filtration– add beneficial bacteria.  It is the hidden workforce of a healthy pond. It converts fish waste and decaying organic matter into less harmful compounds. Read the directions so you know how much to use.  Too much won’t hurt anything, but it could create foamy water. 
  6. Gravel – A layer of washed gravel on the bottom of the tank provides valuable surface area for these bacteria to colonize.  Use 3/4″or  1/2″ gravel.  It only needs to be about an inch in depth. Be sure to rinse the gravel thoroughly before adding it to the pond.
  7. Creating Plant Shelves -One challenge with stock tanks is the lack of natural planting ledges found in many traditional ponds. Shelves can be created using upside-down planting containers or  milk crates.  Be creative! A shelf approximately 4 inches below the water surface provides an ideal location for marginal aquatic plants. Cover the shelf with gravel to help anchor plants and provide additional surface area for beneficial bacteria. Creating shelves at different depths allows you to grow a wider variety of aquatic plants.

This is bowl made just for this from Aquascape.  They several different ones.

Aquatic Plants

Plants are essential because they help remove excess nutrients, provide shade, compete with algae, and create a more natural appearance. Read more about Aquatic Plants – and keep in mind the size of plants and your pond. 

Floating Plants

  • Water Hyacinth or Water Lettuce

    • Excellent nutrient absorber

    • Provides shade

    • Hyacinth produces attractive lavender flowers when crowded

  • Frogbit

    • Excellent nutrient absorber

    • Provides shade

    • This is a small plant so will go along with a stock tank well. 

Marginal Plants

Arrowhead (Sagittaria)

    • Thrives in shallow water

    • Attractive foliage and flowers

    • Great choice for shelves 4–8 inches deep

Parrot Feather

    • Grows deeper in the water

    • Provides excellent texture

    • Helps oxygenate the water

Water Lilies

    • One of the best additions to any pond! Provides shade that helps reduce algae growth.

    • You can get a miniature water lily in a stock tank. Normal sizes are ok too, but I wouldn’t do a tropical one, way too big. 

More plants

Depending on shelf depth and climate, you can also experiment with:

  • Pickerel Rush

  • Dwarf Cattails

  • Water Iris

  • Sweet Flag

  • Horsetail Rush

  • Taro
  • Dwarf Papyrus

The beauty of a stock tank pond is that you can continually experiment with different aquatic plants until you find the combination that works best in your environment.

Fish

Many stock tank ponds can support a small population of fish.

  • Mosquito fish (they eat mosquito larve!)

  • Small goldfish

A stock tank pond may be smaller than a traditional water garden, but it should still function as a complete pond ecosystem. By providing circulation, oxygenation, biological filtration, and a variety of aquatic plants, you can create a thriving water feature.

Read more about pond fish.

Image of a stock tank with aquatic plants

This is a stock tank that is 2 x 6 and 2 feet deep.  It’s AI generated (I didn’t have a picture of a real one, but this is pretty good).

* This blog was NOT written by AI.  This was written by me. But 2 photos were AI generated.  I didn’t have any phots and didn’t want to copy them off the internet.