juicylucy: What an extraordinary article...in a number of ways. Done in Delaware, which borders my state, of all things, but completely opposed to anything I've ever seen. In 1984, my next-door neighbor installed two bug zappers, and used to catch (in a muslin or cheesecloth bag beneath the zappers), and count the insects caught nightly. The Delaware article quoted 13,789 insects caught in an entire summer. My neighbor used to count in the neighborhood of 500 insects a night, per zapper, on an average night. At that rate, he would catch in the neighborhood of 60,000 in a summer--June, July, August, September. The Delaware study indicated narly half were aquatic insects (although it fails to mention any types or varieties); I don't remember seeing what I would consider an aquatic insect in his catches, although, I must say, that we're not near water. The Delaware article mentioned 13.5% being beneficial--mostly ground beetles and parasitic wasps. I don't remember ever seeing a wasp in his catches--but he caught them at night, of course; the zapper had a photovoltaic cell that turned it on at dark and off at daylight. His catches were almost exclusively night-flying moths and mosquitoes (though no determination of sex, on the mosquitoes). Interesting that my observations and the Delaware article are night and day opposed to one another. Thanks for the link to the article. If I'm unable to find results from such a study in my area (Baltimore-Washington suburbs), I believe I'll start my own mini-study.

c2g, Vernal ponds, dewponds, etc are great in the right location, under the right conditions. Remember that most of the ones you see on the internet are rarely located near buildings, especially homes. Most of the time they are for livestock that churn up the bottom. They are rarely filled by hoses. In England, there is a lot of rain and a lot of clay. The bottom of a clay lined pond is thick. Try Googling Bentonite lined canals to see the construction. It is tricky. I'm glad you decided not to use it to tell the truth. To the unwary, it is a disaster waiting to happen. It takes practice and a lot of willingness to get coated with unbelievably sticky messes once it gets wet. We used to live in an underground house that was topped with it and then had 2 feet of earth on top of that so I had a lot of experience in twenty years. While it did what it was supposed to do, I lost more than one pair of shoes and several pairs of jeans to it. You could not wade into the pond you want to construct. I haven't ever seen a really good book on wildlife ponds. No two ponds are ever going to be alike. But then I wanted something for fishies too. my pond is 1000 gallons and three feet deep. The birds and critters usually take over my Skippy Filter (!00 gallons)for bathing and drinking. Since my pond will never be completed(even after 12+ years), that can change from year to year. I love to experiment.You won't want anything as elaborate as Joanne and Cliff's but parts of their ponds are perfect for what you want. Check out their many videos. Just don't get intimidated. For your pond, the first thing to consider is that the ground is flat. So as you dig, pile the dirt around the outside perimeter of the pond so the pond edges will be above grade.If you plan for a filter, the tank can be positioned there so it won't be obvious. Use the link to see the Skippy. It doesn't have to be that large for your use but the concept is the same no matter the size. I have seen so many variations it is amazing. They all do the same thing. I would go with the same material. Thinner, less weatherproof materials than a stock tank are just a waste of time and money. I made mine in an afternoon. The most difficult part was tying it to the roof of my car to get it home from the Farm and Fleet store. A fifty gallon tank would do well for your plans. Before you start cutting, think it through. You can always delay it if you are unsure. For your purposes you don't need a huge pump. Figure the amount of water in the pond and get a submersible pump that moves about twice that number of gallons in an hour. There are lots of people here to advise you on brands of pumps although they usually talk about the bigger volume pumps. If you like, you can design a low waterfall with this or not. I like the sound. For safety you should have a properly installed GFCI outlet. Extension cords are not recommended. Here is a link that might be useful: Skippy Stuff.

Jim, while there are obvious differences in a lined pond and a natural or clay bottom pond, the theory of algae control is the same. You have to eliminate the food sources and supply additional oxygen. Dredging is normal maintenance for a pond the size of yours. It doesn't eliminate all the nutrients feeding the algae but it is a start.Until that is done nothing else will be effective. The runoff is an additional problem. You can add plants to the water and the shoreline to use up some of that food but that type of plant can add debris from winter kill so you would still have to get rid of the debris eventually along with any other leaves that blow into the water. The Michigan DNR has some good advice on plantings and the Ohio DNR and Ohioline have some as well. The lakes in Wisconsin where we used to live were dredged on average every 3 years but those were much larger and were used for swimming and boating as well as providing for wildlife. They were marvelously clear. This all presupposes you want to keep the fish and other critters. There are chemicals that kill algae very thoroughly, but they essentually sterilize the pond and only the strongest critters survive if any. There are products that shade the pond, eliminating the light that algae needs to grow but most of them contain copper sulphate or other forms of copper and that can kill the critters too. Adding microbes and enzymes to the pond can be done easily on a regular schedule but to work properly they require good oxygen levels. The device you mention adds enzymes gradually but doesn't supply any additional oxygen. That is where the fountains mentioned above come in or some other type of aerator like a waterfall or barley straw which supplies hydrogen peroxide as it rots.(recent studies suggest barley straw is not effective) Water that seeps into the pond is oxygen deprived as is the water from a sump. In addition, that device and everything else is based on maintenance from a dead start with a clean pond, which you don't have at the moment. It is usually easy to tell if there is insufficient oxygen in the water. There is a hint of sewer in the air. The odor is being produced by that muck on the bottom. If it has not been dredged in 30 years it could be several feet deep. One way or another you will have to deal with the muck even if it calls for hip waders and gas masks. Sandy PS, recently I helped get info for the restoration of a 5000 acre, 23foot deep artesian supplied pond. The info from the Michigan DNR in particular was very helpful.

Do the mosquitoes come from any particular source, or are there permanent water features near your home that you cannot control? Has the year been unusually wet? Has your local city run out of vector control funds? Introducing predator insects can have some effect, but one isolated effort (yours) usually results in most of the predators leaving the yard. If every third neighbor did this, the results would be more noticeable. Dragonflies come to mind as a mosquito control, but it is hard to maintain a flock of those!