Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations What determines the clarity?

Hi guys,

How are you?

I live in southern Turkey, a couple hundred miles away from deserts. So, our soil is red and well draining. I think that if i construct a pond on this soil, the water of the pond is gonna be muddy. But am i right?

I wonder what determines the color and the clarity of the water?

Here is the picture of a lake from my city :



I don't like this color. I would like to have a pond like this one:



I also don't want to have a muddy water. I want to have a half clear water i think.

I will use pvc liner and above that i will use soil. Is it a choice to use lots of little rocks over the soil layer? Does it make anything better?


I have no information resource in my country. So , all i depend on is you. Thank you very much.

PS: I will found a website about farm ponds in Turkish language to inform my people soon. I will use all informations you gave me in my website.

If the water is clear after you build the pond. You can add fertilizers or organic manures to increase the productivity, thus reduce clarity by growing microscopic plants called phytoplankton. If the water is clear you will have to test the water to determine the total hardness and alkalinity (mainly calcium carbonate - lime) which is important to have to grow good and abundant phytoplankton. When alkalinity is correct above 30-50 mg/L the more fertilizer one adds the thicker the phytoplankton become which reduces clarity. Fertilizer needs to be added on a regular basis to keep the phytoplankton fed and constantly growing. When phytoplankton runs out of food (nutrients) they die/decrease and water clears assuming alkalinity is above 50mg/L.

TY Billy.

So is clarity all about phytoplankton? Is that it? Nothing else matters?

What about the color?

What is the affect of the soil type on water? We have red soil here. Does it not matter at all on clarity or color?

Color of water and later a link to discussions for anglers about color of lures underwater.

Color of water is a complex topic and water can appear as different colors depending on what is in the water. Phytoplankton is only one component of causing turbidity. Others are bacteria, zooplankton, organic particulates, silt-clay-soil particles.


http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/docs/cwt/guidance/3159.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_of_water

Here is an interesting discussion about how color of lures or objects change with depth and links to other factors about how color is perceived underwater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTi5nJqEzvo

If the color of the water is due to colored clay, and the turbidity of the water is due to coloidal suspension vs. mechanical suspension, then usualy alum along with hydrated lime is used to clear the water of clay. Then the extra sunlight getting thru the water column allows more phytoplankton to grow.

Hey esshup, what's up mann? Remember me ?

So guys, i am sorry that i thought color and clarity was about the soil type in the bottom. I guess i was wrong.

Ty for your attention.

Yep! I remember.

Any further luck on finding property?

Esshup you should understand that my steps have to be very very slow because in my country i will be almost the first one to create a farm pond. It is gonna be much more expensive than you spend to have your pond. Land is expensive, materials are expensive. 2 acres land is like 300 grands or so. I need to pay like 50-70 grands to buy enough PVC liner to cover 1 acre area. And we have no one to know how to create a pond. I have some money but right now i can't risk it before knowing very few about ponds.

I guess i will have to learn everything about it before i start building it. Maybe a couple years more to start.

By the way i have a question about clarity. If it is all about Phytoplanktons , so why the lakes or rivers with rock at the bottom have water that is as clear as glass while all the lakes having soil bottom are much less clear. There has to be some relationship between bottom material and clarity. Am i wrong?

You know, this clarity is something you cannot have in your muddy lake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzoXhXaCYcA .

The relationship between clarity isn't so much as the makeup of the bottom, but how many nutrients are in the water. Typically areas with less vegetation have less soil. Less vegetation = less nutrient build up over time.

You can have a pond with a rocky bottom, and if you fertilize it, you will have a good phytoplankton bloom and low visibility.

Now it all makes sense. Ty Esshup .

Your signature makes me smile every time I see it. For the most part, both statements are half true.

Wouldn't some fish types also determine clarity?

Many pond owners have talked about catfish stirring up the bottom and making the pond muddy. Of course, that would then depend on how much of the pond bottom is soil versus stone. Isn't that part of clarity too?

Yes and no. Bottom feeders will stir up the bottom, but it also depends on how many are in the pond (density). 100-200 CC per acre shouldn't make a difference, 1,000/acre probably will.

Firelshot, ty man . The reason i put that on there was to make you people smile.

I should say that i agree with Esshup. I don't really think that they will make a huge difference. They don't even move so much in daytime.

Guys , i don't want to open new threads. So i will ask some extra questions here.

What does "fertile soil" mean in terms of ponds? It says "if you don't have fertile soil, you shouldn't consider having bass". In my city there is agriculture of wheat , corn , pistachio(Gaziantep is the world's centre of pistachio) and olive. We also have some trees for almost all fruits(apple, peach, cherry, apricot, watermelon , pear and a lot more) .

Does that mean we have fertile soil? I know it is fertile for agriculture but does that also mean it is fertile for ponds too? Or are there any other criterias for being fertile in terms of ponds?

Water is like soil as it most always reflects the soil it sits on/around. The main components are N , P and K (that is why fertilizer is shown in 3 numbers like 13-13-13). In water the usual limiting factor is low P availability - the middle # and why pond fertilizer is numbered 0-46-0 or 10-52-6 or some such number. Oh N= nitrogen , P= phosphorous and K= potassium.

Can you send a sample of the soil out to be tested? It's common practice here for farmers to do that, and the test usually costs around $20 U.S. dollars. N-P-K, pH and I forget what else is on the standard test.

I answered your private message esshup .

I replied.

You could also ask the farmers in your area/watershed what their soil samples showed and see if you think yours is similar.

Ewest , unfortunately i doubt that they know a thing about soil characteristics. Esshup will get my soil tested .

If they don't know about their soil then they are not very good Farmers.