Getting my algae bloom back! - 07/03/05 04:55 PM
As some of you know I feed a lot of fish in my ponds as I raise them to sell once they reach trophy size. My largest pond which I call my "bass pond" is .62 acre and at this time I am feeding about 350 largemouth bass, 25 bluegills, a few dozen larger smallmouth and numerous smaller ones, and possibly up to about 100 yellow perch (I don't see most of the yellow perch but I assume they are on the periphery of the feeding area).
Problem is I used to maintain an excellent algae bloom about about 18 inches up until late last summer. This algae bloom was due to overflow from a nutrient rich trout pond, and of course nutrients from feeding all these fish.
Late last summer the algae bloom began to disappear and some type of filamentous algae went nuts on the bottom although it did not rise to the top like tyical filamentous algae. I'm sure I upset the balance of nutrients last year by taking out about 150 lbs. of larger pellet fed bass that were 2 1/2 to 4 lbs each. (Smaller ones are for taxidermy schools).
Anyway, this year Chara which has always been present is taking over as the nutrient uptaker although I am now seeing some floating filamentous algae around the edges too. I now have Chara that appears to be 3 feet thick on the bottom in some places with some small pondweed and sago pond weed. However small pondweed and sago pondweed are in the minority. Water clarity is at the max to the bottom of the pond of about 11 feet!
Raking Chara out as I do in my small trout pond is out of the question, so I assume my alternatives or killing off the macrophytes with herbicides and/or adding some grass carp to eliminate macrophytes and filamentous algae to get my algae bloom back. Am I right?
I do have about 10 ten to fourteen inch grass carp coming in a few weeks, although I am worried they may take to the floating feed and not eat much of the vegetation. (Hopefully the agressive bass will keep them from the feed) I am also concerned if they do eat the macrophytes, filamentous algae will take over instead of phytoplankton.
I seriously doubt I have access to tilapia up here.
Any thoughts?
Problem is I used to maintain an excellent algae bloom about about 18 inches up until late last summer. This algae bloom was due to overflow from a nutrient rich trout pond, and of course nutrients from feeding all these fish.
Late last summer the algae bloom began to disappear and some type of filamentous algae went nuts on the bottom although it did not rise to the top like tyical filamentous algae. I'm sure I upset the balance of nutrients last year by taking out about 150 lbs. of larger pellet fed bass that were 2 1/2 to 4 lbs each. (Smaller ones are for taxidermy schools).
Anyway, this year Chara which has always been present is taking over as the nutrient uptaker although I am now seeing some floating filamentous algae around the edges too. I now have Chara that appears to be 3 feet thick on the bottom in some places with some small pondweed and sago pond weed. However small pondweed and sago pondweed are in the minority. Water clarity is at the max to the bottom of the pond of about 11 feet!
Raking Chara out as I do in my small trout pond is out of the question, so I assume my alternatives or killing off the macrophytes with herbicides and/or adding some grass carp to eliminate macrophytes and filamentous algae to get my algae bloom back. Am I right?
I do have about 10 ten to fourteen inch grass carp coming in a few weeks, although I am worried they may take to the floating feed and not eat much of the vegetation. (Hopefully the agressive bass will keep them from the feed) I am also concerned if they do eat the macrophytes, filamentous algae will take over instead of phytoplankton.
I seriously doubt I have access to tilapia up here.
Any thoughts?