We are new to pond management and are not sure what to do next. We have a small (1.01 acre-feet) pond in our front yard that has been muddy since it was dug. We finally decided to tackle the problem and last weekend applied 200 lbs of alum and 100 lbs hydrated lime. The pH never dropped much and we didn't lose any fish (mostly sunfish but a few unknown that have appeared over the last couple of years). The visibility went from about 2 inch to 3 ft over about 24 hours and the pond looked great for about 2 or 3 days. Since then the visibility has slowly worsened and we're now at about 12 inches. We've not had any rain and haven't added any well water to the pond. There is grass all the way around and we have one dog that likes to swim once or twice a day. We also have an aerator that we pulled up and mounted on the top of a milk crate to lift it off of the bottom. I've checked a jar of water and it actually still looks fairly clear, but I did see a small amount of sediment after a couple of days. Does the fact that it cleared so well right after application mean that we used the right amount of alum? Does the loss of visibility mean we didn't use enough? Is this just the way our pond will be? I don't want to have to keep adding chemicals on a weekly basis. Do you have any more suggestions for things we can try?

Thanks for your help!

Is the reduced clarity of once cleared water due to suspended clay particles, mechanical disturbance of the pond bottom (swimming activity), or a new phytoplankton bloom?

I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out - how do I pinpoint the cause?

Do another jar test, and take a picture of the pond water and post it here (of the water as it sits in the pond). Are you using a secchi disk for your visibility numbers?

Try keeping the dog out of the pond for a day or two and see if it clears up.

Got busy with Easter weekend and trying to figure out how to post pictures, but hopefully this will work. First picture is surface of pond, second shows aerator tubes into water showing depth of visibility, third is jar of water just collected. Does this shed any light on why our visibility has slowly decreased over the last week? Still, though, the water remains much clearer than when we started.

[img]https://www.kwspond.shutterfly.com/pictures/12#14[/img]

[img]https://www.kwspond.shutterfly.com/pictures/12#13[/img]

[img]https://kwspond.shutterfly.com/pictures/12#12[/img]