I had an 11 acre pond built in Northwest Louisiana (Shongaloo, La, to be exact), and it was completed in early December. With all the rain we had, it literally filled up by mid-December. It's still murky-ish from, I believe, two causes: it's a new pond with little shoreline vegetation, and also there appears to be a colloidal clay problem.

Question is: if I want to later buy gypsum to handle the colloidal clay problem, WHERE do I get it from? I can't seem to find any place remotely close to Shongaloo, La that sells bulk gypsum.

Any advice is most-appreciated.

There was a chemical company out near the airport in Shreveport that would sell to the public. I haven't needed them for years but it might be worth checking.

You might try ag-lime first. It is cheap and generally good for the water. I used eight bags of barn lime from Tractor Supply at $3 a bag. Disbursed it from the shore.

I have East Texas red clay and it was a mess. Cleared right up.

Thanks Vortex 4. That's basically what I have. Red clay, also with iron ore deposits.

ar_confederate, do you remember the name of the chemical company?

Check with local feed stores that sell bulk lime by the truckload and will deliver and back up to pond and sling it in. ( it’s how they disperse to fields). 360$ for six tons , I’m 25 miles from them
Have your water tested first!

I have suspended clay in my NC .5 acre farm pond.
I add 1500lbs of ag lime and 500lbs of gypsum slurry (made from pelletized gypsum) every year.
It makes a big difference in plant growth and YOY survival.

Mr Williamson, where and how is a good way to test the water for variations in it, like alkalinity, DO and other abnormalities, do we send a sample to the local university or farm bureau or other testing source or is there a do it yourself test kit that one might obtain somewhere, and are they fairly accurate?
Thanks in advance for any info,
Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the original thread but it seems to fit into the subject somewhat.

Thanks again.

I’m lucky to have Overtons Fishery to test mine. University probably will do it for you, not sure how accurate test kits are . Others will chime in

University of Missouri will do it.

You can drop your sample off at the local extension office.
1012 N. Highway UU
Columbia, MO 65203

https://extensiondata.missouri.edu/pub/p...8627.1557757240

Thank You Augie, I will check into that, on the form it shows approximately 83.00 for a complete test of everything but I would not need them to test for all of that, right?
Thanks again!

I'm sure the MU test will be very accurate on that specific water sample, but bear in mind a number of the properties such a pH will vary significantly throughout the day/night. I have a test kit off amazon, but also the cheap test strips from Walmart just to see if there is an indication that needs to be looked at closer.

As far as the gypsum the OP was asking about, I haven't found a source for bulk gypsum near me either. Pelletized gypsum from the home stores would run about $225/ton and be a pain to dissolve/spray over the pond. More significantly, playing around with testing it in buckets of pond water doesn't clear the water worth a hoot. Alum is the magic stuff!

Any MFA Exchange or farm Co-Op should be able to get gypsum for you. Either bulk-delivered on a spreader truck or bagged on pallets.

Update: I located a gypsum mine in Oklahoma. Hoskins Gypsum. Although the water jar tests had previously indicated that it would take a whopping 96 TONS of gypsum to clear my 11 acre pond, but that seemed excessive to me.

I had an 18-wheeler hauling an end-dump trailer make the trek to Oklahoma and pick up all it could haul. Purchased 20.5 tons of their 6-8" gypsum rock at $12 per ton at the mine. Transportation costs were the most expensive part.

We dumped the gypsum rock in piles along two spots on the bank. I had read on two different sites (including Bob Lusk's Pond Boss website) that gypsum rock would take longer to show the effect, approximately 4-6 weeks.

Long story, short: the gypsum rock was extremely effective. I went from maybe 8 inches of pretty red/muddy visibility and being unable to see the fish hit the fish food, to now about 20 inches of visibility and all of the red clay color gone from the pond, and am able to see the fish come up and hit the food. I am very glad I went this route.

This pic was taken today.
I add 800lbs of pelletized gypsum slurry each spring. If I did not add it, the entire pond would be that milky suspended clay color that is around the inlet.