Pond Boss
Posted By: Jlynch New Pond Owner - 06/14/18 03:56 PM
Hello everybody I'm new to this site. I bought a house with a 1/4 acre pond and it looks terrible. I'm told the center of the pond is 14 feet deep. It is stocked with fish but I was looking for a little advice on how to clean up the algae and weeds. I bought some copper sulfate but I have not put any in it yet. I'm not sure how to do it or how much to put in? I was hoping that someone on this site could help me. Thanks in advance.




Posted By: DrLuke Re: New Pond Owner - 06/14/18 04:07 PM
Hello Jlynch! And Welcome! I would start your knowledge journey on pond plants here.

I would also dip out some of the weeds and take focused close ups of a spread out/single sample with a white background. We have many experts who visit the forum, along with the rest of us who've learned via the school of hard knocks. We can give you better advice with better information as to the specific 'weed' we are seeing.
My initial two cents is lots of duck weed, but hard to say from that distance.
Posted By: DrLuke Re: New Pond Owner - 06/14/18 04:11 PM
If you have a small boat, I'd do a bottom depth survey as well. You may be surprised to find much less depth than what you were told, given a pond's natural inclination to fill in over time (see 'eutrophication')
Posted By: CMM Re: New Pond Owner - 06/14/18 04:39 PM
Welcome JLynch! That looks like some good potential right there!

Dr Luke writes wisely. And you chose well to get advice before trying to eliminate the nuisance vegetation. If you kill too much at one time, bad things can happen.

Good luck and send in some good, clear pics of what you are tying to reduce in the "weeds" department.
Posted By: Mfitzs70 Re: New Pond Owner - 07/24/18 05:27 PM
Yeah close up pictures would help.....could be Watermeal too
Posted By: Jlynch Re: New Pond Owner - 09/27/18 11:03 AM
Sorry for the long delay. I've been crazy busy all summer long. I had a local pond management company come out and look at the pond. They said I have Filamentous Algae, Watermeal, and Eurasian Watermilfoil. They suggested using Sonar which appears to be really expensive. Will Copper Sulfate kill these weeds? Thanks!
Posted By: Mfitzs70 Re: New Pond Owner - 09/27/18 03:23 PM
I used Clipper on Watermeal...it's works but expensive.
Posted By: Jlynch Re: New Pond Owner - 09/27/18 03:57 PM
Originally Posted By: Mfitzs70
I used Clipper on Watermeal...it's works but expensive.


I'm quickly finding out that owning a pond is very expensive. Lol
Posted By: ToddM Re: New Pond Owner - 09/27/18 05:04 PM
Originally Posted By: Jlynch
Originally Posted By: Mfitzs70
I used Clipper on Watermeal...it's works but expensive.


I'm quickly finding out that owning a pond is very expensive. Lol
I have not found that to be the case. The most expensive thing for me was an aerator 4 years ago. Aeration can do wonders.
Posted By: RAH Re: New Pond Owner - 09/28/18 10:43 AM
Be careful killing off plant life too quickly, especially in a small pond. You may unintentionally create a low DO event and get a fish kill.
Posted By: Dilley Re: New Pond Owner - 10/01/18 08:30 PM
reward herbicide does a good job killing *everything* if that's what you are trying to do
Posted By: FireIsHot Re: New Pond Owner - 10/01/18 10:22 PM
Jlynch, Sonar also comes in a Sonar RTU version which is much cheaper. I went to the dark side, and actually bought some to treat my 1/4 acre hatchery pond. It took about 5-6 weeks to clean up the pond, but it was well worth the couple of hundred it cost for 2 bottles. Ron Popeil should be selling Sonar on cable TV. You just set it, or in this case pour it in, and forget it. Spraying my smaller pond with diquat, glyphosates, and algaecides, with active CNBG and tilapia beds rolling along all summer, was not something I wanted to do.
Posted By: Jlynch Re: New Pond Owner - 10/02/18 11:13 AM
Thanks everyone. I think I'll get some Sonar or Reward to kill the weeds.
© Pond Boss Forum