I built 3/4 acre pond 5 yrs ago now and so far all is well but the water always seems a bit cloudy and after talking to a local extension agent I was told it was suspended clay particles and recommended to spraying it with 50 lbs. of alum deluded with water and good sprayer so about this time last year i did just that and the results were great but this year it appears cloudy again.My question is 1st..can i apply Alum again this year and 2nd. where can i buy it in that amount ? Last year i found it all over the internet and this year i can only find sites selling 2 or 5 lb.bags.
This site is great and I've read a lot of the posts so I figured I'd turn to the experts for advice..Thanks again..Larry

I picked it up from a local chemical company. I had to sign some documents and put my name on the product. Stuff worked great.

Only thing is here we had a ton of wind and farm land top soil blew into the snow and ice of the pond. This is where the muddy water is from this year in my pond. In my case I really think is a temp fix. We have about 18"s of clarity.

Cheers Don.

yea i think some of mine came from the neighbors bare ground and all the winds we had too..might wait a few weeks to see if it clears up any...but in any case thanks for your reply..Larry

Try and find a Helena Farm Chemical supplier in your area. They might have it in bulk 50# bags. There's a couple of great threads in the "muddy water" section of the forum on how much to put in the pond, and how to do it so you don't create a big pH swing.

I actually have a Helena within 5 miles of me that I get most my pond supplies at but they don't handle aluminum sulfate but do handle copper sulfate,but thanks for taking the the time to respond....Larry

Dang, I wonder if they could special order it and have it thrown on (combined) with the next shipment?

well after I posted that I called em again to ask just that and the girl i talked to said she'd look into it and get back to me..i'll keep ya posted...Larry

Great. I'll bet the answer is yes. Do the jar test that is shown in the alum kicks clays butt thread. I don't think just one bag will be enough. Get some Hydrated Lime, because you'll need to buffer the alum with it.

heyyy..just got a call from helena and they can indeed order it and will be here friday.Ordered 100 lbs and it was cheaper than when i bought it online last year ($35.for a 50 lb.bag VS $50 for a 40 LB bag last year.) I guess I just had to talk to the right person because the last time i asked the guy looked at me like i was ordering dynamite.
And yes i do intend to do the jar test again like last year it did indeed kick the clays butt last year and expect it to again but we'll see..Thanks again for all the help..this site is great !!!
Larry

I doubt 100 pounds will give you the results you like, or hope for. When applying Alum/hydrated lime, you need to remove ALL the suspended clay. A partial clearing is indeed temporary. I use an average of 200 pounds Alum and 100 pounds Hydrated lime per acre foot of water...some ponds have needed 4 times that amount, yet only one pond has needed retreating afterward. That one pond had a neighbor spread bare clay on 2 acres of watershed. That client's solution was to buy the property...lol

You might be right in the applications I made last year were temporary,
last year I used only 40 lbs and applied it 20 lbs mixed with water the 1st night then again the next day and and the results were almost instant but toward the end of summer it I could tell it was a bit cloudy again and this spring it was back to the way it was before I applied it but I havn't tried mixing it with hydraded lime yet.
I'm going to try that and I'll keep you posted on the results.
Thanks again for your input .. Larry

towguy, alum and hydrated lime turn into a thick pudding when mixed together. Apply alum first, followed buy the Hydrated Lime application. Alum will lower the pH of the water and half the weight of Hydrated Lime counteracts that drop. An added caveat is that aluminum is dissolved into water and becomes toxic if pH drops below 5.4.

With our pond I only worried about the clay when it was like chocolate milk. The thing is this winter the wind was really crazy strong. The water when ice fishing was clear as a bell. Creepy clear right to the bottom clean. After the snow on the shore started to melt you could see the mud in the snow. Greasy and slick but not way to remove.

After all the ice and snow melted the pond ended up with a dark soil colour with only 18"s of penetration.

This year I don't plan on treating the pond and letting nature take her course. The PH is perfect and I expect there was nutrients in the soil that blew in.

This seems to be the nature of the beast in our area with the winter wind. Unless the pond gets to look like milk again I will leave her alone.

Cheers Don.

Wow glad ya posted the mixing seperatly..if its calm i'll likely do the spraying this afternoon (friday).
I've always kept an eye on the PH levels and have always been very good even after i sprayed last yr.thats the reason i put it on it 2 applications so I could check after each spray.
I'll post the results probably monday and again thanks for everyones help......Larry