Hi everyone, happy to be here!

My wife and I bought a house on an 8 acre pond last winter. There are 5 other couples living on it with a few more weekend visitors. We loved the fishing and swimming until about mid-July. Then the algae blooms started and the weeds got really bad. We still love the place, but want to improve our experience.

The pond was built back in the '70s and hasn't had much done with it other than chemical treatments. The main reason I'm here is that it just seems way too expensive to treat a body of water this size with small pond methods, and I'm looking for more larger-water practices.

I've been enjoying the research I've done so far, and look forward to asking some questions!

There is a pond similar to that around here, maybe slightly bigger but houses all around it, this is in a rural area, so every house, on reasonably small lots, have their own onsite sewer system, unfortunately the houses are over 30 yrs old and most have old and outdated and failing sewer systems which in turn leaks way too much nitrogen rich water right into the lake, most all of the systems are downhill from the house which is obviously towards the lake area. I am state certified for onsite sewer systems so I have had to upgrade several of them and evaluated many more. but the beautiful lake gets over run with algae and pond weeds in the summer time.

This has occurred to me. I've been thinking I should look into methods of nitrogen or phosphorous control/removal rather than focus on the growth itself.

KneeDeep,


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Folks often fertilize their lawns which may be the source of your issue. Can you post pictures of the area. This might allow better suggestions such as establishing emergent plants to decrease excess nutrients. Since multiple families surround the pond, you will have the added challenge of reaching consensus on any plan.

I don't have many good pictures, but this pretty much sums it up. Lawn fertilizer isn't at the top of my concerns, but there is a corn field and a pasture that both drain into the lake. So the idea is probably the right one.

Here's a bird's eye view. The road in the bottom-right corner is the high point.

Looks like a lot of trees. Very nice! Its hard to see how much plant life is growing in the pond. Good news is it does not look like much is in yards, but the leaves will add much in nutrients. Where abouts in the state are you?

Brown Co.

If algae is the problem, tilapia may be the solution. But I don't know if they are legal in Indiana.

Also, floating islands are specifically designed to help reduce nutrient loads. I have four of them in my BOW.

Brown County is a great place to be! If you are up north, west of Indy, let me know and maybe you can visit my place.

Oh I like the floating island idea, I hadn't heard that one. I think tilapia are legal, but I shouldn't expect them to survive the winter, right?

How big are your floating islands? Donyou have them anchored down or do they free float? Iv never thought about making some but might have to give 1 or more a try also.

I credit my emergent plants and water lilies with controlling filamentous algae in my ponds. I have had as much as two-week periods where I get a "bloom" in one of my three ponds, but then it seems to disappear.