Well after a year of revamping my one acre pond, I finally got the water tested by the local extension service and I got terrible results. The alkalinity was 3ppm. I knew it was going to be bad because of the area and the fact that it always has water running through it(never drops level) but never thought it would be that bad.

I know lime is the answer but considering my very limited budget, limited sources for lime in the area, would probably on have to get lime in bags because a truck can't really make it ddown there, and the huge amount I'll probably need, I may just be screwed.

I guess my question is, will multiple feeders, great vegetation/artificial cover, and good management make it productive at all without liming???

O yea it's BG and LMB pond with a great BG population that's full of feed trained monster bluegill. It has a relatively small bass population and I'm managing it for bass fishing. It has two feeders and a bojo fish light and was going to add golden shiners for additional bass food.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I have already dedicated lots of time and money to this project and really wanna keep this thing up because I have enjoyed this pond management thing so much.

there is a limestone quarry in auburn al, which isn't too terribly far from you. i went there twice so far and picked up 4 or 5 tons on my dump trailer. you shouldn't need an awful lot for a 1 acre pond. can any type truck get to your pond? you might could get a local pasture fertilizing company to bring their spreader truck and sling it to one side. it would help. we usually just shovel it out of the trailer..lots of work.

Is there a stream or ditch providing the water? You could pile lime in it if there is. That should eventually help. Liming the watershed will also help over time if you can access it.

I agree with Scott. Lime is not that expensive if you can buy it in bulk.

Yes feeding can increase productivity - see info on Richmond Mill Lake - same type of envior. What feeding cant do is remove the large swings in ph which stress fish. Lime would be a big add on - even if you don't fertilize it will lower the stress and improve water quality. Add lime if at all possible.

As Bill D said, if there is a stream, adding lime to as much of the stream bed as you can will be a huge benefit over time.....Pelletized Dolomitic Lime will help a lot also if the flow through is only a few GPM. If it is a ground water pond (no flow through) Lime will still help a lot, maybe more.

Thanks for all the responses. The weird thing is I think the pond is supplied by a small stream and by ground water. Even when there is no water coming in the stream, water is still exiting through over flow on the dam and on the stream inlet side a large portion of the bank the ground is always saturated. I guess I can still use the stream to distribute the lime even though it doesn't flow all the time(probably flows a week or so after a rain). Would it help to also concentrate the lime on the side where i think the ground water comes in?

If i cannot get reasonably priced bulk lime delivered, should i use powdered bagged ag lime or the pelletized stuff?(i have found 40lb bags of both around $4 a bag)

What the pros and cons to stream fed vs ground water fed?

Thanks again!!!

But even with the alkalinity issues, the BG seem to be doing real well. Thanks to alot of stuff that I learned on here, I have huge BG all the way down to alot of babies. Check this guy out that I caught this weekend...

Very nice BG - feeding works !!!

Ground fed often is mineral rich and oxygen poor.

If using bagged lime, be sure to check for the guaranteed analysis!!! Ag Lime can vary wildly! Look on the label for the "CCE" and how many tons of lime equivalent the bag is. Soil Doctor Pulverized Lime has one of the best bangs for the buck and is sold in most home depot and lowes stores.

Newbie comments...I have to ask what the out-flow is on the pond? You say that it flows all the time. This leads my inexperienced side to wonder if the outflow is enough that it would require yearly lime applications to make a difference. I would think that a constant flowing pond would be difficult to impossible to control water quality.

I like the idea of liming the watershed so long as enough of your constant flowing water comes from there. Soil tests of the watershed could tell you something. What is the alkalinity of the surrounding soils? If the soil tests are good, then the ground water would be suspect and liming the soils may have little effect.

Just some novice thoughts. I have not dove into water quality just yet. It sure seems to be a productive pond with BG like that and I like the idea of feeding, managing plant-life, and adding cover (even if the photo'd BG is one of the best specimens...you are already doing something right!)

By liming the water shed, do you mean applying lime to soil around the pond?

Yes, that is what I am talking about. Please understand that I am just starting my water quality research and I am not the best for giving advise.

My logic is that by changing the soil chemistry around/above the pond it might act as an alkalinity flywheel. This could treat the water as it is flowing into the pond from the watershed. This way a big load of lime directly applied to the water does not just wash out right away with your constant flow.

Help me out here PB experts, is my logic daffy?

Yes. That was the intent of my comment. Not just around the pond though. The watershed is the land "uphill" from the pond where water could runoff from into the pond.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the entire uphill section but I will try to lime as much of that creek bed as possible. I did find access to some bulk lime and a dump trailer so I'm going to try to start this project this weekend. Ill let you guys know how it goes.

Put as much as possible in the pond ! Creek and watershed are good but not as good as in the pond.