Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations should I continue to fertilize?

My 1 acre pond is in North Texas and I am trying to fertilize for the first time this year (fertilized 2 weeks ago & put in curtine granular 4wks ago) but I am afraid my filamentous algae and chara are growing as I fertilize. My water is super clear & hard. I have added 2 gallons of crystal blue & put in a gallon of cutrine plus. I can still see 4-5 ft into the water. Will the curtine plus kill any fertilizing attempts? Should I continue to try fertilizing or just use pond dye? How do you make your water softer so it takes less fertilizer? Thanks for the help.

I think you are confused, you don't want to make the water softer. High hardness is what you want. More spefically it should have an alkalinity above 20 ppm. Put in simple terms the alkalinity buffers the pH and this will help you use less fertilizer. I would not use the dye if you are trying to maximize for fish growth. If you more concerned with asethetics then it is ok but you will have to use lots more to shade the water enough to stop chara growth with lake dye. Good luck!

I finally was able to pick up a test kit for Alkalinity and Ph, for which my 1.5 ac pond tested 30ppm and 7.4 respectively. I put in 5 tons of lime this past fall. I have fertilized twice this season two weeks apart here in Central Mississippi. I've gotten a burst of Algae growth after both applications. The pond filled up only around mid March, and therefore lots of grasses had started to grow all around it. Now that the water is up over it, decay appears to be feeding the growth of the Algae.

The pond was an older pond that I had to rotenone and begin restocking this past fall, so bass are due in May-June. The fatheads have spawned and are everywhere.

I've not gotten a full bloom yet with the applications and have the third one to apply in another two weeks. I'm using the pro-sol 10-52-4 water soluble. With all the algae growing on the decaying grasses, what would be the best thing to do? I've read that once you start fertilizing you should not stop so I'm slightly unsure as to what to do at this point.

Any suggestions or things I should take note of and act on?

Thanks!

I suggest using the Cutrine to kill the algae. If done correctly this is fairly easy. Simply spray the proper amount (read label) on all algae. It has to contact the algae. Then continue to fertilize. WHat it means to continue to fertilze once your start assumes that you got a "bloom" started and should continue. SInce you never got it to start it would not matter to stop. However a proper fertilization program can make a big impact on you small fishery.