Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Muddy Water

I am just finishing up a 1.5 acre pond. I already have one with constant muddy water. Is there anything I can do before it gets water in it to help stop the muddy water. I have red clay bottom now.Like spread something over the entire bottom.

Welcome Johnz!!!!

There ARE some things you can do. First for the most/BEST info on a new pond, you should get Bob Lusk's book, Perfect Pond...Want One?. A big help would be to plant wheat and annual rye grass EVERYWHERE in the pool area. The grass will filter the water and as it decays slowly once underwater, it will give off positively charge Ions to clump any suspended clay. Also adding several tons of AG LIME will be a huge benefit to buffer the Ph and also provides positive Ions. You can NOT over apply ag lime. Also, putting big limestone rock in the inflow areas will provide a good clay busting ability as it dissolves over the years.

Hope this helps and you may want to read the threads on Alum/Hydrated Lime for your other pond.

Again, welcome to the Forum!

Rainman thank you for your response.

Planting the bottom is something I can do fairly easily. I guess one should sprinkler a couple of inches of top soil over the clay before seeding the wheat and the rye. I have been reading the other post, I do not understand the concept of clay floating in the water. Can you explain? Also Ag lime is something you should do before it fills up?

Topsoil would be the perfect preventative to turbid water. Can you spread it with a dozer for good compaction and seedbed? While you're at it, spread some gravel and chat a few inches thick in areas that will be 2-6 feet under for spawning beds. Ag lime can be added at any time but is easiest before filling. If it is already full, try a speader and go around the edges extra heavy. Ag lime cannot raise the Ph too high so you can never apply too much. Still you don't want the PH to rise rapidly and this should not be a concern with ag lime.

Floating clay IS hard to grasp. Suspended clay (colloidal clay) are extremely fine particles that are NEGATIVELY charged electricly and act like magnets of the same pole to repel each other. They are so small they are nearly weightless in the water and the repeling effect keeps them floating. Alum provides a plus3 POSITIVE charged atom that attracts several of the clay particles to it and allows it to "clump" or "Floc". These "Clumps" then quickly gain weight and settle to the bottom. Most decaying organic matter (Detritus) also provides positivecharged Ions to help neutrilize the negative charged colloidal clay.

Class is dismissed! If you knew how badly and slowly I type, you would never ask me questions like this!