Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Maybe I should drain, dry, and refertilize?

Thanks Guys. Clarity increased to 4 feet the other day so I added some more liquid fertilizer before I read your last two posts.

Clarity today was 34 inches.

My concern is since my Calcium is so high (just under 100 ppm) and I did some limitd liming (hydrated lime of the pond bottom where water puddled to kill predacious insects, the calcium could be quickly uptaking the phospherous. Additonally Bill Cody tells me it's hard up here to keep a bloom going this late in the year.

I don't want clarity to get so good that not only does it reduce the amount of food for the zooplankton and consiquently the fry, but I could also have a resurgence of macrophytes.

On another note I think I salvaged more fry that I previously thought when I drained down. I moved what I had in the circular tank back to the pond and the number may be closer to a thousand.

I now have 10 males and 6 female broodfish in the 1/10th acre pond. Two of the females seemed gravid even this late (rolling spawn) so that is a good sigh. I also have a three males starting to make beds in the big pond which is also a good sign.

I'll be cautious from here on out however with the fertilizing.

Thanks for the Great info especially Greg and Eric.

Oh should I continue to run a diffuser in the pond at night? I seem to remember reading that diffusion can actually clear water by limiting uptake of phosphorus?

Night aeration may also keep the water from warming as much as it could during the day.