Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations the beach clean-up and Lake Georgetopia

Looking good Brian.

I still can't get Purple Martins interested in calling the Martin house home. I guess this winter I'll take it down, give it a good cleaning, buy some plastic gourds and add them to the house when I open it up in the Spring. I had a pair sitting on the roof, but they never stuck around. Right now there's a pair of Bluebirds nesting in it. I know English Sparrows are a problem, and when the chance arises, they get a dose of high velocity lead.

Nice growth on the OTS CNBG Brian!
We will have much fun soon hook and line catch and stock in main lake.
Light color of fish caused by turbid water due to aerator installation and maintenance in immature pond.
Good job!
G/

Well I got the chance to run a sein through Georgetopia yesterday with the help of my family and friends and man was I pleased!! We caught four or five size class CNBG, three or four size class Tilapia and countless FHM!!!

Here is a sample of the fun and results!!


Here we are getting ready for our first pull of the sein. I was glad to learn from a friend that pulling slowly was the key, it worked!! we had three very successful pulls to towards the shallow end and one to the deep end. We used a four foot tall sein which was not nearly tall enough, but we got very good results anyway.

I see a tall sein purchase in my future....




Here is a picture of one of the CNBG we caught. It looked like the first spawn size class as it was an inch and a half smaller than the big boys.



Here we are holding one of the original stockers of CNBG and several Tilapia from what appears to be the first Tilapia spawn.



Everyone was getting into the act, we did not want to loose any of the little ones!!



Here you can see at least two Tilapia YOY size classes. I also had really small ones that did not make it into the pictures, so I believe our Tilapia have spawned three time so far this year in Georgetopia!!!





The original Tilapia stockers are now around 10-11 inches and look great. The Original CNBG are all over 5 inches and most are over 5 and a half inches.

All in all, I ran the sein through the pond three times and removed about ten pounds of fish which are now swimming in there new homes!!

Congrats Brian. Looks like it's all working well.

Really nice Brian - all that hard work is paying off!
Good job!
G/

Good job!

Cool!!!

Yep!

Thanks for the kind words guys. I hope tomorrow may bring another exciting update.... stay tuned!!

This has been such a learning experience for me, and its fun!!

psstt. schematic.

Nice work ! Did you leave the biggest fish in Georgetopia ?

Eric, I did leave the best in Georgetopia. I took out the first spawn mostly, and some of the second and third spawns as well, but less of them.

The fish looked great!!


Scott, white/brown=blower, orange/brown= spinner

Okay, today we (Allen and I) had a big day. We learned a lot about treating turbidity with Alum Sulphate. The bucket test turned out to be the easiest part of the process.

Here is a picture of one and two tlbsns of Alum in one gallon of Georgetopia water.




As you can see, the results are dramatic!!

I think that an alum treatment is going to be coming up shortly. I did a pond consult yesterday, and the turbidity was so bad that the secchi disc reading was 9"-10" from clay. He had water in a glass for 4 days and there was hardly a film on the bottom of the glass. The fish in the pond were almost white - hardly any color at all.

Scott, build a trailer with all of the things you need and make it very mobile!! Get the biggest mixing tank you can. Allen and I found out that you need a minimum of 10 gallons of water per pound of Alum and Hydrated lime to make a pumpable slurry. More water does make it easier. Using five pounds and five gallons does not work unless you are trying to grout in tile.

A two inch pump worked well for us, if I were to do it again, I would make a nozzle for the end of the two inch hose that would sprayed the slurry more evenly. Pinching the end of that hose was a little tricky, but by using the aerator, we got a very even distribution.

I'll post the after pics on Friday when I get back to see how it looks after everything settles.

I still think you're going to have to whack it again with alum. With your aeration system, I think the fish would grow quicker with less pelleted food needed if you were to let the phytoplankton do what the turbidity is doing.

The trailer is a good idea, especially where you can drive all around the pond on the small pond. That gas powered pump, a drum and overflow pipes work in a boat for slightly larger ponds, and the big ones need a pontoon and a fire hose.

Scott,
Georgetopia had a good green base before we started the alum treatment, and I want to take this slowly because I don't want to screw up the great success I have been having with it. With all I have read, from great sources, I believe I will see a big improvement when I get back to the farm in a day or two. Either way, I will learn more....

You could practice on the smaller pond below the dam. Whack it hard enough to get it all to precipitate out at once, then compare it to Georgetopia.

You work any on getting the BH out of there?

Just remember the PITA factor in doing the alum treatment in stages.

Scott, Brian and Al are taking baby steps right now and in my opinion are doing an outstanding job.
George

Well today should be a big day, I am headed back to the farm to see how Georgetopia looks. I have borrowed Allen's Sechi disk and I am not afraid to use it!!

I hope all that hard work paid off.

More later tonight.

Looking forward to the report!

Okay, it has been a big day, I got to look at Georgetopia and the report is great!!

We hit a standup triple!! the sechi reading is 12-13 inches and the color is a lot greener!! The CNBG and FHM's are easy to see as they hammer the AM. I can easily see them as they approach and dive.

Here are a few after pictures:







As you can see a lot of the clay particles came out of solution and landed on the pallets.

Very fertile water ! Looks better. There is a lot going on in there. Watch the alkalinity.

Eric,
Thanks for the advice, the last time I checked it was over 80ppm, but I'll check it again this week to see if any changes have happened.

Another update, the fish are feeding so well that I have upped the throw time for each feed. I also seined more fish today, with some help, and everything looks great. We removed a lot more little guys from Georgetopia today and gave them a new home. I can't believe how many Tilapia we are getting from Georgetopia. Also, it is great to see so many size class of CNBG. I have also noticed that the CNBG and Tilapia are gaining some more color as the turbidity abates. The next few weeks are going to be interesting to say the least.

Brian, did you get a chance to pump lake water into BP?
I'm with Eric, there is a lot going on right now.
Fertile lake water filled pond - you started way ahead of the game.
Georgetopia is a little gem!