Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations For those who may not be sure how it may look

Here are 2 pics of my pond in the same spot. First is a before Aquashade pic and the other is an after shot. Thought some folks may be insterested in how it looks. I am pretty happy with it. Will I use it all year no. But to help keep my weeds at bay along with my 4 GC through the summer I think I will try this year. These pics are about 2 weeks apart.

RC

Before Pic,


After Pic,


RC

Nice! Looks perdy!

I put less than a gallon of blue dye in a quarter acre pond.

Man alive....what a difference!!! Really didn't need that much dye!

Don't know how it's going to affect the plankton blooms needed to launch the YOY fish though.

Yeah hey Sunil that is as far as I can see the only downfall to this. I think as it starts to fade out some, you would get a plankton bloom once again unless you are really staying on top of it. I thought I would try this instead of harsher chemicals. I figured if this works for my FA/Chara even some then I will use it instead of Cutrine. Which don't get me wrong Cutrine works gooooood but figure this dye is not as harsh as Cutrine is overall. If I am wrong about that someone please correct me!

RC

Dang Sunil, that's the second sensible post in 3 days! I'm getting worried about ya. Please tell us that the real, needs to be committed, smart arse, AK toting maniac is still here. Before ya get ta being normal/crazy, how much dye did ya use? Best wishes, Bob-O

RC, what is the red thing to the left of the pier?

Silly Bob.

That's a bird feeder strung on a line between the two trees well in front of the pond.

love the trees!
looking good RC51

Hey thanks ZEP! Been working hard to get it right. I am finally getting there!

Bob is your depth perception that bad!! Just messing with ya. It is a bird feeder though. It kind of does look like it's just floating out there in the water. LOL!!

RC

RC, thanks for not being as harsh as Bocomo. My depth perception is not good, right up there with my spelling, puter skills and typing. Sat and Sun I sprayed my parking area and drive way. I had added lots of blue die to see where I had sprayed. When I would come out of the dark barn it looked like I was in a 3D movie. I wear bifocals and that and the fact that some had dried and some didn't and it was a bright, sunny day with intermittent cloud shadows had me reeling like I did back in the seventies listenin ta Hendricks. I bet JKB will understand.

RC , How much did you use and how long before it started changing? Thanks

No that's good. I listned to my fair share of Hendricks and Pink Floyd!!

RC

RR,

I used 1 gallon. 1 gallon is good for 1 acre 4 foot average depth. That is real close to what my pond is. My pond is about 8 feet deep maybe 9 but average is about 4 to 5 so it works out good for me.

I put that gallon in at about 8 pm with air running. Just poured it out all around my air bubbles and let it spread and the next morning its what you see in the pic above. The jug says then your supposed to pour in 14 .oz every month to help maintain it. So 2, 1 gallon jugs would get me through the summer no problem.

Make no bones about it this stuff is strong and if it gets on you it's on you for a few days!!! Other then that I like it! The color looks good and if it does what it says it does my Chara should not be near as bad this year.

Only down fall is it may take away from any type of plankton blooms for the YOY fish. We'll see how that goes. I will report back on this in a couple of months to let everyone know how it goes for me.

One other positive I like about it is, the fish cannot see you as easy v.s. my real clear water. So I acutally think the fishing is better because of that.

RC

Thanks RC.

To be Honest were getting ready to put our house on the market so I was thinking of doing it before we list it just for looks. I'm pretty sure I've always had to much visibility.

Can it be just poured around the edges? I don't have aeration.

Thanks again.

I'll throw my two cents in.....I use Aquashade in the HBG pond, and consider it part of my management strategy. For me it boiled down to eliminating cover for yoy fish, vs. possible impairment of natural forage production. Since I feed AQ everyday, I went with reducing cover.

I believe in the stuff, but RC is right...get it on you, and you're a smurf for a day. Or three. Or a week.

My cuticles are still stained.

RR yes you can just walk around your pond and pour it in you don't need air. It will mix just might take a little longer but in 24 hours it will be mixed.

RC

Hey spark part of my thumb is still bluish and I poured that stuff on Friday night! It is some wicked dye! Thanks for your input. I am not 100 percent sure if I want to go this way or not but getting info from others will help me to decide for sure!!

RC

Great looking place R&R.
As for Aquashade I treated my 1/4A pond thusly: drank a beer,
filled bottle with AS and threw bottle into middle of pond.

R&R, if your going to put some in there for looks add about 12 ozs. at a time. Before I had an aerator I poured (more like tossed) Aquashade out of a 16 oz.plastic disposable drinking cup in one spot, no need to walk around your pond to do this. I applied it on the side the wind was blowing from. It's fun to watch it spread out. The color was always uniform by morning even with hardly a breeze. After you pour it out, rinse your jar or cup with pond water away from where you poured it, it's super concentrated and every drop counts. Wear disposable gloves, don't get it on your clothes and I also try not to drip any on the shore but it eventually washes away.

By adding it a little at a time you can get it the shade you like. If you add too much you can't take it out, you'll have to wait for rain or watershed to dilute it. The dilution directions on the bottle is for targeting certain weeds but for esthetic's you will probably want to use much less.

Years ago Aquashade used to include a rubber earthworm (fishing lure type) that was attached on the outside of the bottle. The worm was a shade of light blue and could be compared to a jar of your pond water to determine if you had used the correct amount.

By the way, I have yellow labs that are a light cream color and once the aqua-shade is mixed it doesn't stain them.

R&R
That's such a beautiful setting
I'm sure your home will sell very quickly

I just can't imagine living without a pond
Did you construct The pond yourself or was it there when you bought the house?