Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Pond Maintenance Questions

Hello Everybody,
New to the group and my pond is also fairly new at about 1 year old. I was looking for some guidance in maintaining the pond on my own. The first year we had a pond management company come out and take care of it but, they were rather pricey. We mainly use the pond to swim (along with letting our dogs swim in it) but it is stocked with fish. I am looking to just maintain it as a clean, plant/algae free swimming pond. What do you recommend to keep the pond healthy and clean going forward? We do have an electric aerator installed and it ran all winter long. My plan so far is to continue to skim the leaves from the pond, as well as add Aquashade monthly(?) just as the pond management company we had used to do. They also sprayed the banks with a weed killer I believe. Any recommendations on a product we could spray that is person/dog/fish friendly? Please let me know if you need more info to answer anything I have asked and thanks in advance for any help!

Welcome to the forum!

Keeping a pond weed and algae free will require work, as plants/algae will want to grow because of the nutrients in the water.

If you can leave some underwater plants growing in the pond in the area away from where you swim, that will help you reduce the need to treat algae. They will utilize some of the nutrients in the pond.

For spraying around the shore, Shore-Klear can be used on plants at edge of the pond that are out of the water.

Stocking Tilapia (blue Tilapia have a greater temperature tolerance) will help you control algae without a lot of spraying. Stocking rates are 40# per surface acre.

If underwater weeds are a problem, and stocking them is legal in Ohio, Triploid Grass Carp will eat some of the different weeds. They have weed preferences, just like we have food preferences.

Is the pond also used for a water supply?

Thank you for the quick response! The pond is not used as a water supply. We are fine with some underwater plants we just do not want it look overrun. We currently have the pond stocked with Bass, Red Ear Sunfish, Hybrid Bluegill, Channel Cat and some minnows.

Cody Note: Shore-Klear Plus includes the surfactant and is more convenient to use. Note it is only for emergent and shoreline vegetation nothing underwater. I suggest you do not stock grass carp until you have a definite underwater weed problem (not algae) not controlled by manual removal. with grass carp beneficial plants can not be introduced with good results. Blue tilapia Fewer than 40 lbs per acre can be effective depending on the degree of problem and number of predators. Fewer predators allow good results using fewer tilapia. A small amount of pond dye added monthly is the proper way to use the dye. Amount to add depends on the concentration of the dye(brand).